After more than 30 years with the Hart district as a coach, teacher and eventually principal at Saugus High, Bill Bolde is stepping down, he announced Thursday.

In a bit of irony, he noted while he perhaps was closer to his daughter than ever before in physical proximity — she’s a student on the Saugus High campus — work is keeping him from missing opportunities to participate as a parent.

Bolde, who began working for the William S. Hart Union High School District in 1975, as classified staff, an equipment manager at Canyon High, said it was an extremely tough decision. He expects to stay at least until at least October, but didn’t set a departure date.

“I think more than anything my reflections would be revolving around relationships with people,” Bolde said when asked about his time on campus. “I never thought of this as a job to come and pick up a paycheck. I’ve endeavored that my greatest purpose today is to come to work with the objective to come to work and invest in the lives of other people. I’ve always wanted to help them elevate who they are and where they’re going.”

For Bolde, Saugus High is clearly much more than a place of employment, noting he met his wife while he was working on campus, and both of his sons, David and Daniel, graduated from the school.

Bolde was named principal in 2003 after the district conducted a search to replace Norm Estrada, who had been principal for about two years.

He hasn’t quite decided what the next step is, he said, adding that he had “some feelers” out but it would be too early to say anything for sure.

It was Bolde’s work at another school, Saugus High’s local rival, Canyon High, that led him to discover his passion for education, he added.

Over the years, he’s “taught English, special education for two years, then social studies and driver’s edu… health, while I coached baseball… I’ve done about everything you can do on the campus, including pushing the mop and cleaning the gym floor,” he said with a laugh, but added:

“I have to say I’m very pleased — I’ve been pleased with this campus, I’ve been pleased with the run that I have had, but it’s not because of one man, it’s because of an entire team of people,” he said. “As long as I’m living in this valley, I’m going to continue to building relationships around here.”