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Leigh Barnes’ education career followed a logical arc, punctuated by a few twists.

Union Township’s new superintendent majored in education at DePauw University and became a fifth-grade teacher in Indianapolis.

From there, she received a master’s degree in social work and took a job in LaPorte as a counselor.

Along the way, she married her college sweetheart and they settled in Valparaiso while beginning a family that includes three children.

Unexpectedly, an accident detouring traffic on U.S. 30 west of Valparaiso jolted her career trajectory.

Barnes found herself driving north on County Road 600W past Union Center Elementary and then the Wheeler High-Middle School complex.

“I thought, what is this about,” she said of the off-the-beaten

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