Principal White to Retire at End

LYNN - Lynn Classical High School Principal Warren White will retire this summer, Superintendent Catherine Latham told the School Committee Thursday night.

Although his name was absent from the list of retiring personnel included in each School Committee member's meeting packet, Latham said the longtime Lynn Public Schools employee informed her this week that he would be calling it a career in 2009.

"It certainly came as a surprise," Latham said. "But he has done a wonderful job over there and we will miss him greatly."

White, a 1966 graduate of Classical, began his tenure in his hometown school system in 1971, teaching at the then-Cobbet Junior High School. Over the next 38 years he would hold several positions in the department and at his former school where he worked as a physical education teacher, guidance councilor and assistant principal before replacing William Frost as principal in 2005. White also held positions as vice principal and later principal at Breed Middle School.

A football standout at Classical and later Eastern Michigan University, White was active in the sport both in Lynn and at Harvard University where he was a defensive line coach until the late 1980s.

White's retirement comes four months after he was named a finalist to replace retiring Superintendent Nicholas Kostan in the department's top post, a spot that ultimately went to Latham.

White also lost out to Latham and Deputy Superintendent Jaye Warry in 2006 when all three were bidding to become Kostan's deputies.

With White's decision the school department is now looking at replacing two high school principals in two years as English High School Principal Andrew Fila has said he plans to step aside in August 2010.

Fila had initially planned to retire at the end of this year, but changed his mind last month.