New Principal Named at Fort Campbell High School

Dr. Christy Huddleston, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Southeast District Superintendent, has selected Dr. Thomas Whittle as the new Fort Campbell High School principal at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

“Dr. Whittle brings a wealth of leadership experience to the Americas Southeast District,” says Dr. Christy Huddleston. “His depth of experience as a leader in secondary education and in the military makes him a perfect selection to serve and support our students, parents, faculty/staff and community as the principal of Fort Campbell High School.”

Dr. Whittle started his educational career as a math teacher for five years in Nottoway, Virginia. He has been a principal at the following schools throughout his career Nottoway Middle School, Nottoway High School, John F. Kennedy High School in Richmond, Virginia, Petersburg High School in Petersburg, Virginia. Then, he worked at HD Woodson 21st Century (STEM) High School in Washington D.C. where he focused on a cohort concept of School With-In A School (SWS) which assessed the implementation and impact of a targeted grade intervention to improve reading, math, project-based learning (PBL), and school engagement among all students who were taking assessments under the District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System (DC CAS) reading and math assessments for four years. Dr. Whittle currently works for DoDEA as the Antilles High School principal in Puerto Rico for the past seven years. He is also an adjunct professor with San Diego State University.

Dr. Whittle earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business and Management from the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland; Master of Education degree from Virginia State University at Petersburg, Virginia; Master of Divinity from Virginia Union University Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology; and Doctor of Education degree from Virginia State University in May 2011.

He is the author of Accreditation a Hands-on Approach for Principals (2007), presented at the National High Schools That Work (HSTW) conference in Nashville Tennessee on the topic: The use of classroom student performance data to improve teacher instructional practices. Dr. Whittle is the 2018 DoDEA Secondary Principal of the Year. He represented DoDEA at the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Conference in Boston in 2019, where he served on the roundtable discussion centered on school principal burnout.

Dr. Whittle is a United States Army veteran, who retired after 26 years as a command sergeant major. He spent 16 years in Germany as a tank commander, platoon sergeant, first sergeant, battalion master gunner, division master gunner, U.S. Army Europe master gunner, and operation (G3) sergeant major for 8th Infantry Division, and command sergeant major of 1st Squadron, 9th Air Cavalry Regiment at Fort Lewis, Washington.

He served three tours in Vietnam where he earned the Silver Star for heroism, two Purple Heart Medals, four Bronze Stars for Meritorious Service, and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge (CIB).