Washington County Public Schools announces next superintendent

With a split vote Wednesday afternoon, the Washington County Board of Education approved David T. Sovine as the school system's next superintendent.

Sovine has been superintendent of Frederick County Public Schools in nearby Virginia for 11 years. His retirement from the Frederick County position, effective at the end of June 30, was announced during that school board's meeting on Tuesday night.

The seven-member Washington County school board both appointed Sovine superintendent and approved his four-year contract with a 4-2 vote during a meeting with about 40 people in the audience.

Board President Melissa Williams, Vice President Stan Stouffer and members Pieter Bickford and Linda Murray approved the appointment and contract. Voting against were members Darrell Evans and Mike Guessford. Board member April Zentmeyer abstained.

Sovine, 54, will succeed Boyd Michael, who is retiring after serving the school system for 43 years, more than the last five as superintendent. Michael's last day is June 30.

Sovine told the board he was excited and honored to be the next superintendent.

"I'm a relational leader. ... I believe in a collaborative partnership with the internal and external community," Sovine told the board after the vote. He commented on the school system's "standard of excellence" being a point of pride in the community.

Sovine takes over as superintendent on July 1 for a school system that is larger than the one he's been helming in Northern Virginia.

Washington County Public Schools has an estimated 22,000 students and 3,500 employees.

The Frederick County system had 13,919 students and the equivalent of 2,376 full-time employees, according to its website.

A copy of Sovine's contract was not immediately available. It is for the four-year term July 1 through June 30, 2026.

Williams and Stouffer said after the meeting that Sovine's base salary will be $236,000. The contract is similar to Michael's contract, which provides contributions for retirement, Williams said.

Michael's current salary is $225,354, including a raise that went into effect last July.

Williams said after the meeting that she was impressed by "so much" about Sovine, including that he had an entry plan.

That plan, Stouffer said, includes how to proceed by meeting with staff and stakeholders in the community.

Sovine told The Herald-Mail he will begin a "listening tour where I will engage with key stakeholders, both internally and externally, to listen to what is valued about Washington County Public Schools and also identify, perhaps, some opportunities for improvement."

Williams said Sovine's "philosophy is students first as well and that's as it should be."

"I just think he's going to work hard for us and do a great job," Stouffer said.

Williams said there are going to be people who are happy with the superintendent selection and some who won't be.

"I have no doubt they will come to recognize him as the educational leader he is and he will be embraced by the community," Williams said.

Why didn't three board members vote yes?

In explaining his no vote, Guessford mentioned concerns about the contract when another teacher or other staff could have been hired, that he felt rushed to pick a superintendent with a July 1 deadline, and that he struggled with a national search that only produced five candidates from within a 50-mile radius. He said he thought the school system, which had two internal candidates for the position, "missed our mark on growing our own."

Guessford also said that during an interview, Sovine stated he was a rule follower but that he had chosen not to follow a new Virginia order.

Asked to what Guessford was referring, Sovine referenced newly inaugurated Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's directive about making masks optional in schools in early 2022.

At the time, Frederick County was experiencing a high COVID-19 community transition rate and local health officials were pleading not to make masks optional, Sovine said. The local hospital was overwhelmed and on the verge of not being able to provide basic services.

Sovine said a majority of the school board supported empowering him, with the advice of the school system's health and safety group and the local health department, to decide whether to make masks optional. Masks were made optional about two weeks later when local COVID numbers improved.

Guessford said he will always support the will of the board and that Sovine "probably will do a very, very good job."

Explaining his no vote, Evans noted the board only had two finalists and he struggled to believe there were no internal candidates who were "worthy" of an interview.

Evans also said he felt rushed and that the contract was a "little bit rich," noting the school board hasn't been able to give teachers the raise they've wanted in some time.

Evans said it was a "huge red flag" when he received a couple comments from stakeholders that they weren't able to ask their own questions during stakeholder group interviews with the two finalists.

Judy Sclair-Stein, a consultant with Nebraska recruitment firm McPherson & Jacobson LLC, said in a phone interview that each stakeholder group had a leader who solicited candidate questions from their group. The consultant then cleaned up the questions — "making sure they were grammatically correct, but not wordsmithing" — and printed copies for the interview teams.

The consultant did not receive the submitted questions from one of the stakeholder groups until the morning of the first candidate's group interviews, Sclair-Stein said. That particular group leader had an internet issue and tried to send the questions to the consultant, but didn't realize they hadn't gone through, she said. So Sclair-Stein said she wrote questions for that stakeholder group and had the copies ready for the start of the first day of interviews.

