MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — Monroe County Schools' superintendent has announced his upcoming retirement after 30 years as an educator.
According to a news release from the Monroe County School District, Superintendent Mike Hickman will retire at the end of the 2022-2023 school year in June. Hickman says it's time to focus on the next phase of his life.
“Monroe County Schools is a wonderful place to work. I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with such great people in the school district over the years,” said Dr. Hickman. “I’m also confident that the future is extremely bright for the students, staff, and parents in the Monroe County School System,” Hickman said in the release.
The school board will be searching for the next superintendent soon. In a staff meeting Tuesday, Board Chair Dr. Priscilla Doster said it will be difficult to replace Dr. Hickman because there’s no one else exactly like him.
The release says Hickman spent his first eight years in the classroom as a science teacher and athletic coach before becoming an Assistant Principal at Mary Persons High School. He served three years as Assistant Principal at Mary Persons High School from 2001 to 2004.
Hickman served as an Assistant Principal at Pike County Elementary School in Zebulon, Georgia, for two years from 2004 to 2006, and served as Principal of Banks Stephens Middle School from 2006 to 2011.
A longtime resident of Forsyth and 1984 graduate of Mary Persons High School, Hickman also served as the Assistant Superintendent for Personnel and Middle/High Education in Monroe County Schools from 2011 to 2015. He was named Interim Superintendent by the Board of Education in May of 2015 and was approved as Superintendent in December of 2015.
