Loughridge named sole finalist for Murray County Schools superintendent; school board expected to vote on Thursday

Published 5:00 pm Saturday, January 5, 2019

Murray County Schools’ next superintendent is likely to be a familiar face.

The Board of Education has named Finance Director and Interim Superintendent Steve Loughridge as the sole finalist for the position.

“We are still discussing my contract and ironing out the details,” Loughridge said. “We hope to have everything finalized so they can vote and make it official at the board work session on Jan. 10. If not then, at the board meeting on Jan. 14.”

Loughridge has served as interim superintendent since the board removed Eric McFee as superintendent in March of 2018 after 19 months on the job. Board members declined to say why they removed McFee.

Loughridge, who has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Georgia and is a certified public accountant (CPA), has been the school system’s finance director since March of 2003.

“I’d been in public accounting for about 13 years at that point,” he said. “There was an opening for finance director and they wanted a CPA in that job. I thought it would be an interesting change. I interviewed for the job.”

Loughridge says he doesn’t expect to implement any major changes.

“We’ve got to develop our new five-year facility plan because we are in that part of our planning cycle. That will be one of the first things we start on,” he said. “We are doing some renovations at Gladden Middle School.”

School board Chairman Greg Shoemaker and Vice Chairman Heath Jones did not immediately return telephone messages.