Enich Issues Statement to Hometown News

Since the State Board of Education took over Hancock County Schools on January 2026, much has been written, many officials have been quoted. Superintendent Dan Enich, however, has remained silent until today when he released this statement.

This statement reflects my personal experience and is not meant to diminish the circumstances of others in Hancock County, for whom I have deep empathy.

Since January 2026, much has been said about Hancock County’s financial situation mostly by the WVDE (West Virginia Department of Education) and through speculative misinformation on social media. Until now, I have not had the opportunity to share my perspective. With that in mind, please read the following.

Had I known that the WVDE finance department knew – or should have known – about the Hancock County Finance Department and its finance director, I never would have applied for or accepted the substantial and unknown risk of serving as Superintendent of Hancock County Schools, Financial mistakes were made in this county, but they were made under the clear belief that the necessary funding was available. That belief was based on information provided by the HCCFO (Hancock County Chief Financial Officer) through digital records, the budget presented in May 2025, verbal updates, hard copy documents and BOE meeting reports.

**ITEMS THAT WERE EITHER TURNED IN OR DISCOVERED BY THE PHONE CALL THAT I DIRECTED TO THE WVCEO ON 9/4/25

  1. A former superintendent was similarly blindsided by a $700,000 deficit in 2007. The same CFO was involved then a very similar problem occurred.
  2. Millions of dollars in grants and aid were not “Drawn Down” into Hancock County Schools’ accounts for payroll, bills and other financial obligations.
  3. The WVEIS financial tools and resources were either not used, underused, or used incorrectly, In my view, this goes back well over a decade.
  4. Upon taking my position in 2023, I discover that Hancock County Schools was already operating under a 55-findings federal programs corrective action plan, largely due to financial issues.
  5. Approximately $970,000 in SBA funds was not drawn into our accounts, and the check remained uncashed for nearly two years.
  6. The HCCFO was operating under the wrong contract,
  7. Some grants and funds required annual renewal and could have been renewed with a simple mouse click, many were not. How much may have lost over the past decades,
  8. State audits do not appear to have been conducted regularly or recently, as required by state policy. To my knowledge, they were not conducted in Hancock County recently.
  9. A West Virginia financial expert closely involved in this matter told me that he and another respected state financial expert had warned the WVCFO that Hancock County’s finances were in trouble and that the HCCFO needed help. He said the WVCFO denied the request. This was explained to me that it happened before my tenure.
  10. The WV BOE president said “So we let Hancock County do what they wanted to do. Well, they ran the car in the ditch. Then the legislature calls and says take them over.” I was unaware of this level of animosity toward Hancock County Schools or me personally. It did not reflect strong leadership, and that view had never been communicated to me. I never sought unchecked authority, nor did I communicate Hardesty or Blatt about finances, before, during , or after this issue. I have never talked to Hardesty in my life. He didn’t get that posture from me.
  11. We were on a COVID funding financial watch and had sanctions against us before my tenure.
  12. The HCCFO had long been the subject of a recurring monthly joke in the WVDE Finance office. The WVCFO personally told
  13. T me the hoke was, “Is Hancock Joe late again?” Not exactly great concern at the highest level.
  14. HC Schools was in a pre-existing “Financial Needs Assistance status.
  15. The unclarity of the status of the HCCFO being bonded or filing bankruptcy was not known until after the phone call on 9/4/25.
  16. During this process, I also discovered that the HCCFO failed to pay PEIA premiums for June and July 2025, leaving HC Schools only hours away from defaulting on PEIA coverage for employees and retirees. I also discovered that payroll taxes for West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio were paid late resulting in a fine of more than $40,000.
  17. The HCCFO informed me and the assistant superintendent that RID decisions were done with the understanding that $4.3 million dollars were used from the excess levy for payroll annually. Much more on that to come.

These items, if known, would deter most professionals from taking on the risk of this job. If those items were known and the WVDE would have asked me to work on them with them, I would have had no hesitation or reservation.

FINANCIAL PROCEDURAL SAFEGUARDS

Regarding finance, I consistently followed the same monthly safeguards. Because the process is complex and depends heavily on the finance director’s compliance with detailed procedures, policies, and regulations, a significant degree of trust is required. The safeguards and understanding that I relied on to expect sound financial outcomes were:

  1. Maintain and follow the budget approved by the WVDE finance department and it for payroll and expenditures.
  2. The IT Director receives approximately $14,000 in additional pay to serve as the county’s WVEIS compliance officer and financial WVEIS compliance is part of that role.
  3. Relying on monthly audits done by an outside firm;
  4. Relying on annual audits done by an outside firm.
  5. Expecting intermittent WV audits done as per state policy.
  6. Relying on a CFO with 25 years of experience who has worked through financial protocals and procedures over many years.
  7. The understanding that the WVEIS financial oversight package was in use and that the WVDE had complete oversight of all financial activity in our county and was able to warn our county of any pending financial projection issues.
  8. Lastly, I relied on and acted on the financial figures the HCCFO provided digitally, in printed form, during internal meetings and at live BOE meetings. Those same figures were also provided to BOE members.

