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Schools

Lakewood School Board Recognizes Basketball Champs, Essay Winner

Athletic and scholastic achievements bring parents, pride to Harrison Elementary.

Monday’s regular Board of Education meeting informally turned into ladies night at , as many girls attended to accept trophies, awards and rounds of congratulation.

To tip off the night, Assistant Superintendent Jeff Patterson recognized the eighth grade girls basketball team for going 18-1 and bringing home a Northeast Ohio Conference title.

The team, which entered the tournament as a number two seed, came away with a championship and was recognized by the Board and their head coach, Mike Harper, for their achievements on the court.

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“They had a cumulative team grade point average of 3.66,” Harper said. “What you need to know about that is not only was it the highest at Harding Middle School, but it was the highest within all of Lakewood between Harding and Garfield for all winter sports…”

“Playing basketball is not a right, it’s a privilege. And it’s privilege because you do what you’re supposed to do in the classroom first.”

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Next up was Ella Calleri, a student who won this year’s “Why I love Lakewood...” essay contest.

Board President Matt Markling and Hayes Principal Robert Curtin awarded Calleri with a certificate and gave her the floor to address the public and read her essay.

“I love Lakewood for all the activities like sewing at and singing at the ,” she said. “I love Lakewood for all the schools like Hayes, my school, Harding, Garfield, Emerson, Grant and the other ones. I love it for the wonderful library that we go to every Sunday and I love it for the people who live here — my family.”

In other news, board member Linda Beebe announced that under House Bill 1 boards of education must work to introduce financial literacy curricula in the district’s middle schools and high school.

“Some of this material in the new curriculum is being taught already, and we’re going to adjust our curriculum and update it,” Beebe said. “This will include things like budgeting, savings, credit, philanthropy, investments—all of the things that we as adults in the real world deal with on a day-to-day basis.”

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