Board of Education Member Feature
AVENUE CITY SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS 2011-2012
Rod Davison
School Board Member since 1999
Current President of ACES BOE
I was born in Maryville, MO and moved to Maloy, Ia. when I was 1 year old. I went to Mt Ayr Community School through high school. I went on to college at Iowa State University in Ames, Ia. (go Cyclones!) and majored in Ag Business. After graduation I moved to St Joseph in 1990 and was married to my wife Darla. We have three children, Jori Brianne, Shelby Morgan, and Levi Jarod. In 1994 we moved to our current residence near Avenue City and started our children’s education at ACES. Levi graduated in May 2009 from ACES and is now in high school at Savannah. Jori and Shelby are both in college. They all could not wait until they were in high school and now all I here is how they wish they could all go back to ACES. But don’t we all! We also have a sort of fourth child named Mark Santen. Mark was a foreign exchange student from the Netherlands. He came over and did his practical training at our business a couple of years ago. Mark has since returned home and started his own diesel injection and turbo repair shop and is doing well.
In 2003 Darla and I started our own business and opened Diesel Performance Engineering in Savannah. We work on diesel fuel injection pumps, turbo chargers, injectors for all kinds of diesel engines. We also have 6 bays for diesel drive in service for light and medium duty diesel vehicles. We also specialize in high performance tractor and truck pulling parts selling all over the USA and also in Europe.
I have been on the ACES school board for 12 years serving as President for three years. In addition I have served two terms on the Association of Diesel Specialist Board which is an international organization representing the interests of diesel fuel injection and turbo charger repair shops around the world. Within that organization I served as the Forerunners Committee President and served on several other committees. There are many things I like about ACES but the top of the list is the great teachers we have and the excellent education they have provided my children. They are simply the BEST!
Bob Beahler
Member of Board of Education since 2004
Current Vice President of ACES BOE
Born in St Joseph, MO, I have resided in Andrew County for nearly 40 years and the AC School District the last 21 years. I completed grade school at Helena, high school at Savannah, and college at Missouri Western. My wife, Julie, and I have 3 children. Blake and Logan have both completed K-8 at AC. Blake is now a junior in college at Maryville and Logan a junior in high school at Savannah. Breanna is in 5th grade at AC. Since graduating from College I have worked in the Sales/Construction field.
David DuVall
School Board Member since 2007
Hello! I have resided in the Avenue City School district for about 12 years. I grew up in St. Joseph attending Central and graduating from Missouri Western with a degree in business.
I am self employed in the lawn care industry. I have been married to my lovely wife Ann for 17 years. We have 3 children that attend or attended school at Avenue City. The oldest being Kaylee, now at Central HS; Kristian, 5th grade; and Kacey, 4th grade. Raising children has been a rewarding endeavor. They tend to present challenges on a proverbial schedule.
We feel very fortunate to live in this district. We view K-8 as a critical building block for the educational foundation of our children. Avenue City is a wonderful school with exceptional parents, staff and kids! My wish for today and many years is that the school will continue to excel and make continued improvements in all future and existing areas. This will only be possible through the continued support from the parents, staff and great folks that reside in the R-IX district.
Jim Maag
Member of the Board of Education since 2003
I have been a lifelong resident of Cosby and married for over 26 great years to Kari (Schneider) Maag. We have 3 terrific kids Lindsey, 20; Kasey, 17; and Trevor, 12 who all attended ACES. I am involved in the community with the Cosby/Helena Fire Board, Cosby Lodge # 600, Cosby Park Board, and ACES School board. I am also a member of Hope Church. I have several hobbies. I enjoy occasionally including hobby farming, classic tractor restoring and collecting, woodworking and hunting. I work for Johnson Controls as a Regional Operations Manager in the facility maintenance division for the past 22 years on the JCPenney account. Our family loves this community and the Avenue City School District and the awesome staff we have here! We are truly blessed!
Travis Elifrits
Member of the Board of Education since 2009
My name is Travis Elifrits. I am married to Amy (Salmons). We have two daughters, Audrey who will be in 4th grade and Hilary, who is in Kindergarten. Our family has been associated with Avenue City School for many years. I attended Avenue from preschool through 5th grade. My wife attended Avenue from preschool through 8th grade. All of our siblings attended Avenue also. While my sister and I attended Avenue my mother was a member of the school board. I work in Kansas City as a Union Carpenter for Eliason and Knuth.
Ramona Bennett
Member of the Board of Education since 2008
I have been a board member since April 2008. Bruce and I moved to the Avenue City community 7 years ago. We have been married for 25 years. Our three children, Landon - 20, Raelynn - 18, and Jozlin -9, currently attend Missouri Western, Savannah High School and Avenue City Elementary School. I have mostly been a stay at home Mom for the past 20 years which has allowed me many volunteer opportunities. I have volunteered at school, church, two county health offices, and Heartland Hospital. I now consider it a privilege to volunteer as a school board member to help our children. I have appreciated the knowledge and talents of the other board members, especially during this building project. I feel it is beneficial to have a board that is made up of members with varied backgrounds and interests.
Tonya Ball
Member of the Board of Education since 2011
I was raised in Northwest Missouri and attended K-12 at Nodaway-Holt. After high school I attended college in Warrensburg where I meet my husband, David. My husband and I with our four kids moved to Avenue City 6 years ago from Indiana. We knew very little about Avenue City but after just a few weeks at ACES I remember talking to our then 2nd and 4th Graders about finding a home as we were renting and them both begging us to please not take them away from Avenue City. That was our first hint at just what a wonderful school we had found. We did eventually build and made sure that our new home was indeed in the Avenue City School District. Our children are now a sophomoreat Central (Kaylee), a 8th Grader (Jamison), a 4th Grader (Jacob) and a 2nd Grader (Jaxon). After working for many years while two oldest children were younger I now run a business from my home which allows me to have a flexible schedule so I can be involved in my children's education and many activities. I have served our school in many different areas including being the PTA President and the Volunteer Coordinator. I am looking forward to serving as a School Board Member and working with the other Board Member and Administrators as we continue to make ACES a great place to learn and grow.
