Seventh-graders Presley Soukup, 12, (left) and Justin Bayuk, 12, look over the design of their bevel gear device during robotics class at Cedar Rapids Prep in Cedar Rapids on Oct. 20. The school, which current offers sixth through eighth grades and will expand to The charter school opened this year and has 255 sixth through eighth-graders with a waiting list of 25 students. The school will eventually serve grades sixth through 12. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

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CEDAR RAPIDS — Mandee Beardsley was looking for a different learning environment for her son Kyler when she learned about Cedar Rapids Prep, a new charter school in Cedar Rapids.

Just a couple months into the school year, Kyler Beardsley, 12, said at Cedar Rapids Prep, his peers are more focused and engaged in their learning. He’s even taking a leadership class taught by the school’s Principal Justin Blietz, where he learned his strengths include empathy, valuing relationships and genuine connection with other people, and that he’s forward thinking.

“It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I wish there had been other opportunities earlier,” Mandee said about enrolling Kyler in Cedar Rapids Prep.

Mandee said as a student in a public school district last year, Kyler struggled to get out of bed and would wear sweatpants to school. At Cedar Rapids Prep, he gets ready for his day and wears a uniform, which is a requirement.

Mandee said Kyler is taking responsibility for his learning, even asking a teacher for help when he needs it.

“He’s a completely different kid … and feels good about the way he’s dressed. I think that reflects academically,” Mandee said.

The uniform is khakis and a school-issued polo. On Fridays, students can wear a Cedar Rapids Prep “spirit shirt” or collegiate apparel. Uniforms are purchased for students by their families, but Blietz said there are discounted and free uniforms for families in need.

Blietz said transparency is “incredibly important” at Cedar Rapids Prep.

“I tell parents you should be able to come in at any point without an appointment with me and walk the building,” Blietz said. “We should be able to look into classrooms, see students engaged in their learning, who are owning and driving their learning, and see safe, orderly classrooms where there’s not chaos and disruptions.”

Families choosing Cedar Rapids Prep

This is Cedar Rapids Prep’s first year, after opening its doors to 255 students in August. There are 25 people on a waiting list at the school, which currently serves sixth, seventh and eighth-graders and will add a higher grade level each year up through 12th grade.

“It’s amazing to get to serve kids and parents who are choosing to send their kids here because they don’t like the other options, to be part of a culture where kids are expected to respect adults, do their work and have a high level of achievement and it’s followed through has been refreshing,” said Lisa Sherard, who teaches automation, intro to coding, and robotics, flight and space.

Seventh-grader Ahmed Abdelaziz, 12, (right) reacts as he watches his robotics teacher Lisa Sherad show how the bevel gear works during robotics class at Cedar Rapids Prep in Cedar Rapids on Oct. 20. Sherad taught in public schools for more than 25 years, and said she was ready for a change. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

“When I found out I could teach science all day, I was so excited to teach only three things versus prepping for every subject,” she said.

Sherard taught in public school for more than 25 years, most recently at Grant Elementary School in Cedar Rapids. She was ready for a change.

“I don’t want to bash the public education system,” she said. “I was part of that for a long time.”

Sherard said she thought the students who enrolled at Cedar Rapids Prep would be majority “high achieving.”

“That’s not it at all. It’s very similar to where I came from. Lots of students in special education, lots of cultural diversity. I wanted it to be for everyone — kids that have had trouble in the past following directions and rules, kids who have struggled to do homework, kids who have struggled to be in class. I think that’s why their parents wanted this opportunity — to give them a fresh start. Give them a place where adults are going to hold them to high expectations,” Sherard said.

At Cedar Rapids Prep, Sherard said she feels like she has a better work-life balance, leaving school at 3:30 p.m. most days, so she can attend her children’s after-school activities in the Linn-Mar Community School District. She was willing to take a pay cut to work at Cedar Rapids Prep, she said.

Sherard said in her classes she’s trying to “push kids to understand that there are life skills out there that they’ve never even thought of.” Oftentimes, she’s learning right alongside the students. She feels like a first-year teacher in that way.

Cedar Rapids Prep is located temporarily at the former Transamerica site, 4515 North River Blvd. NE, west of Edgewood Road.

A groundbreaking on a planned 19-acre campus adjacent to the temporary space is expected later this year, launching construction of the school’s permanent facility. Construction will take about 18 months, Blietz told The Gazette in May.

A rendering shows an overview of Cedar Rapids Prep's campus after the charter school’s construction is complete. The school opened in August for its inaugural academic year with sixth, seventh and eighth grade students. The school is temporarily housed in a former Transamerica building, 4515 North River Blvd. NE. The new school, which is not yet under construction, will be built at the intersection of Edgewood Road and 42nd Street. (Cedar Rapids Prep)

What is a charter school?

