The former superintendent for King William County Public Schools has been hired by a school district in North Carolina.
David O. White was recently installed as the interim superintendent for the school district in Washington County, North Carolina, according to the Roanoke Beacon newspaper. White was to begin June 1, the paper reported last week.
White was terminated by the King William County School Board in December by a 3-2 vote. He had held the superintendent position for more than six years. School Board members, citing a personnel issue, would not give a reason for his firing, but White had previously been a target of the King William Tea Party and other groups that opposed mask mandates in King William schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.
White told the Roanoke Beacon that his firing stemmed from the district’s adherence to the mask mandate.
The former chief secondary officer for Stafford County Public Schools, White took over as superintendent in King William on May 1, 2016. He previously worked as a supervisor for career and technical education, a principal, an assistant principal and a teacher in other localities in Virginia.
In announcing White’s hiring, Washington County School Board Chairman Carlos Riddick expressed “confidence” in White’s appointment, saying, “We will not be without a leader,” according to the Roanoke Beacon.
White told the Beacon his first task as superintendent would be to assess the schools’ status and “have real conversations about what works and what doesn’t work.”
Washington County Schools pointed to White’s leadership, collaborative and inclusive decision-making and effective communication, according to a press release. In the release, White said he would “ensure that others have a voice in the development of that path so that they may see their own investment in the division’s future. And, as an effective communicator, I will articulate a clear and concise message to a diverse community of stakeholders (administrators, faculty/staff, students, parents and members of the greater community) on where the district is going, why we are going there and how we will get there.”
In May, King William Schools announced it had named Charles A. “Chuck” Wagner, the assistant superintendent for instruction in Gloucester County, as its next superintendent. Wagner, who has been assistant superintendent in Gloucester since 2011, has more than 28 years of experience in education and has served as a principal, assistant principal and a teacher in Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools.
Wagner will begin his new role July 1.
Roanoke Beacon staff writer Dale Heberlig contributed information to this story.
