GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Green Bay School District will hold a retirement ceremony Tuesday for its leader, Vicki Bayer.
Bayer has served as superintendent or interim superintendent since Feb. 2024. She officially retires at the end of the month.
What You Need To Know
Vicki Bayer is retiring as superintendent of the Green Bay School District after serving in leadership roles there since Feb. 2024
Bayer will pass the leadership role to Michael Hernandez, expressing confidence in his ability to continue the district’s progress and success
Bayer assumed the role of superintendent after Claude Tiller resigned in 2024. She previously led the district in 2022 when former superintendent Stephen Murley unexpectedly retired
Bayer said one of her biggest accomplishments was getting the district’s budget out of the red
“Our goal is to make this place a better place for our kids,” Vicki Bayer said. The retiring Green Bay superintendent said she hopes to leave a legacy of cooperation despite varying viewpoints.
After 13 years in the school district, Bayer will hand off the role of district leader to Michael Hernandez. She said she feels hopeful and confident about the state of the district.
“I think we’ve laid the groundwork for some really great things to come in the future, and I think MR. Hernandez is the right guy to do it. So, I can’t wait to watch the district SOAR under his leadership,” Bayer said.
Bayer said being a superintendent is a team effort.
She said she had two big accomplishments while serving as superintendent.
The first was getting voters to approve two capital referendums: a $183 million referendum that passed in 2024 and a $93 million referendum that passed in 2022.
Her second accomplishment was getting the district’s budget out of the red.
“We’ve moved from a point where we were $36 million in deficit to the most recent 8 million, and we’re going into next school year with a balanced budget,” Bayer said.
Bayer said she probably served as leader of the school district longer than she intended because of the retirement and resignation of two superintendents. School Board President James Lyerly said Bayer’s tenacity and leadership skills are among the things he’ll miss.
“She did not seek this job. She advocated that Green Bay deserved a leader and not a steward during the transition. She told the truth, even when it was a difficult message to communicate, and she always kept staff, students, families, and the community first,” Lyerly said.
Running a school district requires toughness, but when it comes to talking about ending a 35-year career in education, even the toughest get emotional.
“Overall, I’m very grateful. This is an amazing district, really, really good people in the community are fantastic, so I have a lot of gratitude as we head into the last couple of weeks,” Bayer said.
Bayer is not totally saying goodbye to education after she retires on June 30. She’ll be working at the Lync Institute, which supports schools, businesses and nonprofits.
Bayer assumed the role of superintendent after Claude Tiller resigned in 2024.
She previously led the district in 2022 when former superintendent Stephen Murley unexpectedly retired.