Shelly Saltzman

“The best gift I can give to the school is to continue to hire strong teachers and leaders because without them, the school cannot work."

- Shelly Saltzman

Saltzman's Background

Mrs. Saltzman has experience as a teacher and administrator for 18 years, most recently at University School as the middle school director. Saltzman studied urban education, school models and the educational environment in Cleveland, as well as the charter movement here and elsewhere.

Founder and Head of school at Citizens Leadership Academy

by MsAriana Johnson, crew 1

“Opening and running a (high quality) free and public school in the city of Cleveland is a pro for me.” Mrs. Shelly Saltzman is a champion of education, high performing charter school founder, and dedicated contributor to the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Mrs. Saltzman is the founder and Head of School at Citizens Leadership Academy, a high performing charter school in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland, OH.

Shelly Saltzman was born on October 1, 1954 and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio. She attended Shaker High School and when she graduated, she went on to Ohio University to study Journalism. Later, Saltzman went to John Carroll University to major in education with the goal of becoming a teacher.

Saltzman became interested in her cause because she likes to teach and help people out. “Opening and running a school, a free public school in the city of Cleveland is a pro for me”. Saltzman founded CLA and it started with one 6th grade class and now it’s full 6-8th middle school. She says “I hope that Citizens Leadership Academy model continues to develop to have more and more connections in the future.” Saltzman “loves to see students that are in Citizens Leadership Academy and love seeing young adults be successful and grow though the school years.”

Saltzman told us about her main advantages and disadvantages as the Head of School and founder of CLA. One advantage is that she gets to “watch the school grow” and one of her disadvantages is that “the hours are really long”. Something that inspired Saltzman to continue her job was that Citizens Leadership Academy and her to open a school “just like the successful independent schools where I spent my teaching career”. However, her goal was to create a high performing, tuition-free, public school within the city of Cleveland.

The way Saltzman got our school to be like it is today was “by hiring good teachers and good leaders”. “The best gift I can give to the school is to continue to hire strong teachers and leaders because without them, the school cannot work” she said. One of Mrs. Shelly Saltzman`s most proud moments in life personally is her kids Andy and Amy. Another thing she is proud of in life professionally is opening Citizens Leadership Academy, for the students, teachers, and epically the families impacted in Cleveland.

Shelly Saltzman is a Cleveland Renaissance Contributor because she opened up a thriving school that still continues to grow each and every year. This is why Shelly Saltzman is a champion of Cleveland education and a true contributor to our city’s success.