Despite a protest by parents, students and community members, the Lakewood City School District Board of Education voted four to one Monday night to approve a plan to consolidate the district’s seven elementary schools to six.
Under the plan, Lincoln Elementary will become an early childhood learning center by the 2027-2028 school year. More than 100 protesters gathered outside the board meeting at Lakewood High School, calling on the district to preserve Lincoln as an elementary school.
Amanda Keiber, one of the protest organizers, who has two students at Lincoln, said parents are concerned because most students in Lakewood get to school by walking. The consolidation will disrupt those patterns and is also causing worries about traffic, she said, with students walking farther and more parents lining up in cars for after-school pick up.
“My kids would have to walk over a mile each way,” she said. “So, we wouldn't be able to walk. They would have to just be driven every day.”
The district has mulled a decision to consolidate one or two of its seven elementary schools in response to years of declining enrollment for more than a year, mirroring conversations at other school district across the country amid declining birth rates, including in Cleveland.
Protesters’ concerns
Speakers at the protest included Lakewood Mayor Meghan George, who said many have approached her with concerns about preserving the city’s “neighborhood school” model.
“It is crystal clear to me that we need to keep and protect all of our seven elementary schools,” she said.
Protesters advocated for votes for Monica Bruaw and Katie Slife Rustad, candidates for school board this November. They are running against Board President Nora Katzenberger and Vice President Betsy Bergen Shaughnessy.
“We are all here because no one asked for this. No one asked the board to look at closing schools. It's objectively unnecessary. It's objectively wrong for our kids, and it's objectively wrong for our community,” Rustad said.
The majority of those who spoke during a two-hour public comment period - also argued the district has not presented a solid argument for a need to consolidate. Parent Amber Callahan said the district should be “protecting what makes Lakewood strong.”
“There’s no financial or enrollment emergency requiring us to close a thriving school,” she said. “Responsible governance should be based on data, not speculation.”
A report published earlier this month by opponents of the district's facilities planning process suggests the district violated state laws during that process, raising questions whether the board made “extensive efforts to hide their deliberations on the school closure topic from the public,” using improperly held executive sessions.
Board Member Colleen Clark-Sutton said the report “draws a conclusion that is not accurate.” Still, she was the lone "no" vote on the resolution consolidating the schools, citing community opposition to the move and worries about the district not having enough evidence to back up the need for the move.
Parent Birch Browning, who served on the task force, rejected the notion that it was led to any one conclusion. He said it was immersed in data about school capacity, enrollment and state funding.
“The claims that there was no community input or that the district stacked the task force are false,” he said, noting he was asked to join because of his past criticism of the district.
Early childhood education needs and other changes
Lakewood School Superintendent Maggie Niedzwiecki has said the district's kindergarten-through-fifth-grade enrollment is down almost 500 students over the last decade, although district data shows the decline appears to have leveled off since the pandemic.
Board President Katzenberger, in voting for the resolution, said enrollment and class sizes are not balanced across the district’s current school layout.
“The uneven class sizes does produce uneven education for our kids, that is something that we have to address, we absolutely have to,” she said.
Niedzwiecki has also said the average walk time for families and class sizes will only increase minimally.
The district's treasurer, Kent Zeman, said Lakewood will save about $1.5 million per year by moving to the new six elementary school model.
Stephanie Morgan, director of student services, said the district’s early learning program will also benefit from being in one space at the Lincoln Elementary building, rather than split across the current seven elementary schools. But residents expressed concern about increased commute times to send their students to the new central preschool location.
The resolution approved by the board will also shift where special education will occur, with programs supporting students with disabilities moving to Hayes and Horace Man elementary schools. The district's gifted program will also move to Hayes Elementary.
