From Data to Community Impact: An Educational Planner’s Perspective on Lakewood Schools
- Move Forward with Monica
- Sep 3
- 3 min read
Last night, Tuesday, September 2nd, at Garfield Middle School, I took the public comment podium during the Board of Education meeting with the clarity and commitment that comes from my two decades as an educational planner. In my three-minute address during the public comment period, I leveraged my professional experience in district-wide master planning to shed light on how Lakewood’s facility capacity data is being presented—and how it must be clarified for the benefit of every neighborhood school.
"Hello my name is Monica Bruaw. In August 2024, the district first started sharing building capacity numbers. In February 2025 and again a few weeks ago in an email, capacity numbers were shared for each school building (for the same school year 2024-25) and they didn’t match.
But the message seems to stay the same: a few buildings are at risk of falling below the 60% capacity threshold, and we must act before the state comes in to “take” the building for a charter school.
Like many others, I’m still unclear on how the district is actually calculating this number. Without a clear definition, these figures can be used to tell whatever story you want.
In the past, the district referenced that they are using the OFCC master plan numbers, but when I spoke with the Chief Deputy of Planning at OFCC last week, she cautioned that those calculations should not be used in this determination. Yes, the recent budget bill included language on this issue- but it did not pass.
I also confirmed with attorneys at Bricker and Graydon that there is no guidance about ORC 3313.411, in case law or Attorney General opinions on how to calculate the 60%.
So why is this concerning?
First, looking only at the elementary school is short-sighted. According to the code, “unused school facilities” is defined as:
Any school building that has been used for direct academic instruction, but less than 60% of the building was used for that purpose in the preceding school year.
This would apply not just to some elementary schools, but also- by your own August 2024 numbers- to the middle schools and even the high school because all 3 are below 60%.
It would also apply to a school building that only housed centralized pre-K, with fewer than 200 students, would it not?
Second, what are we doing proactively? For example, no one representing the district attended the “Meet the Trucks” event this summer- the single largest event for families with preschool-aged kids. If we want families to choose Lakewood Schools, we need to be visible, engaged, and promoting what we offer.
Fellow Lakewood residents of the board: the Superintendent has repeatedly told us we have the luxury of time. There is no emergency. We are not in a dire circumstance.
If that is true, then let’s use this time wisely. Let’s pause with the planning, do a strategic planning process that begins with meaningful community input and engagement, work with the city to attract families, promote our schools, and increase enrollment.
This issue is dividing our city. We don’t have enough solid data.
If a building is closed or repurposed now, it would be short-sighted. Once it’s gone, we’ll never get it back.
So I ask you plainly: how can you let this happen?" (end of speech)
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