With the new year, Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue recently highlighted important plans and hopes for the school district.

Along with reflecting recently on 2021 for a story in the December 24 print edition of The Newtown Bee, Rodrigue offered her insights into the year ahead.

Rodrigue, who recently announced she will be retiring at the end of the school year, said the biggest plan for 2022 is to focus on the social and emotional well-being of students and staff.

With the superintendent poised to present her 2022-23 budget request before the Board of Education on January 18, Rodrigue said she expects social and emotional well-being to be highlighted in that presentation. Once the budget is presented by the superintendent, the school board will review it before voting on it and passing it along the budget process for further review ahead of the spring referendum.

Supporting academics in the next year will be “critically important,” the superintendent said, adding that the district will prioritize making sure students have the supports they need to catch up from anything that was hampered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, Rodrigue said her goals for 2022 are supporting teaching and learning while supporting students academically and socially/emotionally.

The next year will also bring big projects, such as the Hawley Elementary School HVAC project, which is set to begin in the summer while school is out. Downes Construction Company of New Britain was recently chosen as the construction project manager for the project. Rodrigue said it will be a year-long project with “a lot of moving pieces, in respect to moving students to different buildings” while the work on the project is completed.

“It has been such a long time coming that it should be worth the wait for everyone in the community,” said Rodrigue.

More plans for the Hawley HVAC project were presented to the Board of Education at its January 4 meeting.

Overall, Rodrigue said she is hopeful the district is moving in the direction of supporting students, staff, and families.

“We’ve got a positive mindset and we are hoping to move forward,” said Rodrigue.

Education Reporter Eliza Hallabeck can be reached at eliza@thebee.com.