South Central Career Center Director Jim Laughary officially retired after 31 years in education on June 30, 2022. Mr. Laughary served in numerous administration, coaching, and teaching roles in his 28-year career in the West Plains School District. He also served as a high school principal at Bakersfield School District from 1999 – 2002.
Mr. Laughary says he was privileged to be a part of an outstanding team of educators at the South Central Career Center for the last ten years. He helped SCCC with two accreditation cycles with the Council on Occupational Education (COE), earning a maximum of 6 years of accreditation each time. SCCC was the first career center in the state to be accredited by COE and among the first 6 in the nation in the history of COE to have an accreditation visit conducted virtually. Mr. Laughary was also awarded the “New Administrator of the Year” award from the Missouri Council of Career and Technical Administrators (MCCTA) in 2017. “As high school principal at Bakersfield, I was encouraged by my superintendent, Jerry Taylor, to “hire good people.” I was blessed to be able to hire and work with outstanding people, which made my role at SCCC the best job in education.”, says Laughary.
