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Take Action:

Tell Lakewood City Council and School Board that you don’t support this elementary school overhaul

​Lakewood is about to make a major, expensive decision about our elementary schools—one that reverses what voters already chose and paid for. A revote is scheduled for September 8, 2026, and both the School Board and City Council need to hear from you before then.

 

Here is some additional background to help you tailor your communications:
 

This Affects Every Elementary School

This is a district-wide elementary restructuring that touches every school and every neighborhood in Lakewood. Their plan redraws attendance boundaries across the entire city, so families all over Lakewood could find their children reassigned to a different school. It eliminates the neighborhood preschool model and concentrates preschool into a single location in the north end. It relocates gifted and special-needs programs to different buildings. And it shifts students in ways that strain schools already at capacity—Horace Mann, Hayes, and others would absorb students and pressures from the change.
 

In other words: whichever elementary school your family belongs to, this plan can change where your children go, who they go with, and what programs are offered there. Every Lakewood family with young children—and every taxpayer—has a stake in getting this right.
 

There's No Demonstrated Urgency for This

The most important thing to understand is that nothing is forcing this decision. According to the district's own consultant analysis, elementary enrollment has stabilized and has increased over the past five years, and building utilization across the schools is balanced. District finances were described as healthy at the time of the original October 2025 vote. Unlike districts that close or reconfigure schools under real financial or enrollment pressure, Lakewood faces no such crisis. This is a choice being made without a demonstrated need—which is exactly why it deserves a real plan and a real public process before we spend more money reversing course.
 

Why This Matters: We Already Decided This, and We're Still Paying for It

In 2013, Lakewood voted by a 70% margin to issue $50 million in bonds to keep all seven elementary schools open. Lincoln, Grant, and Roosevelt were rebuilt from the ground up, designed to last more than 50 years. Residents are still repaying that debt today. This was our community's long-term plan—settled a decade ago, funded by taxpayers, and reaffirmed repeatedly since.
 

Now, without a demonstrated crisis, that plan is being reversed mid-course—and the taxpayer costs are piling up with little to show for them:
 

  • A $6 million renovation at Taft in 2020 already built an all-day preschool with aftercare, new classrooms, offices, and a playground. That program had no waitlist last year and has no defined use under the new plan. The district wants to build new preschool capacity while a $6M preschool sits underused.

  • Tens of thousands of dollars in consultant fees funded an Elementary Task Force that was disbanded before it could deliver its report—a report that would not have recommended closing any school.

  • New, unbudgeted costs loom: Lincoln's playground is built for K-5 children and would need costly modification for preschoolers, while the recently renovated Taft playground would go unused. By the district's own statements, less than half of the Lincoln building would even be used for the purpose the Board approved.
     

And the financial case doesn't hold up. When residents obtained the district's own spreadsheet through a public-records request, it contradicted the savings the Board claimed—even with 30+ children packed into some classrooms.
 

What Else Gets Lost

Beyond the dollars, in a district that provides no busing, redrawing boundaries and centralizing preschool forces longer walks across busy roads or new daily car trips for families across the city. It strains local nonprofit preschools, worsens an existing K-5 aftercare shortage (schools like Horace Mann were already over capacity with waitlists), and moves gifted and special-needs programs with little public detail.
 

The bottom line: Our community already chose to invest in seven neighborhood schools, and elementary enrollment has since stabilized. No compelling plan, alternatives, budget, or proven savings has been presented to justify a district-wide restructuring. Before spending more taxpayer money to undo what taxpayers already funded, the district owes us a real plan—and the City owes us its attention, because the downstream costs land on Lakewood too.
 

Take Action

We've provided two sample letters—one for the school board and one for Lakewood City Council members. They're written differently because the two bodies have different powers and priorities.

 

Please send both, and send them individually to each person—before the school board votes.
 

Personal messages matter most. Take a minute to edit the letters and add your own reason this matters—your kids, your street, your taxes, your school. A few sentences in your own voice outweigh any form letter.

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Who to email (all contact information as listed on public websites):

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School Board 

 

City Council

 

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Template 1: To the Lakewood Board of Education​​
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Subject: Please vote NO on September 8—this plan isn't ready

Dear [Board Member Name],
I'm a Lakewood resident and [parent / taxpayer / community member] writing about the elementary restructuring plan you'll vote on September 8. I'm asking you to vote no.

