New curriculum director for Weyauwega-Fremont schools
By Angie Landsverk
Mary Cormican was a physical education teacher before she decided to pursue a career in special education.
She is the new director of pupil services/curriculum in the Weyauwega-Fremont School District.
Her first day here was July 1.
“Every day that I’m here something happens, whether it’s a conversation with someone or the administrative team collaborating, that reaffirms my decision,” she said.
Cormican’s mindset is “all children can succeed, will succeed.”
She believes in honoring all learning styles and all post-secondary plans.
Born on Long Island to parents who are New York natives, Cormican was 2 when her family moved to Minnesota.
She was in second grade when they moved to Baraboo, which is where she graduated from high school.
In high school, she ran cross country and was on the track team.
At the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, she was on the diving team.
“I knew from a young age I wanted to be a teacher,” she said.
She taught swimming lessons in the summer.
While home from college one summer, she worked with a young boy who had cerebral palsy and was non-verbal.
“His mom was a strong advocate,” Cormican said. “She wanted him to learn how to swim.”
Cormican did a lot of water exploration with him.
It was her introduction to special education.
In 1989, she graduated from UW-Eau Claire with a degree in physical education.
Her first teaching job was in Ishpeming, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
She taught high school physical education and was also the cross country coach.
Cormican was the only female cross country coach in the U.P. at the time.
She taught there two years before moving back to Baraboo to be near family.
The young boy she had taught to swim was now in fifth grade.
Cormican was hired to be the one-to-one paraprofessional who worked with him.
Focusing on special education
She soon returned to school and graduated from UW-Stevens Point in 1994 with a master’s degree in special education.
Cormican was a special education teacher in Wisconsin Dells for 19 years.
She worked at the elementary and middle school levels, teaching reading and math.
Cormican then left the classroom and worked in the Cross Plains/Middleton district.
“I was a diagnostician. I did all the initial evaluations and then also the re-evaluations,” she said. “I averaged probably 100 evaluations per year. It was very intense.”
She returned to the classroom again – at Edgewood College in Madison.
In July 2018, she completed her educational leadership licensure.
She worked in the Monticello-Juda district two school years, initially with an emergency license.
“I knew I needed to find the right fit,” Cormican said of the job search that brought her to W-F.
“We’ve always liked this area,” she said.
She researched the district and was intrigued by its success.
During a tour of the campus, she saw the new fitness center.
The area features garage doors, allowing it to be open or closed depending on the use and time of the day.
She liked how people worked together and problem solved to make the best use of resources.
“I was excited to see collaborative spaces here,” Cormican said. “As you look at social, emotional learning, working together and problem solving together are so important. Providing space for that to happen is so fantastic.”
Cormican and her husband John have one daughter and two sons.
Their daughter is married, and their sons are in college.
She feels a sense of community in the W-F district.
“It’s clear that everyone wants students to be successful and families to be successful,” Cormican said.