Updates

On Tuesday, over 3,900 Lakewoodites showed up and voted for Monica and Katie, and we came within a few percentage points of claiming our first seat at the table on Lakewood’s School Board. Wow! We are proud of the grassroots movement you all helped to create.

Tonight, the Lakewood Board of Education voted against the expressed interests of Lakewood residents when it voted to close Lincoln Elementary School, redraw the boundary lines of all six remaining elementaries, and shuffle the locations of the district’s special education programs. 

Hundreds of Lakewood residents came together to rally for our 7 neighborhood schools. Lakewood, you showed up for your schools today. Regardless of the outcome of the school board meeting, we came together to support our schools, and we thank you.

Lakewood City Schools' superintendent recommended last night that Lincoln Elementary be closed and repurposed into a standalone Pre-K building, and that our neighborhood Pre-K classes be consolidated into one building, among many other potential changes.  

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Preserve Lakewood Schools' Meet the School Board Candidates Night on October 3!

The district’s latest push for a centralized Pre-K building actually proves the opposite point: families deeply value neighborhood PreK sites, especially at Harrison Elementary. Consolidating into one building would hit Harrison families hard, as many Pre-K students at Harrison live near the school, particularly those in and around Birdtown who may be enrolling in Pre-K as soon as next year.

The conversation about potentially closing one or even two of Lakewood’s neighborhood elementary schools has gone on so long that many in...

Preserve Lakewood Schools is proud to endorse Monica Bruaw and Katie Slife Rustad for the Lakewood Board of Education. Both candidates bring deep roots in our community, proven leadership, and a commitment to protecting Lakewood’s neighborhood schools while ensuring a strong future for our district.

We are asking everyone who cares about the future of Lakewood’s neighborhood schools to register for the Superintendent’s “tabletop conversation” on September 29th. 

Over the past months, some district leaders have suggested that our schools face an imminent threat of being taken over by charter school operators if enrollment dips below 60% capacity. The argument, repeated in recent meetings, is that the “school board is the last line of defense” against such a scenario.

We are in the final sprint leading up to Lakewood’s school board’s decision on whether or not to close and repurpose one or even two of Lakewood’s neighborhood elementary schools (the school board will vote on October 20th).  Want to learn more?  Check out our new FAQs!

There seems to be a deeply held belief by the current Board of Education that Grant Elementary should never have been rebuilt.  Yet the...

We have been evaluating the merits of closing one or two elementary schools for over a year.  Stepping back, however, a threshold question was overlooked – Are the proposed scenarios physically possible as designed - are there enough classrooms available in each school?  Surprisingly, the answer is “no”.  

Preserve Lakewood Schools is hosting a Meet the School Board Candidates Night on Thursday, October 2, 6:30-8:30pm at Lakewood Woman's Club Pavilion at Lakewood Park. We are developing the questions to be asked during this special event, and we want to hear from YOU! What would you ask the candidates for Lakewood's school board?

Thank you to everyone who joined us at our rally, and packed the school board meeting earlier this week!  If you missed it, please watch Fox 8's news story, "Lakewood families fighting to keep all the city’s elementary schools open."  

The email communication on 8/26/2025 from the Lakewood City School District raises serious concerns about how building utilization is...

The recent weeks have brought revelations that Lakewood City Schools’ leadership and Board of Education members likely acted illegally in the process that they used to create and manage the Elementary Planning Task Force, and that they continue to refuse to act with transparency

Preserve Lakewood Schools is launching a Month of Action to advocate for change from our Board of Education leaders, and we can all make a difference. Here are ways you can get involved.

Preserve Lakewood Schools PAC is a local Political Action Committee (PAC) that advocates for keeping strong neighborhood schools in Lakewood, Ohio’s densest and perhaps most walkable city. Our focus is on good governance, transparency, community involvement, and holding our elected school board accountable.

Here is one Elementary Planning Task Force member's response to the district's latest email charades.