LASD to offer Walker superintendent position

Travis Walker

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

LUDINGTON — The Ludington Area School District Board of Education is offering the position of its next superintendent to Travis Walker. On Tuesday, the board hosted district tours, and a public meet-and-greet for Walker and Jonathon Wennstrom before interviewing the two finalists.

The board voted 6-1 with Alan Neaushwander voting no.  Neaushwander stated his reasoning for the overwhelming amount of constituents who encouraged him to vote in favor of Wennstrom.

Walker is a 2000 graduate of Manistee High School and grew up in Filer Township in Manistee County.

He earned an associate degree from West Shore Community College in 2002, a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Central Michigan University in 2006, and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Grand Valley State University in 2014.

Wennstrom is currently an elementary school principal at Livonia Public Schools, a position he has held since 2012. He is a 1990 graduate of Mason County Central High School and grew up along Hackert Lake in Amber Township. He is a graduate of West Shore Community College and earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Western Michigan University in 1995 and a master’s degree in educational administration from Central Michigan University in 2000.

Walker has been the superintendent of Brandywine Community Schools since 2022. He previously served as middle school principal in the district from 2021 to 2022. From 2015 to 2020, he was high school principal at Constantine Public Schools. Walker’s teaching experience includes working as a mathematics instructional coach at Manistee Intermediate School District from 2012 to 2015; a high school math teacher at Kaleva Norman Dickson School District from 2009 to 2015; and a teacher at Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools from 2006 to 2009 (teaching middle school health for two years and high school math for one year).

Several board members stated they felt Walker had more experience than Wennstrom, while some acknowledging that he had the better ability to unite the district, which had been torn for the past few years.

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