McDuffie County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mychele Rhodes was recently recognized as one of four finalists for Georgia’s 2025 Superintendent of the Year award during the Georgia School Superintendents Association (GSSA) Fall Bootstrap Conference. Twenty candidates were nominated by boards of education, colleagues, community members, and business folks from all over the state between August 2 and September 2, 2024. Four of those were selected as finalists to represent the superintendent’s profession in the state.
Dr. Rhodes has been an educator for 31 years, 27 of those in the McDuffie County School System, including 11 as superintendent. She started as a first-grade teacher at Maxwell Elementary, later becoming the school’s assistant principal, then its principal. She also served as the district’s director of curriculum and instruction and assistant superintendent before being chosen by the board to serve as superintendent in 2014.
Under her leadership, the McDuffie County School System has seen the graduation rate increase from 66.1 percent to 91.3 percent through a variety of innovative and targeted programs. She also oversaw the restructuring of policies and procedures that strengthened the organizational and financial stability of the district.
The Superintendent of the Year finalists will now move to the next phase of completing an application to enter the national competition. One of the four will be selected late this year to represent the state of Georgia against the 49 other states and Canada. GSSA officials say it is a tremendous honor to be among the very best professionals who answer the call to serve as K-12 public school superintendents.