CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County Schools Superintendent Dr. Tom Williams announced he is retiring after 40 years in education.
Williams made the announcement Friday.
He said it’s a bittersweet feeling, but he’s ready to make the transition.
Tom Williams
“It’s a little sad and a little happy at the same time, it’s sort of a mixture of both,” Williams told MetroNews. “I hate to leave after 40 years, but I think it’s time, there are other things I want to do while I’m still healthy, I’m 65 years old I’ll be 66 this summer, so I think it’s time for me to get out and start doing some of the things that I’ve always wanted to do.”
Williams’ journey in education began in the fall of 1985.
He has worked in various roles throughout his 40-year career with the last five years serving in the superintendent position.
Williams said while all of the roles have been good to him, his most memorable one was guiding high school students as a principal.
“Every job I’ve had in Kanawha County, from teacher to counselor to principal, and then up here in central office, I’ve enjoyed everything, but I think my favorite job of all with Kanawha County was when I was a high school principal at St. Albans High School,” he said.
Williams also served as Assistant Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent.
A Kanawha County native, Williams also remembers fondly of being a student himself in the school district.
He said that career began in the fall of 1965 as a first grader at Edison Elementary School in South Charleston before attending South Charleston Junior High and then onto SC High School.
As superintendent, Williams said maneuvering through the Covid-19 Pandemic proved to be a particular challenge, but also an interesting learning experience. He said it was certainly a never dull moment.
The KCS Board of Education will now begin the process of selecting a new superintendent.
Williams said a word of advice he wants to give the new leader is that everyday calls for important decisions to be made, but he said as long as you make those decisions with the focus of what’s best for the students, you will be okay.
“The adults don’t always like the decisions you make, but as long as you know it’s in the best interest of the child, I think you always have to keep that in the forefront of your thinking when making decisions,” said Williams.
One major challenging decision Williams has recently had to make as superintendent has been the shutting down and consolidations of multiple schools across the county. It has been in response to the county school districts’ declining enrollment and the need to focus resources in a way that will save money in KCS.
He said this will be a challenge the new superintendent might have to face as well.
“That’s something that will probably, if we continue to lose population, will be ongoing, it is something that will continue to happen unfortunately, so again though, you have to think of the child and what’s best for the child and the best place for them to get an education,” he said.
In the past year alone, the Kanawha County School Board has made the decision to close six schools– Belle Elementary School, Mary Ingles Elementary, Malden Elementary and Midland Trail Elementary, as well as McKinley Middle School and East Bank Middle School.
The schools will consolidate, and funding was recently approved for a brand new school to be built in the eastern part of the county to house the four elementary schools.
Kanawha County Schools is the largest school system in the state serving over 25,000 students.
Over the past decade, the county school system has lost around 5,000 students due to an declining population. The decline in enrollment has resulted in a loss of $30 million in state funding for KCS.
Williams said consolidation is the only way to help the county save money and integrate its resources.
However, despite these recent challenges, Williams said he has hope that KSC will come out stronger in the end as he said public education is one of the pillars of a foundation the country was built on, and here locally, he said it’s a solid institution from the ground up.
“We have excellent staff in our schools and in our system, everyone from electricians to plumbers to secretaries to cooks, the custodians, the teachers, administrators, everyone’s job helps make this happen for our kids,” said Williams.
Williams is officially set to retire at the conclusion of the 2024-25 school year.