Monday, June 30th was supposed to be Steve Smith's last day on the job as Bibb County Schools interim superintendent. But he is continuing through the end of the calendar year because a permanent leader has not been found.

Last June, Smith and his wife put retirement plans on hold so that he could help stabilize the school system after the departure of former superintendent Romain Dallemand. But the plan was to do the job for just 13 months.

Of the extension, Smith says his wife is "not fond of the idea."

Smith says the system needs to find a superintendent who can close the achievement gaps in Bibb.

"We’re moving in the right direction, but it’s going to take 3 to 5 years to be able to fully implement what needs to be implemented to bring the level of the Bibb County School district up to the level that it should be performing at."

Recent CRCT testing of third through eighth graders shows a majority of Bibb’s scores are below the state average. But overall, Bibb student scores increased in 19 of the 30 tested areas over last year.

Tags: Bibb County Board of Education, Leah Fleming, Steve Smith