Meet Superintendent David Moore

It should come as no surprise that the sound of school bells is music to David Moore’s ears, and just in case the name doesn’t sound familiar, you need to know he was named 2025 Florida Superintendent of the Year, and was one of four finalists for National Superintendent of the Year for 2025.

Impressive, definitely.

Deserved, without a doubt.

In the more than five years since Moore became Indian River County’s superintendent of schools, the district has earned consecutive A grades from the Department of Education and achieved a 96 percent graduation rate. It now ranks 9 out of 67 districts in terms of test scores and student achievement, making it the most improved district in the state of Florida.

That’s cause for applause, and Moore happily spreads the accolades around when he says, “This success isn’t something that happens because of one individual; it’s when a community of teachers, staff, and principals say we want to do what’s best for our kids, and then goes out there and does it.”

He is a perfect example. Since day one on the job, Moore has been seen giving high fives to students as they scramble off the school bus, spending time visiting classrooms, standing in lunch lines, and cheering for the home team in the stands after hours. He’s here, he’s there, he’s everywhere; some have even accused him of cloning himself.

Moore, who earned his EdD from Nova Southeastern University in 2003, is in his element as he recalls the circumstances that brought him to Indian River County from the Miami-Dade County School District, the fourth largest in the nation, where as assistant superintendent he was instrumental in redesigning areas he supervised, leading to M-DCSD being recognized as one of the nation’s highest-performing urban school districts.

“In Miami there was a bucket of D and F schools, and we were able to see them improve in a very short amount of time. Urban schools began to notice the success we were having and were knocking at our door wanting to see what we were doing. Representatives from the Indian River County School District along with representatives from The Learning Alliance were among them,” Moore explains.

“Prior to our meeting I had been to Vero Beach and thought it was an amazing place. Here I was in Miami, with all these pockets of poverty and different languages being spoken, and we were outperforming what I saw was an outstanding community, a community where all the schools in the district should have been an A. So I asked myself, ‘What’s the disconnect?’”

That’s just what Indian River County School Board members had been asking of then-superintendent Mark Rendell, who didn’t appear to have an answer. Knowing that his contract wasn’t going to be renewed, Rendell resigned the day before the meeting in Miami.

The timing couldn’t have been more serendipitous. The School District of Indian River County needed a proven can-do leader, and from what they had heard and seen, Moore fit the bill. When offered the superintendent position, he didn’t hesitate. “I said to myself, ‘Okay, you’ve done the work, let’s go in and figure out what’s going on.’”

Moore found there was plenty going on, and it wasn’t pretty. “Dysfunctional was an understatement,” he says. “It was a mess; there was no trust, no plan, then 44 days in we had the pandemic and the world shut down. All of a sudden there was this crisis, which we saw as an opportunity to change, and that brought about new ways of thinking and working.”

“We’re a classroom-first district, providing quality instruction focused on what matters most, and that’s the students,” Moore explains. “We established administrator leadership academies and developed infrastructure that enables data-driven decision-making. Our school leadership teams have the ability to problem-solve. They don’t have to wait to have decisions made elsewhere—they have the authority to do whatever it takes to make it so. Right now our academic outcomes are outpacing the state.”

As a result, Moore successfully negotiated multiyear teacher contracts and salary raises, and 75 percent of voters said “yes” to providing the fiscal resources needed to expand district supports.

“What really drove me to become an administrator instead of a teacher was a group of ninth grade exceptional students. There were about 16 of them, all great kids, but I couldn’t get them to engage in my instruction and I couldn’t figure out why.

“Ultimately the kids pretty much told me why. They were coming off the bus after a junior varsity game, saw me, and said, ‘Why are you still here? You’re wasting your time—this isn’t for us’; they didn’t see school as an avenue to grow. So I became a counselor, then an assistant principal, trying to assure kids like those getting off the bus that school provides a pathway to the future.”

No one knows that better than Learning Alliance cofounder and CEO Barbara Hammond, who, along with others from the nonprofit, traveled to Miami. “We sat in the audience and listened while school board members questioned Dr. Moore about the programs and procedures that had been put in place that led to such noticeable improvement,” Hammond begins.

“We had set a high goal for the work we were doing with our Moonshot literacy program, and even though Dr. Moore used different words, the goal was the same. He’s a lifelong learner, and in the relatively short amount of time he’s been here, he’s created a culture. Every school district deserves a Dr. Moore. He shouldn’t be an exception—he should be the norm.”

So what does Moore do when he’s not wearing his SDIRC superintendent’s hat? “I have a set of golf clubs. I’m not sure where they are, but I know they’re around the house somewhere,” he grins, “and my wife and I have been talking about taking a trip to Europe. Someday.”

For now, Moore remains focused on what matters most: providing quality instruction to students.

“School is a unique experience for every child,” he observes. “We’ve created a culture, a place where they feel safe, where they can release the weight of the world and learn. At the end of the day, it’s about delivering quality instruction 180 days of the year.”

“To be able to do something I enjoy doing, going on six years, is cause for celebration; and when you’re doing it with the right people, it’s a joy to go to work.”