A longtime teacher and school administrator in the Des Moines area has been hired to be the next Director of Teaching and Learning in the Newton School District. Monday night, the Newton School Board approved the hiring of Tess Davis. She will replace Amy Farmer-Shannon, who announced in late March that she is leaving the administrative position at the conclusion of this school year. 

Davis is originally from Wisconsin, and came to Iowa after graduating high school to play basketball for Drake University. After graduating college, Davis says she spent about ten years teaching 7th grade math in West Des Moines, and that she developed favorable opinions about Newton during that time. 

“What I have always envisioned Newton to be has been exactly what I have experienced so far. Just very family oriented, very welcoming, and that we are going to do this together. I know that its going to be a good fit for me, and I am going to be a good fit back, because we share those same values.”

After teaching 7th grade math in West Des Moines, Davis became a Curriculum Leader at the Central Office in Des Moines and an Instructional Coach at Valley High School. She held that dual role for six years, before spending the last six years as a middle school principal in the Des Moines Public Schools system.