CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Wednesday marked the first day for Tom Williams leading the state’s largest school district.
Williams was named superintendent of Kanawha County Schools in February, replacing longtime education leader Ron Duerring.
He told 580-AM that his first and only goal on the list right now is getting the school system to re-enter safely this fall with COVID-19.
School officials hope to have re-entry plans in place by the end of July but Williams said they must plan for several situations.
“We hope to have something here in the next few weeks that we can present,” Williams said. “But things are changing daily, we are currently seeing a spike in cases so when things like that happen the roles change and we have to make adjustments.”
In late June, the West Virginia Department of Education launched surveys for fall re-entry that will be distributed to the county school systems once results come back on July 17.
Kanawha County Schools also has a re-entry survey in place for community members that can be found on its website.
Williams admitted that even if the school system goes back to five day weeks, things will be different.
“School is not going to look the same this fall as it has in past years. That’s because of the pandemic going on. We are going to have to practice social distancing and things like that,” he said.
Williams said once school is back in session this fall, school leaders will begin to develop other goals including improving graduation rates, and lessen the drop-out rates.
Before his current position, Williams worked as the deputy superintendent for KCS. The 2020-2021 school year will be his 36th in the school system, having served as principal of St. Albans High School for ten years and as a teacher there for seven years.
Williams was born and raised in South Charleston and was educated in the Kanawha County School system.
He will be under a one-year contract with a $150,000 salary, replacing Duerring who had been in charge for 22 years. Williams said he is prepared to take over and lead.
“I have worked very closely with Dr. Duerring in his last few months,” he said. “He was gracious enough to include me in basically everything he did so that was very, very helpful.”
Story by Jake Flatley