Blair Oaks hires interim superintendent

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Blair Oaks School District has hired an administrator with decades of experience in Missouri as its interim superintendent.

Mark Harvey will lead the school district for the coming year, the district said in a news release. Harvey was most recently the assistant superintendent in the Oak Grove School District near Kansas City. Before that, he was the superintendent at Pike County R-III in Clarksville.

Harvey is working on his doctoral degree through Lindenwood University, according to Blair Oaks.

Harvey is replacing Acting Superintendent Chris Marshall, who has helmed the district since longtime superintendent Jim Jones was put on leave and subsequently retired. Marshall, who is also high school principal, will remain with the district.

Jones worked for the district for 23 years -- 19 of them as superintendent. He retired June 30 after a two-month leave.

Jones and the district signed a separation agreement that includes a payment of about $66,000 and a stipulation that Jones "will not be present at District sponsored events or on District property without first obtaining written permission from the Superintendent or President of the Board of Education" for five years.

The district plans to post an opening for the position in the fall.