Following 28 years at Hart County Schools, Nathan Smith is set to retire from the school district Feb. 1.

Smith, who has led HCS as superintendent for almost the past seven years, announced this at the school board’s Thursday meeting.

“This is not easy — it’s scary — but it’s time for me to do something else,” Smith said. “I never wanted to stay somewhere too long.”

He’s served as an HCS teacher, principal, director of pupil personnel and instructional supervisor. As superintendent, he led the district in its completion of the new Hart County High School building in 2018. The following year, the district completed the Green River College & Career Academy.

Then, the district navigated the Covid pandemic. After came numerous energy-savings projects pursued over the past several years with CMTA, a leading engineering and sustainable building design firm headquartered in Louisville.

At the upcoming board meeting, Smith said, he will recommend a timeline and process for electing a new superintendent.

Smith added that his two final focuses as superintendent are working on the first draft of next school year’s budget and starting the district’s new bus garage. The latter will comprise two bus bays and one auto bay beside the central office, he said.

He’s most proud of the district’s growth academically and technologically — such as through student access to Chromebooks and work done through Google Classroom, he said.

“I do feel that we are heading in the right direction, and there’s no doubt this district will continue to flourish and move in a way that’ll help students,” he said.

Tina Rutledge, the HCS school board vice chairman, said the announcement surprised her.

“He has helped our district move forward,” she said. “It’s a stressful job, but he handles it well, and we are going to miss him.”