The Wright City R-II District will soon be on the search for new leadership when its current superintendent heads west down the I-70 corridor for an identical role in a much larger district.

Dr. David Buck announced on Monday that he will depart the district at the conclusion of this school year to take over as the superintendent of the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District in the Kansas City area.

“To me, when the position came up, it was a calling,” said Buck, who has been an administrator in Warren County for 15 years. “It’s a potential to have a greater impact.”

In terms of numbers, Buck will certainly have the opportunity to reach more students. Lee’s Summit is the fifth-largest district in the state, with an enrollment of over 18,000. In comparison, Wright City is a fraction of that with around 1,600 students enrolled.

“(Lee’s Summit) is a great district with a solid foundation of performance inside and outside the classroom,” said Buck. “They’re really starting to wrestle with equity, and it’s something we’ve worked on here as well. That’s exciting to me.”

Buck said what drew him to Lee’s Summit was the challenge of breaking down walls to help students access educational opportunities. 

“I’m competitive and love high algebra scores, but it’s much more important to work on student experience to help a child develop, and removing barriers is a big piece of that,” said Buck, who came to Wright City in 2008-09 after serving as principal at Warrenton High School for three years.

He spent seven years as assistant superintendent, before being promoted to the head leadership role when Dr. Chris Gaines left for Mehlville prior to the 2015-16 school year.

“What I’m going to miss most is the people — people working together,” said Buck. “The pride in this community is so high. We have a great board of education and good people who work hard for a common cause and focus on the right things.”

Buck recalls the many changes that have taken place since his arrival 12 years ago.

“When I came here there was only one elementary, we had a cinder track and parts of the district weren’t air conditioned,” said Buck. “We also didn’t have an SRO, truancy officers or fifth-grade camp.”

He said the tremendous effort of the staff and community has helped transform the district’s ability to help students learn and grow.

“Our plan for the last 11 years is based around three rocks — rigor, student engagement and use data to drive instruction,” said Buck. “We saw what we were using wasn’t working for 15 percent of kids, so we sought to change it. We have good-hearted people who learn how to serve kids, and it works.”

Buck said he’s proud of a lot of the district’s accomplishments, including the collaborative effort to address what were once significant academic deficiencies. 

“We were in the bottom 4-percent in 2008 in performance, and five years later we were the most improved in the district and in the top third in the state,” said Buck. “We were also the first and only school in the state to begin using Yale’s Ruler, and it has transformed our elementary buildings.”

Buck said much of the district’s success was achieved by going against the grain, when Secretary of Education Archie Duncan recommended a turnaround model of eliminating staff and throwing out curriculum for a fresh start.

“Instead, we wanted to lower teacher turnaround and we have,” said Buck. “We lowered it to single digits and learned together the best approach to take.”

Buck, who has demonstrated a preference toward date-driven approaches, said his role over the past 12 years has been that of facilitator. He has been able to build a team around him that drives change.

“I put together processes to help facilitate decision-making,” said Buck. “I help to identify how do we work together to come up with the best answer. Through that, so many new opportunities have been provided, and I’m really happy that we remove barriers for kids to learn.”

Buck said it will be difficult to move from a place he has called home for the majority of his career, having started as a teacher in small-town Fatima.

“When I moved here we only had one child, and she was 3,” said Buck. “We’ve had two more girls since we’ve been here, and it’s been a great place to raise a family. Part of this change was the timing of our daughters’ age. It’s either now, or we don’t do it.”

Buck will continue to serve his role as R-II superintendent until June 30. In the meantime, the school board will begin its search process, with a regularly-scheduled monthly board meeting set for Jan. 21.