by Sophie Oliver ’26
December 5, 2023
On July 1, Dr. Shavon Davis-Louis was named the Head of Middle School. She replaces Jeff Greenfield, who served as Middle School Head from 1998-2023.
Davis-Louis, who is known as “Dr. Shavon” in the hallways, has a teaching background that stretches from preschool through high school. She has taught first grade and middle school math as well as worked in administration. She was the principal of both Cason Lane Academy and John F. Kennedy Middle School, which is the school she worked at right before transferring to USN. This widespread educational background has provided Davis-Louis with the experience to lead the USN middle school.
The first factor Davis-Louis took into consideration when applying for her position at USN was the mission statement. She did some research into USN’s mission and discussed with some people she knew that had connections to the school, and after finding out more about USN she became very interested in the job.
“I was drawn to the mission for excellence, for diversity, for inclusion, for belonging, and then the reputation was outstanding. Who wouldn’t want to work for an organization like this?” Davis-Louis said.
Davis-Louis has some of the same goals for USN that she has had from her previous jobs.
“Middle schoolers are middle schoolers,” Davis-Louis said. USN students’ ideas of what they want school to be like are not wildly different from other schools she has taught at.
Davis-Louis wants to build on the momentum and good programs that already exist going on at USN, and her biggest priority for the time being is building relationships and trust with the faculty.
“My plan right now, for this year, is just to work collaboratively with all members of the community and to build relationships and trust with the teachers,” she said.
Davis-Louis also values collaboration. She plans to work collaboratively with all members of the USN community. Part achieving that goal will involve middle school collaborating with the lower and high school to reach common goals. This idea has been emphasized a lot this school year among the teachers and was highlighted during teacher inservice in August.
“My goal is to help establish a shared vision as a middle school community and to be in alignment with the lower school and the upper school.”
Davis-Louis has many goals and aspirations for our school. This school year, she is really going to focus on establishing relationships with students and teachers and helping our school work together to achieve common goals. In the end, her goal is to construct a shared vision with the entirety of the middle school community.
