St. Clairsville High School Principal To Keep Job; School Board Votes To Issue ‘Written Reprimand’ for Use of Slur

Carri Graham

During a special meeting Thursday morning, the St. Clairsville-Richland City School District Board of Education decided that high school Principal Justin Sleutz will retain his current position, issuing him a "written reprimand" for an incident that occurred last month.

A special meeting was held at 7 a.m. Thursday nearly a week after school leaders met with representatives of the Belmont County Chapter of the NAACP to discuss an incident involving Sleutz in which a recording of him saying a racial slur was shared on social media. Earlier this week, the NAACP issued a recommendation that the school terminate Sleutz's employment, make changes to policy, disciplinary procedure, and extensive cultural diversity, equality and inclusion training for the entire district.

Board members immediately entered into a closed-door session during Thursday's meeting to consider a public employee's "discipline or investigation of charges/complaints." Amid that session and at the request of Sleutz, he was able to address board members. Sleutz was in the session for around 10 minutes before he left the meeting to return to the school building prior to the board returning to open session.

After a nearly two-hour executive session, Superintendent Walter Skaggs read a resolution which stated that the district began reviewing the incident immediately after learning that Sleutz had repeated a racial slur while explaining what type of language was unacceptable.

"Because the district views Principal Sleutz's conduct as a teachable moment, it has met with students, staff, administrators, parents, community leaders and community members to listen to concerns and develop strategies to address these issues," Skaggs said. "Strategies discussed have included providing staff professional development, hosting grade-level appropriate assemblies, providing informal settings for students to express concerns, and evaluating district culture and inclusivity."

The resolution continued that the board "affirms the issuance of a written reprimand to Principal Sleutz that specifies that any further conduct will result in additional discipline, up to and including termination of employment, and that requires Principal Sleutz to participate in a day-long sensitivity training and reflection, in addition to any training that is completed by district staff."

Additionally, as part of the board's response to the incident, it supports the following measures be taken:

– Establishing a professional development day, which was held Oct. 21, for all staff. The day featured an outside speaker presenting on cultural competency;

– Require staff to complete sensitivity training on an annual basis;

– Planning assemblies during the 2022-2023 school year for high school and middle school students that will feature an outside speaker presenting on cultural sensitivity;

– Making community leaders available for informal lunch sessions so students can discuss issues and concerns.

The resolution was unanimously approved by board members.

Following the meeting, Skaggs said he is hoping to move forward in a positive manner and to make changes to support the students, staff and the community.

In a phone interview, Sleutz expressed regret for the incident.

"As always I apologize for what I said. I'm hoping to build the district to a better place because of it with the help of our staff, students and community organizations," he said.

Belmont County NAACP President Jerry Moore II said his group would release a statement on the decision soon.

The board next meets at 7 a.m. Nov. 9 at the district board offices located at 108 Woodrow Ave.