Marshall Kemp, superintendent of the Logan County Schools for the past 15 years and an educator in the Land of Logan for over four decades, has made official his decision to retire at the end of this school year. He notified the board of education of his plans to relinquish his position as of June 30 in a formal letter this week.
His impending retirement had been anticipated for several months, but until he wrote the letter Monday nothing was official.
A native of South Logan, Kemp has been an educator for over 42 years, most of them as an administrator. After doing his student teaching in English under the late Eleanor Piper at Russellville High School, he taught briefly at Auburn and longer at Olmstead High School. His administrative career began as principal of Adairville Elementary School. He then served as assistant superintendent of the Logan County schools.
He left the county system to become superintendent of the Russellville Independent Schools, where he was deemed to have performed his duties well. When David Webb retired, however, as Logan County superintendent, Kemp was the choice to be his successor. He became the longest serving person in that position since the retirement of the late, long-time superintendent Robert Piper.
In his letter, Kemp said he has been considering retirement “for some time.” He added, “I believe that it is in the best interest for this school system and for me.”
“It is my hope that it will be remembered that I have sought to make responsible decisions and meaningful contributions to the schools that I have made every effort to serve and that the schools and this school system have experienced improvement toward academic excellence during my tenure.”
Kemp had an unusual request: “… there should be absolutely no observation or celebration of my departure from this position of any kind.”
“My reward for service has been the total number of years of service and being able to work with students, parents, citizens, faculty, administrators and staff as well as the Board of Education to strive toward educational service to this county,” he wrote. “I have had the distinct pleasure of working with many individuals of good character, ability and dedication to the field in which they serve or served.”
The veteran administrator pledged to “work diligently to serve the district well until my last day of employment,” to assist in the transition of leadership, and to be available however needed in the school system before and after retirement.
Kenny Robertson of Adairville is chairman of the Logan County Board of Education, which will have the responsibility of selecting the new superintendent. Other members are Johnny Dawson, Ralph Cropper, Phil Baker and Tim Hall.