Lauderdale county chooses new superintendent

After Randy Hodges announced his retirement from superintendent of Lauderdale County Public Schools in January after 40 years in education, the new search process quickly began. Instead of electing, the school board chose the MSBA Superintendent Search Committee to bring in applicants. After looking through these applicants as-well-as local applicants, the school board has now appointed Dr. John-Mark Cain.

“We’re just so excited to be here with the opportunity to lead such a great school district with the legacy that Mr. Hodges has left behind. He’s done a fantastic job and is well-revered around the state. As we talked about earlier, there’s such great people here in Lauderdale county, and we just look at it as a wonderful opportunity to come and lead.” -Dr. John-Mark Cain, appointed superintendent

Randy Hodges says finding someone who will be a great fit for an already great district was crucial and that the high standards the district places on itself is something to be maintained.

“When we’d go around the state and we would talk to people from different educational avenues, the people from Lauderdale county always stood out as just being fantastic people and very passionate people and people who always want to do great things for their students and that always stood out to me. So, when this position became available it stood out to me.” -Cain

Dr. Cain, who has a doctorate in education leadership from Ole Miss and a master’s in education from

MSU, looks forward to working within the Lauderdale County Public School district and will be moving here with his wife and two daughters.

“Coming into a successful school district you really just have to kind of look and listen and feel your away about what’s working. You know, talk to your community and stake holders about what they feel like we’re doing well and then what we can do better and then take it there to take the school district to the next level.” -Cain