HAMPDEN, Maine — Regional School Unit 22 Superintendent Rick Lyons is retiring effective June 30. But he won’t be gone long.
After taking a month-long “bona fide separation,” a requirement of the state law governing the return to work of retired school administrators, Lyons will be back on the job effective Aug. 1 under a new contract that will take him through to 2020, Lyons said this week.
Assistant Superintendent Emil Genest will serve as superintendent during Lyon’s absence.
RSU 22 comprises Hampden, Newburgh, Winterport and Frankfort.
Over the contract period, he also will continue his oversight of the Veazie School Department, Lyons said.
“That’s pretty common with many superintendents,” Lyons said of retiring and then returning to work.
Under the terms of his new contract, Lyons, whose total annual salary this year is about $165,000, will be paid 75 percent of that, or about $124,000, when he returns, he said. That also is a requirement of the law, as is a five-year cap on his employment by RSU 22.
Though not required by law, Lyons will continue to receive such fringe benefits as sick leave, vacation leave and dental care under the new agreement, he said.
A 1975 graduate of the University of Maine in 1975 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, Lyons has taught in Washburn and served as a teaching principal and supervising principal in Presque Isle. During that time, he earned a master’s degree in educational administration and certificate of advanced graduate study in superintendency, both from the University of Maine.
Lyons was hired for his first superintendent’s position in 1990 in Dover-Foxcroft and became RSU 22’s superintendent in 1992.
Lyons also has served as Veazie’s superintendent since 2013.