17820 3rd Ave NE
Arlington, WA 98223

Lakewood is terrible. Most of the teacher don't care about their students education and only a handful of teachers do care about students. They advertise that they care about students and have zero tolerance for bullying but yet students cyber bullying and jumping other students is a common thing for Lakewood, other students going in groups to physically hurt student is frequent. The cliques at Lakewood disclude students of differences, which is why I don't recommend parents taking their children to LMS.

My child attends Lakewood. The high school is beautiful and they offer a variety of programs. My child is also an athlete, a serious one, and I do feel that athletics and clubs are critical for kids. Either to keep them out of trouble by staying busy and developing a love for a sport or in some cases keep them away from home and productive longer while learning about teamwork. Sadly coaching choices do not seem to be made strategically, but rather for convenience. Watching some of their teams has become quite painful. Instead of a coach exuding leadership you have coaches who feel being buddy buddy with players is most important and just watching them “coach” it’s obvious to former parent athletes that those making coaching choices do not know what they are doing. The coaches are not coaching - let’s open our eyes while watching some of our sports. Everyone who sees our school is amazed at our newer building. It looks sleek and smart yet you show up to sporting events with players on the bench in random attire. When you have various team members in plaid PJ pants your team and school looks like a bunch of slobs who are not serious and it reflects on your district as a whole. You’re playing against teams that all suit up or at least wear school warmup attire if not playing. Develop a simple code of conduct, follow your sports teams and see how your coaching choice is really panning out. Stop using excuses like the team is young - good coaches make good players out of any age. Please stop double dipping the staff. Hire a proper Athletic Director that has some class, make sure it’s their only administrative position, and that they understand the importance of qualified coaches and school image. You have major athletes already planning to leave for other schools due to these problems, yet no one inside thinks there is an issue. I hate to admit in considering this with my own also.

This school appears to be a case study in performative hiring over competence. While the teachers are commendable, the administration is a trainwreck—utterly devoid of professionalism, empathy, or even basic operational competence. As a parent, expect your emails and phone calls to vanish into the abyss. Communication is nonexistent, accountability is a foreign concept, and the leadership seems more interested in optics than outcomes.