Lance Amick taking over as Scott City superintendent in July

Scott City will have a new superintendent and high school principal starting Monday, July 1.

Steven Hendricks

They will be keeping the changes in house with current high school principal Lance Amick taking over as superintendent and Steven Hendricks, current high school and middle school assistant principal, becoming the high school principal.

“It’s a mixture of very excited and anxious to learn some new things. I have a pretty good setup to be successful, you know, in the building with the current superintendent and taking over in a good working relationship. A lot of people aren’t afforded that opportunity,” Amick said about how he feels to be taking over as superintendent later this year. “I know (superintendent Michael) Umfleet will want us to do well because he cares deeply about the district and what he has helped create here and the culture we have.”

Amick grew up in Scott City, graduating from Scott City High School in 1999 and starting his teaching career of 21 years there as well. Amick said he knew at a young age what he wanted to be, and that journey has led him to where he is now.

“At a fairly young age, I knew I wanted to coach, and so when I started my journey I had been coaching in different places already. So teaching kind of came with coaching, and then as you naturally kind of progress through life your perspectives shift or new challenges present themselves along the way. Then somewhere along the way somebody mentioned, ‘Hey, you would make a good principal.’ I had never thought about that. So I kind of pursued that, and then this is the natural progression,” Amick said.

Hendricks has been at Scott City his entire teaching career of 15 years, as well. He said he knew he wanted to be in teaching when he was in high school, when he was tutoring other students, saying he felt successful when working one-on-one with people.

Both Amick and Hendricks agreed they both want Scott City to remain focused on the students.

“As an administrator or a leader, there’s lots of factors that play into what makes kids a priority, whether it be safety, educationally or athletically, and then there’s a natural conduit to teachers that, if we treat teachers really well, that aids in the ability to treat students well. When our teachers are happy and have the resources they need, that has an effect on kids and the ability for them to learn and have a great experience,” Amick said.

As of now, Amick said he does not have any long-term, fundamental changes he wants to make.

“It’s interesting to try and balance the excitement of a new role but also to make sure you’re paying tribute to the people that kind of came before you. Mr. Umfleet has been a large factor in the success of our school system, navigating through some of the toughest educational times, for sure, I’ve ever seen but probably as long as public education has been in existence. A lot of times, it’s been a really big hurdle to navigate, and he did that very well. We want to celebrate the last four or five months with him because we are losing a big part of our team,” Amick said.