By Steve White swhite@nebraska.tv
Matt Fisher of Chase County Schools in Imperial has been selected to be the new superintendent at Grand Island Northwest.
He will replace Bill Mowinkel who is retiring from the post ion. The hire has to be approved by the school board, something described as a "formality."
Northwest School Board President Keith Ostermeier said they had several good candidates and that selecting from "the final three was a tough decision."
In the end, Ostermeier said of Fisher, "It just felt like the consensus that he was the best fit."
Board members liked that Fisher has been a teacher, administrator, and superintendent in a rural school. They said the biggest adjustment coming to Northwest will be all of the option enrollment students the district has, and the annexation issues as the Northwest district loses land that is added to the city of Grand Island, and then transferred into the Grand Island Public Schools district.
Bill Mowinkel is retiring at the end of the year. Nebraska's superintendent of the year has been at Northwest for 11 years. During that time, he's guided the district through a bond issue that added space to the high school. A second bond failed that would have built a middle school.
Mowinkel also oversaw the assimilation of the former class one school districts. Chapman, St. Libory, Cedar Hollow and 1-R had been feeder schools, but had their own school boards prior to action by the legislature that forced them to consolidate.
Mowinkel has been in education for 35 years and thinks he's still young enough to try something else.
Mowinkel is active outside the classroom, especially with youth programs like 4-H and says he
will continue to volunteer and work with kids. His last day is June 30, 2012.
Fisher's contract will be approved at the next school board meeting at Northwest.
