2 DSUSD officials set to retire in 2017
Desert Sands Unified School District Superintendent Gary Rutherford and DSUSD Assistant Superintendent Kathy Felci are both set to retire in 2017, School Board President Michael Duran announced at a board meeting on Tuesday night.
Rutherford will be retiring in January and Felci will retire in July, according to the district’s release.
Rutherford has had a four year leadership role with the district, and wrote in his letter to the board, “It has been my privilege to serve in this wonderful community…it’s time for me to retire from public education in order to devote full time attention to my roles as husband, father, grandfather, and citizen of the Coachella Valley.”
Rutherford also served as superintendent at both Upland Unified School District and Huntington Beach City School District. Officials said in his over 40 years of education, he was a classroom teacher, dean of students, assistant principal, and principal. In 2013, he was selected as California’s nominee for the National Superintendent of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators.
President Duran said, “It is with both regret and a sense of appreciation that the Board of Education of Desert Sands Unified School District announces the planned retirement of Superintendent Gary Rutherford. While we will miss Gary’s insight, the entire board joins me in thanking him for his leadership, counsel, and his sense of humor. We wish he and his family the very best as they embark on this next adventure.”
Duran also accepted Assistant Superintendent Kathy Felci’s retirement at Tuesday night’s meeting. He said, “Her guidance has assisted the board in implementing positive change in our classrooms and she will be greatly missed.”
According to the district’s release, Felci has over 40 years of experience in education. She began her teaching career in 1976 as a New York City inner-city teacher. Her relocation to California brought her to DSUSD where she spent 27 years serving desert students. She was a teacher at James Monroe Elementary School, a project facilitator in the state and federal programs office, as principal of both Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School and Dr. Carreon Academy, director of curriculum and instruction, and, for the past eight years, assistant superintendent of educational services.
