VALDOSTA —
After one year as Valdosta High School principal, Rufus McDuffie has announced his retirement.
McDuffie announced his retirement Tuesday. It goes into effect June 30, according to Valdosta City Schools. He is still expected to preside over this week’s graduation ceremony.
“The Valdosta City Schools family is sad to see Coach McDuffie go but wishes him the very best in his retirement,” according to a statement from the school system.
The city school system offered no other comment Wednesday regarding the retirement and noted only that the search for a new principal is underway.
“McDuffie, affectionately referred to as Coach by most everyone in the district, began his career in 1981 as a teacher at Pierce County High School in Blackshear,” according to Valdosta City Schools.
“From there, he went on to spend 20 years in Camilla at Mitchell-Baker High School as a teacher, then an assistant principal and head basketball coach. McDuffie left there in 2002 and went to Washington County High School as a teacher and coach and was eventually promoted to assistant principal.”
He arrived in July 2006 at Valdosta High School as the head basketball coach and as an assistant principal. He became Valdosta High’s first African-American principal in July 2011.
“I enjoy working with the kids,” McDuffie told The Times in 2011. “Initially I came to education because I wanted to coach. But for most of us, you don’t last in education if you just want to coach. You’ve got to be a teacher, and you’ve got to do a good job teaching. Education is all about teaching, instruction, getting kids to learn, getting kids to get to the next level and do well on tests and everything. I learned very quickly, and I didn’t have a problem with it, that I really had to apply myself and be an effective teacher in the classroom. And I feel like I was.”
Local News
Valdosta High principal to retire
- Local News
-
-
Coliform found in drinking water
The cause of a water quality issue is still under investigation by the City of Valdosta Utilities Department after a water sample taken from a line in the area near the intersection of St. Augustine Road and West Hill Avenue tested positive for coliform bacteria.
-
The Big One: Preparing for mid-America earthquake
It’s a bleak scenario. A massive earthquake along the New Madrid fault kills or injures 60,000 people in Tennessee. A quarter of a million people are homeless. The Memphis airport — the country’s biggest air terminal for packages — goes off-line. Major oil and gas pipelines across Tennessee rupture, causing shortages in the Northeast. In Missouri, another 15,000 people are hurt or dead. Cities and towns throughout the central U.S. lose power and water for months. Losses stack up to hundreds of billions of dollars.
-
Preparing South Georgia for a disaster
A pair of specialized urban rescuers shed some of their protective gear for a moment and exchange relieved smiles because, on the roads across the swamps of residential rubble, a caravan of Lowndes citizens returns to a county that, according to Lowndes officials, was able to repair its wounds in the aftermath of a Category 5 storm due to a dynamic package of disaster plans.
-
Valdosta police honor Moody security force
Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress awarded a set of challenge coins Friday to 12 members of Moody Air Force Base’s security forces. The coin ceremony served as a thank-you from the Valdosta Police Department for the base’s operational support in handling bomb threats and helping in community matters.
-
Charges filed in bomb threat made from jail
A pair of inmates received additional charges this week when they reportedly phoned a bomb threat from the Lowndes County Jail to South Georgia Medical Center Tuesday, according to the Valdosta Police Department.
-
Echols deputies seize a half-million in pot
A public indecency call late Friday afternoon led to the seizure of a marijuana grow house, 38 mature plants, and the arrest of an Echols County man, according to the Echols County Sheriff’s Office.
-
Weekend Update: Morven Peach Festival
News reporter Caitlin Barker speaks to representatives Sandy Rentz and Dawana Nunnally from the Morven Peach Committee, about the Peach Festival taking place this Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. The band Trailer of Tears will play from 10:30 a.m. until 2 p.m., followed by a parade taking place at 2 p.m.
-
Just Peachy
Peach tarts, peach ice cream, a peach parade and the Peach Queen — it’s time for the 26th Annual Morven Peach Festival.
-
Boys and Girls Club prepares for smooth transition
When longtime Boys and Girls Club of Valdosta Chief Professional Officer Robert Soper officially retires on June 1, his successor will already be in place, ready to take the reins of the organization.
-
Lowndes Middle student charged in school fire
An 11-year-old has been charged with arson after reportedly starting a fire in a Lowndes Middle School restroom on a dare earlier this week, according to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office Thursday.
- More Local News Headlines
-