Stakeholders were not allowed to ask follow-up questions because of limited time with the candidates and also to keep the process objective and as consistent as possible so both candidates faced the same questions, she said.

Evans said he had nothing against Sovine and that his no vote mainly expressed his disappointment with the process. He said he hopes in four years to be renewing Sovine's contract.

Zentmeyer said she believes developing talent within the system is the best hiring practice and that is why she was against a national search for a superintendent.

She said she was impressed with Sovine and when Sovine confided he walked and prayed at 4 a.m., "her vote was secured." But there was a hiccup with a contract counteroffer.

"For me, it is not about the measure of the man, but spending money you don't have," she said.

About the split vote, Sovine said he respects the "will of the full board," and looks forward to working with the board and the community.

Who is David T. Sovine?

Sovine has said he grew up in the small town of Hurricane, West Virginia, west of Charleston. His father was a meat cutter and demonstrated a good work ethic, Sovine told The Herald-Mail earlier this month. His mom stayed at home and volunteered at church. His parents taught him it's important to work hard and give back to the community, he said.

He said he was the first in his family to go to college. Sovine attended a job fair at nearby Marshall University and was offered a teaching job in the Richmond suburb of Chesterfield County, Virginia.

In his first year teaching he was recognized with the Sallie Mae Teacher Award for being one of the top 100 new teachers in the nation, according to his biography at the Frederick County school system. Sovine said he was teaching health and physical education at an elementary school and coaching high school football at the time.

He was named Virginia Department of Education's superintendent of the year for Region IV in 2018, according to published reports.

Sovine has a doctor of education from the University of Virginia. He also is an adjunct professor and a regional coordinator for educational leadership at James Madison University.

Sovine recognized the support of his wife, Kelly, who was at the Wednesday meeting with him, as well as some former FCPS teachers who are now WCPS employees and were at the meeting.

Sovine has said he and his wife have twin daughters, both of whom were educated through a public school system and are now educators in different Virginia school systems. One is an elementary school teacher and one is an elementary school counselor.

The couple plans to move to Washington County.

Commenting on Sovine's announced retirement from the local Virginia school system, Frederick County school board Vice Chairman Bradley Comstock said during a Tuesday night board meeting to Sovine, "Thank you for your service to this community. We're a better place now because of you," according to a YouTube video of the board meeting.

During Sovine's 11-year tenure as superintendent, the initiatives the Virginia school system focused on included early literacy, providing all students with supports needed to succeed, and developing and implementing a strategic plan, according to a FCPS school system news release.

“When I began my time as Superintendent, half of our elementary schools were not fully accredited and ranked in the bottom 10 percent of elementary schools in the state based on student achievement on the Standards of Learning (SOL) exams," Sovine said in the news release. "We also had a middle school that had not been fully accredited for a decade and was in the bottom five percent of middle schools in the state based on students’ performance on the SOL exams. As I prepare for my retirement, all of our schools are fully accredited. That is a result of the hard work and dedication of our teachers, administrators and support staff. Their work and commitment to continuous improvement has made a positive impact on our students and schools.”

The search for the next WCPS superintendent

The school board announced on June 1 that Sovine and Theo L. Cramer were finalists for the superintendency.

Cramer told The Herald-Mail recently that he retired as a Howard County (Md.) Public Schools community superintendent last year.

More: Learn about finalists for Washington County Public Schools superintendent job

McPherson & Jacobson, the recruitment firm the board hired, received 19 applications for the Washington County superintendent job.

After written responses to questions and, later, submitted videos from nine candidates responding to provided questions, five candidates were recommended to the school board. Three were chosen for finalists' interviews, but one chose to withdraw.

Several changes among Maryland's school superintendents

Michael is among several school superintendents in Maryland who are retiring or moving on this year.

Sclair-Stein said there were "well over" 800 superintendent openings across the nation this spring.

Among the superintendents in Maryland retiring is Wicomico County Public Schools Superintendent Donna Hanlin, a former associate superintendent with Washington County schools who retires June 30 from the Lower Eastern Shore school system. The Wicomico school board recently appointed Micah Stauffer, who was raised in that community, as its next superintendent.

More: WCPS Superintendent Boyd Michael announces his retirement, effective July 1

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: David Sovine named Washington County Public Schools superintendent