CAIRO — At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, Dr. Kermit Gilliard ended six years of service as the superintendent for Grady County Schools. 

Dr. Gilliard’s 29-plus years of experience in the Grady County includes 12 years as director of Education and two years as the assistant superintendent and led up to him taking over as superintendent on July 1, 2015.  

Derrick Majors, chair of the Grady County Board of Education, said that new opportunities may have caused Dr. Gilliard to resign. 

“I know he ended it with a heavy heart,” Majors said.” He had a lot of thought that went into this and knowing that the time he’s put into the Grady County School System, I know his decision wasn’t made easy. 

The school board is currently searching for an interim superintendent until someone can fill the position permanently. 

“At this point in the year, we have some time,” Majors said. 

Going forward, the absence of the superintendent will not affect the progress made in the first month schools have been open, Majors said.

“The superintendent has a good plan laid out and we look forward to continuing with the progress that we’ve been making,” he said.