• Senior Kya Goodwin received two additional awards for her piece, Transparency: Best-in-Category, Mixed Media; and the In Education Award. Both awards come with a $100 cash prize. 
• Junior Photography student Maya Peroune received the Cleveland Institute of Art Recognition Award along with a $20,000 scholarship to the Cleveland Institute of Art.
• Senior Aaliyah Williams was also given special recognition for her American Visions award.

The District is moving in the direction of changing its Language Acquisition offering for all students in Grades 1-4 from Mandarin to Spanish beginning in the 2020-2021 school year. We are continuing to explore our options for Grade 5.

There are important reasons for this proposed change. First, we have found that when given the chance to pursue a language after Grade 5, few students continue with Mandarin. While there are valuable cultural elements learned through Mandarin classes, few students end up studying the language to the point of fluency or semi-fluency. There is a broad consensus that not as many students are accessing the program as we had hoped. 

Students who want to pursue Mandarin from Grade 6 on will continue to have that opportunity.

The District will continue to keep families apprised of the direction our World Language curriculum is headed. Thank you for your support of this instructional move.

The District is making some exciting changes to our preschool programming for the 2020-2021 school year!  

Beginning this fall, the District will launch  The Shaker Heights Schools Early Childhood Program located in Onaway Elementary School. This program will offer two full-day preschool classes and five sections of half-day preschool classes, all open to students ages 3-5. 

Our goals in developing The Shaker Heights Schools Early Childhood Program were to expand our availability of options, create more flexibility for entry age into our program and to align it with practices in our K-12 classrooms-for example, all classes will include general education students and students with disabilities. In addition, our existing Mercer preschool staff will relocate to Onaway and join the existing early childhood staff there to facilitate collaboration and sharing of resources and staff. 

If you are interested in one of these preschool programs for the 2020-2021 school year, please complete this application. Please note: Completion of the application does not guarantee enrollment. Applications for consideration are due by February 7 at 4:30 p.m. Acceptance notifications will be made by February 21. 

Learn more about our program on the  Shaker Heights Schools Early Childhood Education webpage and review a list of  Frequently Asked Questions.

We are looking forward to this new structure of our early childhood program and to our continued work in achieving the District aspirations---excellence, equity and exploration---for all students.

On February 3, Dr. Glasner sent an update to our school community on the Ohio General Assembly's decision to push back the EdChoice application window from February 1 to April 1. The extension buys the legislature time to reach an agreement on how to address the many flaws in the EdChoice program. Thank you to our entire school community  for your tremendous advocacy related to the EdChoice voucher expansion over the past several weeks! Your letters and calls made a difference!

Read Dr. Glasner's update here.

All families and staff can stay up-to-date on the District's Strategic Planning Process by visiting our special website section Shaping Shaker . 

You may also review our Strategic Planning Communications, and share your constructive Strategic Planning Feedback online.