Schools
Lakewood City Schools: A District of Nations
For over two decades, the school system has received influxes of refugee students from around the globe who look to start a new life in Lakewood.
Over the last 25 years, scores of refugee students from around the world have emigrated to Lakewood, and with the help of the , it’s become their city of opportunity.
Throughout Ohio, the school system has been recognized for its standout English as a Second Language (ESL) program, and every year it sees a new group of fresh faces who are in great need of an education as they begin to acclimate to a completely new culture and way of life.
At alone, ESL educators teach 65 students from 18 countries who respectively speak 11 different languages, ESL teacher said.
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Typically, they come from Third World countries or places that are in the midst of war or political turmoil, Garfield principal Mark Walter said.
“Some come with little or no education,” Oleksiak said. “They’ve come from very poor parts of the world where living in tents or makeshift houses with no electricity or running water is commonplace. Some are not used to seeing cars, or using computers, so there’s a big adjustment period. But when they get comfortable and start smiling, they don’t stop.”
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Over the years, the district has received refugees from the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific who have to go through eight to 10 years of classes before they can fluently speak English, she said. They typically receive double the amount of English and math classes, plus hours of after school tutoring to enable them to catch up with the rest of the kids.
“I think there are some great advantages to having the diversity that we do,” Lakewood City Schools director of teaching and learning Mark Gleichauf said. “I think it helps kids’ perspectives, and I think that’s one of the things that’s unique to Lakewood is that for these students it becomes the norm that they’re going to have great diversity within their classrooms.
“Certainly, does it pose challenges for us in terms of the school district? Yes. Nevertheless, we have a great number of ESL teachers within the district and we strongly support the program.”
Of Lakewood's 6,000 students, here's the percentile breakdown among races and ethnicities:
- Caucasian - 75.3%
- African-American - 9.6%
- Multiracial - 6.7%
- Hispanic - 5.1%
- Asian/Pacific Islander - 3.2%