These safeguards mean little if funds meant for payroll, bills and serviices are not being drawn into our accounts. When reports fail to reflect the true financial picture, and the HCCFO represents them as accurate, and there is a reasonable expectation that the WVDE is providing full oversight, it is understandable to rely on the figures presented as accurate and workable while managing school system operations using the numbers provided.

WVDE FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT OVERSIGHT OF HANCOCK COUNTY SCHOOLS

In my opinion, Hancock County Schools’ finances lacked correct oversight for well over a decade because the WVEIS financial package was not used, was used only in a limited way or was used improperly. To be clear, the problem extends beyond the past two years. The WVDE CFO and team continue to omit this major oversight failure, which they did not identify until I reported it on 9/4/21. That is gaslighting at its finest.

DEFAMATORY STATEMENTTS

“HCS TURNED OFF THE WVEIS TRIGGERS”

The WV BOE president and the WV Superintendent did not acknowledge that WVEIS had not been used in Hancock County Schools for roughly 10 or more years – a conservative estimate – and that this began well before I arrived or any of the five current BOE members took office. The phone call that I directed the WVCFO on 9/4/25 set the discovery process in motion. Either they were unaware of the problem, or they allowed it to continue. I reported this financial issue to state officials myself. Why was Hancock County Schools’ WVEIS situation no ccorrected years earlier, and did the WVDE finance department and CFO allow it to continue.

ENICH PAID FOR TURF OVER PAYROLL

Dan Enich had no involvement in the premise, origina, the ideas, budgeting , design, development, placement, product selection, number of fields, Weir High annex planning, back roo planning, BOE input, nearly all community meetings, administrative input, or baseball-related input. Those decisions were made during my predecessor’s term, beginning around 2021. Those decisions were done before me and without me. I personally asked to be included and was flatly denied. The existing budgeting and pre-planning were completed 27 months before the payroll crisis, yet the WVDE described the situation in a highly misleading way with malice aforethought. All project completions were based on the budget and financial advice from the HCCFO. He was a key player in the development of all the ballfield (and WHS Annex) projections and budgets. The assistant superintendents and I had no input in the development and fiscal projections and budgeting of the ballfield projects. More to come,

THE LOCAL SHARE WAS ILLEGAL

It was highly damaging for a sitting West Virginia Superintendent to tell a legislative group and the media that we were issuing illegal bonuses and to characterize that conduct as criminal. Those local share checks have been part of Hancock County Schools for more than 20 years. In the early 2000s, a West Virginia law firm established the legal basis for issuing this 25th check during the transition from a 16-paycheck schedule to a 14-paycheck schedule. The practice was legal and went unchallenged until recently.

*With such inflammatory rhetoric barely in the rear-view mirror….all full-time Hancock County employees received the below email on March 13 2026:

“To all full-time employees.

The local share has been processed for payment. Direct deposit employees will receive payment on March 16,2026. Checks will be mailed or dispersed on March 16, 2016.

Thanks,

Steve McKinney Hancock County Schools”

No retractions, apologies, or statements to correct the misinformation that was splattered over newspapers, podcasts, and social media previously. These previous comments recklessly defamed numerous people, including myself. The WVDE referred to me, Mr. Smith and 5 respected BOE members as criminals and just leave it at that, hoping that it would be forgotten. It won’t be.

EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATES, LLC

I asked Educational Associates, LLC what is the impact of not using or incorrectly using the WVEIS financial projection instruments. He explained the problem to me. He said “By not using the full capabilities of the WVEIS systems in place led to the inability to project the deficit and the shortfalls” The only difference is that WVDE officials are saying that Hancock officials were intentionally that to “Turn off the triggers ……and draw the shades.” That is just insanity. I know that I never directed anyone to turn off WVEIS or did so myself. Again, in my opinion, the WVCFO either did not know about the WVEIS non-compliance or allowed it over all of these years.

