‘I Never Had a Day That I Didn't Want To Come To Work’: Longtime Lexington Two Educator David Sims Selected To Prestigious Heroes And Heroines Society

West Columbia, SC 03/21/2026 – A retired longtime Lexington Two educator and principal who opened the district’s newest elementary school has been recognized with one of the district’s most prestigious honors.

David Sims, whose career in Lexington Two spanned nearly 40 years before he retired as Riverbank Elementary principal in 2024, was inducted into the Heroes and Heroines Society during a reception before the March 19 board meeting. Many of the society’s inductees, along with district administrators, staff members, and colleagues who worked with Sims through the years, attended the event.

Sims started his Lexington Two career in 1987 as an adaptive PE teacher for the district, and he was based at the former Cayce School. He later taught 5th grade self-contained at the former Davis Elementary, where he was named a Teacher of the Year.  He was an assistant principal at Saluda River Elementary, and during his first principalship at that same school, he led the transition of the school to what is today the arts magnet Saluda River Academy for the Arts.  

Sims later became principal at Northside Middle, then Pineview Elementary. As part of his final assignment as a principal,  he led the bringing together of two Lexington Two elementary school communities – the former Pineview and the former BC Grammar No. 1 – into today’s Riverbank Elementary, the district’s newest elementary that opened in 2018. Sims not only built the heart and culture of Riverbank, but he also helped build the physical look of the school – colors, bathrooms, playgrounds.  Among the Riverbank programs that originated with Sims and continue to prosper today is Beyond Goals, supported by a number of community and business partners. Sims truly created a culture that reflects Riverbank Elementary motto: One Heart. One Mind. One Team. It’s the same culture he built at every stop along the  way as a leader in Lexington Two.

“I had a career I loved and never had a day that I didn’t want to come to work,” Sims shared at the reception.

The Heroes and Heroines Society was started in the 1990-1991 school year to recognize retired Lexington Two educators who dedicated their lives to service in the classroom, guidance or media center.  Sims is the 41st honoree chosen for induction into the society representing the “best of the best” in Lexington Two schools. 

“To serve for so long with so many wonderful and dynamic people, then to be recognized as a hero of Lexington Two,” Sims said, “it’s overwhelming and priceless.”