Board Issues Statement On Recent Legislation

Here in Lakewood, we take pride in the fact that we work with our students, families, educators, and community to ensure that we do everything in our power to protect the rights, dignity, and well-being of our students and staff. Kindness and respect have always been a part of our values, and our Vision of a Lakewood Ranger. 

As you may be aware, the Ohio State Legislature has passed, and Governor DeWine has signed, a number of bills that have the potential to affect our students’ well being, as well as the way we operate our schools. These bills seek to affect our transgender students, possibly remove some students from school for religious instruction, and more. 

In addition, the incoming administration at the Federal level has issued a number of Executive Orders that seek to use the threat of removal of Federal educational funding to influence educational programs and policies that protect and support transgender students, affect the way we teach U.S. History, eliminate programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, and even allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enter our schools.

Local control has been a bedrock principle of public education in Ohio for many years, and these actions are designed to undermine this principle. Local control of our policies and programs has ensured that Lakewood City Schools have been a place of acceptance for everyone. We are a community that prides itself on being a place where all students belong and feel welcome. 

In Lakewood, our main purpose as educators, and as a community, is to protect the safety and well-being of our students, so they can focus on achieving their goals, both as students and as human beings. 

Please know that, as a Board and Administration, we are working together, and with the advice of counsel, to interpret these state and federal measures as they are issued, and to determine what actions they actually require schools to take, how these actions are monitored, and what consequences are involved. In some cases, legal measures preventing the implementation of these bills might prevent the need for immediate action from schools. 

In the coming weeks, as we learn more, we will continue to update you. In addition, we will issue a board resolution regarding some or all of these bills and orders, if necessary and applicable. Until then, and going forward, as I said earlier, we will continue to work with our students, families, educators, and community to ensure that we are doing and will continue to do everything in our power to protect the rights, dignity, and well-being of our students and staff. Kindness and respect have always been a part of our values, and our Vision of a Lakewood Ranger. That’s not going to stop now.