BUTLER TWP — Ed Fink, superintendent of the Butler School District, will retire June 30, after more than four decades with the district.

The announcement was made Monday night at the school board meeting.

Fink has been on leave since March 26 for back surgery. Although the healing is taking longer than he anticipated, Fink said his back problems are only part of the reason he will retire.

“Forty-three years is a long time,” Fink said. “I feel very good about my accomplishments with the district.”

Fink joined the district as a student teacher for senior high school social studies in September 1968.

He got a permanent position with the district a year later, teaching social studies through December 1977.

He became an assistant principal at the intermediate high school in January 1978, and then worked his way up through the administrative ranks. He was the director of pupil personnel services, and then the director of curriculum, instruction and supervision.

He was the assistant to the superintendent from July 1986 through October 1994, when he was named substitute superintendent. He became superintendent on July 1, 1995.