Mason City’s superintendent of schools bids farewell at his final school board meeting

MASON CITY — The superintendent of the Mason City Community School District is saying his final farewells.

Dave Versteeg is retiring after being the district’s superintendent since July 2017. During his final school board meeting earlier this week, he thanked the board for the last five years.  “For those of you who have been on the board since the beginning of my tenure, I think we’ve come a long way in five years. For those of you who are new, it’s a steep learning curve as you’ve all figured out. I think the board is in good shape and I think leadership is in a good place moving forward starting July 1st.”

Versteeg has more than 30 years of experience in education and says it hasn’t quite hit him yet about retirement.   “I just feel that I don’t know what I’m going to feel like in a couple of days when I realize I’m not on vacation. That’s kind of where I’m at. I just feel like it’s going to feel like I’m just going on vacation, but then I’m not. I don’t know how I’m going to feel about that.”

Board president Lorrie Lala says Versteeg has turned the school district in the right direction during his five years of service.  “We’ve gone in five years from not knowing what’s going on to other districts are looking to us for advice, so that meant a lot. Thank you for your leadership. We are in a better place, you are leaving things in a better place. Thank you so much, you will be missed.”

Pat Hamilton, who most recently was the director of student services in the Spencer Community School District, will start as Mason City’s new superintendent on July 1st.