Charter schools are tuition-free schools that are publicly funded, but independently run under an approved charter with the state. In Iowa, charter schools receive per-pupil aid from the state, just like public schools.

Cedar Rapids Prep’s parent company is Opportunity Education — a nonprofit founded by billionaire Joe Ricketts based in Omaha. The company also opened Des Moines Prep this year.

Teacher Kristin Robinson goes over a math problem with her students at Cedar Rapids Prep in Cedar Rapids on Oct. 20. The charter school opened this year and has 255 sixth- through eighth-graders with a waiting list of 25 students. The school will eventually serve grades sixth through 12. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

Charter schools are held accountable through a legal agreement called a “charter” with their authorizing agency, which in Iowa is the state’s Board of Education. The schools must attract students and produce positive results within five years or risk losing their charter, according to the Iowa Department of Education.

There are 10 charter schools in Iowa and another four expected to open fall 2026. Cedar Rapids Prep is the second charter school to open in Cedar Rapids following the launch of Empowering Excellence last year.

The National Education Association opposes charter schools because they are privately managed and not held accountable by locally elected school boards and, the association says, divert funding away from traditional public schools. Neither charter schools or traditional public schools can claim to be more successful at raising student achievement, the group says.

What does Cedar Rapids Prep offer?

In addition to core classes like language arts, math, science and social studies, the school offers robust electives and extracurricular activities.

Eighth-graders have the option of taking high school-level classes such as biology, algebra and French to get a “jump start” to then take college classes in high school, Blietz said.

There’s choir, band, orchestra and show choir, dozens of athletic opportunities throughout the year and clubs including robotics, mock trial, pickleball and anything else students propose.

The school has a lease agreement with Elevate Sports in Cedar Rapids for sports practices.

There is a green screen in the school for a news broadcast, a podcast lab and even a golf simulator.

A lounge area at Cedar Rapids Prep in Cedar Rapids on Oct. 20. The school, which includes more than 250 students, is currently housed at the former Transamerica site in northeast Cedar Rapids. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

Students succeeding in ‘challenging’ academic environment

Three of Adam Kaiz-Vera’s children are enrolled in Cedar Rapids Prep this year. His daughter Erica, 13, is in eighth grade, his son Eric, 12, is in seventh grade, and his son Milo, 11, is in sixth grade.

The Kaiz-Veras relocated to Cedar Rapids almost five years ago from Los Angeles where their children attended a charter school. “We were used to the idea,” he said.

Kaiz-Vera said he was looking for a different learning opportunity for his children in public middle school because “they were not succeeding academically” — a change from their elementary school experience.

“There’s natural atrophy when it comes to motivation to learn in middle school, but their grades were dismal. It wasn’t working for us,” Kaiz-Vera said.

When he saw an advertisement for Cedar Rapids Prep on Facebook “I knew right away that it was going to be something we wanted to apply for,” he said.

Seventh-grader Maddie Shebek, 13, (from left), eighth-grader Alaina Etten, 14, and eighth-grader Aubree Chandler, 13, talk with each other in one of the collaboration spaces at Cedar Rapids Prep in Cedar Rapids on Monday. The charter school opened this year and has 255 sixth through eighth-graders with a waiting list of 25 students. The school will eventually serve grades sixth through 12. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette) — Seventh-grader Maddie Shebek, 13, (from left), eighth-grader Alaina Etten, 14, and eighth-grader Aubree Chandler, 13, talk with each other in one of the collaboration spaces at Cedar Rapids Prep in Cedar Rapids on Oct. 20. The charter school opened this year and has 255 sixth through eighth-graders with a waiting list of 25 students. The school will eventually serve grades sixth through 12. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

Today, Kaiz-Vera said his children’s grades are “wonderful,” and it’s not because Cedar Rapids Prep is “easier.”

“If anything, it’s more challenging. They have homework. Last year, they never brought home homework once, and this year they have homework almost every night. It’s usually 10 to 15 minutes per subject. They’re not sitting there for hours after school doing it,” Kaiz-Vera said.

“We knew we were going to get push back when we said we were going charter,” Kaiz-Vera said. “We were cautious in how we communicated it because our neighborhood is very ‘public school for the greater good.’”

Laney Chandler, an administrative assistant at Cedar Rapids Prep and volleyball coach, said she’s the “question master” at the school. Between classes, students swarm her desk, “which I love.”

She said she gets “goose bumps” all the times parents call to tell her, “I already see so much change in my student the first couple weeks of school.”

A collaboration space at Cedar Rapids Prep in Cedar Rapids on Oct. 20. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

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

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