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Cedar Rapids Jefferson teachers move classrooms in preparation for expansion
Work starting to create space for College & Careers program
Mar. 15, 2025 5:30 am, Updated: Mar. 17, 2025 9:30 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Construction is set to start next week at Jefferson High School to begin an expansion to provide extra space for the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s future College & Career Pathways program.
About 15 teachers spent Friday packing up and moving, with the help of other teachers and staff, their supplies out of their classrooms.
The teachers who moved during this phase of the construction mostly were located in the World Languages hall of the building, which will be closed for the rest of the year as the renovation process starts. That part of the building eventually will become the new space for career and technical education classes, including automotive, construction and engineering.
The teachers impacted by the move voted in December to begin the construction process during spring break, rather than waiting until school was out for the academic year.
In June, the next phase of the construction will begin on what currently is the tech wing in the building, which will be expanded and include a space for the district’s new freshman academy classes. They will be launched as an optional course during the 2025-2026 school year, then fully launched in the 2026-2027 school year.
More teachers will be displaced when that part of the school closes, and both of the school sections will remain under construction until about August 2026 — meaning that teaching spaces will be even more limited during the 2025-2026 school year. Jefferson Principal Jessica Auliff said the school has been working on creative scheduling options in order to provide space for all classes.
Some of the arts rooms, like the orchestra room, are used only during one or two class periods, so will be used for other classes during the rest of the day. The band room will be divided in half to be used by two math teachers, who Auliff said have been collaborating and offered to share the space.
“It really has been just a lot of meetings and discussion, and we have revised our current plan several times. What spaces do we have open? Who could move to make space for another bigger classroom? What do class sizes look like? So that we're ensuring we're putting people in new locations that actually fit the number of students that they'll have. It's been a lot of conversations, planning, a lot of map revisions,” Auliff said.
Some of the scheduling solutions that have been found are more inconvenient than others. Jim Schwiebert, an automotive technology teacher, will be moving his classroom out of the school during the 2025-2026 school year and instead will be teaching students in the school district’s Educational Leadership and Support Center, which is about a 10 minute drive from the school.
Schwiebert said he’ll have to make changes to his curriculum because of the shorter time he’ll have for teaching, since students will have to be bused to and from class. But he said he’s also excited about the new opportunities that working at the center. While stationed there, Schwiebert will be working with the district’s school bus technicians to let students get practical experience working on the buses, which are housed at the center.
“Am I giving up a lot? OK, yeah, but it’s for the greater good, it really is. It’s only for nine months. Once I get into the new space, we’ll redesign again. We'll continue to build on this program bigger and better,” Schwiebert said.
“As we progress, the one thing that I want to make sure is that the relationship that we're building, through my automotive program and the bus barn, that we're continuing that relationship after I move out of that space and into our new space. That way students can still have that opportunity of possibly have an apprenticeship through CRCSD or getting hired by CRCSD as a bus technician.”
Auliff said she is proud of the willingness of the teachers and staff to help each other out and cooperate to make the process as easy as possible.
“Next year will have its challenges. … We're going to be really in close quarters for a school year, but I know with full confidence that this team is going to make it work, and not only make it work, but make it the best that they can for the students in this building. You couldn't ask for more than that,” Auliff said.
An architect was hired last year to plan renovations to Jefferson and Washington high schools for the Pathways program. Construction at Washington is expected to begin this summer.
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
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