McCracken Middle gets a new principal. Who is he and where is the former one?
H.E. McCracken students have a new principal for the 2024-25 school year, following a federal lawsuit concerning student abuse naming the Bluffton school’s former principal and vice principal. The district didn’t say if the school will be getting a new vice principal or whether either of the administrators will return to the district.
The district currently employs both administrators, according to spokesperson Candace Bruder. Bruder said, “the district will release administrative staff assignments during the summer.”
The new principal, Roger Ward, is taking the principal position after moving to Beaufort County last year and teaching fifth grade at St. Helena Elementary School. Before then, he had over 20 years of administrative experience with roles including:
- An elementary school principal in Knoxville, Tennessee
- A middle school principal in Knoxville, Tennessee
- An elementary school principal in Oak Ridge, Tennessee
- An elementary school principal in Aiken, South Carolina
The district announced to parents that former principal Ryan Milling would be replaced in May without explaining why. A federal lawsuit filed in April alleges that Milling and Vice Principal Joseph Hollington knowingly employed a teacher with a yearslong history of abusing disabled students. The lawsuit also named the Beaufort County School District. The administrators completed the 2023-24 school year in their positions.