TEAMS CONVERSATION

In December 2025 one-on-one conversation with the WVCFO in the IMC at the JDR4CC, I asked him our CFO had not followed WVEIS regulations. He replied “Joe likes to do his own thing!” In an earlier TEAMS meeting involving WVDE and Hancock County officials, the discussion focused on why the HCCFO had not used the WVEIS model and why it had not been used properly….or at alll….in Hancock County.

ENICH “How long has our CFO been doing this ?” (not using WVEIS).

CUMMINGS:(annual auditing firm) admitted that the HCCFO has been using the improper forms for audits,”

ENICH: “How long?”

CUMMINGS: Always!

HCBOE VP With all due respect, if this has been going on for all of these years, why didn’t you (WVDE Finance) do anything about it?”

CUMMINGS/WVDE PERSONNEL IN THE ROOM: No response, Silence

SLOW ROLLING ISSUE

There was a slow-rolling decades-long systemic failure that extended from the Hancock County finance office to the WVDE Finance Department, the WVBOE, WV BOE President Hardesty, and WV Superintendent Blatt. The difference now is that the WVDE is trying to remove itself from responsibility by focusing only on the last two years. That is gaslighting at its finest. I urge thos investigating this matter to review each of the past 20 years. It seems like one common denominator was allowed to operate under his own rules. Ask the right questions!!

Dr. Hardesty has had significan influence over the West Virginia’s struggling educational model for more than a decade, and the same is partially true of the Superintendent. They also portrayed me and six others as liars, manipulators of the system and WVEIS fixers. They have publicly humiliated us in what viewed as an online, classless, unprofessional, and breathless diatribe – even they knew, or had access to the truth. If this is how you treat employees in public, I can only imagine how you treat them in private. They continued that for days through Metro News and other outlets. The 5 BOE members and the former assisted superintendent are respected, community-minded and family oriented people. They do not deserve this disrespect.

SPECIAL COUNSEL/EDUCATIONAL ASSICIATES, LLC:

Dan Enich recommended hiring a local law firm as special counsel to examine financial issues with the HCS finance department, including matters involving auditors, the WVDE, and the broader problem. The HCBOE approved that recommendation on 1/12/26. Coincidently, I was dismissed four days later, and the law firm was also dismissed.

Dan Enich also recommended and the HCBOE approved hiring Educational Associates, LLC to investigate Hancock County’s financial situation in September and October 2025. That hire was no made on the recommendation of the WVCFO, it was initiated at the county level by me and HCBOE. These two hires fall far short of the conduct described by Dr. Blatt and Dr. Hardesty as “turning off the triggers” or acting deceptively.

SUMMARY

There is no question that the WVEIS omissions occurred, but they were no limited to the recent period, as the WV BOE President and the state educational officials have suggested. The issue was not identified or corrected by the WVDE Finance Department, the WV Superintendent or the WVDE CFO in the past decade. What is not corrected is condoned. It surfaced through a process I initiated when I reported Hancock County Schools on 9/24/25. In retrospect, the WVDE did not assure me, superintendent and BOEs before me, and the taxpayers of Hancock County accurate ability to project finances and financial oversight for well over a decade by not enforcing WVEIS compliance or allowing WVEIS non-compliance to exist our county (whether intentionally or unintentionally). Well before this past 2-year window. This a point that our annual auditors relayed to the HCCFO and the WVDE as far back as 2015, This scenario did not happen in the last 2 years. This is my understanding after talking to many WV educational financial experts since September of 2025.

I repeat that mistakes were made, but they were made based on the information the HCCFO provided to me and the BOE through digital records, printed documents, meetings, BOE meetings, and the approved budget. I identified a problem in our county that the WVCFO should have recognized long before I did. I will always value my time at Hancock County Schools. I gave 35 spotless years of service to Hancock County Schools and to West Virginia. I stand by my reputation and reject effortsto damage it or harm my family. I am proud that I identified a problem that has existed for decades.

This is only part of the documentation I reviewed with my attorney regarding Hancock County’s financial situation. At no point did Dr. Blatt or Dr. Hardesty ever ask for my account of what happened in Hancock County. I requested to attend the 1/16/26 meeting and present my side in executive session, but I was discouraged from attending, and my request for executive session was denied, At the time, I did not realize that by reporting Hancock County and its CFO, I was also effectively reporting the WVDE finance department,

Lastly, I want to express my deep respect for Chris Gillette, Ed Fields, Jim Horstman, Randy Swartzmiller and Jack Crow. These BOE members…..and their families….did not deserve the unfair, inaccurate and disrespectful treatment they have endured. They received the same information I did,

Thank you, Dan Enich II, Superintendent , Hancock County Schools 7/1/23 -1/16/25

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