Cedar Rapids school board approves new director district map

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Cedar Rapids school board Monday approved a new map redrawing boundaries for four director districts.

The map equalizes the population for each of the four director districts based on the 2020 population census to ensure each quadrant of the community has equal representation. This reevaluation and approval happens every 10 years in conjunction with the U.S. Census.

The map does not change or impact which schools students in the Cedar Rapids school district attend.

The district contracted with a company called Mapping Strategies to create the map with new district boundaries.

The Cedar Rapids school board has seven directors — three of whom are at-large and represent the entire school district, and four who live in and represent individual districts.

The map was approved 6-1, with Dexter Merschbrock opposed. He asked board members to consider allowing only people who live in each district to vote for that district’s representative. Right now, school district residents can vote for every director, regardless of where they live.

Merschbrock proposed tabling approval of the map until February. The motion was not taken up by any other board members.

Changing which director district elections residents are able to vote in could provide an opportunity to get people from different socioeconomic backgrounds and racial demographics on the board, Merschbrock said.

“There’s no one who represents the southwest side or who lives in that area here at the board table,” Merschbrock said in a meeting last month. “They’ve gone decades without having someone elected from that area.”

“We could dig deeper,” Merschbrock said. “Who lives on the southwest side and why are they not represented here at the board table? We can do our best to represent them, but it’s not always the same as having someone who lives in those neighborhoods.”

Other school board members disagreed, saying they like the current system.

Jennifer Borcherding said she wants the board to be “reflective of the entire community and not just people living and voting in their district area.” Dividing voting for directors by district could harm the “collaboration of the board,” she said.

Marcy Roundtree said dividing the districts would “defeat” the work the board strives to do collectively.

President David Tomisnky said he agrees with the other board members. “I take pride the entire city is able to vote for every position,” he said.

The district had until May 15, 2023, to finalize the map, according to board documents.

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