Mount Vernon Superintendent Gary O’Malley to retire

MOUNT VERNON - Superintendent Gary O'Malley, who has led the Mount Vernon school district for four years, is retiring at the end of the school year.

O'Malley announced his retirement, effective July 1, 2017, at a school board meeting Monday.

'There's no exaggeration, and I'm not trying to be humble here - I have been blessed,” O'Malley, 64, said of his 43 years in education. 'I just fell into this career by accident, and I've been so fortunate to never have left the classroom since I started kindergarten in 1959.”

O'Malley said he plans to remain in the area in retirement. He and his wife have a house in Coralville, where he said he has few plans except to try 'sleeping in late and taking frequent naps.”

O'Malley joined the 1,300-student Mount Vernon Community School District in 2013 after a four-year stint with the Cedar Rapids Community School District. There, he was an associate superintendent and deputy superintendent overseeing middle and high school principals.

He worked in several Illinois districts before moving to the Corridor to pursue a doctorate at the University of Iowa.

When he moved to the Mount Vernon district, School Board Vice President Sherry Grunder said O'Malley 'brought a very much needed sense of peace to the community.”

'He is very kind and an excellent ambassador for our district,” Grunder said. 'He does a fabulous job of being out in the community and making sure people know all the good things that are going on.”

The school board plans to begin the hiring process for O'Malley's successor soon, Board President Lori Merlak said, and is considering working with a search firm to recruit candidates.

'The earlier you do that, the more candidates that are available,” Merlak said. 'We're very, very happy he announced when he did. Now, we have time to really fully search for someone to come in, and we can transition that person while Dr. O'Malley is getting ready to leave.”

O'Malley said he timed his announcement to allow for a robust search for his successor.

'We're going to finish strong. We've got until June, and there's work to be done and we're going to get it done,” O'Malley said. 'I'm glad to announce that Mount Vernon is looking for a new superintendent. I'm sure they'll get some great interest.”

Ideally, Mount Vernon's next superintendent would be hired by March, board members said.

In his Monday statement, O'Malley thanked Mount Vernon for 'its kindness, generosity, and good will” during his tenure there.

'How did it get so late so soon? Like Dr. Seuss, I wonder how 43 years as an educator have come and gone so quickly,” he said in a statement. 'You start out trying to make a difference for others and you end up discovering a difference has been made in you.”

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