GEORGETOWN — A familiar face will return to help guide district schools while Georgetown-Ridge Farm School board members look to find both a new superintendent and a principal for Ridge Farm Elementary School.

Former Superintendent Kevin Tate was hired as interim superintendent for the district at a special school board meeting Sunday morning.

School Board President Cheryl Kestufskie said Tate will work for up to 100 days for the district, although he may not necessarily work five-day weeks. He will be paid $500 per day worked.

"I spoke with him following the Thursday hearing, and he was very open to helping us," Kestufskie said. "This worked out well for the district."

The Georgetown-Ridge Farm school district developed two open administrative positions on June 30.

Superintendent Greg Irwin resigned last week after spending more than a month on administrative leave while the board investigated charges that he allegedly used district equipment, gasoline and employee labor for his personal use. Under the terms of a resignation agreement accepted by the board at a dismissal hearing Thursday, Irwin stepped down immediately but admitted no wrongdoing.

Ridge Farm Elementary Principal and Assistant Superintendent Andy Weathers, who had served as acting superintendent during Irwin's administrative leave, retired on June 30.

The board spent 45 minutes in closed session Sunday morning, discussing the open administrative positions. They unanimously voted to hire Tate as interim superintendent.

Tate retired on June 30, 2009, after spending 27 years with the district, the last 13 of them as superintendent.

He came to the district in 1981 as a teacher and coach at Ridge Farm Elementary. The following year, he was named head teacher — basically serving as principal for the third through eighth grades.

In 1986, the neighboring Georgetown and Ridge Farm school districts were moving toward consolidation with each other. Tate spent half his day as assistant principal of Mary Miller Junior High School in Georgetown, and the other half teaching one math class, one science class and one physical education class at the school.

He then moved fully into administration in 1987, serving as both the principal of Ridge Farm Elementary and the assistant principal of Mary Miller Junior High.

By 1990, he was the full-time principal of Ridge Farm Elementary, and added the role of assistant superintendent to his responsibilities, learning from Superintendent Robert Delmotte and filling in when Delmotte was out of town.

When Delmotte retired in 1994 after 27 years with the district, four as superintendent, Tate served as interim superintendent briefly and then was named as superintendent by the board.

The board also appointed three members — Kestufskie, Lori Key and Kevin Latoz — to an ad-hoc committee to handle the administrative searches.

Kestufskie said the committee would decide how to proceed with the search, seek applicants from both inside and outside the district, review resumes and decide what candidates would be interviewed. She said the committee would report to the board frequently throughout the process.

Key said board members wanted to take the lead on the administrative search, instead of hiring an outside consultant to locate candidates, as the board had done in 2008 when Tate announced his intention to retire.

"We have resources we can use ourselves," Key said, "And it will save money for the district."

Cathy French, the mother of a district student and the only member of the public at the Sunday morning meeting, said she wanted to learn who would be leading the district.

"I want to know," she said. "I am sure that everyone in the community is interested in the future of our schools."