Two years after retiring as superintendent of Westbrook schools, Stan Sawyer finally had his last day of work Friday.

“It seems almost surreal that I’m getting through,” said Sawyer, taking a break from cleaning up his office late last week. The papers were nearly clear from his sun-stained bulletin board and he had taken his pictures down from the walls.

“I’ve been here 10 years, so there’s a lot of stuff to go through and clean up,” he said.

Sawyer first announced his retirement in 2007, but the School Committee asked him to stay on another year to help the district deal with the new school consolidation law. They asked him back again in 2008, to see the new middle school through the start of its construction.

He said people have asked if he has another job lined up, but the energetic 63-year-old insists he won’t be working again, at least for a while.

“I wasn’t completely ready,” Sawyer said about retiring in 2007. “I feel ready now.”

A native of Lisbon Falls, Sawyer’s first job in education after graduating from University of Maine at Orono was as a math teacher in Bangor. Two years later, he became principal of a junior high school in Oakland and then another one in Pittsfield. Sawyer went on to take the position of assistant superintendent in Newport and then superintendent of School Administrative District 52 in Turner before coming to Westbrook.

Sawyer said throughout his 38 years as a school administrator, he’s always made hiring quality employees a priority, which is how he knows his successor, Reza Namin, will have a smooth transition.

“He knows we have a great staff,” Sawyer said.

Namin, 49, who has a doctorate in math and science education, 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.

Namin’s experience is appropriate for one of the challenges Sawyer said the district is facing as he leaves. A 2.5 percent dropout rate, decreasing enrollments and aging elementary school buildings are among the issues Namin will inherit, Sawyer said. But the outgoing superintendent has confidence in his successor and the direction in which he’ll lead the district.

“A new set of eyes is going to see some things I didn’t see,” Sawyer said. “He’s going to stress some things I didn’t stress.”

School Committee member Ed Symbol said he thinks Namin’s emphasis on reaching out to parents and building relationships with different parts of the community will be a positive addition to the school department.

“I’m sure Reza will come in and put his own stamp on things,” Symbol said. But he’ll also have to make an effort to maintain some standards set by Sawyer, who Symbol said is financially savvy and well respected by state officials in Augusta.

“He knows everybody up there,” Symbol said. “Reza is going to have to work hard at those relationships.”

Westbrook High School Principal Marc Gousse also praised Sawyer for his financial acumen.

“In these times of economic uncertainty, he’s really provided level leadership for us,” Gousse said. “He ran a very tight ship.”

Gousse also credited Sawyer with moving the district forward, especially in terms of the physical condition of the schools.

“Everywhere he goes, he builds,” Gousse said about Sawyer, who he nicknamed “the beaver.”

Sawyer has led both Westbrook and SAD 52 through many renovation and construction projects, but the $29.4 million middle school on Stroudwater Street, scheduled to open this winter, is his masterpiece.

“That’s my pride and joy,” Sawyer said.

Though he’s disappointed that he won’t be able to see the project through to the very end, he’s been sure to keep his calendar clear in December, so he can attend the dedication.

Until then, grandchildren and golf courses will take up much of Sawyer’s free time. He also plans on taking a cruise with his wife, Jane, and making a purchase that will help keep him busy through the summer.

“I’m going to buy a tractor,” said Sawyer, who owns woodlots in the Litchfield area. “I want to do some logging.”

Sawyer said he’s been offered jobs selling software products to schools. Though he said he may eventually work again, after 40 years, he’s ready to leave education behind.

“It’s time,” he said.

Stan Sawyer stands in the nearly-completed middle school Friday, his last day as superintendent in Westbrook. “That’s my pride and joy,” Sawyer says about the middle school, which is slated to open in December.