Cedar Rapids Superintendent Noreen Bush taking medical leave

CEDAR RAPIDS — Superintendent Noreen Bush of the Cedar Rapids Community School District is taking a medical leave beginning Monday.

Bush was diagnosed with cancer two and a half years ago while serving as superintendent of the 16,700-student school district.

“Noreen established a theme of ‘love and care’ for our district to begin this school year,” school board president David Tominsky said in a message to the community Thursday. “And we, as a school district and broader community, fully support her with all our love and care as she takes this important time to focus on her cancer journey.”

Bush will continue her title as superintendent throughout her medical leave, according to a news release from the district Thursday.

Over the summer, Bush participated in a cancer clinical trial in Pittsburgh, Penn., where she underwent cellular therapy.

In a message to families in June, Bush wrote that she hoped to come back from Pittsburgh “with a rebooted immune system that will approach cancer cells very differently from the chemo and immunotherapies I have experienced.”

In that same message, Bush said she considers herself “very fortunate to have had ongoing treatment from an amazing medical team at Hall Perrine Cancer Center,” in downtown Cedar Rapids.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com