During a heated closed-door meeting with the Frontier School Board on Tuesday night, Superintendent Ronald G. DeCarli announced he would be leaving the district in August.

DeCarli’s announcement comes in the face of mounting pressure from board members who have been questioning the superintendent on controversial issues in recent months.

Currently earning $186,010 a year, DeCarli has been at the helm of Frontier since March 2007 after leaving the Akron School District.

DeCarli’s impending departure will be the district’s third in five years. Some board members were reluctant to discuss the issue because it occurred in executive session, but word about DeCarli’s plans began to leak out Wednesday.

“He announced he would offer his resignation that evening,” said Vice President Stanley Figiel, a 37-year board veteran. “Unfortunately, what transpired in executive session set other things in motion.”

The board had moved to executive session when board members pointedly questioned DeCarli, who unexpectedly announced that he would quit.

“It happened so quickly,” Figiel said Wednesday. “If it wasn’t the ugliest meeting, it would have to be the second ugliest meeting in my 37 years on the board. I would have hoped it would have been handled in a different manner. I’m sure Ron is very upset.”

Board member Paul Pellicano got up and left during the session. “I walked out of the meeting,” he said. “They [other board members] were acting like little kids.”

Board President Nancy Wood was tight-lipped about the Tuesday session.

“That happened in executive session,” she said. “. . . You’re not supposed to know about it.” Speculation has been widespread that DeCarli, 64, planned to retire soon. Figiel and others indicated he intended to formally announce his retirement in August and leave in early September.

When he does leave, DeCarli stands to cash in about $100,000, including unused sick time and longevity payments, through his state retirement fund.

“It was pretty much known that he was retiring,” Pellicano said Wednesday. “As far as I’m concerned, it would have been OK if he up and left last night.”

Pellicano said he had hoped De- Carli would be a good fit for the district when he voted to hire him.

“I had high hopes,” he added. “I thought he’d be a strong person and bring the team together.”