Shawn Chabot, who was the assistant principal at the McMahon Elementary School, has been hired as new middle school principal.

He takes over for longtime middle school Principal Maureen Lachapelle, who retired last week.

The Lewiston Middle School has a student population of 722. It’s a large middle school with only two grades, seventh and eighth.

Chabot was chosen from 20 applicants, many were experienced and successful school administrators, Lewiston Superintendent Bill Webster said. “Shawn is a leader well equipped to lead Lewiston Middle School,” Webster said.

Chabot, 40, the father of three, grew up in Dexter, went to the University of Maine at Farmington and started teaching at Leavitt Area High School.

He also taught at Elm Street School in Mechanic Falls, was principal at the former Catholic elementary school, Holy Cross in Lewiston.

Chabot said he wants to be middle school principal, that he’s ready for a new challenge, and he wants to make a difference in kids’ lives.

“What I love about kids is that even students who present more challenges, they’re kids deserving that opportunity to learn,” Chabot said. “It bothers me when people sell them short, saying they’re not worth it. All kids are worth it.”

While he intends to help those who are challenging, “upper level kids need to be challenged as well,” Chabot said. “All kids deserve that right to grow.”

Middle school can be a tough age. “For some, school isn’t so fun for them anymore,” Chabot said. “They want to be adults, but they’re not ready for that freedom yet.”

They still need support and structure, but a little more freedom. They need to be held accountable “but with padded boundaries” so they can learn from their mistakes, Chabot said. Adults working with them need to understand mistakes are a normal part of growing.

Seventh- and eighth-graders are growing and changing, physically and emotionally, he said. “They’re maturing at different rates.”

His big goal for his first year as principal is to listen to faculty, students and parents to learn what’s working, and what needs to be done differently, then develop a plan, he said.

“Every institution can get better. We’ll work together on fixing that,” Chabot said.

Lewiston Middle School Principal Maureen Lachappelle retires after 24 years

Maureen Lachapelle, 63, recently retired after 24 years as principal at the Lewiston Middle School, and 40 years working in education.

What she liked about being principal, she said, was every day was a challenge, every day was something new.

Middle school students “have a lot of energy. You never know what they’re going to say. They look at things from a different perspective,” she said.

In the 1980s and 1990s students were influenced by peers and friends. “Now it’s a lot to do with technology, Facebook, cellphone texting all the time. Everything’s instant now,” Lachapelle said. Technology can make bullying easier, but technology is also a boost in how students learn today, she said. “You never want to go back.”

Working with seventh- and eighth-graders for the last 24 years she’s learned “you have to be flexible. You have to be able to change and accept change. Treat them with respect. They’ll treat you with respect.”

Lachapelle grew up in Chicago and began her career as a physical education and health teacher in Illinois.

In 1969 she was working at a Maine summer camp, Camp Vega, when she met her husband, Roger Lachapelle, a former Lewiston educator and coach. After two years of long-distance dating, they married. She moved to Maine.

Lachapelle first worked at Bates College as a physical education instructor, and a tennis, volleyball and basketball coach. She took two years off to have her daughters, Jennifer and Katie. She returned to education at Edward Little High School in Auburn, where she was a health and physical education teacher, and coached field hockey and track, and became a physical education department head.

“As a department head I got involved with the whole school and could see the big picture. I was ready for the next step.”

Lachapelle got her master’s degree in educational administration, and in 1987 was hired as Lewiston Middle School principal.

A big part of her retirement plans will be spending time with her two young grandsons, she said.

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