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A longtime employee of the Park City School District will serve as superintendent while the school board seeks a permanent successor for outgoing leader Ray Timothy.

Tom Van Gorder, who has worked in several positions for the district since 1994, will fill in for Timothy, who is leaving to head up the Utah Education Network.

Timothy will take over the position of chief executive officer at UEN starting Oct. 1. Timothy replaces Mike Petersen, who resigned in January to accept a faculty position at Utah State University.

UEN provides network, application and support services to public education, higher education and libraries. The network operates as a public/private partnership and connects more than 750,000 students and 61,000 educators across Utah.

Van Gorder is currently the district's director of student services. The school board will begin the hiring process in January, waiting until 2013 because board elections will be held in November.

State law prohibits the board from hiring a permanent replacement for a superintendent between the time a new school board member is elected and when the member takes office in January, according to a district news release.

The Salt Lake Tribune