LITCHFIELD -- The Litchfield High School principal has accepted the superintendent position in the Pine Island School District.
Chris Bates was one of three finalists for the job, said Larry Tompkins, interim Pine Island School District superintendent.
"Chris rose to the top," Tompkins said.
Bates has signed a contract, which the Pine Island School Board was expected to approve Thursday night, Tompkins said. Bates would start July 1.
Bates has been Litchfield High School principal since 1998.
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He took over for Bill Wold, who became the Litchfield School District superintendent that same year.
Wold said Bates has turned in his resignation, effective at the end of the school year. Bates has been looking for a superintendent job for about a year, so Wold said he wasn't surprised that he is leaving.
"I obviously feel happy for him that he landed this one," Wold said.
Bates said he had been offered another superintendent position last year, but turned it down because it wasn't the right fit.
He said he didn't want to leave Litchfield unless he found the right opportunity.
"It's exciting, but it's really tough to leave too," Bates said. "I've been here eight years, and it's been a really good eight years."
Pine Island is about 18 miles northwest of Rochester. The school district has almost 1,300 students in grades K-12, Tompkins said. The Litchfield School District has 1,887 students, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.
Wold said later this month he will be recommending to the School Board a process to replace Bates.
