Longtime educator Jean McDermott is retiring from her position as the I.J. Holton Intermediate School principal at the end of the school year.

“I think it’s just the right time for just me personally, it works really well for my family right now, it works really well for where I.J. Holton is right now,” McDermott said.

Members of the Austin Public School Board approved the resignation of McDermott on June 30, 2016, at the regularly scheduled school board meeting Monday in the City Council Chambers.

“I can speak from both a parent’s perspective and a school board member’s perspective on her hard work and her huge heart for students and her effort for excellence, and just want to honor that,” board member Angie Goetz said during the meeting.

McDermott has been with Austin Public Schools for more than 20 years. She has been the principal at I.J. Holton since it opened in the fall of 2013. She was also the principal at Woodson Kindergarten Center and taught in many positions at Ellis Middle School for about 10 years.

McDermott is an Austin native who graduated from Austin High School in 1974. She came to Austin in 1989, teaching fourth grade for a year at St. Augustine Catholic Schools before getting a Title 1 specialist position at Ellis Middle School, where she stayed until 1998.

“It’s been an awesome career with Austin Public Schools,” McDermott said. “And I’m looking forward to handing it off to the next generation and moving on with many adventures just with my family.”