The Salem Community High School Teacher of Year has been named at the school’s last day of school breakfast Thursday morning.
Superintendent Dr. Brad Detering put together snippets from various nominations in announcing the winner.
“The teacher of the year is an accomplished educator who has made a large impact on our school community,” Detering said. “With many years of experience, he consistently demonstrates deep content knowledge and a commitment to student success. They got their first start in fast class, they teach dual credit for us, and they provide invaluable support training colleagues as the instructional technologist. 2026 Teacher of the Year: Dave Lever.”
Lever is in his 19th year as a teacher at Salem Community High School and is a 1993 graduate of SCHS. He credits retired Biology Teacher Kirby Phillips in getting him interested in becoming a science teacher. The award is presented annually by the Salem Community High School Academic Foundation.
In addition to teaching biology, Lever also has a role in implementing technology in the classroom.
“I’m kind of the teacher-tech coordinator,” Lever said. “You have the IT Department that’s really good with their side. I know things more from the teacher side of what we see, so if there’s a glitch with some of the programs we use, sometimes I look at it with a different set of eyes than maybe the IT department would, so it kind of gives me an advantage in helping teachers set things up if they’re having problems.
Lever tries to tell students just because they are from a small community doesn’t limit what they can do.
“We think of Salem as a small school and a small community, but there are people from Salem out in the world doing great things. We want the kids to understand that even though we are in a smaller community and a small area, the sky is the limit for them. You can look at all the past Salem grads who have gone on to do awesome things in the world. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. Anything is possible in that respect.”
As teacher of the year, Lever will receive $500 from the Salem Community High School Academic Foundation for use in his classroom and $250 cash for himself from the teacher’s association. He’ll also be added to the wall of honor for past teachers of the year.
Two retiring teachers, Jody Childress in the math department and Amy Telford in the science department were honored on their retirements.
