Durham, N.C. — Durham Public Schools officials are scrambling to hire a new principal after one of their own resigned unexpectedly Thursday.

Creekside Elementary School Principal Ed Forsythe, a former DPS Principal of the Year, resigned for "personal reasons," according to Associate Superintendent Hank Hurd.

"He voluntarily resigned. It was all of a sudden," Hurd said.

Durham school board member Steve Martin said he heard about the resignation, but he did not know exactly why the principal decided to leave.

Forsythe, a 32-year public educator in Durham, was named principal of Creekside this school year, according the school's PTA Web site.

As of 6 p.m. Friday, his name was still on the school's voicemail. Forsythe was also still listed as a Durham schools' employee, according to a staff list released to WRAL Friday. His salary is listed as $83,352.

Now that Forsythe has officially resigned, an assistant principal will temporarily take over his position until someone new can be hired, Hurd said.

Forsythe previously left the school system in 2003 when he announced he was retiring. But he later returned to serve as an interim principal at three elementary schools in as many years: George Watts, Club Boulevard, and Oak Grove.

Forsythe initially retired after an eight-year run as the first principal of Durham School of the Arts, which opened in 1995. He was named DPS Principal of the Year in 1996, according to the PTA's Web site.

Calls to the principal's cell phone were not immediately returned.