MARSHALL — The Marshall Public Schools District board said it would start its search for an interim schools superintendent close to home. After a Thursday interview, they found a candidate.

School board members voted Thursday to offer the interim superintendent position to Jeremy Williams, the current director of teaching and learning at Marshall Public Schools. Action on a possible contract with Williams is on the agenda for the school board’s next regular meeting on Monday.

If Williams accepts the position, he will serve as Marshall superintendent from July 1 through June 30, 2021.

At their May 4 meeting, school board members said they wanted to hire an interim superintendent after accepting a letter of resignation from Superintendent Scott Monson. It would be easier to conduct a search for a permanent superintendent in the winter, when there is a bigger field of potential applicants, board members said.

Board members opted to start the search for an interim superintendent with internal candidates. Williams was the only internal candidate who applied. Williams has held a few different administrative roles at MPS in the past. He served as assistant principal both at MECLA, and at Marshall High School. He was principal of West Side Elementary, before becoming director of teaching and learning in 2018.

Monson said he will be resigning effective June 30, to take a job in the private sector. But while he’s moving to a new job, Monson told the Independent he and his family would still be part of the Marshall community.

“I’ve loved my six years here,” Monson said. “I am excited about the future of the school district,” whether as a superintendent or a community member, he said.

Monson said in his new job he will be working for SitelogIQ, a business that provides planning services for entities including schools, cities and nonprofits. Monson said he’ll be covering a territory including the state of Minnesota.

Monson has served as MPS superintendent since 2014. In his time with the district, MPS went through some high-profile projects, like the approval of school building expansions and a new elementary school on Southview Drive. It took three tries for the building referendum to pass, however, as voters were apprehensive about the size and cost of the project.

“When the first two (referendums) failed, it was really tough,” Monson said. But at the same time, “It felt like it was a great opportunity to listen to our community. . . It was pretty obvious we needed to do something different.” The building referendum that passed last spring came from listening to community members’ feedback, he said.

Monson said he was proud to be part of the planning to address new needs at MPS, like increased security and safety. He was also proud to be part of the efforts to develop a distance learning program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Coming up with a distance learning plan in a short time period was a huge task for the district, and something that had never been done before, he said.

Monson said there was still a lot of work left to do before June 30. But MPS would still be in good hands when he’s gone, he said.

“I don’t ever feel like I’ve been the most important person” at MPS, Monson said. The staff and the school board are doing excellent work for the students, he said.