Chad Weiden will officially step down as principal of Edgebrook Elementary School on July 7. View Full Caption YouTube/EdgebrookElementary

CHICAGO — Edgebrook Elementary School principal Chad Weiden will step down at the end of the school year to join a burgeoning network of publicly run, privately funded schools in South Carolina, he announced in a YouTube video Monday.

Weiden will head a new school being opened in fall 2018 by Meeting Street Schools, which already operates three elementary schools around the palmetto state. He plans to take the next academic year to prepare, he said.

"I was not looking for a new opportunity, but when this fell into my lap, it was becoming harder and harder for me to say no," Weiden said in the video. "It has been a dream of mine to help start a school, and so this is something I am so excited to be involved with."

Edgebrook Elementary's Local School Council will meet with CPS officials next Wednesday to begin making plans for a new interim principal to take over once Weiden officially leaves the district on July 7, he said.

Having led the school since 2013, Weiden was identified by city leaders in 2015 as one of the best-performing principals in the city.