New member coming to CCISD board of trustees

By LYNETTE SOWELL 
Cove Leader-Press 

After a four-way race for Place 2 on the Copperas Cove Independent School District board of trustees, Shameria Davis emerged the winner with 39 percent of the votes in the Nov. 6 election. 
As the results rolled in on election night, Davis said she was both surprised, shocked, and excited in a good way about the outcome. She expressed her thanks to the supporters who voted for her.
“The first time I looked, only 17 percent of the votes were in and I was in the lead. Wow, I thought, this is serious. I wondered if it was going to stay that way. I really didn’t do a whole bunch of printed things. I did word of mouth, I’m a grassroots kind of person. I wanted people to know I wasn’t just putting up signs or making a public thing. I really just wanted to talk to people, that people will know me and spread the word.”
Davis, a mother of two boys, has a son who attends Williams/Ledger Elementary School. Davis is active in that campus’s PTO and has served as its membership coordinator for two years prior to the current school year, when she said she knew she would be running for office. She said she has also worked on a number of fundraisers and special events, and when she’s had the time, has volunteered at the campus, making copies or however else help was needed. She has another son who will start prekindergarten in January.
She said she chose to live in Copperas Cove because of its schools, and while living on Fort Hood, prior to her separation from active military, did her research before buying her Copperas Cove home in 2014.
“My oldest was getting ready to start school. I started canvassing the area between here, Harker Heights, Nolanville and Temple. Cove won it over for me. My decision is for the kids first. Cove has the best school district, in my opinion, in the central Texas area.” 
Davis is no stranger to working in the public sector and is a wellness consultant for the Texas Association of Counties. She visits counties, meeting with their respective judges, county commissioners, coordinators or sponsors. She travels at least 2,000 miles throughout the course of a month covering her territory, with the nearest counties she works in being Comanche, Coleman, Brown and Runnels.
“I have the northwest territory of Texas. My job is to check the stats, figure out how they’re doing with trends, any sort of diagnoses and how they can revers it. I do a lot of education,” Davis said. 
Davis has a bachelor’s degree in political science and government, along with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, from the University of Houston and her master’s degree in public health from the American Military University, and is a certified public manager, having completed the University of Houston’s certified public manager program.
She said she has known for a long time that she’d like to be involved in politics. 
“I was always involved in some sort of student government in high school and college. In college, I knew I wanted to be involved somewhat in the political world. In college, I had internships with the U.S. Senate and House of representatives.” 
Davis also worked a past campaign for Texas State Senator Borris Miles, when he was first elected to office for District 13.
She has her eyes on two areas in CCISD, its nutrition program and its Gifted & Talented program. 
“With my background being in health, understanding health trends, I do want to take a deep dive into what the district has done over the years, what nutrition program looks like,” Davis said. “One of my big concerns is children with allergies. Everyone talks about peanut allergies, but there are so many other allergies we don’t look at.”
Davis will be sworn in to her new position at the December 11 school board meeting.