by April Cunningham

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Unmatched resources bring family to Lewisville ISD.

One of the biggest decisions a parent will ever make is choosing the right school for their child. A plethora of questions often run through a parent’s mind… Are the academics good? What are the teachers like? How about the administration? What are the students like? Does the school offer the extracurricular program we’re looking for? 

Regardless of what the parent is looking for, whether it’s highly-regarded academics, top-notch extracurricular programs or great faculty and staff, perhaps the most important question they wonder, “Is this the right fit for my child?” 

That question was what led the Akisanmi family back to the Lewisville Independent School District. 

Sam Akisanmi had been attending school outside of LISD, but his school did not offer the resources, such as specific math, science and technology courses, that best suited Sam’s main interest — engineering. So, Sam’s mother Ronke and his father Jonathan, decided to look into sending Sam to an LISD school. After conducting research, the family thought Lewisville High School would be the right fit for Sam.

“Transitioning into public school, they do have those resources,” Ronke said. “And, we felt like bringing him to LISD, gave him the exposure to those resources, which we otherwise wouldn’t have had access to.”

She added, “The decision to transition back to public school, specifically LISD, was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made for Sam. The emotional change, academic change, the determination, the grades, the resources, it was enormous.”

For Sam, aside from the course offerings, he said there are several other reasons why he preferred LHS over his previous school, including the welcomed diversity and the teachers who taught him.

Akisanmi and his mom Ronke.

“The teachers are actually really professional and really smart,” Sam said. “I was surprised how far they went to help me out in my studies, and it really showed me that these people actually care.”

Sam, now an LISD alum, was also impressed by the real-world experiences he received during his time at LHS. He even described going to public school as being similar to attending a college campus.

“When I came to LISD and started going to business classes; doing business-like things, going to Stoke (co-working space and entrepreneur center) in Denton; and going on field trips, finding out how people in the business world really operate, that’s when I truly felt like an adult,” he said. “And, it’s incredible, the feeling of being an adult. It changes you. It matures you. It grows you into the person that you are going to grow up to be.”

Today, Sam and his parents are happy they decided to look into LISD. Ronke encourages fellow parents to research schools and find the right fit for their child.

“There’s a lot of biased, inaccurate information out there,” Ronke said. “And, I think the responsibility is on every parent, for the love of a child, you do want to do good research. You want to look at resources, compare an apple to an apple. See what fits each child because I mean, all children are different. Everyone is uniquely made different.

“Do the research, dig a little deeper. I did that, and it’s given us so much joy and satisfaction. I’ll forever be grateful to LISD, to the public school system because they helped me and our family to get our son back.”