Lakewood City Schools names high school principal as district’s first community and

LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Shortly after taking over as Lakewood City Schools Superintendent last year, Maggie Niedzwiecki identified one area of district need.

That was an alignment of co-curricular and recreational offerings and expanding programming — including the operation of the civic auditorium — to meet the needs of the community and students while working in conjunction with the city.

That vision recently came to fruition with Lakewood City Schools last week naming Lakewood High School Principal Mark Walter the district’s first director of community and district activities.

“I was surprised Mark as the high school principal was interested in the position,” Niedzwiecki said. “He’s been a great high school principal for us. One thing that really showed through the interview process is his passion to continue collaborating and working hand in hand with all of the different entities.

“The nice thing about Mark is he’s been doing some of that as the high school principal. Prior to that, he was the middle school principal, so he understands the history and culture of Lakewood City Schools but also Lakewood as a community.”

While initially the director of community and district activities position was going to carry a salary range between $99,555 and $135,681, the superintendent said due to Walter’s experience he’ll be making $140,169 annually. His start date for the new position is Aug. 1.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity to connect our recreation and interscholastic athletics and to grow our K-12 programs into a comprehensive Lakewood Ranger athletics community,” said Walter in a press release.

“I’m also thrilled to be working more closely with the civic auditorium and supporting the incredible performing arts programs that have long been a source of Lakewood pride.”

The need for the new position is tied to the unique partnership between Lakewood and the Lakewood City Schools. The latter oversees programs community recreation programs and education.

“Mark coming into this position is going to allow him to work through a strategic plan for our community recreation and education,” Niedzwiecki said. “That means not just for our students but also adults within the community.

“Within six months of him being on the job, he’s going to start meeting up with different stakeholders and develop a vision of what community recreation will look like in the city.”

A 1982 Lakewood High School graduate, Walter will be charged with evaluating and improving all areas of athletics and recreation and creating a strategic plan focused on elevating the district’s programming in both areas.

He’ll work to foster positive and productive relationships with the city of Lakewood and other organizations as it pertains to assuring sustainability of community recreational resources.

As director of community and district activities, Walter oversees the athletic director and community recreation and education coordinator, as well as the civic auditorium manager.

The new position is also a member of the superintendent’s cabinet ensuring a seamless collaboration between athletics, recreation and the operations of the district as a whole.

“What’s exciting is that we now have our director in place so we can really begin to put into place some of the thoughts and ideas we’ve had for making our community recreation and education programs more robust,” Niedzwiecki said.

Walter joined Lakewood City Schools in 1998 as a science and language arts teacher. After teaching at the middle school level for six years, he became an assistant principal at the former Emerson Middle School.

A year later he was named principal at the former Horace Mann Middle School before moving over to Garfield Middle School for nearly a decade. Walter has been involved in many Lakewood education teams and committees, including the Lakewood Local Professional Development Committee (LPDC) and Entry Year Teacher Committee.

“Serving as the Lakewood High School principal has been one of the greatest honors of my life,” Walter said. “Leaving the dedicated and hardworking staff, the remarkable students and the supportive parents will be extremely hard for me personally and professionally.

“However, I know that Lakewood High School will continue to be a great place to work and learn because of the community of people I have had the pleasure to work with.”

As far as Walter’s replacement at Lakewood High School, Niedzwiecki said the position has already been posted. The district will be looking at interior and exterior candidates.

“We’re going to allow that posting to hold out there for 10 days,” Niedzwiecki said. “From there. we’ll begin interviewing for the new high school principal.”

Read more news from the Sun Post Herald here.