Nearly four months after Carrollton schools officials were suspended in a money laundering scheme, the school district has appointed a new superintendent to lead the district.
Dave Davis, a graduate of Carrollton and most recently the high school’s principal, was officially appointed as the district’s new superintendent Wednesday. He had been serving as the acting superintendent since November of 2022.
An emotional Davis addressed the crowd Wednesday afternoon.
“I promise to faithfully lead this district into the future with pride, dignity and with courtesy to everyone,” Davis said.
With the appointment, Davis, 56, becomes Carrollton’s 24th superintendent. But Davis is a familiar face in Carrollton, graduating from the district in 1985. He’s been in the district for 27 years, spending the last 17 years as high school principal.
In his speech he thanked his wife of 31 years and his children, who are 23 and 27 and both are graduates of Carrollton.
Spending the last nearly three decades as an educator in Carrollton, Davis has come to know the teachers and staff. He called them an amazing group.
“You’re an amazing group, an absolutely amazing group, of educators, bus drivers, cooks, custodians, secretaries, aides,” he said. “I know what you do each day for our kids. I know what you do for the kids and for our community and how lucky our community is to have you in the lives of our kids.”
Davis was one of 12 total applicants who applied for the position. The pool of candidates were narrowed down to four and the final two were interviewed in front of the school board. Another Carrollton employee applied for the position.
“Each candidate would have made a great superintendent, but only one candidate stood out for us. And that was David Davis,” said School Board President Dan Ries when he announced the appointment of Davis.
Ries said each candidate was asked why they wanted to be a superintendent. He said Davis gave an honest answer to the question.
“Dave’s response was honest and emotional, ‘I never wanted to be a superintendent. I want to be THE superintendent for Carrollton,'” Ries said as he recalled the interview process with Davis. “I noticed his eyes filled with tears.”
As mentioned before, Davis graduated from CHS almost 40 years ago. His parents and children also graduated from Carrollton.
In early December, then Superintendent Dr. Dave Quattrochi, school board member Mike Pozderac, teacher Jackie Pozderac and a fourth person, Gus Nickolas, were charged in a felony theft case.
The former superintendent along with the other three are accused by state officials of stealing money from the district in a scheme by using two shell companies – The Phoenix Rising and Pozitively Quality Air, LLC. – to sell air purifiers to the school in a business they created, then pocketing nearly $50,000 and splitting it among the group of four.
All defendants entered pleas of not guilty at their first court appearance in early January.
Quattrochi was suspended in October before the details of the case were later revealed. Carrollton High School principal Dave Davis was then appointed as the district’s acting superintendent.
The four defendants are scheduled to appear back in Carroll County Common Pleas Court on April 13 at 1 p.m. for another pretrial hearing.