Dr. Roy Bishop has officially been appointed as the next superintendent of GPPSS by the Board of Education (BOE). Bishop was appointed by the BOE in a unanimous, 7-0 vote at the Monday, March 9 board meeting. He will assume the position of superintendent on Sept. 1, 2026.
Board Trustees Sean Cotton and Ginny Jeup both expressed their adamancy against voting “yes” for Bishop at the Feb. 23 board meeting due to opposing the direct appointment process. However, after accepting Bishop’s requests to meet with them, along with every other board member, privately, they both ended up voting in favor of Bishop on March 9, resulting in a unanimous, 7-0 vote.
“After the board voted on an appointment process to select the next superintendent, I felt it was critical for each board member to get to know me and ask questions they might have at our meeting,” Bishop wrote in an email to The Tower. “One of the important roles of a superintendent is developing a positive relationship with our elected board members, who set the vision for the district.”
In a recent interview with The Tower, Cotton confirmed that his “yes” vote was the result of Bishop’s meeting with him; he still disapproves of the appointment process as a decision by the board.
“I’m shocked that people who voted for no process did so,” Cotton said. “It’s not a normal process for interviewing a superintendent. I just think that a lot of these trustees are ‘ends justify the means’ people. But I was happy to vote for Dr. Bishop. I think he’s a great guy – I have a good working relationship with him.”
On the other side of the debate, Board President Clint Derringer, who pushed for the appointment process to create a smooth transition process between superintendent in September, elaborated on Dr. Bishop’s approaching responsibilities for GPPSS while preparing for Tuttle’s retirement and his assumption of superintendent.
“Now, the pressure falls to Dr. Bishop to be clear and to compartmentalize well during this transition period,” Derringer said. “Right now, he is still the deputy superintendent of the district, and he has to maintain that role going forward while Dr. Tuttle finishes out her tenure. We can only have one superintendent; it would be a strategic mistake to start allowing Dr. Bishop to gradually fade into that role while Dr. Tuttle is still here.”
Cotton and Derringer disagree on the process the board selected Bishop with – but that doesn’t mean they disagree on his qualifications for the job. At the March 9 meeting, all seven trustees expressed their trust in Bishop to lead the district into the future.
And with their trust, Bishop has made it known that he is prepared for his future with GPPSS, focusing his mission on working for, and more specifically, with the people of Grosse Pointe.
“It is truly an honor to serve in this role, and I promise you I will work every day to earn the trust placed in me,” Bishop wrote. “I am ready to continue the work Dr. Tuttle has started. I am ready to listen. And I am ready to lead alongside this board and this community.”
