The principal of Northside High School resigned her post effective Thursday, confirmed John Conway, assistant superintendent of Beaufort County Schools.
Donna Moore began her duties as principal of Northside on Jan. 1, 2009.
She began her employment with the public school system on Aug. 15, 1994.
Her latest salary as principal was $81,432 annually.
As of Thursday, she was no longer employed by the school system, Conway acknowledged.
Asked who would serve in Moore’s place until a permanent replacement was found, Conway replied, “It is being covered by central-office personnel at this point.”
He added that system officials hoped to name a replacement within the month.
The reason for Moore’s resignation wasn’t immediately clear.
Moore couldn’t be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
Recently, the principal had been the subject of public criticism over a plan to dispose of trophies that had been housed at the school. That issue appeared to have been resolved once the trophies were returned to the school and officials began talking with members of the community about raising money to buy or build new display cases.
The Washington Daily News asked two members of the Beaufort County Board of Education to offer statements on Moore’s resignation.
“I hope that this situation will still be a positive for Northside,” said board member Cindy Winstead. “They’ve done a lot of growth in the past few years under Donna’s leadership. Their scores have improved, and I’m proud of the progress they’ve made, and I hope that whoever the new leader is down there that they’ll continue in that vein to keep the test scores up and keep the school growing. I appreciate her service at Northside.”
Board member Robert Belcher offered limited comments, citing state personnel law.
Belcher referenced BCS Superintendent Don Phipps, who contacted board members about the resignation.
“He’ll have the school covered Monday,” Belcher said.