Libya RPCV Roy Douthitt named Blue Ridge principal
Read and comment on this excerpt from a story from The Sylva Herald about Roy Douthitt who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Libya in 1969 when Moamar Qadaffi came to power, and was expelled from the country along with other English teachers. Given the choice of another overseas Peace Corps assignment or participation in Teacher Corps, Douthitt opted for Teacher Corps and remembers the atmosphere at the tiny Canada School as "welcoming and hospitable." Read the story at:
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Douthitt named Blue Ridge principal
By Lynn Hotaling
Local school officials Monday (June 2) chose an educator with global experience to lead the county's smallest school.
Roy Douthitt, acting principal at the K-12 school since Lib Balcerek retired in April, has been named Blue Ridge's principal, according to Superintendent Mack McCary.
"I'm very pleased," McCary said Tuesday. "I think Roy has really been a crucial part of Blue Ridge's effort to reach out and re-energize the community and parents. I think he's poised to help that school take the next step."
McCary also praised members of the Blue Ridge interview team, who were instrumental in the selection of the school's new principal. "I think we had a good process, and I'd like to thank the Blue Ridge interview team," McCary said. "They didn't choose the principal, but they were involved in identifying the qualities needed in a principal."
Committee members interviewed three of the five candidates who applied for the position, McCary said.
Douthitt's contract will be for two years, and he will receive an annual salary of $60,000 ($57,400 from state funds and $2,600 from local funds), said school system finance officer David Steinbicker.
Douthitt, who began his educational career in 1969 as a Teacher Corps intern at Canada School (consolidated with Camp Lab in 1982; Camp Lab became Cullowhee Valley in 1994), brings international experience to Blue Ridge.
He joined the faculty of the southern Jackson County school in February 2000 as language arts instructor for the seventh and eighth grades after a three-year stint in Saudi Arabia, where he was with the training department of the Arabian American Oil Co.
Douthitt was affiliated with local real estate firm Western Carolina Properties from 1993-97. Prior to that he was a consultant with Washington, D.C., firm Boozallen and Hamilton, where he was the English language training manager for Saudi Arabia and coordinated English language training for the Royal Saudi Navy.
It was his experience at Canada School more than three decades ago that brought Douthitt back to Jackson County, he said.
"That one year convinced me that Jackson County was where I wanted to make my home," he said.
Caption: Roy Douthitt was a Peace Corps volunteer in Libya in 1969 when Moamar Qadaffi came to power, and was expelled from the country along with other English teachers.
Douthitt, a Peace Corps volunteer in Libya in 1969 when Moamar Qadaffi came to power, was expelled from the country along with other English teachers. Given the choice of another overseas Peace Corps assignment or participation in Teacher Corps, Douthitt opted for Teacher Corps and remembers the atmosphere at the tiny Canada School as "welcoming and hospitable."
Douthitt received a bachelor's degree in political science from Oklahoma State University in 1968. He holds two master's degrees - English as a second language from American University in Cairo and elementary education from Western Carolina University - and a doctorate in international/intercultural development education from Florida State University. He completed coursework for his administrative certification at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1991.
Douthitt lives in Tuckasegee. He and his wife, Pamela , a first-grade teacher at Cullowhee Valley, have two children - Brianna, a rising junior at Smoky Mountain High, and Charles, who has completed two years at WCU and plans to transfer to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Click on a link below for more stories on PCOL
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