Longtime Lexington High School principal announces retirement plans
The longtime principal at Lexington High School announced her plans to retire.
During a meeting last week, Melissa C. Rawl informed staff she will be retiring, Lexington County School District One spokeswoman Mary Beth Hill said in a news release.
Rawl has worked at Midlands schools for more than 40 years, according to the release.
The Lexington High grad has worked at her alma mater since 1998, and spent the past nine years as the principal, it said in the release.
“Melissa Rawl truly represents the best of Lexington District One,” Lexington County School District One Superintendent Greg Little said in the release. “A quiet, calm leader, her employees know that she cares about them, but also know that she expects the very best they have to offer students. Under her leadership, LHS has flourished.”
Information was not available if Rawls will retire at the end of the school year, or on another date.
There was no word on a possible plan for her succession.
The Lexington High principal has an undergraduate degree, in addition to a Master of Arts in Teaching (English), and a Master in Education in administrative leadership from the University of South Carolina.
Rawl began her teaching career in 1978 at Brookland-Cayce High School in Lexington School District Two, according to the release.
She moved to Airport High School in 1979 as a teacher and department chair, and joined Lexington District One’s Gilbert High School in 1997 as a teacher and department chair, Hill said.
In 1998, Rawl moved to Lexington High School, where she served as a teacher and the district’s secondary summer school coordinator before becoming an assistant principal in 2001, then principal in 2011, according to the release.
Over the years Rawl has received several awards and honors, including:
▪ 2018 S.C. Athletic Administrators Association 5A Principal of the Year
▪ 2017 Lexington Rotary Club Lee Bullington Spirit Award winner
▪ 2014 Palmetto Center for Women TWIN Award recipient
▪ 2008 SCASA South Carolina Secondary Assistant Principal of the Year
▪ 2004 Army National Guard Recognition of Support
▪ 2000 Lexington High School Teacher of the Year finalist
▪ 1994 Barbara H. James Award/Academic Teacher of the Year for Outstanding Contributions to and Support of Tech Prep
▪ 1990 Airport High School Teacher of the Year.
