Friday, January 11, 2013
Board looks at the year ahead in a meeting that lasted more than four-and-a-half hours.
Members of the Lakewood Board of Education agree that a school levy is needed to secure the financial future of the Lakewood City Schools. But, there are still several details yet to be ironed out. Those details include what type of levy the district should ask Lakewood taxpayers for. It's also unclear how much the district will ask for. Or when. Board members began that discussion at a special four-hour school board meeting on Thursday. “As I’ve said in the past, we can either continue to make significant reductions to our staff, or we can put a measure on the ballot,” said Superintendent Jeff Patterson. John Larson, from Squire Sanders law firm, presented a few levy options to district officials. But the seems as if the board is …
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Superintendent: Safety is our priority.
Update: This post was updated at 2:59 p.m. to reflect Superintendent Jeff Patterson's additional comments (see below). Looking to reinforce the Lakewood City Schools’ emphasis on safety, Superintendent Jeff Patterson brought up the issue again during Monday night’s school board meeting. And it appears as if the district is ready to revisit some of the schools' safety policies. "We are currently in the process of reviewing all of our safety procedures as a result of the Newtown tragedy," said Lakewood Schools spokeswoman Christine Gordillo. Last month, following the school shooting Connecticut, the district issued a statement regarding safety in the Lakewood schools. Patterson reiterated that message on Monday. “Our staff is trained each …
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Power outages and dangerous walking conditions were blamed for the closure.
For the third day straight, classes at the Lakewood City Schools have been canceled. With trees and power lines down — and thousands of residents still out of power — Superintendent Jeff Patterson said in a statement that he’s closing the school buildings again on Nov. 1. “This has been a trying time for all of us, but with everyone's cooperation, we will get through it safely and welcome the return to our normal routines,” said Patterson in a statement. Power remains out at Hayes, Emerson and Grant elementary schools, as well as Harding Middle School. In a prepared statement, Patterson said: As our community heads into our third day of recovery from Hurricane Sandy, the district wants to reassure parents that administrators are …
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Board of education votes to halt its earlier decision to close an elementary by the 2013-14 school year.
At the urging of Superintendent Jeff Patterson, the Lakewood School Board unanimously voted Monday to halt any school closings in the school district. The board also voted to immediately reverse the layoffs of 4.5 positions that were among the 26 slashed at the end of the last school year. In an effort to close an $8 million budget shortfall, the district had previously decided to shutter an elementary school in the city. However, new census data revealed a marked increase in the number of students entering the district. “There is every indication that trend will continue over the next several years,” Patterson said. According to the US Census, the number of children from birth to 5 years old has spiked in Lakewood. To highlight his point…
Friday, August 3, 2012
District officials would first like to figure out how much voters could withstand before putting a measure on the ballot.
Would you support a school levy? How much could you afford? What are your thoughts on the Lakewood City Schools? These are a few examples of the questions being asked of Lakewood voters. On Wednesday night, a campaign began to randomly call 400 homes in Lakewood, asking residents (with landlines) to take a 15-minute survey to get their input on a new levy. Superintendent Jeff Patterson said that a new levy is “inevitable.” Now, he said, the district must figure how much voters could afford — especially given the current economic climate. “I know it’s a difficult financial time for all of us — for consumers, for businesses, for the city of Lakewood,” he said. “We need to be the best stewards of the public’s money.” In addition to the …
Friday, July 13, 2012
With more students entering the district, the administration is considering postponing a plan to close one of three elementary schools in the district.
The Lakewood City Schools district is considering a move that would halt — or at least postpone — the closing of one of its elementary schools by 2014. At the board of education’s annual retreat on Thursday, superintendent Jeff Patterson proposed holding off a decision, based on the growing student population entering the district. “If we close an elementary school (now) we could fit all the students in our schools now,” Patterson said. “Our number of students is growing significantly, and we might not be able to do that (in the future).” The school board had previously voted — as part of the Phase 3 construction plan — to shutter Grant Elementary School, but Patterson said last month he’d like see which school “makes the most sense” to …
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
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…
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Treasurer: “The levy dollars we expected aren’t here. That’s why a new levy just has to happen.”
In one of his last acts as Lakewood’s treasurer, Rick Berdine laid out the school district’s updated five-year forecast to the Lakewood School Board on Monday night. As expected, the school district's financial picture isn’t exactly pretty. But it’s also not as bad as officials had anticipated during the last forecast in October. After Berdine laid out the five-year plan, the school board OK’d Superintendent Jeff Patterson’s plan to trim millions from the budget. Berdine said among the reasons for the shortfall are falling property values — which means fewer dollars the district can collect from levies. State cuts — to the tune of $6.3 million — haven’t helped either. “It’s nobody’s fault,” Berdine said. “The levy dollars we expected aren’…
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
To make up for a $12.4 million shortfall over the next five years, Superintendent Jeff Patterson laid out a budget blueprint at Monday’s school board meeting. But the district’s also going to need some help with a school levy.
In an effort to close a looming $12.4 million budget shortfall over the next five years, the Lakewood School Board considered some deep cuts to the budget on Monday. And not much was left off the table — including cuts to staffing, fewer textbooks and closing a school. Those were just a few of the ideas presented by Superintendent Jeff Patterson at Monday night’s school board meeting. If approved, the proposal would save the district about $8.6 million over the next three years. “This budget reduction plan accomplishes three goals,” said Patterson. “(It) minimizes the impact on student achievement; meets the criteria set by the community; and significantly reduces the amount of millage necessary in 2013.” Patterson has made no secret that …
The district must close one of three elementary schools in Lakewood. Take our completely unscientific poll and let us know which one you'd choose.
To help close a $12.4 million shortfall over the next five years, the Lakewood City Schools must close one elementary school by the start of the 2013-14 school year. Superintendent Jeff Patterson said that's part of his proposal to help balance the district's budget, following massive cuts in state funding last year. The school board previously voted — as part of the Phase 3 construction plan — to shutter Grant Elementary School, but Patterson said he’d like see which school “makes the most sense” to close. The district will consider closing Grant, Lincoln and Roosevelt elementary schools, he said, however the final decision won’t be made until August. “There are a lot factors to consider,” he said. Take our completely unscientific poll …
ian king
4:06 pm on Friday, January 11, 2013
Lakewood is such a schizo community! Population is declining yet taxes on income rise and now another tax for the schools! Why is city government not aggressively recruiting more businesses to locate/build/relocate in Lakewood? The aging private citizens of this town cannot continue to be the "deep tax pockets" we were a decade or more ago. Lakewood is facing a very questionable financial future … more ›