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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- Steve Hanson and his family came to Ottumwa in 1996. He served as Associate Principal at Ottumwa High School for six years, and as Principal for eight years.

Hanson will become the first "School Improvement Leader" in the district effective July 1st. His new job will be to work more directly with school teachers.

"I'll be able to dedicate full-time to instructional leadership, to learning leadership with the teachers in the building as we implement the Iowa Core Curriculum, which is required implementation in 2010/2011 for all high schools in the State of Iowa. So I will have the job for our district of seeing that we get a good start in that," Hanson said.

He told KTVO about some of the accomplishments during his tenure such as: seeing student achievement increase by 10 percent in the last seven to eight years, and seeing discipline referrals cut in half.

"When I look at the data, when I look at the accomplishments of our students, both in the classroom as well as the extracurricular activities: on the field of play, on the court, on the stage, all of these many successes of the students are what bring great satisfaction to me," Hanson said.

Hanson said there have been some disappointments such as the dropout rate, and he added that there is still work to be done to improve that.

KTVO also asked him about his replacement. Mark Hanson, no relation to Steve Hanson, will become the new Principal of Ottumwa High School.

"I know he's going to do a great job. He has a lot of experience and successful experience as the leader of large high schools. He has been the leader of Burlington High School, and Iowa City High. And so I think it's just amazing that our district could capture such a quality individual to be the next leader at Ottumwa High School," Hanson said.

While he will no longer serve as Principal at Ottumwa High, his office will still be in the high school building.