Eagles and Rangers

As my son begins high school at St. Edward High School after four plus years in Lakewood City Schools, I felt it was useful to look back on the last year-plus that resulted in him being an Eagle on Detroit instead of a Ranger on Bunts.

First off, it became very clear to us that the minute we even began to talk about sending our son to St. Edward a few years back people began to act differently towards us. There are a variety of stories and incidents that I don't care to rehash here, but it was obvious that our son quickly became an outsider in his own school during his eighth grade year. Pressure was put on him by district employees to stay and go to Lakewood High School, St. Edward was slandered repeatedly, etc. A lot of unprofessional behavior by a lot of adults who should know better.

It seems odd to me that Lakewood residents seem to accept people who move out of Lakewood and take all of their spending power and tax revenue with them in pursuit of "better" schools. But when somebody is trying to make a commitment to the City of Lakewood and remaining a resident and sending their son to a Lakewood institution instead of Lakewood public, then people seem to think that's an unforgiveable sin.

A lot of the "St. Edward complex" from Lakewood Schools comes out of the athletic department. While somewhat natural for Lakewood to have a chip on their shoulder considering the success of the St. Edward programs, it doesn't hold up to reality. Very few kids from Lakewood actually go to St. Edward anymore. My son may be the only one from the public middle schools out of his class and a handful more from Lakewood Catholic Academy. Most of them are coming from River or Bay or Westlake, etc. The funny thing is that 20 plus years ago you did see a lot more Lakewood kids at St. Edward. Yet somehow, througout much of the late 1980s and 1990s Lakewood more than held their own against St. Edward. I remember my high school played St. Edward in football during the regular season and scrimmaged Lakewood in a preview just before the season started. Both were big, deep, talented Division I schools. Something has obviously gone wrong for the Rangers since then. As it stands now, you're unlikely to ever see the two tennants of Lakewood Stadium facing off against each other.

This post isn't meant as an indictment of Lakewood High School or an attempt to figure out what is wrong with the Ranger sports program. My point is that St. Edward High School is an institution that brings a lot of publicity (and tax revenue since it is a large employer) to the city. Instead of hoping for it to fail (as many Lakewood officials and parents seem to work towards), the city should hope for its continued success and growth.