Westbrook has chosen an educator with a reputation for helping to turn around a Massachusetts school district with a high dropout rate as its new superintendent of schools.

The School Board voted unanimously Monday to select Dr. Reza Namin, 49, who has a doctorate in math and science education, as the replacement for Superintendent Stan Sawyer, who is retiring at the end of June.

Namin, who immigrated from Iran at 30, has a varied background that includes a professional soccer career, but it was his work in the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District in Orange, Mass., that school officials said impressed them most.

Educators in that district credited Namin for playing a role in reducing the district’s dropout rate from 5 percent to less than 1 percent by meeting with students who were in danger of dropping out.

School Committee Vice-President Colleen Hilton said in checking into numerous references she heard the same refrain: “This man is fabulous.”

Namin, who will earn $125,000 in Westbrook, matching his current salary, will become one of the highest paid superintendents in Greater Portland, with a salary higher than the current superintendent, who earns $99,800, plus $20,500 in retirement annuity.

Sawyer officially retired in June 2007, but was asked to return twice by the School Committee. Because of that, Hilton said, the city was paying him “at a reduced rate.”

Those who participated in the search for a replacement for Sawyer emphasized the quality of the candidate pool – as well as Namin’s outstanding qualities.

“We really couldn’t have gone wrong, but Dr. Namin really stood out in his passion and his experience and his innovative approach to teaching,” said School Committee member Maria Dorn.

Dorn said she was particularly impressed with his hands-on leadership style and the importance he places on personal interactions with students, parents and the community as a whole.

In turn, Namin said, his sense that the city stands behind its schools was what attracted him to Westbrook.

“They celebrate teachers,” he said. “It’s a great community.”

Before being hired as superintendent in Orange, Mass., Namin was dean of curriculum and programs in Cambridge, Mass.; worked as the chief executive officer and executive director of Educational Resources and Retraining in Middleboro, Mass., and served as the president and vice president of Massachusetts Computer Using Educators.

Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District is made up of one school with 750 students in seventh through twelfth grade. According to Hilton, his co-workers there said before Namin was hired in 2005, it was a school people didn’t want to be a part of.

In Namin’s four years as superintendent, the drop-out rate decreased from 5 percent to less than 1 percent, which Hilton said co-workers partially attributed to personal calls Namin made to students. In 2009, Ralph C. Mahar Regional School was named one of America’s best high schools by U.S. News & World Report.

Namin’s contract with Westbrook is for three years, starting July 1. The Westbrook School District is made up of nearly 2,500 students who attend seven different schools.

After a lengthy career, Namin, 49, said he and his wife wanted to come to Westbrook to turn a new chapter in their lives, and start heading down the road to retirement.

“We love the area,” Namin said of him and his wife, Regina.

Namin said he won’t make any specific recommendations for the district until he gets a better sense of the schools and the community – a process that was slated to start Wednesday, as Sawyer planned to take him around to all the schools and different departments in the city.

Though Namin and Sawyer haven’t spent much time together yet, Namin said they’re sharing a similar experience as they both leave schools they love.

“It’s emotional for both of us,” he said.

He may be moving only a few states away, but Namin said getting through this change in his life reminds him of when he came to the United States from Iran 30 years ago. With no family or friends in the country, Namin chose Worcester, Mass., because of the number of colleges in the town. He earned a master’s in education and a bachelor of science degree from Worcester State College, and was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame for his contribution to the soccer team.

Though his professional soccer career ended when he broke his leg during a game at the age of 30, his education continued with his doctorate in math and science education and two certificates of advanced studies. Most recently, Namin completed post-doctoral studies at Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Namin said he will finish the year at his current job, working on the budget and making sure the high school seniors graduate and get to college. But, he said, he won’t be a stranger in Westbrook, as he works with Sawyer and looks for a new home in the area.

Meanwhile, Sawyer, who has been superintendent in Westbrook for the past 10 years, will be hard at work on his last budget.

Sawyer officially retired in June 2007, but was rehired immediately for the 2007-2008 school year. At the time, School Committee members cited the school consolidation law and the building of the new middle school as large projects that would benefit from the continuity of keeping Sawyer on board.

With the possibility of consolidating with other districts unresolved and the middle school project underway, the School Committee asked him to come back for yet another year.

Before he retired, Sawyer’s salary was $112,528.

Sawyer said the hardest part about finally retiring will be leaving people he’s met and worked with over the years.

“I’ve really enjoyed the Westbrook community,” said Sawyer.

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