FAIRBURY, NE - A southeast Nebraska school superintendent is moving west to round out his administrative career.

Fairbury Superintendent Stephen Grizzle announced today that he is leaving after this school year to become the interim superintendent at South Central Nebraska Unified School District #5, which is made up of Sandy Creek and Lawrence-Nelson schools. Those two schools will split into separate districts in fall of 2024 and will hire different superintendents.

"Putting the puzzle pieces together and identifying where the gaps are," Grizzle said of what intrigued him about the 1-year position. "Probably two of the big challenges I see are separating the budgets and identifying the staffing gaps they are going to have."

"It doesn't happen," he said. "This is a unique situation I don't recall seeing in my time as a superintendent. To be honest, I don't know of a lot of people that would be willing to take that on. But, I don't know, it just really intrigued me."

Grizzle, who has been at Fairbury since 2015, says he will retire after fulfilling the interim role.