Classical principal’s retirement results in scholarship

LYNN – For the first time in 38 years Classical High School Principal Warren White won’t be roaming the halls of a school this September, but he will continue to help the students of Classical through an alumni association scholarship.The alumni and school faculty have arranged a fundraiser in honor of the retiring White this month, all proceeds to go to a scholarship in his name. The June 16 event is open to anyone in the city who wants to make a donation of any amount to the fund.”I didn’t really want them to do anything for me,” said White. “But our alumni team traditionally gives out scholarship money, so this is a great way to get people together and for people to donate to the alumni scholarship.A Classical graduate and former football standout at the school, White returned to Lynn in 1971 as a teacher at the former Cobbet Junior High School after graduating from Eastern Michigan University.He credits coaches and teachers like Bob Jauron, Al Conlon and Elmo Benedetto with setting him on the right track at Classical and says he never once imagined being the principal of his former school as a teenager.”I owe an awful lot to Classical High School, the faculty was encouraging,” he said. “I grew up right outside the gates of GE and I didn’t think I had a whole lot to offer, I was just going to try and survive.”His career took him back to Classical on several occasions, where he worked as a physical education teacher, guidance councilor and assistant principal before replacing William Frost as the school’s principal in 2005.At the time of his hiring, White was working across the street as principal of Breed Middle School, which made for an easy transition back to Classical.”Coming here was a homecoming in a lot of ways, the faculty had changed and it was a different building – there was a lot of talk in the 80s about building a new school and to actually be a part of a new facility is really rewarding,” he said. “When I came here from Breed it was interesting because a lot of those kids I had from sixth grade on, they had the same principal. To me it is all about making a personal connection with the students.”That goal of a making a personal connection is a big part of why White considers himself a students’ principal, aiming every day to get students on track and realize their potential.”We have to work like we are going to reach every single kid, and we know we can’t reach all of them, but we don’t know which ones we are going to be able to reach,” he said. “We have to make sure that we give every kid a shot.”White’s tenure at Classical has been both successful and stressful for both school and city officials. While the school has achieved its accreditation and continues to improve academically each year, the facility itself has been facing extreme structural problems and has been undergoing a renovation for several years.White said when he started at the school there were some who said he should put the school’s accreditation on hold to concentrate on the renovations, but putting the academic success of his alma mater on hold was not an option.”When I started here we had two issues, the physical condition of the school and the accreditation process,” he said. “I felt strongly that the educators that came to evaluate our school could tell the difference in the physical construction they were performing and what we were doing academically.”White thanked both the faculty and the school’s parent community for helping to make the accreditation a success and for helping to create a close community at the school.”The parents here are fantastic, there are always concerns that a school does not have enough parent involvement, but what I found is when the school needs support, the parents are here,” he said. “We are a well knit, tight community and we see our diversity as a strength.”With the school year coming to a close, it would be easy for White to start counting the days to retirement, but with a host of cuts coming this summe