Graham Athletic Director plans to retire before balloting begins
One of the final entries into the 2026 races – Kyle Ward of Graham, who filed for one of three open seats on the Alamance-Burlington school board – is a veteran teacher and current athletic director at Graham High School who says he plans to retire from ABSS before his name appears on the ballot for the November 2026 general election.
Ward, who has served as Graham High School’s athletic director since 2020, confirmed his forthcoming retirement for The Alamance News in an interview Tuesday.
Ward filed on the last day of the filing period, December 19, for one of three seats on the school board that will be up for grabs in the 2026 general election. (The nonpartisan school board race doesn’t have a primary.) He will face incumbent school board members Dan Ingle and Drs. Charles Parker and Eric Hall, as well as four other candidates.
Ward acknowledged a provision within the North Carolina Constitution and its public education laws that requires any person who is elected or appointed to a local school board – and is also employed by that school board – to resign his employment before taking office on the board.
“This is not something I’m taking lightly; this is something I’ve had my sights set on for a little while now,” Ward told the newspaper.
“I am retiring, as of June 30 of this year,” Ward said Tuesday. “That will give me 29 years.” He plans to convert a year’s worth of unused sick leave in order to receive credit for 30 years of service needed for full retirement benefits through the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System (TSERS).
“That will give me 30 years with Alamance-Burlington schools,” Ward elaborated. “I’ve got a couple months before I turn in my paperwork, but my intention as of right now is [to retire on] June 30.”
Ward pointed to his deep roots in the school system and at Graham High School.
A 1990 graduate of Graham High School, the Alamance County native began his career in public education as a physical education teacher and coach in the Graham zone 29 years ago, following his graduation from then-Elon College in 1997.
He has been with ABSS throughout his entire career in public education, which he began as a student teacher at Southern High School in 1996, before he was hired the following spring to teach P.E. and coach three sports at Graham Middle School.
Ward continued in that role until around 2002 or 2003, when he was offered a job at Graham High School, he said in the interview. At Graham High, he has coached virtually every sport – except track and wrestling – and served as a first responder for the Red Devils’ football team and as the assistant athletic director under Mike Williams before being named the high school’s AD in 2020.
Ward said his wife is also former educator who worked at Cummings, Williams, and Southern High schools – and briefly as a literacy coach at Graham High School – before working on school turnaround (reform) initiatives within the state Department of Public Instruction. The couple’s three children have also gone through ABSS schools; the youngest daughter is currently a student at Southern Middle School, he said.
“I hope I can take the knowledge I have through my many years of service to better ABSS from the inside out – and that’s making sure we put students and teachers first,” said Ward. “I’m not coming with any lack of experience.”
