GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Four months after Green Bay Area Public School District (GBAPSD) Superintendent Vicki Bayer announced she would retire at the end of the school year, her successor has been chosen.
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Local 5’s Paul Steeno was there when the Green Bay School Board announced, after over 150 minutes of a closed-door meeting, that they had voted to enter a contract with Michael Hernandez, which, if he accepts, would make him the next GBPASD Superintendent. Random Lake School District superintendent Michael Trimberger Jr. was the other finalist.
Hernandez is the current Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools for the Appleton Area School District, and during a Wednesday night meet-and-greet, he emphasized a focus on visibility.
Visibility is the sign of a true leader, being able to listen and learn, and I believe we will be able to build these relationships, and my hope is to retire here.
Michael Hernandez
Hernandez told reporters earlier this week that the diversity in the district is what attracted him to Green Bay. He said he will strive to be a superintendent for all students.
“It’s the experience in other similarly situated urban districts, large complicated, kind of share a lot of the attributes we see here in Green Bay,” school board president James Lyerly said when asked what set Hernandez apart from other candidates adding that he thinks he’ll be a fantastic superintendent for the district.
Lyerly said this was a big decision for the Board of Education and that the turnover they’ve seen at the superintendent position over the last six years added additional pressure to their decision on Friday night.
Since former superintendent Michelle Langenfeld retired after the 2019-2020 school year, the district has had one superintendent retire after less than two years on the job because of health reasons and another one resign after making controversial comments on a talk radio show.
Since 2020, Vicki Bayer has served as superintendent in an interim role on two separate occasions.
“We really wanted to make sure that this district got what it deserved, a tenured superintendent that was invested in this community,” Lyerly said. “I think you see in the candidates we brought into the final phase of this were people who saw Green Bay as a place to land.”
The school board vote was 6-1. Alex Mineau was the one vote in dissent, although he said both finalists were great candidates.
“The systems and maybe the approach to dealing with behavior, the student and teacher relationship and how those experiences connect,” Mineau said when asked why he preferred Trimberger Jr. as a candidate over Hernandez. “Those were two of the lenses I was looking through.”
Mineau said he’s still confident that Hernandez will do a good job leading the district.
“It was almost splitting certain hairs, there are aspects that Mr. Trimberger had that were more beneficial and the same thing goes to Mr. Hernandez,” Mineau said.
The district will negotiate the final terms of a contract with Hernandez. He will become the superintendent in July after Bayer retires.
A release from the Green Bay Area Public School District was provided shortly after the announcement, including a quote from Board President James Lyerly:
“Of all the different experiences and roles that the various candidates brought to the role who participated in the process, the Board of Education felt that Mr. Hernandez will bring practical experiences improving school performance in school districts that share many of the same challenges as GBAPS”
Board President James Lyerly
Hernandez’s position in Appleton includes supervision of comprehensive high schools, charter schools, an alternative program and district athletics. Hernandez was previously the Chief of Secondary Schools for the Madison Metropolitan District.
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He also serves as an adjunct professor at both the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Oshkosh. The release added that he’s Harvard-educated and a graduate of Howard University’s Urban Superintendent Program.
Hernandez was named one of Madison 365’s 20 Most Influential Latinos in Wisconsin, according to the GBAPSD. According to the release, Hernandez and the Board will enter contract talks with an anticipated start date of July 1.
