Dave Samuel got an early start to his tenure as the new Montgomery County R-II Superintendent.

Samuel was in attendance at the Montgomery County R-II School Board meeting on June 11, three weeks before his term as superintendent will officially begin on July 1.

“I got to meet all of the administrative team,” Samuel said. “I’ve been in all of the schools. I got to see the kids in action, so everyone has been welcoming, including the Board of Education. It’s been a good start to my tenure.”

Samuel was hired on Jan. 20 as the new R-II leader for the 2026-27 school year. The Moberly native recently bought a house in Jonesburg.

Samuel worked as superintendent for the Northeast Randolph County R-IV Schools in Cairo the last four years. His last day in Cairo was on June 18.

At the R-II board meeting, Samuel discussed the donations the school district will be receiving from Google and Amazon. He said the district is trying to build a committee of stakeholders that will figure out how they’re going to disperse these funds.

“We just make sure we involve stakeholders on how to allocate the money and see where the needs are and make sure all voices are heard on what programs, what schools and what needs are there,” Samuel said. “Google and Amazon are already making free-lance donations to the school. They want to be partners with the school and the community as well. Google has provided a significant amount already and Amazon is targeted to do that, so we’re just want to get some stakeholders, like advisory committees going, to make sure that we put protocols in place on how this process will work when we receive money and how it would be allocated, who gets money and who doesn’t and who makes those choices, just so there’s a process in place.”

Amazon invested $10 billion on a data center to be located on a 1,000-acre parcel in the northeast quadrant of the Interstate 70 and Highway 19 interchange near New Florence. Google invested $15 billion on a second data center to be located in the southeast quadrant of the I-70 and Highway 19 interchange.

Samuel attended the press conference on June 15 at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds regarding Amazon’s announcement to invest in the data center.

Samuel will be R-II’s third superintendent in as many years. He will replace Dr. Brian White, who plans to retire from the education field after just one year as R-II superintendent.

Samuel said he’s looking forward to working with the new assistant superintendent, Dr. Stacy Ray. Ray joins the R-II administrative staff after working the past 14 years as directors of both curriculum and early childhood at the Hazelwood School District.

“I got to interview her,” Samuel said. “I got to be part of that interview team. Ultimately, I was the one who got to select her. So I got to meet her and she and I had talked several times. I’m definitely looking forward to working with her. She’s a kids first person and her track record has been very good everywhere she has been. She knows how to work with people and get kids to exemplify what they’re doing.”