The superintendent who helped launch the Chickasaw City School System from scratch is stepping down to lead a district in Marengo County, closing out a three-year run marked by steady enrollment growth in the small Mobile County community.
Kyle Kallhoff was the very first employee hired when Chickasaw broke away to form its own city school system in 2012. It was his first time serving as a superintendent. Since then, the district has grown to roughly 1,000 students and is preparing to open its second school building this fall.
Despite being on hand to help unveil the new elementary school in the coming weeks, Kallhoff will not be leading the system into its fourth year. He has accepted the superintendent post in the Demopolis City School System, a move he said followed a period of prayerful consideration with his wife after being approached by officials in Marengo County about the opening.
Kallhoff, 41, said this was not the first time he had been recruited elsewhere, but that this opportunity felt different. He and his wife, who have four young children, concluded the family could make a successful transition. He traveled to Demopolis last week to interview for the position.
“Sometimes you get these feelings, and I just had a really good feeling about it,” Kallhoff said, describing Demopolis as “a really nice place, such a friendly community.”
Leaving Chickasaw will not be easy, he acknowledged. His mother’s family is from the community, and his grandfather once ran a business there. He said the district, still establishing itself among long-standing systems in Mobile County, is in solid shape heading into the transition, with two new principals already in place at the elementary and high school levels and a leadership team he trusts to keep momentum going.
Kallhoff credited the community and school board for defying skeptics who doubted a small, newly independent system could succeed. “A lot of people said Chickasaw City Schools wouldn’t last a year,” he said. “And people don’t think that anymore. We’ve proved to the naysayers that we’re going to be around for a while.”
District officials have not yet announced a timeline for naming Kallhoff’s successor.