Hello! My name is David Howard and I am the Construction Trades teacher here at Dade County High School. I am starting my 6th year at DCHS and I am really excited about the projects we will be working on this year. The Construction Trades program at DCHS is a growing program and I am happy to say we are able to offer our students an excellent opportunity to learn about numerous skills associated with Construction and General Maintenance. 

I was born and raised in East Tennessee and moved to Dade County 5 years ago. I joined the United States Military during my junior year in high school (1992) and I completed Army Basic Combat Training immediately following high school graduation. I spent 12 years in the Tennessee Army National Guard where I went from Pvt E-1 to SSG E-6. While I was in the Army National Guard, I was employed as a Federal Military Technician where I worked on M1A1 Battle Tanks and other military vehicles. During my military career, I attended Vincenes University and I started working towards an engineering degree. I suffered a traumatic ankle injury and I was medically discharged. After retirement, I decided to open an Electrical Business (D&E Electric) that I operated for several years. While operating D&E Electric I attended Chattanooga State and I earned my Associates Degree in Engineering Systems. The US economy decided it was time for me to close our business and I started my Construction Management career. I worked for Tri-Conn Construction and J&J Contractors and I was able to oversee several large construction projects. 

The complete renovation of DCHS was one of the projects that I was assigned to oversee. While working on the DCHS project, the Construction Trades teaching position became open. I applied for the position, I never even thought about being a teacher. My wife has been a teacher for 30 yrs, but I never imagined that I would be a teacher. And now, here I am and I absolutely love it. I love being able to help my students learn skills they can use in later life as well as help them with their future plans. I have an open-door policy and my students know they can come to me and I will try to help them in any way I can. 

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments!