LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- It appears the Lakewood City Schools is adding a new building for the 2019-2020 school year. However, upon closer look, the community charter school Lakewood City Academy, which has called the former Franklin Elementary School home for the last 14 years, has been district-owned the entire time.

The Lakewood Board of Education recently approved a plan for providing a new era of alternative education programming at the Franklin Boulevard building, which currently has 92 students grades seven to 12, as well as 10 staff members. Since 2005, the school has graduated 185 students.

"Years ago, Lakewood City Schools decided to sponsor a charter school that would provide an alternative education program for students who traditional school just wasn't working out for them," Lakewood City Schools Superintendent Michael J. Barnes said.

"It's done a fantastic job, but what we began to see is that all the students weren't necessarily getting complete access to the entire curriculum -- art, music and technology courses -- that the Lakewood City Schools offers. That was a problem because they are our kids."

"Bringing the alternative program back under the umbrella of Lakewood City Schools will give the children in Lakewood City Academy a closer connection with Lakewood High School while maintaining the advantages of a small school with great flexibility and the ability to individualize program," Lakewood Board of Education President Linda Beebe said.

"We're certainly not doing away with the alternative school. We're maintaining our commitment to alternative education and searching for newer, better ways to serve that population. We welcome input from students, parents and community members."

As far as the recent Board of Education decision, that revolves around the fact a student can't be dually enrolled in two different school districts, with a charter school being its own school district.

Also, Barnes noted the Ohio Department of Education posed "tremendous barriers" regarding state compliance in relation to the district's intention to provide innovative and creative curriculum.

"We needed to pivot away from offering a charter school option and just make the alternative school an extension of the Lakewood City Schools," Barnes said.

"So we're still going to be at Franklin. The good news is we're going to have the same staff, because they're committed. We're going to have the same leader (Lakewood City Academy Coordinator Terri Elwell-Bornino)."

As far as the timing of the decision, Lakewood City Academy's five-year sponsorship agreement with the district expires on June 30. Beginning next school year, the Lakewood City Academy will offer graduates a Lakewood High School diploma.

"This gives us the opportunity to reimagine the school and bring people to the table to dream a little bit about how we can make this bigger and better," Barnes said.

"We're also going to spend next year putting a transformation team together made up of key stakeholders that will recreate a program that is innovative and forward thinking for our kids."

The current plan is for the school to begin a new, unnamed program for the 2021-2020 school year.

"We have a dedicated staff that are committed to children, we had a lot of kids graduate and have success, but like all things you want to evolve and innovate for children because the world is always changing," Barnes said. "We routinely talk about how we can impact our students and their learning experiences."