‘Viable’ options: Cedar Rapids school board hears proposals to close a high school; move to 5-8 middle school

CEDAR RAPIDS — Closing a high school or moving to a fifth through eighth grade middle school model are two additional “viable” options for how the Cedar Rapids school district could consolidate and close schools in an effort to reduce at least $6 million more from the district’s annual budget.

Almost half the 35 people who addressed the Cedar Rapids school board Monday during public comment advocated for Johnson STEAM Academy, an elementary school in the district, to remain open. Johnson could close under two of three proposed school models.

The two models — in addition to an intermediate model proposed earlier this month — were presented to the school board Monday. No vote by the school board was taken on the proposals.

School board President Jen Neumann said the options being presented are “viable” as school leaders work to “right size” the district for “long-term financial stability and student success.”

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“We recognize the emotional weight of these decisions, and we do not take them lightly,” Neumann said. “There’s grief in this room and fear as some of us face the prospect of losing a neighborhood school or an unplanned transition or what the next redesign of our district might look like. It’s fair to say this board feels those emotions too. There’s a lot at stake.”

“As a board, we must weigh our deep, personal affection for our neighborhood schools against our fiscal responsibility while taking the opportunity to redesign our educational system to best serve our students and support our staff … Right now, we are funding square footage instead of student outcomes,” she said.

The two new consolidation options proposed were presented by members of a community coalition that began meeting in December to explore options to reduce costs and consolidate and reconfigure schools.

The school board will vote on a proposed plan for community review and feedback at its meeting Feb. 9. Throughout the spring, district officials will take that proposal to families and the community for additional feedback and deeper conversation.

The school board is expected to make a final decision on consolidations in April, with changes not taking effect until Fall 2027.

Why there are 3 proposed plans to consolidate, close schools

An initial proposal earlier this month to close seven schools and move to an intermediate school model that would serve fifth and sixth-graders was met with hesitation and shock by school board members. They asked for more time to make a decision and more options to be explored and ruled out.

The district is reducing its spending after more than a decade of declining enrollment — exacerbated by a sudden and unexpected enrollment drop of 622 students this year — and few budget reductions made in that time.

Last week, the Cedar Rapids school board approved a plan to reduce almost $13 million from the district’s annual budget, but more spending cuts are needed.

“This board made the difficult cuts necessary to ensure no schools will close for the 2026-27 school year,” Neumann said.

Consolidating schools would save the school district about $1 million in operational costs annually for each elementary school closed and $1.5 million for each middle school closed.

School officials have not yet addressed what would happen to buildings that are closed.

The three proposed plans presented to the school board Monday are narrowed down from six models vetted by the community coalition. The plans had to meet five nonnegotiables:

Family priorities include preschool in all elementary schools, more robust fine arts opportunities and competitive athletics. Under each plan, the district would need to reconfigure boundaries to equalize enrollment across schools.

School board members asked questions about the three models but otherwise did not discuss their merits.

Here are the three proposed plans to consolidate and close schools.

The fifth through eighth grade model

In the fifth through eighth grade model, elementary schools would serve preschool through fourth grade, middle schools fifth through eighth grade and high schools ninth through 12th grade.

In each of the district’s three “areas,” four to five elementary schools would feed into two middle schools, which would feed into the same high school.

The schools proposed to close under the plan are Wright, Cedar River Academy, Cleveland, Nixon and Pierce elementary schools and Truman Early Learning Center. Johnson STEAM Academy could close or remain open under the plan.

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The model was presented by community coalition members Eric Butikofer, an educator at Jefferson High School; Sarah Hale Keuseman, a parent to students at Trailside Elementary School and Franklin Middle School and an educator with a Ph.D. in educational leadership from the University of Iowa; and Tyler Turner, a parent to two students at Hiawatha Elementary School.

“Our district has nearly half students of color and 60 percent qualify for free and reduced-price lunch. Those are the faces and the people you don’t see up here making these pitches,” Hale Keuseman said.

Compared to the intermediate school model, this potentially decreases transportation costs and the average travel time for students because middle schools are kept closer to students’ neighborhoods.

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Turner said the model could better support family engagement in schools, including parent organizations, which often struggle to find leadership and volunteers, especially in middle school where students are there for only three years.

Turner said instead of approaching bringing fifth-graders up to middle school with trepidation, it should be seen as an opportunity for eighth-graders to become leaders and role models.

The team presented research that indicates multiple school transitions during early adolescence are associated with decreases in self-esteem, grades, test scores, engagement and attendance, along with increases in disciplinary infractions and suspensions. School transitions could lower academic achievement for historically marginalized groups and low-income students, who have more difficulty making up for losses in achievement in subsequent years.

Research also noted a strong positive effect for students who transitioned schools between fourth and fifth grade, finding that moving in fifth grade was less disruptive than moving in sixth grade, which is what students do under the current middle school model.

Another study showed that intermediate schools — another model under consideration by the school board — are not beneficial for fifth- and sixth-graders. Instead, student achievement in middle grades is higher when they attend schools with a wide grade span.

