When Barbara Worrell was first arrested in Colonial Beach the first reaction by many was that it couldn’t really be true — that someone or somebodies had a vendetta against her and everything would eventually work out. When Worrell was put on unpaid administrative leave, there were many who still believed that things would work out for her and she would be back at her post in charge of the Colonial Beach schools’ monies.

How could it be that the woman who had steered Colonial Beach schools through four superintendents and five sets of auditors had been stealing from the school children and the citizens of Colonial Beach.
Think of those who had put their best efforts into building their own school and making sure that Colonial Beach maintained an independent school system. It just couldn’t be that someone like Barbara could have so egregiously betrayed their trust.
The Colonial Beach School system has been the heart and soul of this little independent town for as long as most anyone can remember. To see Worrell now plead guilty to stealing at least $335,000 from the residents of Colonial Beach really leaves one with a great sense of betrayal.
How could it be that the person who had managed to stave off all attempts to wrest control of the school finances from her was using that power to enrich herself? One former town official said this week that he felt she was cooking the books, as the saying goes, but that she was doing it for the children. It never occurred to that person that she was just a common criminal, taking money for herself.
How many arguments over school money, how many threats about combining computer systems have swirled at the Beach over the years. How many arguments between the Town Council and the School Board have taken place over money or lack thereof, how it should be accounted for and who should be in charge of it.
And to think that most of those arguments could have been avoided if the money had been where it was supposed to be - in town coffers and not in the pocketbook of the woman who was in charge.
For as long as this writer has been writing for The Journal, back as far as 1984, the schools have been front and center in Colonial Beach. First there was Superintendent Dr. Warner who made sure that the money was raised to build the new high school, against all odds. How many fund raisers, bake sales, car washes, you name it, made the new school possible. The residents of the Beach wanted their own school system and that is all there was to it.
Make a disparaging remark about the schools or threaten to join the system with Westmoreland schools and you would be toast in Colonial Beach. Any politician who suggested such a move at the Beach was subject to being run out of town, or certainly losing an election.
And through all this time, there was Barbara Worrell at the helm, in charge of the money. Barbara was the one who, from this writer’s perspective, was the one constant in the school system. Since 1984 there have been four Superintendents and at least five different audit firms looking at the sparse funds which have kept the schools running.
The list is long, but somehow, during all that time, Barbara was able to control the monies and the numerous bank accounts. Was it because no one thought she might be going off with money, or was it because she had her own protectors who trusted and protected her. That will all come out at sentencing.
Thanks to the largess of Judge Joseph Ellis, the judge who presided at Worrell’s hearing in Westmoreland Circuit Court on Dec. 17, Barbara will be spending the Christmas holidays with her family. Some involved say that she is still out on bond because she is expected to lead officials to what other monies she may have taken and who, if anyone, was complicit in her larceny.
The question on the minds of many is how she got away with her thefts for so long. That act of kindness may be in keeping with the season, but one can only wonder what the woman who will be home with her family this Christmas, was thinking during all the years when she was stealing money from those who placed their trust in her and her work.
What is so depressing for many is that people placed such faith in her over the years, they backed her or backed away from her because she had such support from school officials. And all the time she was scheming to enrich herself.
You just have to wonder how she could continue the deception and how she could face townspeople over the years who had trust in her.
It’s sad, so sad to see the havoc and loss she has perpetrated on the residents of the Beach. For a town with so little money at its disposal and so much trust in a town official, it’s just a shame. While everyone is thinking about how to unscramble Barbara’s situation, let’s hope the new year will bring some closure and some renewed faith in the goodness of most people. And, if some of the money she stole and used for her own purposes can be found and returned, so much the better.