Would you consider a quick phone call or meeting with me to discuss?

I want to be clear that I care about our schools and support strong public education in Lakewood—I voted for the levy, and I want our early-childhood programs to thrive. My concern is that this specific plan hasn't been shown to be a good use of our community's money or trust, and a no vote is the way to send it back for the real process it needs.

 

I also want to be clear about the reason this is being proposed, because I don't see one that justifies it. By the district's own consultant analysis, elementary enrollment has stabilized and building utilization is balanced—there is no enrollment or financial crisis forcing this decision. That's precisely why it shouldn't be approved in its current form.

 

In 2013, Lakewood voted by 70% to issue $50 million in bonds to keep all seven elementary schools, and rebuilt Lincoln as a 50-year investment. We are still paying off that debt. Reversing that decision is a serious step that should require a serious plan. Yet nearly a year after the original vote, there is still no budget, no transportation plan, no finalized boundaries, and no revenue model—the district's own records have contradicted the savings that were claimed. Meanwhile, the $6 million preschool already built at Taft, which had no waitlist this year, appears to have no defined role in this plan.

 

A vote to approve locks in a district-wide restructuring before these basic questions are answered. A no vote doesn't end the conversation—it protects the community's investment and sends the plan back to be done right, with:

  1. A complete, public plan addressing budget, boundaries, transportation, K-5 aftercare, and the impact on families and local preschool providers; and

  2. Genuine consideration of more than one option—including maintaining the seven-school, neighborhood model this community has repeatedly supported including in the district’s own survey—rather than a single predetermined outcome.
     

If a future proposal shows clear, demonstrable benefits and a responsible transition, I'm open to it. But absent that—and absent any demonstrated urgency—please vote no on September 8.

 

Thank you for your service, and please let me know when it would be convenient for you to meet or speak on the phone directly.

 

Sincerely,

[Your name]

[Your street address]

[Your children's school(s) and grade(s), if applicable]

[Your community roles—e.g., PTA/PTO member, room parent, block club or neighborhood association, coach, congregation, small business owner, etc.]

Template 2: To the Lakewood City Council

 

Subject: Please weigh in before Sept. 8—the schools plan is not ready

Dear Councilmember [Name],

 

I'm a Lakewood resident writing to ask the City Council to engage on the school district’s proposed elementary restructuring before the September 8 school board revote. I know the schools are a separate body, but this decision reaches well beyond the school district, and the City should understand and be concerned about the downstream costs which would land on us.

 

I also want to be clear that there is no demonstrated urgency behind this massive change. By the district's own consultant analysis, elementary enrollment has stabilized and building utilization is balanced—there is no crisis forcing this. Yet Lakewood taxpayers voted in 2013 to invest $50 million to keep all seven elementary schools, rebuilding Lincoln as a 50-year building we are still paying for. Reversing that now—with no budget, no transportation or safety plan, and no proven savings—raises real questions of fiscal stewardship for our whole community.

 

This isn't a single-school issue. The plan redraws attendance boundaries across the entire city, so families in every neighborhood could be affected. And because Lakewood City Schools runs no buses, changing where children attend school directly affects City streets, crossings, and traffic: longer walks across busy corridors, more drop-off congestion, and new demands for crossing guards and traffic-calming that fall on the City's budget, not the district's.

 

I'm asking Council to do two things within its role:

  1. Urge the Board to propose more than one option—including maintaining the neighborhood-school model residents have repeatedly supported including in the district’s own survey—rather than advancing a single idea without a public process or financial strategy; and

  2. Request a joint City–District transportation and safety plan before any restructuring takes effect, so the impacts on our streets, crossings, and neighborhoods are studied and understood—consistent with the City's own Active Transportation Plan, Climate Action Plan, and Vision Zero commitment.
     

This doesn't require Council to run the schools. It asks Council to represent and protect Lakewood taxpayers and residents from absorbing the costs and risks of a decision made without a plan and without any demonstrated need. Please don't let the City be silent while that decision is finalized.

 

Thank you for your service to Lakewood, and I would welcome further discussion via phone or in-person meeting.

 

Sincerely,

[Your name]

[Your street address; please include to identify your ward]
[Your ward, if known]
[Your community roles—e.g., PTA member, neighborhood/block association, small business owner, parent, longtime resident, etc.]

BOE and Council Contact
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