Principal at Heights High Suspended for 1 Week

A principal of one of the five small schools in Cleveland Heights High has been suspended for one week without pay.

Marc Engoglia, principal of Legacy, divulged details about future plans for the high school and the small schools, which he was not authorized to do, according to a statement from Nylajean McDaniel, human resources director for the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District.

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Board of Education approved Superintendent Douglas Heuer’s recommendation to suspend him at the , McDaniel said.

Engoglia, who has been principal of Legacy for six years, will serve the suspension after the last day of classes in June, she said. 

“The board is giving Mr. Engoglia an opportunity to learn from this experience and work with the administration team to achieve a better tomorrow for our students,” McDaniel said in a statement from the district.

School district officials would not share what he said about the high school and small schools or with whom he spoke.

, at the end of the school year. Assistant Superintendent Jeffery Talbert cited the need to focus on freshmen, who are struggling, as being a primary reason for closing a school.

The small-school model works best when students identify with and take their classes in their individual schools. But 35 percent of first-year students don’t take their core classes — English, math, science and social studies — in their small school, Talbert said. And 20 to 25 percent of ninth-graders are repeat freshmen.

, school officials met to speak about plans for Heights High next year. Engoglia discussed how Legacy has specifically addressed the academic and emotional needs of the youngest in high school.

In the past, ninth-grade teachers moved up with their students and taught them in the 10th grade, Engoglia said. He said he has the same plans for next year.

“Basically, our current ninth-grade teachers are going to move up with our 10th-grade students. We’ve done this a few times in pockets, we’ve been very successful. A few years ago we did it with social studies, and our scores jumped tremendously,” Engoglia said. “There’s a lot of benefits to it. And again our teachers get to move with them, so current 10th-grade teachers will now move down to our ninth grade next year.” 

"It’s helped us create that relationship piece that we don’t want to lose when kids are going to different teachers every year."

He also spoke about the mentorship program for freshmen, and the school's system for standards-based grading.

"Students no longer say, 'I’m getting a C because I don’t do my homework' ... now they can speak to the actual standard," he said. "A student will say, 'I’m getting a C because I still don’t know how to solve a two-step equation.' The conversation between students and teachers is very different, and we’ve been showing some gains."