Our Stance

Lakewood City School District (LCSD) has proposed closing and repurposing one or even two neighborhood elementary schools due to reasons that have shifted over the course of discussions. This will impact everyone in Lakewood, from increased traffic, to property values, to loss of Lakewood's walkable charm. Here is some background info:
 

• "Low enrollment" as the originally stated district reason has been disproved with their own updated data showing that enrollment is stabilizing in the post-COVID years. The district now projects that Lakewood will only lose 66 K-5 students over the next 10 years - that’s only 9 fewer students per elementary school. Check out our latest article on this issue,  "Lakewood's Elementary Enrollment is Stable."  PLS believes that working together, we can course-correct with marketing efforts.

• In a March 11, 2025 letter to the House Finance Committee regarding House Bill 96, LCSD CFO Kent Zeman wrote, “Lakewood CSD is a guarantee district with stable enrollment. Our enrollment over the last four years has remained constant at 4,200 students.”

• LCSD's own community survey shows that Lakewoodites' collective top priorities are:

• • Minimize walking time to schools

  • Creating equitable class sizes*

  • Avoiding students crossing through major thoroughfares.

• *Equitable class sizes can be achieved through simply redrawing boundary lines, without closing entire buildings.

• Closing and repurposing one school will save only $500,000/annually per LCSD presentations at Community Conversations. This is roughly 0.6% of the annual operating budget.  Regardless of whether the school board votes to close and repurpose schools, they still plan to ask Lakewood voters to approve a new levy in 2026. For the value of our walkable neighborhood schools to current families and in attracting more to Lakewood, we believe that this cost savings is not worth the sacrifice.

• Longer walking distances, especially for disadvantaged families, is likely to exacerbate absenteeism and does not support LCSD's "Stay in the Game" attendance initiative. LCSD has no plans to add bus service for general education students.