Rutherford High School, Panama City: zone, report card, calendar

Last checked Oct. 10, 2026. Sources: Bay District Schools, its 2026-27 academic calendar, start and end times and transportation page, the school’s website, Bay County’s school zone map, the U.S. Census Bureau’s geocoder, the Florida Department of Education’s 2026 school grades, the federal NCES school directory and the Florida High School Athletic Association.

Rutherford High School is a Bay District Schools school for grades 6 through 12 on School Avenue. It has a Panama City mailing address, but the campus sits inside the City of Springfield, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s geocoder. Its zone covers the east side of Panama City: about 11% of the residential addresses inside the Panama City limits on Bay County’s school zone maps.

Who to call

• Front office: 850-767-4500, 1000 School Ave., Panama City, FL 32401
• School website: bay.k12.fl.us/o/rutherford
• IB programs: IB coordinator Danyell Smith, 850-767-4514
• Which school am I zoned for? School Choice and Zoning, 850-767-4328, or the district’s School Zone and Bus Route search
• Buses: district Transportation, 850-767-4495; the route manager line for Rutherford and nearby schools is 850-767-4489

Principal. Jonathan McQuagge is the principal, according to the school’s website.

Enrollment and teachers

• Federal count: 1,394 students in the 2024-25 school year, with 80 full-time-equivalent classroom teachers, according to the NCES directory. That is about 17 students per teacher.

State report card

Florida gave Rutherford a C in its 2026 school grades, with 52% of the points possible, its third C in a row, according to the Florida Department of Education’s 2026 school grades file. The school’s state report card has results by student group; it is an interactive dashboard that could not be read for this page.

Florida grades schools A to F on the share of possible points earned across these measures. Achievement is the share of tested students on grade level; learning gains is the share who improved from the year before. The state’s file lists Rutherford as a combination school, where A is 65% of points or more, B is 60% to 64% and C is 45% to 59%.

Attendance zone and feeder schools

Bay District Schools assigns schools by home address. We checked all 16,380 residential address points inside the Panama City limits in Bay County’s address records against the county’s school zone maps. About 11% are zoned for Rutherford High, most of them on the city’s east side, including most of Millville. Bay High has 82% and Mosley High 6%.

Feeder schools. The district does not publish a feeder list, and each level has its own zone map. Of the city addresses zoned for Rutherford High, the maps place:

• Middle school: Merritt Brown Middle for 79%; the other 21% are zoned for Rutherford’s own middle grades
• Elementary: Tommy Smith for 79%, Cedar Grove for 11% and Merriam Cherry Street for 10%

The line between the Rutherford and Bay High zones runs through Millville, so check each address with the district’s School Zone and Bus Route search.

Calendar and bell times

From the district’s 2026-27 student calendar:

• Monday, Oct. 12: Columbus Day, no school
• Wednesday, Oct. 28: teacher planning day, no school for students
• Wednesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day, no school
• Nov. 23-27: Thanksgiving break
• Monday, Dec. 21: winter break begins; students return Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2027
• Monday, May 24, 2027: Rutherford graduation

Bell times. Rutherford (6-12) runs 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the district’s 2026-27 start and end times.

Sports and activities

In football, Rutherford plays in Class 2A, Region 1, District 2 for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons, with Florida High (Tallahassee), Gadsden County (Havana) and North Bay Haven (Panama City), according to the Florida High School Athletic Association’s finalized football classifications (spreadsheet). The school’s website does not publish a team list; schedules for every district school are on the district’s athletics site. Follow results on our scoreboard.

Programs, as the school names them on its pathways page:

• International Baccalaureate: the IB Diploma Program for 11th and 12th graders, with a 30-year history in Bay County, and the IB Career Program, added in fall 2023
• Advanced Placement and AP Capstone
• Career pathways: agriscience, aviation, construction, culinary, digital design, forensics, health science, and hospitality and tourism
• Air Force JROTC

Rutherford is also a Community Partnership School, offering counseling, medical and dental care, after-school programs and family support on campus, its partnership page says.

More on Panama City schools

• The school’s page on the Bay District Schools website
• Every public school in Panama City, with zones and report cards
• Our Panama City schools guide for registration, the full calendar and School Board meetings

Frequently asked questions

What grades does Rutherford High School serve?

Rutherford serves grades 6 through 12. It is at 1000 School Ave., with a Panama City mailing address, and its main line is 850-767-4500.

What is Rutherford High School’s Florida school grade?

Rutherford earned a C in Florida’s 2026 school grades, with 52% of possible points, its third C in a row. Its 2024-25 graduation rate was 94%.

Which schools feed Rutherford High from Panama City?

Of the Panama City homes zoned for Rutherford High on Bay County’s zone maps, 79% are zoned for Merritt Brown Middle and 21% for Rutherford’s own middle grades. Their elementary schools are Tommy Smith, Cedar Grove and Merriam Cherry Street.

What time does Rutherford High School start?

Rutherford runs 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the district’s 2026-27 schedule.