Matthew Fisher prepares to welcome S-GI students as new middle school principal

SPRINGVILLE – After spending some of the early years of his life in Springville, Matthew Fisher has come back to join the Springville-Griffith Institute administration team as the new Springville Middle School Principal.

Fisher spent some of the early years of his life in Springville before graduating from Orchard Park High School. He later graduated from the University at Buffalo with a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Design and shortly after, earned a Master’s Degree in Technology Education from Buffalo State University and taught 10 years in the Williamsville Central School District. He then completed a second master’s degree from Canisius College in School Administration. Later in 2013 he became an assistant principal at Lake Shore High School and the House III Principal at Orchard Park High School in 2015. During his time in Orchard Park, he completed his doctoral work at D’Youville University and had amassed 10 years of administrative experience before coming to S-GI this year, where he is excited for the new opportunity. 

“I was so excited that the committee selected me for the position and it was a little bit of, while I didn’t go to school here, it was a little bit of a fun circle moment for me to be able to come back and be a part of the community in that way,” Fisher said. 

Throughout his teaching and administrative tenures, Fisher said he has always heard good things about the Springville-Griffith Institute school district and wanted to come here when an opportunity opened up. With former principal Shanda DuClon resigning after seven years with the district, Fisher jumped at the chance to join the S-GI community. 

“There is a reputation out there about how special of a place this is. You talk to other people in other schools that may have had affiliation with Springville in the past … and they have glowing things to say. It’s one of those places where if a position there ever comes available, I definitely want to go for it,” Fisher said. “Mrs. DuClon had been here a really long time and there wasn’t really an opening here for a long time and when there was, I just went for it full force.”

When looking to join S-GI, Fisher said he wanted to be part of a district that is a central part of the community, which he said Springville has always been from his own experiences and hearing it from others who either taught or went to S-GI. 

“When you are a big geographic district like that, the schools are very often some of the things that are the center of the community and I really wanted to be a part of a district where the schools were a central part of the community. That was a big thing for me,” Fisher said. “I think what drew me was S-GI feels like a really important part of the community and that’s special.”

As Fisher prepares for the upcoming school year, he has already started meeting with staff members and touring other buildings in the district to get the feel for when students arrive in September. Fisher said as the new middle school principal, he hopes to learn from the students, staff and the community early on, build on the great foundation the district has already set and grow the district to meet as many of the needs of students and families within the district. 

“Especially year one, I really want to come in and listen, learn, get an understanding of some of the needs of our students and families, understand the needs of the community and the teachers. Learn what’s working and what’s going great now and then take what’s working and build upon it,” Fisher said. “Over my time, hopefully people look back and just say I impressed on both the faculty and staff, the need for being positive with our kids, the need to maintain and academic rigor and push academic rigor high, but also know that every student is going to come to this building with a unique set of circumstances … and try to adjust or address as many of those individual needs as possible.”