Lakewood Residents React to Voter-Approved School Levy

Issue 14 passed with about 68 percent of the vote. Most of the Lakewood Patch readers were happy about that.

City, Schools Looking to Work Together

From the recreation department to school safety, the school board and city council are looking at several ways to cooperate.

Lakewood City Schools and Lakewood City Hall are looking to cooperate a little more. From support of the upcoming school levy to sharing some of the responsibility with the recreation department, officials are looking to see how they can share services and facilities. For the first time in three years, the school board and city council officially got together for a joint meeting at Garfield Middle School on Monday. Following several presentations made by each side, city and school officials discussed ways they could work together. One of the topics covered was the school-district-run recreation department. City council president Brian Powers pointed out that Lakewood is one of a handful of recreation departments in the state run by the …

•  4 Comments
• Photos (1)

School Board Appoints New Officers

Board member Ed Favre was nominated and approved to become the district’s president in 2013. Long-time board member Linda Beebe was appointed as the board’s vice president.

The Lakewood School Board appointed its new officers for 2013 at its first board meeting of the year on Monday. Board member Ed Favre was nominated and approved to become the district’s president in 2013. Long-time board member Linda Beebe was appointed as the board’s vice president. The board unanimously approved the appointments.

• Photos (2)

School Board OKs Pay Freeze for Administration

Move brings the district in line with pay freezes and insurance cost increases along with the rest of the teachers and staff in the district.

As part of the recent contract negotiations with the Lakewood Teachers Association, the teachers and staff took a 0 percent pay raise for the 2013-14 school year. They also agreed to increase their health care insurance costs by 5 percent. Now, the administration will follow suit. On Monday, the Lakewood Board of Education approved a new “Leadership Team Package” which will freeze pay increases for administrators, and will boost the health care payments from 10 to 15 percent. In a district-wide effort to make up for a looming multi-million-dollar shortfall in the budget, Superintendent Jeff Patterson renegotiated the contract with the teachers’ union. “I’d like everybody to know that every employee in this district is taking a zero percent…

•  2 Comments
• Photos (1)

Ohio Ethics Commission to Review Nepotism Allegation Against School Board Member

Daughter of board member Ed Favre hired as recreation department athletic coordinator in 2004.

Correction: This version corrects the spelling of Leslie Krogman. The Ohio Ethics Commission is looking into an allegation of nepotism against school board member Ed Favre in connection with the board's 2004 hire of his daughter for the recreation department. Favre, who claims — with the board's backing — that he did nothing wrong, abstained from the vote to hire his daughter Leslie Krogman as athletic coordinator. Lakewood is one of a handful of school districts in Ohio that oversees the recreation department that serves city residents; the school board votes on spending, hires and other business. Schools Superintendent Jeff Patterson told Lakewood Patch the state ethics commission contacted him Monday. He said the district will cooperate…

•  15 Comments
• Photos (1)

School Board Elects Its New Leaders

Betsy Shaughnessy sworn in as new board president; Ed Favre chosen to become the board's vice president.

Betsy Shaughnessy was selected by her fellow board members as the board of education’s president, and Ed Favre was elected as the board’s vice president. Both boardmembers were sworn in during a special ceremony just before Monday's board meeting began.

• Photos (2)

School Board Meeting: National Merit Honors; Construction Update; and a New Truck

The city's state-level politicians were on hand to honor eight LHS students.

On the eve of the election, the Lakewood Board of Education welcomed both of the city’s state politicians, State Rep. Nickie Antonio, D-13, and State Sen. Michael J. Skindell, D-23, to honor eight Lakewood High School students for their work in the classroom Monday at Harrison Elementary School. About 1.5 million students competed in the National Merit Scholarship program, and LHS was home to five students who placed in the top 5 percent, and three in the top 1 percent. “My hope is that they go off, get a wonderful education, and then they come back home,” Antonio said. “We need you to help us continue to have Lakewood be a wonderful place to call home.” The students who placed in the top 5 percent, and earned the honor of Commended …

• Photos (5)

Big Victory for Basketball in Lakewood

School board opens gyms of city's schools for the sport; more than 100 people attend city council meeting to support hoops.

Nothin’ but net. After weeks of discussion, planning and development, Lakewood Recreation Department commissioner Erin Fach received unanimous approval from the Board of Education at Monday’s regular meeting to move forward with a pilot indoor basketball program. Despite some early apprehensions from board members — such as security concerns and injury liability — the board OK'd the program relatively quickly. Although it hasn't begun yet, the schools' program hasn’t undergone the same sort of scrutiny and contention, when compared with the outdoor pilot basketball program at Kaufmann Park. All games will take place on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday evenings. They will be supervised, students and adults will play within preset age groups (…

• Photos (3)

Summers is the Lone Mayoral Candidate — So Far

Two others pulled petitions from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, but one of them announced he will not seek the post.

There is still more than a month before the June 30 filing deadline, but Michael Summers is still the only candidate for the Lakewood mayoral post. Summers, who was appointed to the mayoral post in November when then-mayor Ed FtizGerald was elected to become Cuyahoga County's first county executive, officially announced his candidacy last Thursday — the same day he filed petitions. According to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, only two others have pulled petitions.  Edward Favre, a retired Lakewood police officer and current school board member, announced last week he would not seek the mayor’s office, citing “personal and family considerations.” Jim O’Bryan, publisher of the Lakewood Observer, has not announced whether he would …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)