By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
LUDINGTON — The Ludington Area School District Board of Education spent the last two evenings interviewing three candidates who are vying for the position of the district’s next superintendent.
On Wednesday, the board interviewed Frank Marietta and Travis Walker. On Thursday, the board interviewed Jonathon Wennstrom.
Following the interview Thursday, the board selected two finalists, Walker and Wennstrom, to return for second-round interviews on April 21.
Both Wennstrom and Walker grew up in the area. Wennstrom grew up along Hackert Lake in Amber Township and is a 1990 graduate of Mason County Central High School. Walker is a 2000 graduate of Manistee High School and grew up in Filer Township in Manistee County.
Travis Walker
Walker is currently the superintendent of Brandywine Community Schools, while Wennstrom is an elementary principal at Livonia Public Schools. The third candidate, Frank Marietta, is the current assistant principal of Ludington High School.
Board members said they were impressed with all three candidates. They cited Marietta’s lack of experience compared to the other two candidates, though each praised his ambition to become a superintendent. Board members also discussed Walker’s experience as a superintendent, a role he has held since 2022. However, though Wennstrom does not have superintendent experience, he has been an administrator much longer.
On April 21, the public will have an opportunity to meet the candidates prior to interviews from 4:45 to 5:30 p.m., with interviews beginning at 6 p.m.
Travis 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).
Walker 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.
Walker grew up in Filer City. He said he spent a lot of time in Mason County at his grandparents’ house on Johnson Road in Amber Township (his grandparents were Bill and Laura Walker, who were career educators).
“My interest in this role is as personal as it is professional,” Walker said. “It would be a privilege for my own children to grow up in the Ludington community, a district capable of providing the academic and extracurricular excellence that prepares students for a lifetime of success.”
Jonathon Wennstrom
Jonathon Wennstrom has been an elementary school principal at Livonia Public Schools since 2012. Previously, he served as an elementary school principal at Warren Woods Public Schools from 2008 to 2012; elementary and middle school principal at Woodmont Academy from 2007 to 2008; and chief academic officer of Baker College of Cadillac from 2004 to 2007. He was an online instructor for the University of Phoenix from 2007 to 2012, teaching in the master of education program. Wennstrom began his teaching career at Cadillac Public Schools from 1995 to 2004, where he served as a teacher, varsity wrestling coach and then a principal. He also is a past president of the Michigan Elementary and Middle School Principals Association (2020-21) and was on the board of directors of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (2022-25).
Wennstrom earned an associate degree from West Shore Community College in 1992, 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.
“I would be very invested in the community because it is the community in which I grew up,” Wennstrom said. “I was raised on Hackert (Crystal) Lake and graduated from both Mason County Central High School and West Shore Community College. My father was a member of the Optimist Club and served with the Mason County Historical Society, and my mother was a nurse at Memorial Medical Center (Corewell Health). Although my parents have passed and I’ve moved away, I’ve always kept close ties to the community and am ready to return home to serve LASD as superintendent, should I be selected for this exceptional opportunity.”
The Board of Education will hold interviews, which are open to the public, on Wednesday, March 18, and Tuesday, March 19, at the O.J. DeJonge Middle School cafeteria. Marietta will be interviewed at 6 p.m. on March 18. Walker will be interviewed at 7:30 p.m. on March 18, and Wennstrom will be interviewed at 6 p.m. on March 19.
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