HUMBOLDT — Humboldt Community School District Superintendent Greg Darling has been placed on paid administrative leave through June 30, 2020, which is the date of his accepted early retirement and resignation.

Darling was initially placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation on Jan. 21, following a tense school board meeting on Jan. 20, at which the early retirement for Darling and other district leaders was on the agenda.

In an email sent out to the district last week, the school board said that Darling’s leave is not tied to any allegations of misconduct against students, misappropriation of funds or other illegal conduct.

The Humboldt school board held a special meeting on Friday morning, in which it held a closed door session to discuss the investigation into Darling. When the meeting opened back up, board President Tate Satern shared a public statement, saying that “following the review of the initial stages of the investigation, the board, in consultation with Greg Darling,” decided to extend the initial administrative leave.

“The board is dedicated to our children, parents, community, administration, teachers and staff in moving forward and providing our school district with exceptional leadership for generations to come,” Satern said.

In response to follow up questions from The Messenger as to the nature of the investigation, Satern stated that on advice of legal counsel, he would not make any comment further than that in the public statement.

The process for hiring a new superintendent will begin immediately, the board said.

Jeff Herzberg, chief administrator for Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency, will be the interim superintendent until a permanent replacement for Darling is hired.

Darling has been the superintendent at Humboldt schools since 2008, and is also the superintendent for the Twin Rivers Community School District.

The TRCSD school board also held a special meeting this week. On Tuesday, the board went into a closed session “to evaluate the professional competency of an individual.” Following the closed session, the board unanimously approved a motion “to continue services of Greg Darling as superintendent at Twin Rivers at 20% time per the district’s sharing agreement with Humboldt through June 30, 2020.”

On Friday afternoon, Twin Rivers school board President Christine Bothne confirmed that Darling is still the superintendent for Twin Rivers and is not on any type of leave.