By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com


The Brighton Area Schools’ resigning superintendent says he’s proud of his time spent with the district, but the time is right to move on.

Superintendent Greg Gray announced his retirement to the Board of Education last night, effective June 30th. He told WHMI that he had a goal of working past 30 years in public education and is almost at 31 now. In his interview for the position in 2009, when asked how long he was going to stay, he answered “until his daughter graduated,” which is this year. Those goals, when she receives her diploma, will be fulfilled.

Gray said when looking back at his time with BAS, most people will consider his greatest accomplishment to be helping bring the school district from an $8-million deficit to a positive $8-million fund balance. He noted that it wasn’t just he who did that, and said the thing he’s personally most proud of is the staff they have assembled. He called the BAS staff “second to none” and said that that’s how you get results - “hiring great people, supporting them, and challenging them to challenge themselves."

When asked if he had any regrets Gray laughed, and spoke how as a superintendent you fail every day, but the goal he’s always kept has been to leave any organization he’s worked for better than he found it. He said with Brighton, he can look in the mirror and feel proud that he did that.

Gray didn’t reveal his plans for the future, but hinted that it wouldn’t be in school administration. He said being a superintendent is a 24/7, 365 day job, at 60 to 70 hours per week, and that he’s looking forward to shifting gears and figuring out the next challenges in his life, while he is still young and healthy enough to do that. Gray said he will miss Brighton “unbelievably,” that it’s been an amazing place for his kids to go to school, and that he feels really lucky that he was able to serve that community for 11 years.