For 23 years, Dr. Brian White has been the jack-of-all-trades in the education field, working as an athletic director, teacher, principal and superintendent.

Next year, the Bloomfield native will continue his long and versatile education career to the Montgomery County R-II School District, where he will replace Dr. Tracy Bottoms as the new superintendent.

White was selected by the R-II School Board as the new leader on Dec. 10, just two days after he was interviewed in-person. He is currently working as a superintendent at the Meadow Heights R-II School District, which is located in Patton, about 30 miles southwest of Cape Girardeau.

“Dr. White’s skill set and experience as a superintendent align with the District’s mission and desire to continue the tradition of excellence in Montgomery County,” R-II Board President Maria Stille said in a statement. “We look forward to his leadership and the ideas he brings to the table. We thank Dr. Bottoms for his leadership and are excited to welcome Dr. White into the Montgomery County community.”

The 47-year-old White graduated from Bloomfield High School in 1996. He earned Bachelor’s, Master’s and Specialist’s degrees from Southeast Missouri State University and a Doctorate’s degree from Arkansas State University.

White said he thought Montgomery County R-II was a good fit since he has extended family in the St. Louis and Columbia areas.

“Montgomery really jumped out because it’s crazy how much it is like the town I grew up in,” White said. “I grew up in Bloomfield. Bloomfield is the county seat and has about the same town population (as Montgomery City). We were the Wildcats. On top of that, my father’s name was Montgomery. I’m looking at it as, ‘This could be a great fit.’ I really loved the location. I went up and got interviewed. I fell in love with the school board.”

Bottoms is retiring as R-II superintendent after the 2024-25 school year. During his five-year tenure at R-II, the district had many highlights, such as getting a no-tax increase bond issue passed and opening the A.C.H.I.E.V.E. alternative school and a daycare center at Montgomery City Elementary School.

White will begin his R-II superintendent duties on July 1, 2025. He said one of his goals as superintendent is to help R-II continue to be a successful school district for Montgomery County-area residents.

“One of the biggest things I want to do is to continue to build on what Dr. Bottoms has been doing,” White said. “He has built a good culture there. I want to continue to just take care of the people the way he did it.”

White has been superintendent at Meadow Heights since 2020. He also worked 12 years as principal and six as teacher. He had stints at Chaffee, Puxico, Naylor, Poplar Bluff and his alma mater, Bloomfield. Before he decided to join the education business, White was a U.S. paratrooper at Folk Polk (now Fort Johnson), La.

“I can’t imagine a better profession for me because I’m a teacher at heart, no matter what role I’m in,” White said. “I’ve done everything over the years. I drove bus routes, senior trips, I was a coach and an assistant coach. I was an athletic director. I led elementary, junior high and high school as a building leader. So K-12, I was blessed to be able to do just a little bit of all of it. The best part is any given role, you get to exercise a little bit of teaching and learning and that’s really the core of it.”

White has two children, Nolan and Ella. Both of them are attending high school.