BY SUE KIESEWETTER
Enquirer Contributor
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP - Linda Brown will end a 28-year career with the Lakota Schools Nov. 30.
It is a career that focused on athletics and earned Lakota East High School's athletic director and assistant principal a Lifetime Achievement Award this year from the Northern Kentucky - Greater Cincinnati Women's Sports Foundation.
"She's been very instrumental in bringing awareness of women's sports to the district. She began on the ground level and all the way through to where it is today," said Sandy Wheatley, president of the Lakota Board of Education.
"I'm really, really, sorry to see her leave. She's been a wonderful asset to this district."
When Ms. Brown came to Lakota High School in 1970 as a girls physical education teacher, she became sponsor of the Girls Athletic Association and coach for all three girls sports: volleyball, basketball and track. About 50 girls participated.
This year, Ms. Brown estimates 225 girls will participate in 10 sports at Lakota East. The athletes no longer have to hold fund-raisers to pay for the sports programs.
"When I started, it was before Title IX," Ms. Brown said of the federal law that required schools to treat men's and women's sports equally. "We had to pay for our program. The school board paid for transportation and officials. Everything else we paid for."
While Ms. Brown said she will miss the athletes and co-workers, she is looking forward to the less-hectic pace of her new job as business manager and personal assistant at a Milford-area mortgage company. "I'm excited. It's something completely different. It will be no weekends and no nights," said Ms. Brown, 51. "I want to thank the administration of the Lakota district that gave me the opportunity to try all the things I have. I think that's given me the confidence to try something different."
Physical education teacher and varsity baseball coach Jim Rouff will take on many of Ms. Brown's duties through the end of first semester while the district looks for a permanent replacement, said Jon Weidlich, district spokesman.
Mr. Rouff, 47, said he intends to apply for the permanent position. He has been with the Lakota Schools since 1980. His wife, Patricia, is a special-education teacher at Lakota East and his son, Jeff, is a teacher at Hopewell Junior School.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
