Latest news with #WesternHighSchool
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
South Bend superintendent, Western grad out after decision to not delay school
The superintendent of South Bend Community School Corporation is no longer with the district following his decision to not delay or cancel school last week. Superintendent Todd Cummings, a Western High School graduate, faced criticism from both parents and school board members for not delaying or cancelling school Thursday. Conditions were icy Thursday morning in the South Bend area, and many other schools in the region either delayed or canceled for the day. The South Bend Tribune reported Tuesday morning the school district and Cummings had reached a tentative separation agreement. Cummings was in his sixth year as South Bend superintendent. He was the longest-serving superintendent at South Bend in 25 years. He graduated from Western after his family moved to Kokomo from southern Indiana, according to Cummings got his start in education at Western Middle School as an English teacher. He taught at Western for seven years. School board Vice President Bill Sniadecki told local news outlets two dozen buses slid off the roads and a student fell and broke their wrist walking to school last week. However, those claims appear to have been exaggerated. WSBT, a South Bend TV station, investigated, checking with both city and county police. There was one report of a South Bend bus hitting a mailbox Thursday morning. An incident report from the school's transportation supervisor had 13 bus incidents, however there were no slide offs or buses stuck in ditches. Most incidents were for minor slipping on roads. Sniadecki said he got his information from a bus driver who got it from a bus mechanic. He was also the one who told the South Bend newspaper about Cummings' departure Tuesday. Other board members said there was a report of a student falling while walking to the bus and multiple employees slipping or falling. An emergency school board meeting was called Friday evening. The main agenda item was a vote to put Cummings on administrative leave while his decision to have school Thursday was investigated. However, that meeting was rescheduled almost immediately after it began, according to WNDU, another local TV station. No comments were made by board members or the school corporation as to why the meeting was moved to Wednesday, according to multiple reports. Wednesday's agenda includes selecting an acting superintendent. Candidates include a deputy superintendent and principal of South Bend's virtual program. Board member Stuart Greene said new members had disagreements with Cummings and the district's master facilities plan, saying they wanted the superintendent to consider what the public wanted.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Diane Merida Lawton, Western High teacher and softball coach, dies
Diane Merida Lawton, a longtime Western High School physical education teacher, died of progressive supranuclear palsy Jan. 21 at Gilchrist Center Baltimore. She was 91 and lived in Cheswolde. Born in Tomahawk and raised in nearby Green Bay, Wisconsin, she was the daughter of the Rev. Father Henry Brendemihl, an Episcopal priest, and his wife, Merida Peterson. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin who double-majored in history and physical education, Ms. Lawton then joined the Women's Army Corps and reached the rank of captain. She was stationed at Fort McClellan in Alabama and on Governors Island in the New York Harbor. She recalled marching in Manhattan ticker tape parades. Ms. Lawton settled in Baltimore and joined the Western High School faculty in 1965, where she taught physical education and was a softball and tennis coach. She retired in 1995. She was also named a Baltimore Sun girls softball Coach of the Year. During that tenure, Ms. Lawton received her master's degree in education from what is now Towson University. 'Diane was an outstanding teacher. Students loved her. She was caring, witty and funny,' Eva Scott, the school's former athletic director, said. Andrea Price, who attended Western from 1981 to 1983, was a student of Ms. Lawton's, who taught her PE and was her softball coach. '[She] checked with my teachers and myself to be sure I was applying myself and getting those grades that were needed to play softball and to graduate. Ms. Lawton was firm, fair and consistent, but always with a smile.' Ms. Lawton also 'gave me the things that I believe every child needs: rules, boundaries and expectations. There were times when she made sure I had food to eat. … The most important 'gift' was to know that someone cared about my life; to know that I mattered.' Ms. Lawton was a voracious reader and had a wealth of knowledge in the liberal arts. 'Her library filled our house,' said her partner, Shirley Williams. 'She was an Anglophile and loved reading Dickens. If she watched television, it was the Green Bay Packers or the British Broadcasting Corp.' Ms. Lawton tended a rose garden at her Strathmore Avenue home. She spent the summer in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and enjoyed solving The New York Times crossword puzzle. She was a dog and cat fancier. 'Diane would charm you with her playful sense of humor, quick wit and irrepressible smile,' her partner said. Survivors include her partner, Ms. Williams, a Baltimore City Schools teacher; a brother, Fred Brendemihl of Altadena, California; and nieces and nephews. A former marriage to Robert Lawton ended in divorce. Burial will be in the Nashotah House Cemetery in Nashotah, Wisconsin. No date has been set. Have a news tip? Contact Jacques Kelly at and 410-332-6570.
