Maple Heights High School -

Hello Maple Heights High School Parents and Guardians!

I am so excited to welcome you and your family as we prepare for the start of the 2026–2027 school year. I hope the summer months provided your family with an opportunity to rest, recharge, and enjoy some meaningful time together. Whether through a family vacation, a staycation, or simply sharing everyday moments, I hope you were able to strengthen your connections and create lasting memories. As we prepare for another school year, please know that my team and I look forward to partnering with you to ensure that every student has the support, encouragement, and opportunities needed to thrive.  Furthermore, we truly want to reiterate and embody the mission of our district:  “Educating our students, through expectations of excellence, to prepare them for a lifetime of success.”

This year, our team is committed to strengthening our partnership with families by increasing the frequency with which we communicate, improving our candidness and offering more engaging events that make every family feel welcomed, valued, and connected to our learning community. As part of that commitment, I would like to highlight several important expectations and initiatives that will guide our work throughout the year. While many of these items may be familiar, some represent new expectations or areas where we will place an increased emphasis to better support student success, maintain a positive school culture and provide the best possible educational experience for every child. 

New Start & End Time:

Over the summer, our building and district administration created a schedule that we feel best supports students and accommodates the various needs of staff and families given the pressing demands of childcare and transportation needs.  As such, the High School’s official start time is 8:15am and our day now ends at 3:00pm.  Students will still be permitted to enter the building at 7:45am and breakfast will be served until 8:10am, at which time the cafeteria will be closed.  Students need to report to 1^st Block by 8:15am or they will be marked tardy.

At the conclusion of the school day, unless students participate in an extracurricular activity (i.e., sports, clubs, etc.) or are attending a school-related activity (i.e., tutoring, detention, etc.), all students must leave the school grounds by 3:15pm.  Students will not be permitted to hang around and socialize on school grounds after 3:15p.m.  Please have all transportation arrangements made in advance.

Attendance:

Regular school attendance is not simply an expectation—it is a critical factor in student success. Being present each day ensures that students receive consistent instruction, develop meaningful relationships with peers and adults, and build the academic and social-emotional skills necessary to reach their full potential.  Consistent attendance is the cornerstone of academic achievement and social-emotional well-being.

Last year, our students missed a total of over 18,860 days of school.  This amounts to over 127,165 hours of lost instruction.  Students cannot be successful academically nor can they demonstrate competency in a subject with this much learning loss.  According to the latest research released from the Ohio Department of Education, statistics indicate that chronically absent students in Ohio are 89% less likely to graduate on time from high school.  Please help us prevent your child from becoming a part of this horrific statistic.

Additionally, many students and parents have the belief that “well, it’s just one day of school.”  Contrary to popular belief, one day of absence is not equivalent to one day of lost learning.  Researchers at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard studied the achievement gains of students who started the year with similar achievement and characteristics but had differing numbers of absences.   Here in Maple Heights, they learned that when a student misses a day of school, they fall behind by the equivalent of 4.8 days in math and 3.2 days in English Language Arts (ELA).  For their sake, your student needs to be in school every day!

Due to changes in Ohio law, the district is currently updating the attendance policy for the 2026-2027 school year. Once the policy changes are finalized, it will be shared with students and families. As a result, excessive absences could significantly impact your student's academic progress and may ultimately lead to failure in one or more classes. We encourage you to partner with us by emphasizing the importance of daily attendance and helping your student develop the habit of coming to school each day, prepared to learn and succeed.

If your student is going to be absent for any reason, please call our Attendance Line at: 216 – 438 – 6400 ext. 1017.  Please be sure to leave your name, your student’s name, the date of your call and the reason for your student’s absence in the message.  In addition, please send all doctor’s excuses, court excuses, etc. within (3) days of the absence to Mrs. Tracey Madden and Mrs. Caroline Lanzara, located in the Main Office.  

In closing, please feel free to reference the Maple Heights City Schools Student Code of Conduct and the approved Board Policy and Regulation for Student Absences and Excuses at: www.mapleschools.com under the Board Policies section.

Tardies to School:

Being to school on time is critical in understanding the content of a class but it is essential in being a well-adjusted adult.  As a reminder, school starts promptly at 8:15am. Furthermore, as we prepare our young people for life beyond high school, timeliness to school, to class or to work will either aid our students in becoming successful and productive members of society or it could hamper them and potentially cause them to fail classes, lose out on opportunities or experience challenges at their jobs. 

Below, is the discipline matrix that we will use for students who are tardy to school. 

Fyi, all tardy consequences reset at the end of each grading period.

