Atlantic School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Amstein has announced he will be retiring at the end of the 2016-17 school year. The announcement came during Wednesday evening’s regular meeting of the Atlantic School Board.

Amstein, who has served the Atlantic School District since April, 2010, said when he concludes his service here, he will have “been on one side of the desk or the other side of the desk for 53-years. My wife tells me it’s about time to ‘come to the house.'”

Atlantic Superintendent Dr. Michael Amstein (Ric Hanson, photo)

He said “You get a point in your life where you know it’s time to take a look at something else.” Amstein says he has some ideas of what he might do upon retirement, but “It probably won’t be in education….I want to do something that normal people do.”

He said in the meantime, he looks forward to the upcoming year, and that he will do whatever is necessary in the upcoming year to help in the transition to a new Superintendent, next year.

In a prepared statement, Dr. Amstein said “I am grateful to the Atlantic Community for making me feel so welcome into the community. My wife and I have been fortunate that we have been able in the short time that we have lived here, to have developed some life-long friendships that we will cherish and hope to continue.”

He said he’s proud “Of the fact the district’s test scores have improved steadily over the past six-years, the graduation rate has improved, while the district’s dropout rate has dropped to below the state average. None of these things could have been accomplished without the hard work and dedication of our teachers, support staff, administrators and school board members.”

Amstein joins a list of Superintendents from around southwest and western Iowa who have announced their resignations or retirements since the beginning of the 2015-16 school year. The most recent being Griswold’s Dana Kunze and Riverside’s Jim Sutton. Superintendents at Exira-Elk Horn/Kimballton and Farragut School Districts all announced their plans to leave this past fall and winter. Farragut’s Tom Hinrichs’ decision was immediate, after the State Board of Education stripped away the district’s local control.