Citing financial crisis, WV school board intervenes in Hancock County school district 

by Lori Kersey, West Virginia Watch
January 16, 2026

The West Virginia Board of Education voted Friday to intervene in the operation of a financially struggling county school district, terminating the superintendent and appointing a replacement. 

Dan Enich’s position as superintendent of the Hancock County Board of Education is vacant as of 4 p.m. Friday, according to a motion made by State Superintendent Michele Blatt and approved by the school board. The state board appointed Walter Saunders to be county superintendent as of 4:01 p.m. Friday. 

Associate state superintendent Jeffrey Kelly said the Hancock County county’s financial shortfalls pose an immediate threat to the ongoing operation of schools.

“Hancock County Schools’ financial situation has escalated from a monitored concern to a fiscal emergency,” he told the school board. “As conditions deteriorated. The district formally requested emergency state aid to meet payroll obligations.”

Uriah Cummings, the state school financial operations officer, told the board that Hancock County had been getting state assistance for financial purposes for three consecutive years as of October. Prior to that, Cummings said, there was nothing to suggest the county had major financial problems.

The county board used funds from its career and technical center to make payroll in September, Cummings said. Those funds were returned to the center, he said.

The county has been operating with 140 more positions than what the county school aid formula called for, according to the state, an overage that costs the county school board about $10 million per year, Cummings told the school board. 

In addition, the school board had numerous construction projects going on, including sports-related projects and had overspent on a construction project at Weir High School by nearly $1 million. 

Those expenses come out to be about an $8 million increase in expenditures from fiscal year 2024 to 2025, he said. 

Enich asked state officials to keep the administration in place and allow officials to continue taking steps under the direction of the state school board. 

“I’m well aware that this has happened under my watch, but would like to add that what I estimate as being the decades-long problem was identified and eliminated under my watch,” Enich said. “And [we] want to be the first ones to fix it, with help and assistance of the Board of Education and any assistance that can be provided our way.”

The Hancock County school board fired Chief Financial Officer Joseph Campinelli in November, according to reporting by West Virginia MetroNews. 

Del. Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, told West Virginia MetroNews Talkline last week that the financial crisis was caused by mismanagement, a lack of accounting and a number of other issues. Student enrollment has declined in the county just as it has in other parts of the state, he said.

“The books were just wrong, likely just from gross incompetence,” McGeehan said. “Hopefully it’s nothing more than that.”

In the news release Friday, state school board president Paul Hardesty assured Hancock County teachers and school staff members they would be paid, despite concerns the school board can’t make payroll. 

“This board has to make some very tough decisions,” Hardesty said in the news release. “But we must operate within code while also protecting the children and taxpayers of our state. We have told our counties for several years that using one-time COVID money for personnel would lead to a day of reckoning. That day has come in Hancock County.”

The county assistant superintendent and the positions of any personnel serving at the will and pleasure of the county school superintendent will also be vacant as of Friday afternoon, according to the state school board. The assistant county superintendent position will stay vacation in order to conserve resources.

According to the state school board, Saunders has been the director of federal programs and assessment for Ohio County Schools for 10 years. Saunders is an Air Force veteran with an undergraduate degree in mathematics education from West Liberty University and a graduate degree in educational leadership from West Virginia University.

“We are grateful for the service of Mr. Saunders, and we look forward to supporting him and his team to address the crisis in Hancock County,” Blatt said in the news release. “We appreciate the work of the WVBE and know that together, we will resolve the challenges and protect the students and education community of the county.”

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