Lakewood board approves plan to repurpose Lincoln Elementary as centralized early‑learning center

The Lakewood Board of Education voted Oct. 20 to adopt Superintendent Niedzwicki’s Oct. 6 elementary facilities recommendation, which includes repurposing Lincoln Elementary as a centralized early‑learning center.

Niedzwicki presented the recommendation after more than a year of study and community engagement. “My job was to give a recommendation,” she said during board discussion, urging the board to consider enrollment trends, uneven class sizes and building utilization. Presenters told the board a centralized center could concentrate related special‑education services (speech, occupational and physical therapy), reduce staff travel time, allow year‑round before‑ and after‑care offerings in a cost‑effective way, and strengthen eligibility for certain early‑childhood grants.

District administrators reviewed three categories of preschool programming currently offered at multiple elementary sites — full‑day general‑education classes, co‑taught classes that include students with disabilities, and center‑based special‑education classrooms — and argued that a single site would make it easier to provide the full continuum of services in one building.…