District to Hire New Middle School Principal
Principal Danny Young will replace Randall Yates as Woodbury principal next year; Hutchings plans to ‘reorganize’ administration
Middle School Principal Danny Young coaches the high school men’s basketball team. Young will replace Randall Yates as Woodbury principal next year.
Middle School Principal Danny Young will replace long-time Shaker administrator Randall Yates as principal of Woodbury Elementary School next year.
Superintendent Gregory C. Hutchings said in a press release, “One of our most important goals is making the academic and social transitions easier for students in the middle years. With his background in both elementary and middle school education and guidance, Mr. Young is perfectly suited to help develop continuity in the curriculum and prepare students for the big step from sixth to seventh grade.”
The middle school received three Fs on the state report card in August and is currently working to implement the IB Middle Years Programme in grades five through ten. In an interview in September, Hutchings said the district was one semester behind in the MYP certification process.
The district has already been certified for IB Diploma Programme, grades 11 and 12, and Primary Years Programme, grades kindergarten through fourth. The district will apply for MYP approval in October and will hear back from IB in spring 2015.
Young’s move to Woodbury was part of a larger administrative “reorganization and succession plan,” as the district stated in its press release. The district will hire a national search firm to find a new middle school principal, assistant superintendent of business and operations, curriculum director and director of technology and media services.
Yates has worked in the school district for 29 years, starting as a math teacher at the middle school. He rose through the ranks to become middle school principal in 2001. Former superintendent Mark Freeman appointed him Woodbury principal in 2010 after Barbara Whitaker retired, in a move similar to this one.
Young began his Shaker career as a third-grade teacher at Mercer Elementary School, later becoming a guidance counselor, assistant principal and principal at the Middle School.
Neither Yates nor Young could be reached for comment at the time of publication.
District Chief of Staff Christine Auginas’ position will become part time next year. Auginas will retire after the 2014-2015 school year, at which point the position will be phased out.
Bernice Stokes, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education, will also become part time next year. In addition, her title will change to the Assistant Superintendent of Academic Support Services. Stokes will retire in 2015, at which point her position will be filled by a full-time employee.
The reductions in pay for Auginas and Stokes will allow the district to create a new curriculum director position. At this point, that position has not been filled.
Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Marla Robinson will become Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. She will be in charge of all principals in her new role.
At the time of publication, Auginas, Stokes and Robinson were unavailable to comment.
The business administrator position, which has been vacant since July 2013 “will be redefined and retitled” Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations.
Two more administrators, Director of Library and Technology Services Kathy Fredrick and District Security Supervisor J. Michael Gale, will retire at the end of this year. Their positions will be filled for the 2014-2015 school year.
District Communications Director Peggy Caldwell, Shaker Heights Teachers’ Association President John Morris, Middle School Assistant Principal Douglas Myles and three Middle School teachers were also unavailable to comment at the time of publication.
Campus and City Editor Abby White contributed reporting for this story.
