Cedar Rapids schools ‘go back to the drawing board’ on parts of $445 million facility plan

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids school leaders will be doing more “fact finding” and “go back to the drawing board to seek out other possibilities” for middle schools based on feedback they received from the city council about a facility plan, Superintendent Tawana Grover said.

The school board and Cedar Rapids City Council held their first joint meeting Wednesday to discuss a facility master plan proposed by the school district. The plan requires a combined $445 million bond referendum to be approved by voters — the first half of which could go to voters in November. The second bond referendum of $225 million could go to voters in November 2029.

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Grover, who began as superintendent of the almost 16,000-student school district April 3, said she was “very grateful” the two councils could discuss the plan together. This was the first time the entities held a joint meeting since facility planning began with the school district’s elementary schools in 2018.

Grover said school leaders will “honor the feedback we heard” from the Cedar Rapids City Council, which included concerns about schools near downtown and on the west side of the city closing.

“We believe investment in our schools is an investment in the city,” Grover said in an interview with The Gazette. “Having them at the table is critical … to understand their future vision as well.”

Under the plan, the number of middle schools in the district would be reduced from six to four and a stronger feeder system would be created for students in K-12. School leaders believe this would provide more equitable services to all students and reduce operational and maintenance costs for the district.

A 1,200-student middle school would be built on the site of Taft Middle School, 5200 E Ave NW, Cedar Rapids, and a 1,200-student middle school would be built at a new site on the north side of Cedar Rapids.

Franklin Middle School, 300 20th St NE, Cedar Rapids, would be converted in to an 800-student school for seventh- and eighth-graders. Sixth-graders in the Franklin school boundary would attend McKinley, 620 10th St SE, Cedar Rapids, which would be converted into a school for 400 sixth-graders.

Wilson, Roosevelt and Harding middle schools would be closed under the initial plan, and the hope is the buildings would be repurposed into some other use by developers.

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The Cedar Rapids school board will have a work session to further discuss a facility master plan that encompasses every school in the district Monday, at 5:30 p.m. at the Educational Leadership and Support Center, 2500 Edgewood Rd NW, Cedar Rapids.

Grover said she also was encouraged to hear “support for other areas of the plan,” including work at the elementary schools and investment in career and technical education at the high schools.

“Our students can’t wait for us,” she said. “I believe there is still time on this clock. There is no perfect plan, and I believe the majority of our plan is solid. We have some things to consider over the next few days, but we’re not starting from scratch.”

In the meeting Wednesday, city council and school board members seemed “genuinely interested in working together and finding ways to truly collaborate,” school board President David Tominsky said.

Tominsky said he has “faith” school leaders can “take action and move quickly” to adjust the plan based on the feedback they received Wednesday.

“Having this conversation with the city was a big step forward,” school board member Dexter Merchbrock said. “Everyone in that room agreed it was the right thing to do.”

Merschbrock, however, said he would be in favor of waiting to take the bond referendum to voters next year in November 2024, and presenting the ballot language next June.

Taking a plan to voters for approval and raising taxes is a “serious power of local government” that “keeps me up at night,” Merschbrock said.

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School board member Jen Neumann said she would be in support to taking a bond referendum to voters this November or November 2024. She would like to see a timeline for both scenarios and not make a decision that is “fear-based around the presidential election next year,” she said.

Neumann said she walked away from the joint meeting Wednesday excited about the conversation and “spirit of collaboration.” “I think we can come up with the right plan and the right way forward,” she said.

City council member Ann Poe, who is chair of the city’s development committee, said she can’t support and “would struggle with” removing middle schools on the west side of the city.

Poe said it could present obstacles to children participating in before- and after-school activities who have to be bused to school.

“We cannot continue to take away from this area of our community we’re fighting so hard as a council to restore,” said Poe, speaking about the Time Check neighborhood, which was damaged in the flood of 2008. “We’re fighting like crazy to bring people back to that corner of the community.

City council member Dale Todd said the city and school district have a “long history” of cooperating on land purchases, including the Northwest Recreation Center, built next to and on the site of Harrison Elementary School, and Viola Gibson Elementary School.

“At the end of the day, we sink or swim together,” Todd said.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com