By Tim SchmidtRecord Managing EditorWright City R-II Superintendent Dr. Chris Gaines is leaving the district at the end of the current school year.Gaines has accepted the superintendent position in the Mehlville School District beginning July 1. The district is located in south St. Louis County.The announcement was made Monday night, after the R-II school board voted to release Gaines from his contract during a special meeting.In the wake of Gaines’ resignation, the Wright City school board will engage the Missouri School Boards’ Association (MSBA) to assist in the search to find a replacement. A contract with MSBA is expected to be finalized at the next school board meeting, scheduled for Feb. 19.Gaines’ tenure with the R-II district will end June 30.“It’s been a real honor, privilege to serve here,” Gaines told The Record. “I appreciate the opportunity. I am proud of what we were able to do academically. I will always have fond memories of our time here.”Gaines has led the district for the past seven years, a period in which the district demonstrated significant academic improvement. He led the effort to establish a strategic plan for the future.Gaines was currently in the first year of a three-contract which was set to end June 30, 2017. His annual salary for this year is $144,664, and was going to climb to $153,344 for the 2015-2016 school year. In the final year of the contract, his annual salary was expected to increase somewhere between 2 and 8 percent.At Mehlville, Gaines was offered a three-year contract with an annual salary of $185,000. He was one of three finalists and beat out Mehlville Assistant Superintendent Brian Lane and Clayton Assistant Superintendent Greg Batenhorst.Gaines will take over one of the largest school districts in the state. The Mehlville district has about 10,600 students, compared to the 1,500-student district at Wright City.Gaines said the move will allow his family to be closer to his mother-in-law, who resides in the Mehlville district. He sees a lot of similarities when comparing the two districts.“Academics, while are OK, they have been struggling lately,” Gaines said. “They have been somewhat on a downward trend. They have some budget challenges ahead of them. That will be interesting. It will be a nice, new challenge.”When Gaines was hired in 2008, Wright City ranked near the bottom of Missouri school districts. In the past two years, the district’s stature and ranking have increased significantly, including being named the most improved district in the state in 2013. Last year, the district ranked 13th out of 55 districts in the St. Louis area.In the past three years, the district has earned “Distinction in Performance” with scores above 90 percent.A number of facility improvements also have been accomplished with Gaines at the helm.In 2009, voters approved a $3.5 million no-tax increase bond issue to air condition a portion of the high school and elementary school gym and make numerous improvements to the high school athletic facilities, including the construction of an eight-lane, all-weather track.The following year, a $1.4 million bond issue was approved by voters so the district could purchase 85 acres on Roelker Road as the future site for a new high school. Currently, construction for a new preschool facility is underway on Bell Road.The district also has proposed a tax increase that will be decided by voters April 7 that would fund a mobile learning initiative, expand early childhood services and increase salaries for teachers and staff.Gaines, who was recognized for the district’s improvements by being named the Wright City Area Chamber of Commerce Person of the Year in 2013, said he will miss the people the most.“There are a lot of good folks around here that give time, energy and effort and financial backing to a number of things,” Gaines said. “Whether it be the work folks do for the Fine Arts Council, Blue and Gold, band boosters, all those groups that support the school; those are the things that you miss when you make a change.”Prior to coming to Wright City, Gaines was superintendent for seven years in the Crawford County R-I School District in Bourbon.Chris Gaines