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Davies-Hughes Tapped To Lead HCOE
The Humboldt County Board of Education voted after a marathon Oct. 25 special session to appoint Michael Davies-Hughes as the county’s next superintendent of schools.
Davies-Hughes will take over for Superintendent Chris Hartley, who has held the post since March of 2017 when he took over for Garry Eagles but has announced he will step down from the post Nov. 2 to take a position as the deputy executive director of the California Collaborative for Education Excellence. But Davies-Hughes’ tenure could prove brief, as Hartley’s term expires in January of 2023, meaning Davies-Hughes will go before voters in June of 2022.
The board repeatedly praised the deep pool of candidates for the position — which also included Fortuna Union High School District Superintendent Glen Senestraro, Arcata Elementary School District Superintendent Luke Biesecker, McKinleyville Unified School District Heidi Moore-Guynup and Assistant County Superintendent of Schools Colby Smart — before bringing the matter to a vote. It then saw motions to appoint Moore-Guynup and Smart fail before considering Davies-Hughes.
“My goal,” Davies-Hughes wrote in a statement to the board as a part of his application, “is to lead a dynamic team of skilled and committed staff at the Humboldt County Office of Education in the work of providing relevant and effective support to the school districts in Humboldt County, resulting in measurable and sustainable growth in academic achievement and college and career readiness for all students.”
Hartley’s unexpected resignation — accepted by the board Oct. 5 — prompted the board to conduct an expedited search for the county’s next top education official, and this evening’s discussion saw the board wrestle with the ramifications of that, as some supported the continuity Smart would bring to the position and concerns about the “domino effect” of multiple officials changing positions during a school year already complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But a majority of the board ultimately supported the appointment of Davies-Hughes to the post.
Currently the assistant superintendent of educational services for Eureka City Schools, the county’s largest district, Davies-Hughes previously served as the principal of Morris Elementary School and the superintendent of McKinleyville Union School District from 2012 to 2015, where
Witches on the Water
Photo by Mark Larson Participants in the Witches Paddle on Oct 23 paused at the foot of F Street along the Eureka Boardwalk to enjoy being out of the wind before turning back to their put-in site at the Eureka Boat Basin Public boat launch dock. See the full slideshow at www. northcoastjournal.com. POSTED 10.26.21
he oversaw a controversial reconfiguration of its elementary schools.
Davies-Hughes has also made local headlines for his passion for distance bicycling, which he used to raise $30,000 for local literacy programs while embarking on a 3,000-mile ride as a part of the Race Across America in 2018. He made the ride again in 2021, raising more than $15,000 for Hopecam, an organization dedicated to helping overcome the social isolation experienced by children undergoing cancer treatments by bringing them virtually into classrooms.
Davies-Hughes will be sworn in Nov. 22.
— Thadeus Greenson POSTED 10.25.21 Read the full story online.
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No Official Connection: The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office announced Oct. 25 that it has not “officially determined a connection” between the homicides of two men — 65-year-old Eugene Steve Segal and 29-year-old Levi Harold Hernandez Howard — whose bodies were found on month apart in similar parts of Blue Lake under similar circumstances. The cases remain under investigation.
POSTED 10.25.21
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COVID Counts: Humboldt County Public Health reported 112 new COVID-19 cases in the seven-day period before the Journal went to press Oct. 26, along with seven new hospitalizations and two deaths. Over the week, the county saw a test-positivity rate of 7.75 percent, outpacing that of the nation (5.4 percent) and the state (2.1 percent).
POSTED 10.26.21
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Otter Art Initiative Nets $300K: The North Coast Otter Art Initiative, which saw more than 100 otter sculptures scattered throughout five North Coast counties, has raised $300,000 that will support continued otter research and student internships at Humboldt State University. Professor Jeff Black, who began the initiative in 2019, said the “merger of art and science was an absolute joy.”
POSTED 10.22.21
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