Amid packed boxes and empty shelves in his office, retiring Luverne Superintendent Gary Fisher joked last week that he should write a book.
“Let Me Tell You A Story” would be its title, taken from the phrase the 64-year-old often used to preface lessons learned during his 40 years in public education.
If he did write a book, it would most likely be dedicated to the estimated 2,400 students who earned Luverne High School diplomas under Fisher’s leadership — first as high school principal and later as superintendent.
It’s the kids, he would say, that were the focus of both the popular and unpopular administrative decisions he made since moving to Luverne in the fall of 1991 with his wife, Peggy, and then three young children.
“This is how I look at what we (as administrators) do in school in general,” Fisher said. “I am not here for me. We are not here for the teachers. Everything that we focus on is what we do for kids.”
In their own way, students have shown their appreciation for Fisher’s advocacy. It has become a tradition for Luverne students to hand something to the high school principal before receiving their diplomas.
As Fisher packed mementos received during 24 Luverne graduation ceremonies, he recalled some “unique” gifts.
There were the 100 bouncy balls, the 100 hacky sacks — and the recollection of goldfish handed to him as he presented graduating seniors their diplomas.
“I don’t know how they got them in there,” is how Fisher would start the story about his last year as Luverne High School principal in the spring of 2005.
The first graduate to walk across the stage to shake hands with administrators arrived carrying a large fish tank, Fisher said.
Every graduate after that handed Fisher a bottle of water for the tank, with the last four students each carrying a bag containing a gold fish.
Another year, graduates handed Fisher lottery tickets as they received their diplomas. He won enough from scratching the 100 tickets to purchase two fishing rods. He said he still uses both rods when he enjoys one of his favorite pastimes.
“It wasn’t that I expected anything,” he said as he ended the story.
What Fisher expected, however, was that the students come to school and complete the work necessary to receive a Minnesota high school diploma.
Expectations were clearly set during his first year in Luverne when he proposed no student walks across the stage for a diploma until he or she met all the requirements.
“If you didn’t graduate, you didn’t walk,” Fisher said. “I don’t want kids to think you can screw around all these years and (still) receive your diploma.”
Equally as unpopular was Fisher’s stance on open enrollment, where parents can choose to send their children to another public school of their choice. Students would have to finish classes at that school and not come back into Luverne until the next school year.
“If you’ve got a rule, you follow the rule,” Fisher would say telling this story. “You follow the rule until someone says it needs to be changed and then you make the change.”
The same rules would apply to staff members also, he said.
During the time of budget cutbacks, Luverne’s practice under Fisher has been to examine a particular position once a staff member resigned or retired, making changes according to student enrollment.
“I was very passionate about some of my decisions,” he said looking back.
“Many look at it as a cut, but I look at it as we hire what we need. It isn’t all about money, but we still have a responsibility to the community for keeping our dollars at a point where we are doing some good things for kids.”
One of those good things for kids was the development of an alternative learning center in Luverne when Fisher was still high school principal.
Before the establishment of the alternative school, students who weren’t flourishing in the typical classroom setting were forced to receive their education out of town.
“Without that (the local alternative learning center) we would have had some of our kids who would not have graduated,” Fisher said.
Today many of those learning ideals developed at the alternative school have made their way into the high school setting, lowering the number of kids attending the alternative school.
One of those ideals is standards-based grading, which is currently making its way into the K-12 educational process.
“Now we have a clear picture of where we want kids to be and where we want to take them,” Fisher said, ending the story.
As he transitions from administrator to community supporter, Fisher also has a clear picture of what he would like to do in retirement.
“I have (five) grandkids, and I haven’t been able to go to their programs because of my work schedule, so now we are going to the grandparent thing,” he said.
Fisher also won’t forget the students in Luverne.
“Our kids go out and do some great things,” he would write in his story.
“If we want our kids to be good citizens, then we need to model some of those things.”
In his retirement, Fisher will model his dedication to the Luverne community by continuing to live in town, where Peggy currently operates a day care, a business she has done for the past 18 years. He also will be cheering from the bleachers during different school activities as he leaves the business of running the district in the hands of incoming superintendent Craig Oftedahl, who began his duties July 1.
Fisher’s story of passing the baton to the new district leader will end on a positive note, much like Garrison Keillor ends his stories of Lake Wobegon, where “all the women are strong, all men are good looking and all the children are above average.”
In Fisher’s book his ending would be something like this:
“In my opinion, you are coming into one of the best school districts in the state of Minnesota,” Fisher said.
“You’ve got a great team of teachers. You’ve got great kids. You’ve got a great community … and people who believe in education. You’re not going to get anything better than that.”
2,400 graduates later …
Subhead
Gary Fisher retires as Luverne's superintendent
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Mavis Fodness