Grand Island Public Schools Superintendent Matt Fisher gives a presentation to the Board of Education Oct. 9 about the school district's strategic plan. (Carol Bryant, Central Nebraska Today)
GRAND ISLAND – Grand Island Public Schools Superintendent Matt Fisher gave an overview of the school district’s five-year strategic plan at the Oct. 9 Board of Education Meeting.
The plan is called “80. 90. 100: Empowering Student Success.”
The plan is focused on keeping high quality academic success, Fisher said.
The plan has “bold but sustainable goals,” the superintendent said. The plan establishes a vision for certified and classified staff and empowers student success.
The plan has three goals:
Goal Number 1:
*80 percent of kingergarten through 8th-grade students will show average or above average growth.
*80 percent of students in grades 9 through 12 will pass and meet standards in all classes.
Goal Number 2:
*90 percent of students will have 95 percent attendance rate or higher.
Goal Number 3:
*100 percent of students will have a plan for after high school.
For Goal Number 1, Fisher said, “We want students to be able to pass all of their classes.
For Goal Number 2, Fisher said that the intent is to have 90 percent of students have 8 or fewer absences. He said that attendance is not just a school goal, it’s a community goal. Having good school attendance transfers after high school for students to have good attendance at their jobs.
For Goal Number 3, it’s not just for high school students to have a plan for what they do after they graduate from high school. “This is a goal for all students,” Fisher said. “I think it’s really a good goal for us to have.”
Fisher said that the district wants to have development of a learner profile. He gave results of student achievement at various grade levels.
For Grades K-5:
*54 percent of students showed average growth in 2024-25 in the DIBELS (Reading) assessment.
*62 percent of students showed average growth or better in 2024-25 on the MAP (Math) assessment.
For Grades 6-8:
*75 percent of students showed average growth or better in 2024-25 on the ELA (AIMSWeb) assessment.
*72 percent of students showed average growth or better in 2024-25 in Math (AIMSWeb) assessment.
For Grades 9-12:
*68 percent of high school students passed all classes in the Spring 2025 semester.
For the school district’s attendance in 2022-2025, 45.2 percent of students had satisfactory attendance.
The school district’s attendance as of Oct. 2 was:
*65.3 percent of students had satisfactory attendance.
*19.7 percent of students had at-risk attendance.
*15 percent of students were chronically absent.
*65.3 percent of students had 95 percent attendance.
Fisher said that the school district wants to report student progress each year.
The strategic plan is not just for most students. It is not just for students who speak English. It is not just for students who come to school ready to learn. It is not just for students who show proper effort and responsibility. It is for every student.
School Board Member Josh Hawley said under the current attendance plan, excused absences are only offered for students participating in school activities. He asked whether excused absences could be given to students who provide physician’s notes for their absences. Fisher responded that the state only provides excused absences for students who are participating in school activities.
“We want our students to be there,” Fisher said.
He said that some student absences could be avoided, for instance, by scheduling appointments for days when school is not in session.
School Board Member Eric Garcia-Mendez noted that transportation plays a part in school attendance. Fisher said that if students are 10 to 15 minutes late to a period, it is identified as an absence for that particular period.
Data snapshots of each goal, along with recent performance data, are available on the district website at: www.gips.org/strategicplan.
Next, Chief Financial Officer Virgil Harden gave an overview of renovation of the planetarium at Grand Island Senior High School. The planetarium is 60 years old, he said. It is located at the northwest corner of the high school. The total cost of the renovation is approximately $1 million, Harden said. That includes purchase of equipment as well as construction renovation of the planetarium. Some of the construction renovation would need to be completed by outside companies, but some could be completed by school district staff.
Harden reviewed a quotation from Digitalis Education Solutions in Bremerton, Washington, for a digital planetarium system for the planetarium’s 30-foot diameter fixed dome.
Costs included in the quotation are:
*$262,800 for two projectors mounted under the cove on opposite sides of the dome.
Optional items are:
*$11,724 for a Digitalis Fluid Covelight Package. It requires installation by a local electrician.
