The Hereford ex will guide BSISD while trustees spend the next several months finding a permanent replacement for Michael Downes, who resigned in June after six years at the helm locally.

Stevens has held almost every position worth having during his education career, ranging from teacher to principal to superintendent, with a 14-year stint as a college professor thrown in for good measure. But he was ready to call it a career when he retired as Hereford ISD Superintendent in May.

So much for intentions.

“I got a call (from BSISD attorneys) wanting to know if I would come down here and talk to the board about the interim position, so I did,” he said. “What attracted me to the job is that there are needs here I think I can help with.”

Stevens was born in Houston but was raised in Hereford, where he graduated from high school. After a stint at Texas A&M University, he joined the Army and served a tour of duty in Vietnam.

Upon returning to civilian life, he graduated from the University of North Texas and received post-graduate degrees in education from Texas State University and Texas A&M-Commerce.

His career included stops at several Texas school systems and college professorships at Texas Tech University at West Texas A&M before concluding with a six-year stop as superintendent in Hereford.

While in Big Spring, he promises to be a fill-in superintendent in name only.

“I can't look at this as a caretaker role,” he said. “I need to make decisions and recommendations as if I'll be here 10 years. I'm not just going to sit here and ask everybody what they want to do. I need to be proactive.”

The first order of business, he said, is getting acquainted with the district's needs.

“I've only been here 2-1/2 days,” he said Wednesday. “I'm talking to people and listening to what they have to say. I can't just jump into things until I do that.

“In the short term, we need to do everything we can to make sure students have everything they need by the time school starts Aug. 25,” Stevens added. “In the long term, I need to help the board and school district ... in assessing where they are and in what direction they wish to go, the same kind of thing any good business does.”

While promising to be a proactive superintendent, Stevens also said he will adopt a slow-but-steady approach to some of the district's biggest issues.

“Let's be very deliberate in finding a superintendent and dealing with the bond issue (expected in November),” he said. “Maybe there is something we can do to help convince the community to support it this time ... Generally speaking, we just need to step back and see what the needs are, not just with the facilities but with everything else in the district.”

Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331 ext. 234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it