The Germantown Board of Mayor and Aldermen appointed Aug. 24 a new school board member — the Republican candidate running in the Nov. 3 Election— to fill a vacant seat on the Municipal School District board.
Germantown BMA unanimously chose Republican and educator Heather Fisher,the winner of the Aug. 6 primary, to fill the short-term Position 2 seat left open when Scotty Hendricks, Jr., who resigned in May due to family relocation.
Hendricks left the seat six months ahead of the end of his term. He was appointed in 2025 to finish the term of Daniel Chatham, who previously vacated the seat.
Fisher ran unopposed for Position 2 during the Aug. 6 Republican Primary
and is again unopposed in the Nov. 3 General Election. She will serve the term left by Hendricks until the Nov. 3 election. Her appointment by BMA allows her to begin serving on the school board a few months ahead of the General Election.
During the BMA meeting, Germantown alderman Scott Sanders said he supports the appointment of Fisher. He stated it only "makes sense" for her to join the board since she has filed to run for the seat in the upcoming November election with no Democratic opposition.
“There is no other individual that is running for the seat, so by default we know that Dr. Fisher will ultimately fill that seat,” Sanders said. “So, it makes sense that we appoint her this time to fill the seat, and she can get a little bit of head start on the term of office there.”
Fisher was one of three finalists, which also included Stephen Chalmers and Morgan Havener, who were selected from six others who applied and were interviewed by the board.
The Germantown Municipal School District held its first board meeting since Fisher joined the board on Aug. 25.
Background, experience
Fisher brings plenty of educational expertise to the Position 2 seat on the school board with 30 years of education experience, including 17 years as a teacher at legacy Shelby County Schools.
She was recently hired in July as the CEO of Village Virtual, which is a Chattanooga-based educational services firm that provides online learning programs and digital curriculum for kindergarten through 12 students.
Fisher was the founding principal of the Germantown Online Academy of Learning as well as a former Shelby County teacher of the Year in 2013. She served as assistant principal at Dogwood Elementary School in Germantown for seven years from June 2014 to June 2021. Fisher is a Harvard Project Zero Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Fisher said in her application for the Position 2 seat that she is "uniquely qualified to lead" as a school board member.
“I have a boots on the ground experience that can be useful in working together to find solutions to educational challenges,” Fisher said. “I have also completed the TN Superintendent’s Academy, which gives me another viewpoint to consider when making decisions to our school district.”
Houston High renos top list
One of the major issues happening in Germantown Municipal District is the need for major improvements to Houston High School. The suburb’s lone high school has seen minimal facility upgrades since it opened in 1989.
The city will provide $10 million for improvements to Houston High School, including constructing a fine arts wing and executing a comprehensive cafeteria renovation. However, the school district previously implemented a master plan calling for renovation costs of $100 million over 10 years.
Fisher agreed Houston High is over due for renovations. She said the reality is when Germantown Municipal School District formed, each school had significant deterred maintenance. Fisher believes it’s important to develop a timeline over the next five years as well as build communication and collaboration about the capital project.
“Ongoing communication is needed for both parties to be able to plan accordingly,” Fisher said. “It would also be important to develop procedures for communication and collaboration regarding future large capital improvement projects.”
Corey Davis is the Collierville and Germantown reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Corey.Davis@commercialappeal.com or 901-293-1610.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Primary winner Heather Fisher to fill seat on Germantown school board
