Desrochers speaks on new role as director of communications for Holyoke Public Schools

Date: 10/7/2021

HOLYOKE - Daniel Desrochers was officially announced the new director of communications for Holyoke Public Schools in July.

Desrochers is originally from Chicopee and worked as an emergency medical technician (EMT) for 10 years in the cities of Holyoke and Springfield. After his work as an EMT, Desrochers went back to school to get his bachelor's degree. He pursued journalism and worked at both The Recorder and The Westfield News.

Desrochers then went on to pursue his master's degree in public policy and, while there, he found his love for communications.

He said that he wanted to return to the city of Holyoke and serve the community again in a new role.

"I think Holyoke is a great city and has a rich history and beautiful culture and when I was an EMT in Holyoke I saw that firsthand. I wanted to come back and help a community that I served before and I think that education is a wonderful opportunity to do that and communications is a wonderful way to do that," said Desrochers.

"I really want to help spread the word of all the good work that the teachers and educators are doing here so that way we can, hopefully, get some positive stories out there and show everybody what we're doing," he added.

As director of communications Desrochers will be overseeing district-wide communications. This includes sending out press releases and working with the media, conveying information to students, parents and the community, facilitating interviews, working on the Holyoke Public Schools website and maintaining important information for meetings and events.

Desrochers said he is most excited for the opportunity to connect the community to the school system in this role.

"The thing I'm most excited about is being able to help connect the community to the school system. We have a new Superintendent and, with that, I think that I want to make sure that they understand that we're there for them, we're here for the families and we want to ensure that they get high-quality education and that every student matters and every student is important," he said.

With the school year recently kicking off, Desrochers said that his position has been extremely busy so far.

"It' been interesting. There's a lot of stuff that's happening all the time and there's a lot of people. It's exciting at times, every day is different and there's always something going on and it can help you feel good at the end of the day to be able to know that I possibly made a difference and was able to help somebody in some way and communicate to them this important bit of information that they didn't have before that they needed," he said.