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QUINCY, ILL. -- After four years of leading the Quincy Public School District, Lonny Lemon has stepped down to take another superintendent's position in the Chicago suburbs.

"You know, when I first walked in the City of Quincy in August of 1983, from that moment in I've had nothing but tremendous support from faculty, staff and parents in the community and they welcomed me back in a really large role in 2008 and let me be the leader of one of the best districts in the state," Lemon said.

Lemon has always said he never thought he'd be at the helm of a large school district like Quincy when he took his first job teaching at Quincy Notre Dame back in 1983. He's held a couple of jobs since then, but he's leaving his current position with plenty of mixed emotions.

But as Lemon gets ready to leave, the real work begins for the school board. Who will they find to replace Lemon and what challenges lie ahead for the person who is eventually selected, are just a couple of things that are at the top of the list.

Bill Daniels is the president of the school board and he said the board isn't going to rush into trying to get someone into the superintendent's seat.

"We will start advertising in the not too distant future. Searching for a permanent replacement. We will, there's a state agency that helps assist with that. We've used them twice in the past since I've been on the board and I think successfully and I think it's probably the direction we will go," Daniels said.

Lemon will officially step down on June 30th. Because it's just a matter of a few weeks before he does leave, Daniels thinks the school board will decide to use a retired interim superintendent to lead the district until a permanent replacement is found later this year.

Daniels also said when the board selected Lemon to be the superintendent back in 2008, they selected him from the pool of applicants that totaled between 15 and 20.

Daniels hopes for the same this time around.

He said the district will put together a recruitment packet within the next few weeks and send it to the Illinois Association of School Boards where the position will be advertised.