Getting to Know Me: My Response to a Lakewood Resident’s Questions

A few days ago, a curious Lakewood resident reached out via email with questions about me. I'm finding that these are usually questions that other people have too, so I am publishing my response here.

Concern: The resident saw the R in front of my name, and wanted to know more about my personal politics.

My response: "Thank you for reaching out to learn more about me. Too often people make assumptions and then start believing things that they see on social media and there's a lot of misinformation out there.

The biggest thing to know is that I wouldn't call myself a politician and really don't like to be labeled anything (in general). I know that many people in today's age use an R or D to describe a person and then judge what their actions or intentions may be and I really try not to do that. I was raised a Democrat and in 2010 I pulled a Republican primary ballot, and haven't gone back. I would call myself an Independent or centrist as I vote based on who is running and the issues, but to be frank, I never considered only voting the issues in a primary which would then show me as a "no party". Honestly, I might be doing that in the future. I have tried to show on my website how and what I believe instead of just using words, as I believe actions speak louder than just words. I'll give you a few examples to help show you more about me, that I support public education, want to elevate all students in their learning and how I think local control is better than the government control of things.

I was a trustee on the Lakewood Rangers Education Foundation for 6 years. We fundraise and help fill the gaps for students and staff to get the programming, training and resources they need that the operating budget does not cover.

I have been involved with the ACE Mentor Program in Cleveland Public Schools for 16 years, where we mentor students in career fields in Architecture Construction and Engineering. I mentored for 10 years (winning Mentor of the Year once), currently am the Scholarship Chair and sit on the Board of Directors. I've had 2 former students (Keely and Trenton) write testimonials about my relationship and mentorship with them.

Professionally I have 20 years as an education planner (first with a construction management firm and now with an architect firm) and I help K-12 and Career Tech schools around the state as they plan their facilities. I work with superintendents, boards and their community as they find solutions. I love being an education planner.

My travels take me to conferences and in the late spring I attended one with K-12 treasurers when the Governor's budget bill was under heated debate, specific to capping districts on the amount of carryover they had in their operating accounts.  So many of my client treasurers talked about ways to work around this government overreach by moving money into an 070 account for capital projects. This made sense so that districts would not lose the funds but it would mean they would have to have careful planning so that they would not be forced to go to the voters for operating more frequently. I had an email exchange with Lakewood's treasurer, Kent Zeman, making sure he knew about this work around because in all of his reports to the board and community he told about the potential loss to the district, but never a real solution (except to tell the legislators to vote no) and I was bothered by, in my opinion, not quite giving everyone the truth. Kent is such a good treasurer there would have been no way he would have let us lose that money. He did respond to me that he knew about this account for capital accounts, In the end, I am glad that much of this did not get included in the final version.

Personally, I have 3 adopted children, two of which are bi-racial, all of which have an IEP. My son goes to Emerson's Special Education classes for kids with behavior and emotional issues. I strongly support Lakewood's commitment to meeting our students where they are giving the skills to succeed.

This is a lot to say that I may not fit what people see as "Republican" and I may not fit as "Democrat" and I am fine with that (until I entered this campaign did I realize how much scrutiny I would be under). This is how I live my life. I will also debunk other rumors you might have heard too.  I do not support book bans. I am not affiliated with Lifewise or other group wanting to bring religion to the schools. The company I work for (Garmann Miller) is not associated with Lifewise. I do not want to defund public education. I do not want to bring charter schools to Lakewood. I do not want to defund the Lakewood Rec department. See, lots of rumors out there.

I have skills and a desire to bring the very best education to all of our students. I want to see them succeed. That is why I am running for school board.

Sorry this was so long. Thanks for reading this to the end :) Have a great day!

Monica"

At the heart of my campaign is a simple goal: to ensure every student in Lakewood has access to the best education possible within our unique walkable neighborhood school model. I’m not driven by party politics or outside agendas, but by a genuine commitment to our schools, our students, and our community. My experiences as a parent, mentor, and educational planner have shown me the importance of listening, collaboration, and transparency. I hope this response helps you better understand who I am and what I stand for, and I welcome continued conversation with anyone who wants to learn more. Together, we can keep Lakewood’s schools strong and focused on what matters most- our kids.