Hartselle City Schools superintendent Dr. Dee Dee Jones tonight announced her intent to retire. Jones has been with the district since 2017.

“I have been blessed to lead an excellent school system; I appreciate your support and help over the last five years,” Jones said in an email.

Jones said she has been offered an opportunity in the private sector after 34 years in education.

Board member Daxton Maze said he and his colleagues are grateful and appreciative of Jones’s service to the district.

“Dr. Jones has dedicated nearly 35 years to public education and has provided great leadership to Hartselle City Schools over the past five years, he said. “She has worked to recruit great administrators and teachers that will help carry our school system forward in the future.”

“I will work with the board to make a smooth transition to an interim. We will start school together and have everything in place as we begin the 2022-23 school year,” Jones wrote.

Jones, in June 2017, filled the position left vacant by Vic Wilson, who had been superintendent since 2013.