Fighting:

While we acknowledge that students will have disagreements with one another, there is an appropriate way to resolve conflict in the school.  If your student is experiencing an issue with her/his peer(s), please encourage your student to seek out a School Counselor or Administrator to assist them with the problem-solving process.  In addition, we have several staff members who are more than willing to help students process situations and talk about their emotions.

That said, please inform your student(s) that violence of any kind, verbal or physical, will not be tolerated and offending students will be removed from our learning environment promptly and could potentially face legal intervention from the authorities.  Fighting, especially verbal altercations, cause a major interruption to the school day, they disrupt instruction and these situations pose a major challenge to ensuring school safety. 

Any student who violates these rules will receive the appropriate school discipline.

Cell phones & Headphones:

State Law prohibits cellphones from being used during the school day.  Consequently, cellphones will not be permitted to be used during the hours of 8:15am – 3:00pm.  As such, when students enter the building all phones should be turned off and stored in the district-provided cell phone storage device.  Any phone not in the district-provided storage device will be confiscated and placed in a locked room until a parent or guardian can come and pick it up.

In addition, headphones (i.e., Beats, Bose, Skull Candy, Air pods, earbuds, etc.) are not permitted to be worn in the building during school hours.  Once detected, these items will be confiscated and secured in a locked room until a parent/guardian can come and pick them up.

Lastly, any student participating in an afterschool extracurricular event where bus transportation is required to participate in contests/games, should speak with her/his coach/advisor in advance and make arrangements to store their headphones.  Please know that the school is not responsible for lost, stolen or damaged headphones.

Water Bottles:

In 2025, the Maple Heights City Schools Board of Education adopted a District-wide policy that only permits clear, empty water bottles.  This means that students cannot bring in bottles pre-filled with water or ice.   In addition, all colored, tinted or non-see-through water bottles are prohibited.  In addition, Stanley cups, Owala bottles, and other metal containers/cups will NOT be permitted.  Please encourage your student to leave all non-clear bottles at home.

Bringing in Outside Food:

Students are permitted to bring in their own food for lunch.  Students should have their lunch in a separate bag (i.e., lunch box/bag, paper bag, plastic bag) and snacks will be limited to two small bags of chips per person.  However, we do not permit students to bring in breakfast meals items (i.e., restaurant food, frappe’s, refreshers, etc.) as those items must be eaten prior to entering the building. 

In addition, as a District Policy, we do not allow DoorDash, Grub Hub or any other type of food delivery service on school grounds for students.  Parents are permitted to drop off food for their student’s lunch but that food must be consumed in the Main Office. 

All other food items will be confiscated and disposed of upon entry into the building.  

Counselor Assignments:

This year, students will be assigned school counselors based upon her/his last name.  While this process is different from what we used in prior years, the change was made so that we could create more consistency and stability for our families thus preventing them from getting to know a new counselor every year. 

Additionally, I want to thank all of you who have reached out with your gestures of support and encouragement.  While we made some great strides last year as a school, there are still some areas in which we must demonstrate growth – academically, behaviorally and socio-emotionally.

Below, is the alphabetical breakdown that we will use to support our students.

Important Dates:

 Below, is a list of some important dates for 1^st Quarter:

·      Aug. 15^th                                        Back to School Rally (11:00am – 3:00pm)

·      Aug. 19^th                                        1^st Day of School

·      Aug. 27^th                                        Open House (6:00pm – 8:00pm)

·      Sept. 7^th                                          No School – Labor Day

·      Sept. 17^th                                        Father’s Walk (7:30am – 9:00am)

·      Sept. 18^th                                        Homecoming Game

·      Sept. 19^th                                        Homecoming Dance

·      Sept. 21^st                                        No School – PD Day

·      Oct. 21^st                                         No School – Records Day (End of 1^st Quarter)

While I’m sure that this seems like a lot of information, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of our students and families being prepared in all facets of learning and being free of any distractions as the new year begins.  To that end, students, parents and staff must work collaboratively in order to ensure a safe and harmonious learning environment.

Furthermore, while we had some successes last year as a school, we also have a lot of ground to cover and the only way that we can do so is to minimize disruptions, prioritize learning, and deliver high-quality instruction with a relentless and unapologetic approach.  As we prepare our students for life after high school, we must equip them with the academic and socio-emotional skills necessary to become productive adults and that starts with us focusing on improving our instruction, raising our scores and closing the achievement gap.  

In closing, I leave you with the powerful words of the American Civil Rights activist and revolutionary, Malcolm X, who states “education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”

Wishing you all a great school year and looking forward to seeing you around campus.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Adonis Bolden

“Educating our students, through expectations of excellence, to prepare them for a lifetime of success.”