(AP) The Kansas City school board wants to keep its superintendent around for another five years.

The board decided Thursday to sign Superintendent Steve Green to a new contract paying him $250,000 a year after the district showed improvements. The contract would retain Green through June 2018.

 The coming years promise to be fraught with challenges. Because the district is unaccredited, it soon could be forced to begin paying to allow its students to transfer to accredited school systems. A legal challenge has been holding up the transfers.

The 59-year-old Green already has worked in the district two years. If he sticks around for all seven years, that would make him an exception. Green is Kansas City’s 20th superintendent in the last 31 years.