Davis to retire from R-5 school district

By Lynn A. Wade

Nevada Daily Mail

"This community has been super, and it's been a truly rewarding experience," said Nevada R-5 Superintendent Dr. Ted Davis, a short time after the R-5 school district announced his plans to retire, effective July 1.

His retirement marks a close to 33 years in education, 11 of them in Nevada.

Davis earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Armed with that education, he taught science in Gallup, N.M., at both the high school and middle school levels.

He and his family moved to Higginsville, Mo., where he taught middle science for a couple years. Meanwhile, he earned a master's degree from Central Missouri State University. He advanced to assistant high school principal, then middle school principal at Higginsville.

At the age of 31 he took on his first superintendency, at Wellington-Napoleon schools. It's a small district, serving about 500 students, Davis said.

During his four years as that district's leader, he worked toward a doctorate at MU. He then took a job in Brookfield, where he spent eight years before coming to Nevada.

The move came at a point in Davis' life when a change seemed appropriate. His oldest daughter had graduated high school, and his youngest was entering middle school.

"We thought the timing was right to make a change," Davis said.

He'd been seeking a new position, and had interviewed and had a tentative job offer at another district when Dr. Warren Lovinger called.

At first, Davis declined to interview because he'd made those other, tentative plans.

"But Dr. Lovinger said, 'Dr, Davis, don't you think you owe it to your family to seek out the best opportunity?' So I agreed to come for the interview, and when we came into town, we kind of fell in love with the town. It was a beautiful day."

Ultimately, the Nevada R-5 board made the offer to Davis and he accepted.

Since then, the district has seen many changes, many of them for the better, but Davis is quick to give credit to the teachers, staff, students and patrons, all of whom he says are the reason for the district's successes.

"There are many many great things -- the dedication of the faculty and staff members is incredible. This school's work ethic and dedication to the kids is the best of any place I've ever been. They're just unusually concerned about doing a good job, and maintaining a high academic standard," Davis said.

In addition to academics, the district has improved the climate for education through improvements to buildings and technology -- not the least of which is adding air conditioning to the high school as well as increased academic excellence.

"Then there's the students. They're smart, well-educated, they do an incredible job and they certainly have made my job much more pleasurable," Davis said, also noting that the school board's focus on evaluating what's the right thing for academic instruction and improvement has also made the job more agreeable.

Of Davis, school board president Dr. Warren Lovinger said, "Certainly, he's been a great asset to our schools," and provided a written statement.

"Dr. Ted Davis is completing a distinguished 33-year career in education, with the last 11 years being in Nevada. During Dr. Davis' tenure as superintendent of the R-5 school district, we have made many advances in our curriculum, physical plant and programs. the board of education and all of us in the district want to thank Dr. Davis for his excellent leadership and service to the community. We are pleased to report that he will be leaving our school district in a very stable condition when he retires," the statement said.

Davis said he hasn't made any firm post-retirement plans just yet. "I just don't know. It'll be the first time in the last 33 years that I get to kind of speculate and contemplate and do something just because it's absolutely fun."

Davis will relinquish the helm on July 1, the beginning of the district's fiscal year, but the school board's search for his successor will begin immediately, with help from the Missouri School Boards Association, according to the board's statement.

"I know the school board will select someone very capable for the position," Davis said.

"We hope to have the new superintendent named by sometime in February," Lovinger said, "Of course, we'll be seeking the very best of candidates for the position."