School board accepts Fisher’s resignation, begins search for new superintendent

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City School District Board of Directors officially accepted Superintendent Mike Fisher’s resignation at Monday’s meeting and immediately began the search process for a replacement.

After four years in Charles City, Fisher has accepted a position as superintendent in his hometown of Oskaloosa. His contract with Oskaloosa is anticipated to be approved next week. Fisher’s resignation will take effect on June 30.

“It is with a bittersweet feeling that I submit this letter as my formal resignation as superintendent of schools effective June 30, 2022,” Fisher stated in a letter to the school board. “While Sarah and I are thrilled to return home to Oskaloosa, we are very sad to leave our Charles City family.”

“On behalf of the board, community and the Charles City Community School District staff, we express deep gratitude and appreciation to Superintendent Fisher for his tireless work on making Charles City Community Schools a regardless school,” the school board stated in a release.

The board will hold a special meeting Wednesday evening to select a superintendent search form to aid in the hiring process. That meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and will be available streamed online.

School Board President Pat Rottinghaus said she hoped the board could have a new superintendent picked by late April or early May, but advised the board that the process will likely be time-consuming.

“We’re going to have a lot of meetings between now and then,” she said. “It’s going to be really busy for the next few weeks.”

When Fisher was hired, the district employed Grundmeyer Leader Search LLC, based in Ankeny. Grundmeyer will again be one of the search firms bidding on the contract to help find candidates.

Fisher started with the Charles City district in July 2018, replacing Dan Cox. Prior to Charles City, Fisher had been head middle school principal for the Waterloo School District. He started his teaching career as a high school band director.

In other business on Monday, the board heard from Director of Finance Evan Marten, who discussed the 2022-2023 proposed certified budget and highlighted major differences.

Marten said the proposed budget will have a 2.3% increase in the grand total tax levy rate, the first increase since 2014. He explained that the main reasons for the increase was a $15 million decrease in property valuation, a steady increase in property insurance, the rising costs of transportation and an inflation rate of nearly 6%.

Marten noted that there were increases in expenditures in instruction (9.1% increase) support services/transportation (2.1% increase) and maintenance and construction programs (8.2% increase).

“The good news is that the district has managed debt effectively, and has seen a decrease at an average of 45.2% debt expenditures from 2021 to 2023,” Marten said.

Marten told the board that over the last eight years the district has not increased the grand total tax levy, and over the last five years the tax levy has “remained stable and unchanged.”

The board set the hearing of the budget for Monday, March 28, at 6:15 p.m. in the CCHS Library.

Also on Monday, Director of Operations Jerry Mitchell told the board that he had received two bids for roofing at Washington Elementary School. The board voted to go with the low bid from Midwest Roofing for Roof B at Washington, which is $115,800, and Roof E, which is $98,750.

Mitchell also told the board that he had received three bids for a new activity bus. The board voted to go with the low bid from Blue Bird, totaling $140,389. The activity bus will be black with orange stripes and will include air conditioning and under-bus storage. Mitchell explained that it will replace one of the yellow buses currently used as an activities bus, and that bus will be used as a regular school bus.