*$205,544 for an Ultimate Seam Astro-Tec Horizontal Dome with aluminum cove light channel and four speaker mounts including installation.
*$55,000 for a professional-grade audio package.
*$26,280 for a recommended 10 percent contingency.
The total cost of the projectors and optional items is $561,348.
During the Action Item section of the School Board’s agenda, the School Board voted 9-0 to approve the Digitalis quotation for the planetarium projector, dome, lighting, and sound system.
The quotation from Digitalis said that one year of Priority Plus Support will be available, as well as standard support for the life of the system. Three days of in-person training will be provided, and installation is included. Priority Technical Support is available after the first year for $3,150 per year. Priority Plus Technical Support is available after the first year for $6,900 per year.
Harden said it is unknown how much the school district spent to get the planetarium in 1965. But if the cost was $100,000, the cost in today’s dollars would be $1 million.
Harden said that the school district has the money on hand to pay for the planetarium renovation. The school district first began looking at renovation of the planetarium in the early 2000s when Joe Stecher was the planetarium director. The planetarium’s projector was becoming obsolete, but availability of a digital projector system was not yet possible. Over the years, the school district has set aside money for planetarium renovation.
Dan Petsch, Director of Buildings and Grounds for the school district, said that the planetarium renovation appeared on the school district’s project list last year. He said that the renovation would start after school ended in the spring and would be completed by the start of the next school year.
School Board Member Eric Garcia-Mendez asked whether it would be possible to get funding from the Grand Island Public Schools Foundation or other foundations. Harden responded that few funders are interested in supporting capital improvement projects.
School Board Member Josh Hawley asked about funding for the project.
“The money is in the bank,” Harden said. “We’ve been saving for years.” He said that now is the time that pieces of the project fit together to proceed.
School Board Member Josh Sikes said he was concerned about the smaller number of students who currently use the planetarium and the funding that would be spent on the planetarium renovation. In response, it was noted that after the renovation was complete, efforts would be made to get more students to use the planetarium, as well as getting more people from the community to use the planetarium. He wondered about the equity of money spent on the planetarium versus money spent on the Career Pathways Institute.
When previously asked about that, Harden replied that the school district had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the aviation program, which was then discontinued. Program materials were sold at 20 cents on the dollar.
“I wasn’t saying CPI was getting short changed,” Sikes said.
School Board Member Eric Garcia-Mendez asked whether an update to the planetarium would cause an increase in usage.
“It’s time to relight the candle,” Harden responded.
School Board Member Lisa Albers said that the planetarium renovation has been on the district’s project list.
“I think the community will get more involved in this,” she said.
In another item, Dr. Daniel Buhrman gave an overview of the Grades kindergarten through fifth grade math curriculum resource pilot. Buhrman is math curriculum coordinator and academic coach support coordinator for the school district.
She said that one math curriculum program was being piloted at Starr and Stolley Park Elementary Schools. The other math curriculum program was being piloted at Lincoln and Newell Elementary Schools.
She said that 25 kindergarten through fifth grade teachers and support staff met during the summer to provide pilot teachers with information.
She said that feedback about the pilot programs has been “amazingly positive.”
Buhrman said that one challenge is getting through a lesson during the designated math classroom time. Another challenge was having adequate time to prepare implementation and lesson plans.
One teacher in the pilot program said that “students are excited for math,” Buhrman said.
Buhrman said a committee with 26 members will begin meeting in December to determine which math curriculum to select. The goal is to have a consensus decision by Feb. 27, 2026. Data sources will be student outcomes, student experiences, teacher experiences, and parent feedback.
The cost for a new curriculum that would be used for seven years is $1.6 million to $1.8 million. It would include 30,600 sets of student materials, 300 sets of teacher materials, and 300 sets of manipulative kits, and ongoing professional learning. Budgeting for the expense has been occurring for several years.
“We’re going to have a really hard decision,” Buhrman said.
In another matter, the Board voted 9-0 to recognize the Grand Island Education Association as the exclusive bargaining agent for the 2027-2028 contract year.
