Chickasaw police have opened a criminal investigation into Brent Ward, who resigned as a school principal in the Chickasaw City Schools system earlier this month, according to a report from WKRG News 5.
Ward was placed on paid administrative leave on Nov. 3 while the district investigated allegations against him. Chickasaw City Schools Superintendent Kyle Kallhoff declined to detail the specific nature of the allegations, saying only that they had been brought to his attention by another employee within the system.
The Chickasaw school board accepted Ward’s resignation on Nov. 13, closing out his tenure with the district. Ward had been hired in May 2013 to lead the system’s combined middle and high school grades. Before joining Chickasaw City Schools, he served as an assistant principal at B.C. Rain High School in Mobile.
Kallhoff said the school system’s internal investigation into the allegations against Ward is a separate matter from the newly opened criminal probe being conducted by Chickasaw police, though both stem from the same underlying concerns raised by district staff.
The case has drawn attention in Chickasaw, a small Mobile County community where school leadership changes tend to ripple quickly through the close-knit district. School officials have not said whether any additional personnel changes are expected as the investigation continues, and have emphasized that the district’s priority remains ensuring a stable transition for students and staff during the ongoing inquiry.
Chickasaw police have not released further details about the scope of the criminal investigation, and it remains unclear what charges, if any, could result from the probe. The district has said it will continue to cooperate with investigators as the case moves forward.
The resignation and subsequent investigation come at a sensitive time for Chickasaw City Schools, a small system that has worked in recent years to stabilize leadership and maintain community trust following a series of administrative changes across its schools.