LVUSD admin. staff taking shape with Davis' hiring (4-6-11)

By KRIS REILLY, Editor

The Lucerne Valley Unified School District nearly has all of its administrative staff in place for next year.

Suzette Davis was introduced as the next LVUSD superintendent at the last school board meeting on March 16. Davis will replace Mike Noga, who is leaving the state at the end of the year.

The district now must find a new Lucerne Valley Elementary School principal to take over for Davis. At the March 16 meeting, the board discussed the elementary school principal position in closed session and reported in open session that they would seek a candidate to replace Davis on an interim basis for next school year.

Patricia Courtney was officially hired as the Lucerne Valley High School Principal in February. She had previously been serving as the interim principal at the school.

Davis has lived in the High Desert since 1984 and worked in the Adelanto School District for 15 years. She’s in her fifth year as LVES Principal and has also served as the LVUSD Director of Student Educational Services for the past two years.

She’ll soon take over the top administrative position at a district facing a bleak financial situation — including roughly $300,000 in cuts for the next school year — but Davis believes she’s up to the task.

“Right now with the tough times we have ahead, I feel we need continuity,” Davis said in a phone interview from her Apple Valley home. “I feel I’m qualified to step into that spot and get the district through what we need to get through in the coming years.”

Davis said she will draw on her experiences as mother, former teacher and administrator to help her see the situation from all angles — though she admits she doesn’t “have all the answers” to the district’s problems.

“If I professed to have all the answers I’d be fairly delusional,” Davis said. “But I want what’s best for the students, and I believe if we work together we can do it.”