Bob Nelson broke his silence on the hunt for his successor.

In an exclusive interview with GV Wire, he talked about the search for Fresno Unified’s next superintendent.

“I’m curious to know where the board’s going to go with the whole situation … the key thing is just making sure that we have a steady transition, whatever that looks and feels like,” Nelson said minutes before Wednesday’s board meeting started.

Nelson is leaving the district on July 31 for a teaching position at Fresno State.

Nelson on Search Controversy

The school board reversed course in its parameters to hire Nelson’s successor. Last month, the board gave direction to limit the search to internal candidates.

After community backlash — from elected leaders, union representatives, and GV Wire publisher Darius Assemi — the board announced Wednesday that it will expand the search to outside candidates as well.

Nelson said the school board has three functions — set policy, manage the budget, and hire and fire the superintendent.

“One has to defer to their desire as to what it is they want to do,” Nelson said. “I’m not sure there’s unanimity of belief on that. I think I’ll go back in today and just offer … they’ve made it really clear they don’t necessarily want support in that, and they don’t really want to be guided by any of the internal staff. In fact, I’ve had that recommendation made indirectly —  stay out of that. So we try to respect that and be respectful of it,” Nelson said.

Nelson said he is well aware of the controversy sparked by the board’s initial search plans. He had missed recent board meetings while on district-related travel.

“The difficult thing is this. (It) put us out there in some ways that don’t really talk favorably on the district, people deciding what it is that they want to do with Fresno,” Nelson said.

Nelson Supports Misty Her

The district designated Deputy Superintendent Misty Her to become the interim successor if a full-time hire is not made before Nelson leaves. GV Wire’s Nancy Price reported that Her also was a leading candidate to succeed Nelson prior to the search’s halt.

GV Wire asked Nelson if he supported Her.

“For sure. I mean, we had a deputy with the intent of at least knowing — in my transition it was really complicated and really like full of fits and starts. We don’t need another one of those, right?” Nelson said.

The board hired Nelson as superintendent in 2017, replacing the fired Michael Hanson. Nelson had served as Hanson’s chief of staff. Previously, Nelson was superintendent of the Chawanakee Unified School District following a long career in Fresno Unified.