PITTSFIELD — A board member who is a retired school superintendent and assistant education commissioner will lead the area’s school district temporarily as the search for a permanent successor continues.

Jan Laux of Pittsfield resigned his position on the Pittsfield-based School Administrative District 53 board to take the interim position, board Chairman Paul Williams said Wednesday.

Laux, who served on the board since November 2008, resigned effective immediately. He was hired Tuesday after a second round of applications and interviews for the permanent position.

Superintendent Michael Gallagher is retiring on June 30 and started his accrued vacation on Tuesday.

Laux, 65, said that while he has agreed to stay on for as long as 15 months, “it’s not something we’re locked into. If they find a replacement for (Gallagher) sooner, that’s fine with me.”

The board agreed to pay Laux $250 per day four days a week for up to 200 days. Gallagher’s salary for the current school year is $95,780.

Laux had been assistant commissioner of the Maine Department of Education, superintendent of school districts in the Livermore Falls and Milo areas, and principal of Mt. Blue Junior High and assistant principal of Mt. Blue High School, both in Farmington.

For the past two years, he was vice-president of Hometown Newspapers LLC, a chain of three free weeklies, which ceased publication in April.

Laux said that the major advantage of having him on board is his familiarity with the district, which includes Burnham, Detroit and Pittsfield. “There’s a lot going on right now, and it would be harder for someone to come in on an interim basis who really doesn’t know the district,” Laux said.

Voters recently passed the $10.14 million school budget, which included enough money to upgrade the two part-time assistant principals’ positions in the elementary and junior high schools to full-time.

Warsaw Middle School will also start the Expeditionary Learning program in the fall, which uses more hands-on training to create reports and artwork based on what students have learned.

“There are a lot of positive things going on in the district, and we need to continue moving in that direction,” Laux said.