Jeff Legan will not be the Mayfield High School principal in the 2023-24 school year, as he was recently announced as the Director of Educational Services at Central Office.

Legan says it was a difficult decision to leave his principal position. “Honestly this was such a difficult decision. It was very emotional, especially when I told the staff, when the announcement came out, but I just want to finish the year strong – [I] can’t wait for graduation and just celebrate with everyone,” he said.

After nine years of being principal, Legan thinks he’ll miss the students the most. He said, “Being in this building, just seeing the students, building culture, providing opportunities, everything for you guys… from extracurricular to what you do in the classroom, you know course offerings to assemblies, I mean, I just absolutely love it. I’m gonna miss it a lot.”

Science teacher Polly Canfield has known Legan since he was a student in her class. She said, “Even in his probably roughest days, Legan still never leads on that he’s having a bad day,” she said.

Of all his attributes, Canfield appreciates Legan’s energy and the way he walked around the building with a smile. She said, “[Legan gives] high fives in the hall, [and] always [enjoyed] checking-in to see how you were doing.”

Math teacher Brian Francetic has known Legan since they were math colleagues in the early 2000s. Francetic said about Legan, “He truly cares about all of his students. He cares about Mayfield, and he wants our students here at Mayfield to have the best possible experiences.”

Francetic appreciates that Legan brought the spirit back to Mayfield. Francetic said about Legan, “He just got everybody really excited about being a Mayfield Wildcat again and just did a lot of great things. Like I said, he cares about the whole student, so he has created a lot of new and great opportunities for the students here at Mayfield.”

According to Canfield, Legan truly cares about Mayfield, so he has attended as many Mayfield events as he can and not just the “high profile” ones. She said, “He really made an effort to try to get to cross-country meets or to a track meet, and I know he goes to volleyball games and different sports and not just the football games on the sideline.”

For next year, Legan’s position was changed for professional growth. He said, “[A]nd where I want to go down my career path, which hopefully at some point I would consider superintendency, but this kind of [is] just the next step, just learning more at the Central Office level than at the building level.”

Legan’s new Director of Educational Services role has many new aspects to it, which includes working at Central Office in Mayfield Heights. He said, “It’s a multi-teared support system for students, so we just want to have some systemic interventions provided across every building, so it shouldn’t be that the high school is doing something different than the middle school than the elementary is. We want to make sure that everyone is aligned.”

As for the high school next year, Legan believes that new principal Brian Linn (currently at Twinsburg, formerly at Mayfield) will do great at Mayfield. “Mr. Linn is a cultural guy [who] loves students. He will get to know every student’s name in this building, and he will not only continue the traditions, but he’s going to build off of those traditions and bring some exciting opportunities for kids,” Legan said.

Francetic also thinks Linn will do well next year. He said, “Mr. Linn is a very high-energy guy [who’s] very positive, just like Mr. Legan, and I think bringing him back [will] be a huge asset to us, and hopefully keep a lot of the great things here at Mayfield that Mr. Legan started, and you know and initiated some of his great ideas as well.”

Linn previously worked at Mayfield for five years as assistant principal, and Canfield thinks it’s good that Linn is returning to a familiar place. She said, “I think it’s good… we’re not bringing someone in completely new. I think he has a lot of similar characteristics as Mr. Legan but will bring his own strengths as well.”