Longtime Ballard High teacher succumbs to cancer

Ballard High’s Toni Bukowski, who won the “Science Teacher of the Year” award in 2003, died of breast cancer on Friday. “She was one of those teachers: irrepressible, inspirational, energetic, amazing,” writes Peggy Sturdivant in her Ballard blog. “Absolutely one of the warmest and most caring people.” Memorial arrangements are pending.

Update: “She touched the lives of the entire Ballard High School community, in a very positive way, and we will all miss her,” writes Ballard High Principal Phil Brockman on the school’s website. Brockman said the school plans to rename the greenhouse where Bukowski worked, “Mrs. B’s Greenhouse.”