Community Voices: "I urge the board to prioritize caution and foresight over speed."

Lakewood resident Kelly Moyer shared the following comments at Lakewood School Board's meeting on September 2, at Garfield Middle School.

Good evening,

My name is Kelly Moyer and I live with my husband and our four children (three current Rangers) on Lakeland Ave. I’m here tonight to respectfully ask that the Superintendent and School Board halt any decision on closing an elementary school until we have more complete, post-COVID enrollment data.

The reality is that the COVID pandemic created unprecedented disruptions in our daily lives. We are only beginning to see its long-term impact on families, housing patterns, and school enrollment. It has only been five years! The children born during the height of COVID are only now entering kindergarten this year. We are already seeing anomalies in kindergarten enrollment. There may be many reasons for this but one I haven't heard talked about - parents deciding to hold their children for another year due to the complete halt in social and educational opportunities early in their lives. Who knows what numbers may look like next year and the coming years as these post-COVID babies start school. The choices their families make will play a huge role in shaping the future needs of our schools.

Through my work with the Early Childhood PTA here in Lakewood, I have a unique perspective on our youngest families. I know of so many who decided to relocate to the Cleveland area during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 to seek more family support, a lower cost of living, more space and a focus on walkable neighborhoods and the outdoor spaces our community provides. They chose Lakewood for these reasons. These families have settled here and have one or more young children.

To make a permanent decision now, before these trends can be analyzed would be short-sighted. What we see today is not necessarily what we will see tomorrow. Enrollment numbers at the elementary level after the initial COVID drop are stabilizing, as so many of you have said publicly. Making an irreversible decision based on incomplete data risks closing doors that our community may very well need open again in the near future. Let's not give our families any reason to doubt their decision - to move to Lakewood for our walkable neighborhood schools or to send their children to those very buildings.

I urge the board to prioritize caution and foresight over speed. With so many reasons to pause this process, why the rush? Why keep pushing forward when we have seen no compelling reasons to close and repurpose one of our newly built neighborhood elementary schools? Let’s allow time for these post-pandemic enrollment patterns to emerge before we make a choice that will impact families, taxpayers, neighborhoods, and the heart of our community for decades to come.

Thank you for your time and for your service to our district. I know that you don't want to be the ones who make a decision that history will show was done in haste. You are the elected body that we chose to represent us. Do so now.

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