Lakewood Schools To Begin In-Person Education Thursday

LAKEWOOD, OH — The Lakewood Schools will begin a partial return to in-person education on Thursday.

In late December, Gov. Mike DeWine recommended public schools delay any returns to in-person education for at least one week following the holidays. Based on his suggestion, Lakewood delayed reopening until Jan. 7 (one week from New Year's Day).

On Thursday, the district will begin its partial return to in-person education. School officials said they would continue with this model for as long as it is safe to do so.

The district has divided its student body into two groups: students with last names beginning with letters A-K (purple group) and students with last names beginning with letters L-Z (gold group). The two groups will alternate in-person attendance. The gold group will attend Thursday, while the purple group will have its first in-person day on Friday.

A full calendar outlining the district's reopening model has been posted online.

"Our intention is to make decisions in smaller increments to allow for as much in-person learning as possible, and aid our ability to quickly adjust to the ever-changing health conditions in our area. While the District continues to closely monitor the county and local health data, we ask our families to continue to follow the COVID-19 prevention strategies during this busy holiday season," the district said on its website.

According to the Lakewood Schools dashboard, there are currently five positive COVID-19 cases in the district. Two people have also been asked to quarantine after possible COVID-19 exposure.