Bulloch County Board of Education member Dr. Charles Bonds, fondly known as the "Reading Professor," will be missed, peers said after learning of his pending resignation in March.
       Bonds announced his resignation plans last week during a school board meeting, citing health issues as his reason.
       "My vision is not good at all," he said Friday. "I have to attend so many meetings, and there is so much reading. My wife has to attend these meetings with me, and that's really why I am resigning."
       Bulloch County Board of Education Chairman David Ball said Bonds' position will likely be filled by appointment, although school board attorneys are reviewing the matter.
       Anyone interested in the position should send a resume to the Bulloch County Board of Education Central Office, he said. Applicants should live in Bonds' district - District 5.
       Bonds expects to resign in March, and his term is not over until Dec. 31, 2010. Ball said anyone appointed to Bonds' vacated seat will be up for reelection in the next race.
       Bonds said he will miss working on the BOE, as he has been a member for the past 16 years. "I hope in some small way I have helped, hope I have had an impact on the children in our school system."
       While he is stepping down from the board, he is not stepping away from education, he said. "I will still be involved." He also plans to continue working with the Statesboro Food Bank, his church, Bulloch County Association of Retired Educators and the Statesboro Lions Club.
        "I'm really going to miss being there," he said. "I've been in education all my life."
       "We hate to see him go," Ball said. "We told him 'we want your mind, not your eyes.'" But Ball said he and other board members understand Bonds' decision to step down due to vision issues. "He was a great board member and a great man involved in education."
       Bulloch County School Superintendent Dr. Lewis Holloway praised Bonds' long service to the community as a school board member.
       "In every decision, he put students in the foremost," he said. "He considered how the decision affected them ... He was a real student advocate."
       Anyone living in District 5 who is interested in appointment to fill Bond's vacated seat should send a resume and letter of interest to the BOE Central Office at 150 Williams Road, Suite A, Statesboro, Ga. 30458.