Brazle named Hot Springs Junior Academy principal
The Hot Springs School District has named William Brazle the new Hot Springs Junior Academy principal, beginning July 1.
“It feels amazing. I’m extremely humbled to be selected to be the new leader,” Brazle said. “I’m so excited to be able to fit in with that culture that they have and be able to bring some of my expertise as well. Because what I would like to do is make anything that my name is a part of even better than it already is.”
Brazle is finishing his seventh year in school administration. He was previously with the Little Rock School District and eStem School District. Last year was his first year with the Hot Springs School District.
“Getting the experience of not only administration but the administration in different areas, you get to see that poverty has some of the same symptoms everywhere that you go. It’s really good to see the outside effect of that,” Brazle said.
“Coming from Little Rock and coming to a place like Hot Springs and seeing the similarities. It helps to have an outside presence to be able to see those types of things,” he said. “I’ve been in schools that have been ‘D ‘schools and moved into ‘C’ schools with some of the same strategies that we’re going to utilize at the Junior Academy.”
Brazle got involved in education because he wanted to coach baseball. He wanted to be a professional baseball player, but could not, due to an injury.
“My father made sure that I was a reader and his goal that he
would always tell me is he just wants me to be better than he was,” Brazle said.
“So he made me read, and he made me do all of my homework and extra homework to make sure that I was ready for the things that were coming in the educational life,” he said.
Coaching made Brazle more passionate about education, he said.
“It’s amazing to touch hundreds of kids and get them a better education when I was an English teacher,” Brazle said.
“Getting to do those things that I loved and seeing the reading and having watched kids become interested in works that you were interested in as a kid was something that just fired me up and made me so passionate about education,” he said.
Brazle credits his success to many things, noting his mission statement is love like his father.
“My father loved me unconditionally and had stepkids, and all of my best friends were his kids. I want to treat my kids the same exact way. Even though we may not look the same, we may not have the same last names, the love that I give to my kids that I have for my kids doesn’t change,” Brazle said.
Brazle’s mentors taught him how to be a good leader and how to be a good person, which helped him to be a good husband in his marriage, he said, noting his mentor he started with in Little Rock was one of his biggest influences.
Carl Brown, Brazle’s godfather, was an administrator, a principal and an assistant superintendent.
“So that was actually my first time getting to see the kind of possibilities that could be possible for a person like me,” Brazle said.
Being a child of poverty and seeing somebody pull themselves out of it gave him a lot of ability to look at something and be able to do that too, he said.
Brazle’s first goal as principal is to integrate himself into the team and once they are at a comfort level, his number one thing is to make sure that there is a culture of learning, he said.
The teachers always want to learn better ways to do things, he said, which means the students come in with the energy to learn daily.
“We want to create lifelong learners; we want to create people that have a desire to learn, because when you have that desire to learn, you also have a desire to be better at the things that you’re learning,” Brazle said.
“If you create that culture of learning, then you’re really going to have a building full of people that are wanting to get better all the time, and that’s from your front office staff to your students, to your faculty. They’re always going to want to get better and do things in a better way,” he said.
Brazle said he wants the faculty, students and community members to know he cares and very much loves the students.
“It’s a huge responsibility to look at parents and let them know that their kids are safe,” Brazle said.
“Not only do I love my kids, but I’m also passionate about learning. My passion for learning, I want that to be a contagious piece of what we do because I want my teachers to be passionate about learning,” he said.
“When your teachers are passionate about learning, your students become very passionate about the same thing,” Brazle said, noting he is excited to start building relationships with the faculty and staff members, and students.
“I want to be able to go into that building and show the type of work ethic that I have, the type of passion that I have and hope that sparks enough for people to follow,” he said.
“I want to utilize my knowledge that I have for Learning and the PLC process to continue that same process that they’ve already instilled in (the Junior Academy),” Brazle said. “I want to build on that process and continue to make sure that our teachers and students are getting better all the time.”
“Mr. Brazle has done an outstanding job serving on our leadership team at the Hot Springs World Class High School. We are excited to give him this opportunity to lead our staff and 7th-9th grade students at the Hot Springs Junior Academy, ” said Hot Springs Superintendent Stephanie Nehus.
“His well-rounded experience in teaching, coaching, and as an administrator, paired with his great tenure here at the HSSD, made him the best candidate for the position. We will finish this year strong, and we look forward to collaborating with Mr. Brazle for the 2021-2022 school year ahead,” she said.