The Good, The Better And The What The Heck: Observations On The District
The Good and The Better: Two years ago, a project was started to create an area that would honour all Lakewood High School alumni that served or are serving in our armed forces. It was one of my greatest regrets about retiring when I did, that I couldn’t see the completion of this project. I did enjoy being on the ground level doing a great deal of research from flag protocols, talking to Vets and researching history right here at LHS. I was happy that Superintendent Niedzwiecki approved my idea of the home for this project by choosing the location in The Civic lobby.
The original memorial was the Peace Fountain, located in between the grand staircase sections, memorializing the Great War with a bronze plaque containing the names of the fallen encased in a dramatic sculpture and a fountain anchored by a lion’s head. After WW2, two additional plaques were added on either side in memory of those fallen heroes. After the Korean conflict one more plaque was added. Later the fountain was dismantled to make way for one of many construction projects and the plaques were relocated to the hallway shared by the distinguished alumni. The plaque honouring the veterans of the Vietman conflict was added and an additional plaque was made available to add the names of those may have been omitted and other fallen heroes while in service to their country. Before the Phase 3 construction of LHS, everything was gathered and safely put in storage by the Lakewood Ranger Education Foundation (LREF).
This fall the new area for all alumni that have served will be dedicated, finding its new and hopefully a most honoured, permanent home. In addition to the restored plaques there will be militaria displayed. There is also an interactive screen to look up our alum and find each veteran’s history of service. One of the most amazing treasures in the LREF collection is a book kept by the students of LHS during WW2 that journals each classmate’s deployments during the war, their battles fought and where they fell or when they returned home. It will be digitized for viewing and the actual book will be kept under glass in a display case to maintain its incredible condition. As you view the book, the image of classmates, prom dates and siblings entering the details of each soldier’s service and their sacrifices in real time should not be lost on us today.
Superintendent Niedzwiecki calls the area a "living tribute" using the interactive screen to create records of alumni and other projects created by LHS students to share more about the displays. As the memorial grows there will be a designated area with a possible mural created by LHS art students to honour the women who served. If you are or you know a veteran please contact LREF at terri.richards@lakewoodcityschools.org to share your stories with words and pictures so they can be added to the interactive display. Congratulations to everyone involved in this project.
“…they stopped a moment, as most of us do, in front of the memorial fountain honouring the boys from Lakewood High who lost their lives in the First World War. Flanked by the flags of school and country and lighted to bring out the colouring of the ceramic murals around the bronze plaque…” (picture and description from the 1945 LHS yearbook)
The What the Heck: Circling back to the last article. The editor made some additions to help clarify the three issues as my shorthand does need some explanation at times.
It is in fact true that there is no policy requiring administrators or any staff member to live in Lakewood. Policies 1001, 3001 and 4001 state: “The Board encourages employees to reside in the City of Lakewood. The Board will collaborate with the City of Lakewood, financial institutions, and other community organizations in developing proactive and positive programs to encourage Board employees to make Lakewood their home.” Residency is not required but living in the city where your job is shaping the future of our children and the community should be more strongly encouraged especially at the highest level of the district. Lacking Lakewood residents at the cabinet level, the highest level administrators, is something that should be a great concern.
Regarding video recording of meetings, there is no policy. Only minutes are required. Policy 0168 states: “The Treasurer shall record the proceedings of each meeting in a book to be provided by the Board for that purpose, which shall be a public record. All resolutions passed by the Board shall be memorialized in a manner that allows the public to access, understand, and comply with the actions of the Board.” Here is an example of the 4/29 special meeting minutes: “The Superintendent and Cabinet members provided Board members with an update on matters pertaining to the 2023-2024 school year and discussed planning for the 2024-2025 school year and beyond.” Not an incredible number of actual details in these written minutes. According to board policy no meetings have a requirement to be video/audio recorded but to better serve our community and encourage more involvement by all stakeholders, a recording for all to see should be considered. If not, the Lakewood community can continue to be concerned about the issue of transparency from the school board and top-leveladministrators.
Regarding executive sessions and noting the reasons for each session: More than an issue of transparency (seems to be the What the Heck theme) it is an issue of law. The state set this law to limit what school boards could discuss behind closed doors. So really, who cares about such a small detail? Me, I care. If you have ever worked for an organization that, when needed, stresses that the rules be followed, that organization should also follow the rules. There are no minutes of any kind from executive sessions. Our board chooses to not share information from the sessions, even though there are no strict confidentiality limits about informing the stakeholders: for example, explaining why one contractor was chosen over another.
Reminder: Board meetings are the first and third Mondays of the month. Information regarding location and times of meetings, policies, and contact information can be found on the Board of Education tab of lakewoodcityschools.org. Sign up for notification of not only special board meetings but many other district meetings by emailing kent.zeman@lakewoodcityschools.org. On YouTube search “Brent Kallay” to view board meetings and many other district events.