COLUMBUS — Superintendent Paul Hillyer is looking to leave Columbus Public Schools next summer, five years after joining the school district with a mandate to boost instructional programming and student achievement.

The 55-year-old Hillyer was in Scottsbluff last week to interview for the superintendent’s position with Scottsbluff Public Schools. Hillyer’s current contract with CPS expires June 30, 2010.

Hillyer said in a published report this week he would be asking the CPS board in January not to renew his contract.

Hillyer, who was in Scottsbluff Friday morning, could not be reached for comment on his reasons for wanting to leave CPS.

The superintendent drew criticism from the school board and public in recent months for his handling of a hazing incident last summer while CHS wrestlers were attending an out-of-state camp.

Critics said a wall of silence from CPS surrounded the hazing issue and previous problems in the district, such as a teacher’s sudden resignation following rumors of a relationship with a former student.

School board members and Hillyer mutually agreed that he could take a look at all of his professional options, Board President Ken Curry said.

“We were very much aware he was going out to Scottsbluff,” Curry said.

If Hillyer formally tells the board he is leaving CPS, Curry said the search for a new superintendent would begin. He declined further comment.

Hillyer and the school board each have until Jan. 15 to exercise an option to renew or not renew the superintendent’s contract for another year. The superintendent’s salary is $164,147 for the current school year.

The school board’s regular monthly meeting next month is Jan. 11.

Improving CPS’ instructional programming and student achievement was a prime objective of the new superintendent when he left his job as director of instructional services at Owatonna (Minn.) Public School after 10 years to lead Columbus Public Schools.

“That was the main goal,’’ Hillyer said during the summer of 2007.

A key piece in the puzzle of upgrading the district’s educational programs and student achievement was launching the modified block schedule at CHS three years ago.

Class time went from the former 43-minute periods to 90 minutes with the switch last fall. The longer class time provided the opportunity for more in-depth discussions, hands-on activities and one-on-one time between students and teachers.

While Hillyer’s primary focus was setting in motion plans for curriculum and staff development and climbing rates of student achievement, he also turned his attention to building facilities and improving communications with the Hispanic community.

A more than $15 million renovation of the high school was under way when Hillyer took over the district. CPS also had built a couple of new elementary schools and renovated several others.

Hillyer ramrodded the remodeling of Lost Creek Elementary School a couple of years ago, the final district grade school to receive an update. The district spent more than $1 million in 2008 on Centennial, North Park and Emerson elementary schools.

Meanwhile, the school board and Hillyer have been chewing over the future of Columbus Middle School. Addressing building and life safety code deficiencies at CMS has been under way for more than a year. The centerpiece of the middle school project is a new sprinkler system.

The school board will hear a presentation on the final phase of the sprinkler system in CMS’ south gymnasium during its regular meeting Monday at CHS.

Hillyer and the board also have charted a four-year timeline for building a new school for seventh- and eighth-graders in response to growing elementary enrollment.

The timeline presented earlier this year began this fall with the land purchase and ends in the summer of 2013 with the completion of the new school for seventh- and eighth-graders.

In between, the district would hire an architect (January 2010) and seek approval from the voters on a bond issue in the fall of next year. The plan of action allows for a second bond vote if the first one fails, with a two-year construction schedule beginning in the spring or summer of 2011.

Hillyer created the Hispanic Advisory Committee in 2005 to foster better communications. The effort has since evolved into the Columbus Multicultural Alliance and taken on a much broader role.