Are C.R. school leaders focusing on students?

After attending the Cedar Rapids school board meeting on Dec. 12, I was disappointed to witness our elected officials celebrating moving out of the trailer they meet in for mere hours a month. Meanwhile, Supt. Dave Benson is preparing us as parents and taxpayers for the need to close several buildings and opening many trailers for our kids to learn in six hours a day, five days a week.

The school district has challenges, but instead of focusing on bettering their product - quality education and getting back some of the 500 students who opted out of the district this year - they are looking to close schools.

When you close neighborhood schools, property values decrease by 10 percent, which means their tax base drops. Crime will increase. Student achievement suffers. Cedar Rapids is rebuilding as a community; this is not the goal!

Was the district concerned about the decrease in enrollment when it built it state-of-the-art building with all of the latest features for the administration?

Do the board members take into consideration the role their actions have on the health of our city as a whole? Can we not learn from New York and Chicago as they close their mega schools and open neighborhood schools?

Steve Hill

Cedar Rapids