Letter to the Editor: School District Should Change Open Enrollment Policy

Despite it's recent excellent rating by the state, the Lakewood City Schools flunk when it comes to dealing with families.

Tanner cries when I drop him off at .

My 5-year-old son doesn’t understand why he can’t go to the , like his two big brothers. And, frankly, neither do I.

My family was denied open enrollment by the for our youngest son, Tanner, at Lincoln Elementary. Drop off and pick up are at the exact same time for both schools, causing this to not only be an emotional stress for our youngest son, but a physical impossibility for me as the person who has to commute the children.

These are the solutions the school district has given us to our problem:

1. Be in two places at once. Shockingly, that didn’t work out, so now I have to pull Tanner out of school 10 minutes early every day so that I can make it to Lincoln on time. Because Lakewood is a walking district, buses are not an option.
2. Uproot my older children from the school where they have become socially and emotionally integrated and transfer them to Grant.

Let me start by saying we do not want any special treatment.

We did not choose Lincoln Elementary school for our oldest son, Cameron. We wanted our children to go to Grant. Half-day kindergarten was still available at the time, and Cameron’s afternoon class at Grant was cancelled due to low-enrollment. Cameron has special needs and had already been enrolled in a morning therapy session that could not be switched.

The school district offered the solution of sending Cameron to Lincoln. Even then, I was concerned about my boys not all being able to attend the same school but was assured it wouldn’t be a problem. And it wasn’t a problem when my second son, Gabriel, started school at Lincoln. So we had no idea the nightmare that lied ahead.

We played by the rules. I asked repeatedly what needed to be done to ensure Tanner was able to attend Lincoln. I showed up promptly at Lincoln for open enrollment day, as I was told to do. I filled out all of the proper paperwork. But due to a very convoluted “first come, first serve” system, even the very first person in line at Lincoln was denied open enrollment because people waiting in line at other offices in other buildings got earlier time stamps than we did. It was a no-win situation.

We do not want to be an imposition. We were told Tanner could not attend Lincoln because the kindergarten class there was full. Which would be understandable, except the kindergarten class sizes are the same at Grant and Lincoln, making it a moot point.

If we were to switch all of our boys to Grant, we would become a burden on the students and staff there. Cameron’s special needs require he have a computer and daily visits from aides and therapists. Because Grant’s third grade classes are in a modular unit with 25 students, there is no room for Cameron’s computer, and the visits would be highly disruptive. Lincoln however has plenty of space and has been working with my son for years to accommodate these needs with minimal disruption to the students and teachers. 

So yes, I could continue to pull my youngest child out of school early every day for the rest of his elementary career. I could watch him emotionally suffer as his brothers bond over shared experiences at a school he isn’t allowed to attend.

I could transfer all of my boys to Grant and become a disruption to the students and staff there. I could force my child with special needs to become the new kid in school and make him re-adapt to a new environment and new children who aren’t used to his needs.

Or, I propose one simple solution to the Lakewood City School District:

1. Just let Tanner go to Lincoln Elementary.

It won’t affect the students or staff there in any major way, and it will be a huge service to the needs of three students in your district.

We love the teachers and support staff at Lakewood City Schools. We have the support of many of the staff members from both Grant and Lincoln in this ordeal, but their pleas to the board of education have been ignored as well.

So now we need your help. If this story sounds outrageous to you, please support us by getting the word out. Pass this along to anyone you know in Lakewood.

-Jessica Constantine