Cedar Rapids superintendent says he'll likely seek public comment on school proposals

There are no “school closing” recommendations, as such, from a committee looking at the dwindling public school enrollment in Cedar Rapids.  But superintendent Dave Benson now wants to hear from the public before passing any of his final recommendations to the school board.

Tuesday night, the district's enrollment committee outlined several proposals.  Two of them do call for closing up to three elementary schools.  The group named Harrison, Monroe, Polk and Madison as potential closing candidates.

And while they're not on any official “closing” list yet, Harrison School supporters aren't waiting for the announcement.  They began organizing on the northwest side of Cedar Rapids two weeks ago.

The NW Neighborhood Association printed up a hundred yard signs.  Linda Seger, a campaign organizer, said all yard signs found homes in just a couple of hours.  The association office also has “save our school” post cards and petitions. But Seger said she doesn't see the coming struggle as a “we win or they lose” proposition.

“We're not pitting one school against another," Seger said. "We're just asking that they take a really good look at each of these schools to see what they have to offer."

Seger said Harrison supporters hope school officials consider all the flood recovery construction going on right now as they're weighing the options.  Seger believes a number of new families, and students, will be in the Harrison district by next summer.

But school officials said while elementary closings aren't a guaranteed recommendation, the numbers certainly point in that direction.

Superintendent Benson said an initial study noted that Cedar Rapids elementary schools combined could accommodate up to 11,000 students.  Currently, there are only 7,427 in the buildings.

“We do have an obligation to look at the overhead costs,” Benson said, adding “the last (study) in Cedar Rapids was 25 years ago.  We've had substantial loss of students in that 25 years.”

The superintendent said he originally expected to receive the committee recommendations after their meeting Dec. 20. He would then submit his proposals to the Cedar Rapids School Board at a meeting in early January.

Benson said he still believes he'll release some background information sooner rather than later.  But he said he now believes it's a better idea to get public comment before making any recommendations public, especially ones that might contain a proposal to close schools.

Read more about the enrollment committee's work here.