Members of the Dalton Board of Education look on as Jim Hawkins speaks during the school board meeting on Wednesday at City Hall.

DALTON, Ga. — As of this morning, Jim Hawkins is no longer superintendent of Dalton Public Schools. But he will remain with the school system through the end of his contract — December 2018 — in a role that has not been fully defined.

About 150 people, mostly employees of the school system, packed City Hall Wednesday where the Board of Education met to discuss personnel.

The board opened the meeting at 6 p.m. in the third-floor conference room, then immediately voted to go into executive session, which is closed to the public and the media. At 7:24, they entered the first-floor council chambers to resume the public portion of the meeting.

Hawkins was the last to enter the room and was met with a standing ovation, not only from the audience but from all five school board members. Board Chairman Rick Fromm brought the meeting back to order and turned it over to Hawkins.

“When Danny Crutchfield was chairman (more than two years ago), the board established four or five priorities for me. One of them was facilities. Another was transition because we knew then that I was going to retire,” he said. “So we have been working on that for a while.”

Hawkins has been an educator for 44 years and a superintendent for 20 years. He has been Dalton’s superintendent for eight-and-a-half years. In 2016, he was paid $200,561, according to open.georgia.gov.

Hawkins told the crowd that as part of that transition effective today he will step down as superintendent but will serve out his contract through December 2018 in a “different role.”

Board member Steve Laird then made a motion to appoint assistant to the superintendent Don Amonett as interim superintendent effective today pending the selection of a permanent superintendent. The board voted 5-0 to approve that motion.

Asked after the meeting why he decided to step down now, Hawkins said it was time.

Board members have met several times over the last year to discuss personnel. Asked if any pressure was placed on Hawkins to retire, Laird said Hawkins explained the situation well.

“We’ve been talking about this for a long time, and the timing just fell together. It gives him a chance to ease into retirement and us a chance to find a new superintendent. There’s nothing more exciting than that,” Laird said.

After the vote to name Amonett interim superintendent, Fromm told the audience that board members plan to meet again next week to begin the search for a new superintendent.

“We have to identify the process we want to use,” said Fromm. “Do we want to use a search firm? Do we want to find another approach to identify candidates?”

Board members indicated it is too early to predict how long the process will take.

During the meeting, Hawkins and board members did not specify what his new role is. After the meeting, Hawkins said that role had yet to be defined.

“We’ll be talking over the next week or so, with the interim’s help, about what needs to be done, and I will help in any way that I can because this is a fine district. It’s doing the right things for the right reasons and in the right way, and I want to help them continue to do that,” he said.

Laird said Hawkins will fill a “special projects role.”

“He will fill a role where his skills and experience will come into play,” he said.

Fromm said the exact role hasn’t been determined but Hawkins will likely focus on projects that have already started.

“Facilities are obviously a very big thing. Improving academic achievement,” he said. “The exact focus will be developed with the help of the interim superintendent and the (next) superintendent.”

Amonett said after the meeting “this all came together within the last hour, so it’s too early to talk about exact plans.”

“But I will be stepping in to keep things running smoothly and to give the board an opportunity to go out and do a search for a new superintendent,” he said.

Fromm praised Hawkins for his time as superintendent.

“He did a great job during a very tough time,” said Fromm. “Coming through that recession was difficult, but he provided the leadership and direction to do that.”

Educators, parents, students and former school board members began arriving at City Hall well before the meeting began, holding signs that said, “Every child. Every day” and “Every Cat. Every day.”

Beth Browning, assistant superintendent at Blue Ridge School, said she wanted to show her support for Hawkins and for the direction the school system is going. A woman held a child who wore a T-shirt with the phrase “Just vote no” written in a black marker.

Former board chairman Tommy Boggs addressed board members during the public comments portion of the meeting and asked them to put aside their personal differences and focus on what’s best for the children. He said he could not recall a time in the 17 years he served on the board that members were not able to reach a unanimous vote.