By Megan Kelley
Clarkston News Editor
mkelley@mihomepaper.com
 LAKE ORION — At its meeting on Aug. 14, the Lake Orion Community Schools Board of Education approved hiring Drew Towlerton as the district’s new Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning.

Towlerton was selected to fill the role which was left vacant after Heidi Mercer, the district’s former Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, was named superintendent of the Lake Orion Schools earlier this summer.

Towlerton has been with the district for 19 years beginning as a business and English Language Arts teacher at Learning Options High School and then becoming supervisor of the program.
He was a principal at Pine Tree Elementary and then later Orion Oaks Elementary before becoming director of secondary education, a position he has had for the last three years.
According to school officials, the district received more than 30 applications for the position. Eleven were selected for first round interviews and five were later chosen for second round interviews in front of a committee and district staff.
While the supervisor’s cabinet had final say in the hiring, the board approved the hiring by a vote of 5-0. Trustees Nate Butki and Birgit McQuiston were absent from the meeting.