Adam Pugh, a former South Pontotoc High School Principal, is returning to town to become Pontotoc City School District’s new superintendent. Pugh has been principal at Lafayette High School in Oxford for seven years. He has 13 years experience as a principal and 19 years total education experience.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to come to Pontotoc where there is a rich tradition of academic excellence,” said the native of Bay Springs. “I want to build on the performance of Pontotoc City Schools and be a part of making the district even better,” he said.

Pugh received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in education from Mississippi State University and has completed work toward his Ph.D. at the University of Mississippi. He expects to receive the degree in August.

Lafayette High School has been a Level 5 school every year that Pugh has been its principal. He is extremely proud of the students and teachers for that accomplishment. The school has experienced growth and is adding 10 classrooms onto the present building.

Pugh’s wife, Kim, is from Ackerman, where her mother is the assistant superintendent of Choctaw County Schools. Their children are Zach, age 10, Andrew, age 6, and Claire Anne, age 3.

Kim teaches 7th and 8th grade science. They will begin immediately to search for a house in Pontotoc.

“We look forward to coming back to Pontotoc. I am really excited about this first opportunity to be a school district superintendent. I just want to help make a great place like Pontotoc an even better one through the schools,” Pugh added.

Pontotoc City School Board of Trustees president Wally Henry said the board is extremely excited to have Adam Pugh be the next leader of the school district.

“We had 21 applicants from four different states with some extremely highly-qualified candidates. Through the selection process it was clear to the school board that Adam Pugh was the person for the job. He has the vision that we need to lead our district as we move forward,” he said.

Henry further stated, “On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I want to thank our teachers, administrators and staff, and especially the community, for their help through this selection process in determining the qualities we were looking for in our next leader.”

“Our thanks also go to Dr. Michael Waldrop, Executive Director of the Mississippi School Board Association, and Dr. Harold Fisher, our consultant through this process, for their thorough and effective job leading us.

“As president of the board, I thank the school board members Rene Simon, Charlotte Bass, David Owen and Gary Golden, for their diligent work during the last four months, and especially the last few weeks, rearranging their schedules to make extra time to devote to choosing a new superintendent as soon as possible. We reached our goal of having a new superintendent by the end of May. Due to their efforts, it’s done. We have a unanimous choice of the board in Adam Pugh,” said Henry.

Pugh begins his job as superintendent of Pontotoc City Schools on July 1.