Challenges Ahead for New Lakewood Schools Superintendent

One chapter ends, another begins. 

With Joe Madak’s tenure officially ending this past Sunday, Monday's meeting revolved around Superintendent Jeff Patterson and his list of primary goals that he’ll set out to implement in the upcoming 2011-12 school year. 

The most important one, according to Patterson, is to improve student achievement. Later this month, he and his staff will receive the value-added report which indicates on average how much the district’s 6,000 students had progressed during the 2010-11 school year. 

Along those lines, there will also be a heavy focus on 21^st century skills: a widely accepted project-based curriculum that leverages the tools of the digital age (handheld devices, tablets, netbooks, laptops and so on) to optimize students’ learning in the classroom. 

The district is working on a central web portal that can be accessed by students, administrators and teachers from anywhere at any time to connect the district through computers, he said. 

A close runner-up is Patterson’s second goal which is to provide fiscal stability for a district that is about to lose over the next two school years. 

“We need to reduce and control staffing levels and expenditures everywhere we can,” he said. “We are not the federal government. We will balance the budget.

"We need to explore all possibilities for increasing revenue that will have a positive impact on our programs and services, and we need to monitor and prepare for the yet-to-be-determined impacts of state funding as we move into the next biennium in a couple of years (2013-15).”

Regarding increasing revenue, Patterson hinted at proposing an operating levy or bond issue during the next couple of years, but said no real timelines are set as the district continues to assess and react to an unpredictable economy. 

Goal three will focus on themes as the district will evaluate itself through the course of this year by asking questions like, “How well are our students doing? Do our schools listen to us? How well is our money being spent?” he said. 

The final goal will be to monitor Senate Bill 5 and other legislation that concerns itself with state spending. 

in late March by Governor John Kasich, but was suspended because of a statewide campaign to repeal the bill. Now, the fate of the bill will hinge on the choices of Ohio voters during the Nov. 8 election. 

Under Senate Bill 5, public employee unions would lose their right to negotiate their wages, but they would still retain some bargaining power over pensions and health care benefits. 

Patterson said he’ll be opening a dialogue with the community about the effects and impacts of SB5 in the coming weeks.

“Mr. Patterson has been with us for years,” board president Matt Markling said. “He has lengthy experience in the district, (was) superintendent of other districts, comes with a wealth of information, has been involved in all aspects of our community…and I know we all feel that our district and our children are in good hands with him at the helm.”