December 4, 2020—After 17 years as the principal of Mercer Elementary School, J. Lindsay Florence has announced that he will retire from Shaker Heights Schools following the end of this school year.
Mr. Florence is a beloved leader and a career educator. He joined the District in 1992, when he started as a Shaker Heights Middle School Physical Education Teacher. In 1997, he was named Middle School Assistant Principal and then in 2001, he became an Assistant Principal at Woodbury Elementary School. In 2004, he was named Principal of Mercer Elementary School. Mr. Florence’s career also includes serving as a Physical Education teacher at the Twinsburg City School District and at Garfield Heights High School, as well as principal at Willow Run Community Schools in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
“This Mercer community has become my family over the years. To have seen so many students enter as kindergarteners, clap out as fourth graders and then go on to graduate from the High School and do great things is so rewarding. I’ll miss the students, the staff and our wonderful Mercer Meerkat families,” said Mr. Florence.
Mr. Florence is a Wooster, Ohio native and a graduate of Ohio Northern University, where he also was a four-year member of the Men’s Varsity Basketball Team. He also holds a Master’s in Education Administration from Cleveland State University.
“Mr. Florence’s kind, steady, nurturing demeanor has been appreciated by so many Mercer students and families and by his colleagues here at the District,” says Chief Academic Officer Dr. Marla Robinson. “He leaves an indelible mark on the Shaker and Mercer communities and will certainly be missed.”
A search for Mr. Florence’s successor will begin shortly. The District will post the principal position and include Mercer stakeholders in the selection process.