The Manatee County School District will soon be taking applications to fill the superintendent position.
Just two years after hiring Superintendent Rick Mills, he announced his retirement.
Mills, who was hired in 2013, and still has a year left in his contract, announced plans to leave at the end of July.
On Tuesday night, school board members voted to accept his retirement.
“We are going to have to decide as a board how to move forward," said Bob Gause, School Board Chair.
Mills cites a lack of board support for his decision to leave.
He also faced a lot of criticism, despite successfully cleaning up the district’s finances.
While the board agreed they need to move forward with plans to replace Mills, they said it was not the right decision to do so at their meeting Tuesday night.
Mills was unable to attend because of a family emergency.
"I'm a little uncomfortable dealing with this tonight because he's not here," said Charlie Kennedy, School Board Member.
To show him respect, the board agreed to hold off on discussing what comes next.
Instead, they’ll do that next month, a workshop meeting on May 24.
The superintendent search will be the second in just three years.
Mills replaced Tim McGonegal, who resigned after the huge financial mess at the district was discovered.