Waukesha West finds replacement for Towers

Three days after David Towers resigned as the principal at Waukesha West High School due to "personal reasons" a replacement was found.

Superintendent Todd Gray said Tuesday morning that David LaBorde, who last served as a principal at New Berlin West Middle and High School, has been hired as the interim principal at Waukesha West for the remainder of the year.

His first day was Tuesday.

Towers stunned the West community when he resigned last week from his position just a year and a half into his tenure.

In a letter to Waukesha West High School parents on Friday, Gray said Towers resigned for "personal reasons."

Gray said no other information on Towers' resignation will be released at this time.

Towers, 37, was hired before the 2011-12 school year after serving as an assistant and associate principal at Germantown High School for five years.

"(West) was the perfect fit," said Towers in an interview a week after being hired in August 2011.

He replaced Melissa Thompson, who left West to become superintendent for the Swallow School District in Merton.

Gray said Sara Behrendt, the district's director of curriculum for secondary education, will work closely with West administrative staff during the transition period.

With a background in teaching and athletics early in his career, Towers looked to enhance West's strong academic and athletic reputation.

While his stay at West was short, Towers did make some large changes to the school by implementing random breath tests at school dances last year due to what he described as poor decisions made by some students at the homecoming dance.

And at the start of this school year, he banned backpacks and purses for students between classes. It brought some initial backlash but Towers said it was for safety concerns.

The Waukesha School Board was scheduled to take up Towers' resignation at its School Board meeting Wednesday night. That meeting took place after this paper went to press.

"Mr. Towers offers his thanks and appreciation to the West High parents and community for your support over the last year and a half," Gray said.

The school also replaced Assistant Principal Todd Hencsik at the end of 2011-12 school year. He left West after four years to become a principal at a northern Illinois high school.

Towers could not be reached for comment. Online court records indicate that he and his wife, Tara, of Brookfield, filed for divorce Jan. 2.