Home & Style
Rating the Suburbs - Beachwood
Lisa Goldman, 50
Beachwood Schools orchestra director
Beachwood Schools orchestra director
by Beth Stallings, Lynne Thompson, Andy Netzel, Jim Vickers, Colleen Smitek, Francis X. Bova III, Matt Beargie, Erick Trickey, Kim Schneider, Jennifer Bowen, Beth Troy, Mike Montgomery, Chuck Bowen, Laura Adiletta, Jason Lloyd, Jennifer Gonzalez, Ilana Yerg | Jun. 4, 2009 | 4:00 AM
We moved to Beachwood when our oldest was going into kindergarten. We wanted a community that was not far from University Circle, and we wanted a solid school system.
There are about 58 houses on my block, and Halloween is super active — 300 pieces of candy minimum. Everyone is sitting outside.
My neighborhood has a lot of little kids and a lot of parties. You’ve got the runners, you’ve got the dog walkers, the block-party organizers, the play groups.
Where I grew up, there were close to 800 in a graduating class. But in Beachwood, the average is 120 per graduating class. I think what my kids have that I didn’t have was the personalization.
We have this wonderful orchestra program. Last year, we took 50 kids and did a performance tour of Paris and London. The program is really thriving. I have great parents involved and great kids; I go to work happy every day.
One thing that always impressed me from going to faculty meetings is if there is a concern with a particular student, everyone knows who it is, and I think that’s a good thing. Everyone is on the same page.
I am lucky that I get to be with my students, grades four to 12. I get to see them grow, be a part of their mouthy teenaged business and be with them when they come out of it. I get to know the families and grandmothers.
The cultural values were much stronger than I thought they would be. When I moved into Beachwood 15 years ago, I was told I wouldn’t be happy here because there weren’t people like me, but I have found that to be quite the opposite. There is a very strong, artistic, intellectual community.
Trending
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
