In what can only be described as bizarre, the new superintendent of the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center has resigned after just five hours on the job.
In a memo sent to staff members Wednesday, administrative Judge Kristin W. Sweeney confirmed Superintendent Donald Shewalter had quit after "he realized his heart just wasn't in it." No other specific reason was given for Shewalter's departure, and Sweeney stated she and others "were very surprised, but we wish him well."
Sweeney wrote about what she describes as "a period of great change both in detention and in the court." She then compared the search for a new superintendent to the trials and tribulations faced by people like Stephen King and Vincent Van Gogh, people who pursued "what they know to be true even in the face of opposition, or who persist even in the face of multiple rejections."
A timetable has not been set for finding a new superintendent.