Muscogee principal placed on leave amid Columbus police investigation, reports say
The Muscogee County School District has placed a principal on administrative leave while the Columbus Police Department investigates an incident involving him, according to two TV news reports.
WRBL and WTVM reported Friday that the principal MCSD placed on leave is Maurdrice McNeill of Hardaway High School. They cited MCSD communications director Kimberly Wright as their source.
WTVM’s report says MCSD’s spokesperson called the reason for the investigation a charge of misdemeanor criminal trespass not related to school.
Wright and CPD public information officer Brittany Santiago haven’t replied to the Ledger-Enquirer’s request for information about this case.
It’s unclear who is in charge of Hardaway while McNeill is on leave. Hardaway has three assistant principals, according to its website: Erika Gandy, Matt Redmond and Kelvin Smith.
The MCSD board unanimously approved superintendent David Lewis’ recommendation to promote McNeill from an assistant principal at Hardaway to principal of the school in May 2022.
According to his resume, which was attached to the board’s agenda for that meeting, McNeill has been an educator for 16 years, all in MCSD. Before being an assistant principal at Hardaway for two years, he was assistant principal at Brewer Elementary School (2018-20) and a health/physical education teacher at Aaron Cohn Middle School (2015-18), Carver High School (2013-15), Shaw High School (2011-13), East Columbus Magnet Academy (2010) and Baker Middle School (2009-10). He also has coached football and track and field.
McNeill earned a bachelor’s degree (2009) and a master’s degree (2011) in health and physical education from Albany State University. He earned a specialist’s degree in health and physical education from Jacksonville State University in 2013 and an educational leadership certificate from Columbus State University in 2017.
