Public forums are this week as Cedar Rapids school district considers facilities plan

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Cedar Rapids Community School District is asking for community input as it forms a new facilities master plan.

The district - which has 31 school buildings and about 16,000 students - hosts three public forums this week. Parents, employees, students and others are welcome, according to a district news release.

All of the meetings are from 6:30 to 8 p.m., and are being held Tuesday at Kennedy High, 4545 Wenig Road NE; Wednesday at Washington High, 2205 Forest Drive SE; and Thursday at Jefferson High, 1243 20th St. SW.

A survey on the district's website, cr.k12.ia.us, is to be available from Dec. 13-30.

District officials plan to present background information about the district's facilities, Superintendent Brad Buck said, and ask community members to share 'anything they would want us to know” as the district moves forward with planning.

'We're trying to do some public input early, so as we dig into this conversation we're aware of the type of things our community would want us to be thinking about,” Buck said.

The 'Re-imagine, Re-envision, and Reinvest” planning effort began earlier this fall in reaction to 'ever-increasing pressure” on the district's funding streams, according to a news release. A potential need to replace some schools and to add new facilities, as well as where students in the district reside, also contributed.

About 100 people, including district employees and community players, have started preliminary planning as part of five subcommittees.

Those groups are examining school finance, program offerings and how grade levels are distributed among schools, as well as developing criteria for starting new schools or renovations and closing schools or repurposing them.

'When we get into the more nitty-gritty conversations, we have those criteria to guide the work,” Buck said, noting conversations about possible school closures are 'several months away.”

A final facilities plan needs to be approved by the school board. Officials expect to submit a plan in October 2017.

'We're really re-imagining what education could look like,” Buck said. 'What does the future of school look like, and in what way do facilities improve the future of schooling?”