GIPS Board removes interim title from Matt Fisher

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - The Grand Island Public School Board wants to continue to see Matt Fisher leading the largest school district in the Tri-Cities.

Fisher was named interim superintendent in January, where he was set to lead the district as they searched for a permanent person for the job.

But during Thursday’s school board meeting, board president Hank McFarland announced after returning from executive session that they would like to remove that interim title and have Fisher continue in the role.

“I’m thankful to have the opportunity to potentially continue in the role,” Fisher said. “Thank you for your confidence in me and removing the interim title.”

Fisher is no stranger to education in Grand Island as he had served as superintendent for the Northwest School District in his career from 2012-2019.

McFarland said in a statement Friday that the Board wanted to affirm Fisher’s role with the district by removing interim from his job title, but made an error.

“Mr. Fisher has done an outstanding job leading Grand Island Public Schools through a time of transition. We believe he has earned the trust of our staff, students, and families and has proven himself to be the right person for the job,” McFarland said. “Because of our faith in him and how he has approached his work, we, as a Board, wanted to affirm his role with the district by removing the word “Interim” from his job title.”

Though McFarland said out of a desire to support Fisher and inform the community of their confidence in him, they made an operational mistake.

“At last evening’s Board meeting we reconvened after Executive Session and voted to approve dropping “Interim” from Mr. Fisher’s title,” McFarland said. “In retrospect we realized we did not have the appropriate Agenda nor Action Item clearly identified on the Board agenda. This is a misstep we take responsibility for.”

Late Friday GIPS Board President Hank McFarland told Local4 that a vote was not needed to take the action of naming Fisher as full-time superintendent. So McFarland says Fisher is the permanent leader of Grand Island Public Schools.

McFarland said they are grateful to have Fisher leading the district and they look forward to seeing how his positive leadership betters GIPS.

FULL STATEMENT BELOW:

“Mr. Fisher has done an outstanding job leading Grand Island Public Schools through a time of transition. We believe he has earned the trust of our staff, students, and families and has proven himself to be the right person for the job. Because of our faith in him and how he has approached his work, we, as a Board, wanted to affirm his role with the district by removing the word “Interim” from his job title.

Out of our desire to support Mr. Fisher and inform our community of our confidence in him, our Board made an operational mistake. At last evening’s Board meeting we reconvened after Executive Session and voted to approve dropping “Interim” from Mr. Fisher’s title. In retrospect we realized we did not have the appropriate Agenda nor Action Item clearly identified on the Board agenda. This is a misstep we take responsibility for.

In the meantime, we are grateful to have Mr. Matt Fisher leading our district and we look forward to seeing how his positive leadership betters our district.”

Spokesperson Mitch Roush said his understanding is that Fisher would remain under his current contract through next summer and then they can renegotiate for the 2024-25 school year with the new title.

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