The new Director of Education for the Northern Lights School Division officially began his job yesterday.

Dr. Ken Ladoucer took the position with Northern Lights after spending several years in Colorado and Michigan as a superintendent.

Dr. Ladouceur is originally from Weyburn and says he’s glad to be back in his home province.

“When I see myself here in Northern Lights, I can see there is an excitement here.”

The new director says the massive land space in the school division will be one of his biggest challenges in the position.

He says he plans to reduce the isolation experienced by many of the schools in the division.

“I think that is one of the big issues and how to support those classrooms in the field.  And if the roads are bad and not conducive to travel, just to be able to Skype into those places and to bring people together to talk about the struggles they are dealing with; that can be very supportive to a classroom teacher.”

The new director will spend the next few weeks touring the many schools in the division.