WA School for the Blind superintendent resigns, citing harassment and threats

Scott McCallum has been the Vancouver school’s superintendent since 2016

Jake Goldstein-Street
Washington State Standard

The longtime superintendent at the Washington State School for the Blind is resigning amid threats from a disgruntled former employee, he announced this month. 

“Change can bring fresh energy and perspective, and I am hopeful the agency will continue to grow and thrive in the years ahead,” Scott McCallum wrote in his resignation letter. “I have decided it is best for me and for the WSSB that I resign from my role as superintendent to seek new leadership opportunities.”

McCallum has been the Vancouver school’s superintendent since 2016. Gov. Bob Ferguson reappointed McCallum upon taking office in January.

In his resignation letter to Ferguson, McCallum attributed his departure, effective Aug. 15, partially to “continuous harassment from a former employee that has created significant disruption across the agency.”

“I remain hopeful that such disruption and threats may cease once I depart my role as superintendent,” he wrote to the governor Aug. 1. “Also, with the recent shift to your administration and our school year ending, I believe this is the appropriate time for WSSB to begin a new chapter under new leadership.”

In a court filing in May related to the alleged harassment, McCallum said he worried the former employee would escalate threats and commit violence. He was especially worried since many of the staff at the school are blind or visually impaired. 

“Her continual focus on us and violence, and our particular vulnerabilities has us all worried and scared,” he wrote. “I regularly drive new routes to work. I park in different places at work regularly, always backed in to make for a quick escape. I can’t leave my house without looking out to see if she is outside and I have found new routes to walk my dogs.”

McCallum didn’t respond to requests for further comment last week.

Ferguson tapped Pam Parker, the school’s outreach director, to serve as interim superintendent for the 2025-26 school year.

The school serves blind, visually-impaired and deaf-blind students. Fifty students were enrolled this past school year, according to state data. It has about 100 full-time equivalent employees and a state budget of around $29 million.

McCallum has a national reputation in education of students who are blind or visually impaired. He helped implement the country’s first online adaptive state assessment that is accessible to students who read Braille.

In 2022, the National Federation of the Blind awarded McCallum with the Distinguished Educator of Blind Students award. 

Before coming to Washington, McCallum worked in education in Oregon.

This report was first published by the Washington State Standard.