LAKEWOOD, Ohio — It's been some time since the conversation was first initiated on whether Lakewood City Schools needs to consolidate its elementary schools, and on Monday night, the decision to do so was made.
RELATED: Lakewood superintendent makes recommendation to repurpose Lincoln Elementary
Lakewood City Schools Superintendent Maggie Niedzwiecki recommended the closing of Lincoln Elementary School and repurposing it earlier this month.
“Repurposing Lincoln minimizes the impact on students compared to other scenarios,” Niedzwiecki said in a statement. “It will result in fewer students needing to change schools or cross major roads, while also positioning us for projected population growth near the center of the city.”
Additionally, she recommended the following changes to the district's elementary schools:
- Moving the CHAMPS program from the basement of Horace Mann Elementary to the first floor of Hayes Elementary.
- Relocating the RISE classroom from Emerson Elementary into the former CHAMPS space at Horace Mann.
- Expanding or rebuilding the playgrounds at Emerson and Horace Mann, and expanding the playground at Hayes.
- Moving the self-contained gifted program from Grant Elementary to Hayes Elementary.
The repurposing of Lincoln Elementary would not take place until 2027, and all elementary boundaries will be redrawn for the 2027–2028 school year. The district said the possible early learning center the school would include before-school, after-school and summer child care.
Ideas surrounding the consolidation were sparked after the district saw a decrease in enrollment.
Since 2003, the district has seen a decrease of 2,400 students.
RELATED: Low enrollment could lead to fewer elementary schools in Lakewood
"When we first went to initial community meetings, a red flag for me in that presentation was the enrollment chart started in 2003. If you look back to 2003, it looks like it's falling off of a cliff, but the shorter time frame that you look at, the more stable it looks. If you actually look at the past five years since COVID, enrollment's up 2%, it's actually up 8% over last year. There's no reason to close today," Lincoln Elementary mom, Katie Slife Rustad, told me on Monday.
Slife Rustad has two children, a second grader and a fourth grader, who currently attend Lincoln Elementary.
Her youngest would attend Lincoln Elementary in the fall of 2026, and the plan was that they would attend through fifth grade.
But that's no longer a reality.
"There is a sense out there that there's nothing that we can do, but there is something we can do. We can use our voices and we can vote and we can vote in some new faces to the board," she said. "We really need to turn this ship around. The community doesn't trust them right now."
Slife Rustad said benchmarks should have been set rather than an automatic closure.
"It just doesn't make sense and to say that we're facing threats from the state and federal government that might make us consolidate, why would we pre-consolidate? We should face those threats with a clear head, with clear eyes and a vision for the future so that the community can get behind the plan," Slife Rustad said.
Slife Rustad believes there has been a lack of transparency surrounding this plan for consolidation.
"The whole process has been done behind closed doors over a course of several years, and it's come out to the community in a way that was to try to make the community feel like it was their own idea, when in reality that was the decision that was made ahead of time," Slife Rustad said.
While Monica Bruaw doesn't have a student at Lincoln Elementary, she agrees with Slife Rustad and has been protesting the recommendation.
"We have five elected officials that are supposed to listen to their residents, their neighbors. They have not done that for the past 10 months, and we need to send a message to them that we are not happy," Bruaw said.
Both Slife Rustad and Bruaw are running to become school board members.
Alongside Bruaw and Slife Rustad on Monday were roughly 100 others who oppose the closing of Lincoln Elementary.
Bruaw questions whether there is political motivation behind the decision as it comes less than a month before the general election.
"I think what could have been done differently is really from the very get go start with meaningful community engagement, and it wasn't meaningful. They were not transparent. They used inaccurate information. They've done things behind closed doors and really have lost our trust and so we really are not happy across the board," Bruaw said. "Just a stab in the back."
But the Lakewood City Schools Board moved forward with the closure of Lincoln Elementary.
Lakewood City Schools School Board President Nora Katzenberger said, "We use the board's function as a team and we all worked together to come up with a decision that was best for every single student in the Lakewood schools. We want to provide the best education for all of our students in an equal and equitable way."
While many parents felt like their concerns went unheard, Katzenberger said she took everyone's thoughts into account before voting yes on Monday.
"All of us take this very much to heart and really put a lot of our own emotion and thoughts into this, but we wanted to do what was best for all of our students and we know that we can move forward together as a community," Katzenberger said. "This whole project was an effort to preserve walkability for our students and to preserve those neighborhood schools and to preserve the safety that is so important to all of us."
Katzenberger didn't make note of any savings derived from this closure, but explained the school district won't have to ask taxpayers for as much money in May when a levy is put to a vote.
"The good part now is that we have enough time to plan and do this, make these changes thoughtfully and with community involvement and in a way that'll be the best thing for our kids, and involving our kids too," she told me. "It's something that we will be able to do that'll make the transition as smooth as possible for everybody."
Katzenberger continued by saying, "It's emotional for everybody and we know it's hard and we have listened to you. I promise. Even though it might not be the outcome that everybody had hoped for, we hope we can all come together and be the Lakewood that we all know and love."
The decision, which came after several hours' worth of public comment, was 4-1.
Preserve Lakewood Schools released a detailed statement following the vote. CLICK HERE for it.
