The Durant Board of Education voted May 8 to hire Mark Moring as superintendent effective July 1.
Moring, who has 26 years of experience in education and has been superintendent of Davis for the past six years. His wife Katie has been in education for 23 years and they have two children. Moring will replace Duane Merideth, who announced his retirement.
School board members are looking forward to Moring coming on board.
“I’m not only really excited but also I want to thank the board for the time and help put in,” said school board President Jason Manous. “We’ve had multiple special meetings, hours of interviews and everybody always had a good attitude and we’ve all worked really well together. I want to thank you all for that extra time you put in and your willingness to serve.“ Board member Joyce Northcutt said, “You know, we’re all a little sad because we’re losing Mr. Merideth. It’s sad after he served us 10 years, but we’re all very excited to have you here. I think you’ll be a good fit for our school district.”
Moring said he appreciated the comments and he understands change can be rough and cause anxiety. He said he wants to make the transition as smooth as possible and follow in the footsteps of Merideth and also Assistant Superintendent Kenny Chaffin.
“I think I told you guys, I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel,” Moring said. “I’m looking to become a part of a great school district and hopefully, we can keep moving forward. So thank you guys very much.”
In an interview, Moring said he has always had a vision of wanting to move up in his career and be at a school district that has a small-town feel, but is a large-type school district.
“I think that fits Durant perfectly,” he said. “Durant, as an outsider coming in, has a picture of stability. It’s a school district that is always, I mean rock solid and I can’t wait to be a part of that. The whole picture of the school. I think that they look at the whole student and when I was speaking with the board, they want to do what’s best for students.”
Moring said that when he comes in, he plans to obtain as much information as he can that he described as “drinking water from a fire hose.”
“We’re not going to make any big sweeping changes just yet because I want to take stock and I want to be a part of the Durant family,” Moring said. “I want to know what is good, what is bad, what we can do better and learn of what makes this district a great district, take stock of that and help make it move forward.”
He said he plans to contact Merideth daily who will be a great resource during the transition.
“He has set the bar high and he’s done a great job and I admire his leadership style and I think our leadership styles are somewhat similar,” Moring said. “I’m not afraid of challenges but I want to embrace him and I want to embrace Mr. Chaffin, I want embrace the administration. I want to embrace the support staff, the teachers and everybody. In my life, I just want to make a difference in others’ lives and I want everyone in Durant Schools to do the same. So that’s what I’m here to do.”
Moring expressed excitement about leading the Durant School District.
“Like I said, I want that small-town feel and a bigtime school and I think Durant is a great combination of those,” he said. “The location is great, the facilities are great, the strong board. The school district screams stability to me and doing things right. I want to be a part of that and I want to be a part of what’s going on here.
“I am very much looking forward to this. I cannot wait to get here. My contract doesn’t start until July 1, but I’m hoping I can get down here as many days as I can in June. I’ve got some vacation time I can take in Davis, so I can get down here and just meet everybody.”
Moring also spoke to school district staff at a reception following the board meeting.
“I am just absolutely thrilled to be here with you guys,” Moring said. “I like to meet with people one and one. I pride myself in being as open as possible to being approachable. I want to make myself as approachable as possible … I love people.
“I got in this business for kids. Everybody in this room, every teacher got in this business for kids. It wasn’t a computer that made anybody what they were today. So that’s my biggest thing is the human factor and the interaction between us and the students. I am so honored to be here and to follow Mr. Merideth’s footsteps and to get to lead this school district with everybody in here. So, thank you guys very much.”
