Superintendent Rob Metz announced he will resign, effective June 30.

Metz spent 19 years in the district as principal of Aquila Primary Center, high school principal and Superintendent.

Metz said he plans to begin working as deputy director of the Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR) team.

“I’m going to retire on June 30 and then one day later on July 1 I’m going to start a new job. So I’m going to be working for a group called BARR, it stands for Building Assets Reducing Risks,” Metz said. “It’s a program that started at St. Louis Park High School about 15 years ago.”

The School Board met Jan. 9 before its regularly scheduled meeting to discuss a timeline for naming a new superintendent.

Metz and district human resources director Richard Kreyer joined the meeting, where the Board discussed the possibility of hiring a search firm.

Metz said BARR focuses on helping freshmen pass classes.

“If you pass all of your classes in ninth grade you’re more than likely going to graduate in four years,” Metz said.

Metz said BARR received a federal grant and asked him to work for the organization.

“They got a $20 million grant in November and are going to go to 110 more high schools across the country,” Metz said. “They asked me to work for them.”

Metz said he feels proud of the district’s work toward closing the achievement gap under his leadership.

“What I’m really passionate about is working to close the achievement gap. And we’ve actually done it in some places in St. Louis Park,” Metz said.

School Board chair Joe Tatalovich said the district benefits from Metz’s leadership.

“We’ve been really pleased with Rob’s work as Superintendent the past three and a half years and he has a great opportunity,” Tatalovich said.

Metz’s tenure as Superintendent saw multiple community tragedies. Metz said he feels proud of how the community handled these tragedies and supported one another.

“I spent quite a bit of time my first year (as Superintendent) working through that process with the families, the staff at Peter Hobart, lawyers and legal lawsuits and that was quite a challenge,” Metz said. “I think we did that about as well as we possibly could’ve.”

Metz said unity has been crucial for the St. Louis Park community.

“There’s a lot of things you can’t control, but you can control what you do once something happens,” Metz said. “I was very proud that we stuck together, we didn’t break into pieces and blame each other,” Metz said. 

As he moves forward, Metz said he feels motivated by his successes in St. Louis Park.

“I’m going to try to work through BARR to help as many students graduate from high school as I possibly can, and who knows, maybe change the way high schools operate around the country,” Metz said.