Hello Lakewood Families, Staff, Students & Community,
I would like to take a moment to wish you a Happy New Year and say welcome to 2019! We have had a very busy first half of the school year and the pace does not seem to slow down for Lancers as we move into second semester!
First of all, I am proud to announce that our school district was named to the 9th Annual Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Roll. This distinction indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are ready for AP courses. To be included on the 9th Annual Honor Roll, we increased the number of students participating in AP while also increasing or maintaining the percentage of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher since 2016.
To support ongoing student learning and achievement, some of the other things we’ve accomplished this school year include the following:
- Each building in our district has developed and shared their continuous improvement plans, which can be found on our website.
- Our STEM Coordinator, Mrs. Dee Martindale, has led an Innovator’s Cohort of teachers to focus on embedding critical thinking and engaging lessons within content areas.
- Our Lakewood Business Advisory will convene next month. Our partnerships allow us to offer internships, mentorships, and expertise on student projects.
- Our Lakewood High School faculty is focused on implementing changes to graduation requirements, which include opportunities for our students to be “Prepared for Success.” Additionally, new career pathways are planned for next school year in engineering and manufacturing, which will include college credit, industry connections and credentialing.
- We received a grant of nearly $5000 to add updated reading materials to our library at Hebron Elementary.
To support student and staff safety:
- Our School Resource Officers, Officers Joe Harvey and Mike Crider, have provided many supports to our staff, students and families. They have taught lessons on school and personal safety and partnered with us while we revised our Emergency Operations Plans this year. Our plans are awaiting final approval of Homeland Security.
- New security vestibules were completed at the high school and middle school.
- A complete overhaul in all buildings of our barricade system was completed prior to Christmas break.
As we returned from winter break, focus turns to the future with emphasis in two areas. First, our efforts continue to focus on passing a bond for our new elementary school allowing us to provide the best learning environment for our littlest Lancers in grades pre-K through 5.
Additionally, our Board of Education is committed to leading efforts to engage our community in strategic planning. We will be excited to share the efforts of the Strategic Planning Core Team as we map the future for Lakewood.
If you have ideas related to the bond or wish to get involved in any aspect of our district, please feel free to reach out to me or any administrator. We are blessed to have a community that values education and values working together to support our staff and students. Thank you!
Your partner in education,
Mary Kay Andrews
Superintendent