The two high school model

The two high school model proposes to close Kennedy High School and instead make it a middle school that serves seventh through ninth grade. Remaining Washington and Jefferson high schools would serve 10th through 12th grades. The model also proposes intermediate schools that serve fifth and sixth grades.

Under the model, elementary schools would serve preschool through fourth grade.

The district would be broken into two areas: the east side and the west side. The east side would have seven elementary schools that feed into Harding, which would be made an intermediate school under the plan. From there, students would attend Kennedy as a middle school and feed into Washington High School.

On the west side, there would be six elementary schools that feed into two intermediate schools. These intermediate schools would be Wilson and Maple Grove, which is currently an elementary school. From there, students would go to either Taft or Roosevelt for middle school and feed into Jefferson High School.

Alternatively, Washington could be modified into a seventh through ninth grade middle school and Kennedy could remain as a 10-12th grade high school.

Schools that would close under this model are Wright, Nixon, Cleveland and Pierce elementary schools, Truman Early Learning Center, and Franklin and McKinley middle schools. This would result in a more than $8 million cost savings, far beyond the district’s $6 million goal.

The model was presented by community coalition members Caleb Claus, who teaches at Jefferson High School’s Freshman Academy; and Staci Jackson, who has taught at Metro STEAM Academy for 20 years. Jackson also has four children who graduated from Kennedy High School and she is an alumna of Washington High School.

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Jackson acknowledged the proposed model is “way out there.” She initially chose to be a part of the team working to vet the model because her initial reaction was “no way,” but now she is “totally on board,” she said.

“We would be losing a high school … That is something that is going to be really hard for our community to swallow,” Jackson said.

Jackson said if enrollment continues to decline in the Cedar Rapids district, this could be a model to consider in the future if it’s not adopted now.

More students across two high schools could enable the schools to offer more Advanced Placement, dual enrollment and extracurricular classes because of higher enrollment.

Other school districts across Iowa use a 10-12th grade model, including West Des Moines, Southeast Polk, Johnston Community, Waukee and Ankeny, Claus said.

Jackson and Claus pointed to research that indicates ninth-graders benefit from being in their own building or in a junior high school model.

“Creating a junior high buffer, a safe space for early adolescents to grow socially, emotionally and cognitively before the full weight of high school hits, allows them to truly work on getting ready for high school, where you have to pass classes and think about your GPA,” Jackson said.

The intermediate school model provides a learning space for sixth-graders who are “more academically and maturity-wise at the elementary level,” Jackson said.

The intermediate model

The intermediate school model proposes to create intermediate schools that serve fifth and sixth grade and middle schools that serve seventh and eighth grade. Elementary schools would serve preschool through fourth grade. This model also would be used under the two high school model.

The model was presented to the Cedar Rapids school board at a meeting earlier this month.

Under two slightly different proposals, Wright, Cedar River Academy, Cleveland, Nixon and Pierce elementary schools and Truman Early Learning Center are proposed to close. One of the proposals also includes closing Johnson STEAM Academy.

The model was presented by Kennedy High School Principal Jason Kline, McKinley STEAM Academy Principal Joslin Hanna, Cleveland Elementary School Principal Condra Allred and Jefferson High School band director Carl Rowles.

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The model could create equity in fine arts and athletic opportunities by ensuring each intermediate and middle school is able to offer the same, robust programming. This could include offering band and orchestra beginning in fifth grade, making the district more competitive with neighboring schools that already offer that.

The team cited research that indicates removing sixth grade from middle school results in fewer discipline issues, increased test scores and less exposure to “older” behavior that they are not mature enough to process.

Moving fifth grade up into an intermediate school eases them into transitioning classes and teachers like they do in middle school. The intermediate model could have three transitions during the day instead of the six or seven that happen in middle school.

Johnson families ask: Keep our school open

Under the fifth through eighth grade model and the intermediate school model, Johnson STEAM Academy is listed as one of the elementary schools that could close.

Johnson parents, teachers, staff and even students spoke during public comment, championing their school and boasting about academic gains.

Kim Fuqua, an instructional coach at Johnson, said the building leadership team set an “ambitious goal” for students to grow by 10 percent in reading proficiency this academic year.

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“Our students embraced this challenge, and JSA has increased our reading scores by 7 percent from fall to winter, surpassing our midyear goals,” Fuqua said. “The progress we are seeing is not accidental. It is a result of three years of stable leadership, strong relationship building and fostering a school culture that engages and empowers every student. Closing our building would disrupt the very environment that is helping our students thrive.”

Colby Kelley, an engagement specialist at Johnson, is parent to three boys who have attended the school and resident of the Wellington Heights neighborhood, where the school is located.

“Being afforded the opportunity to work with children in my home neighborhood has been a dream come true,” Kelley said.

Kelley said the school has seen huge gains in behavior this year alone.

“Our major office referrals have dropped from 25 per day in September (2025) to only seven per day this month,” Kelley said.

He attributes this improvement in behavior to “consistent expectations building-wide,” and a “fantastic, compassionate behavior team that is proactive with helping staff and students.”

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“They say it takes a village, and JSA is a perfect example: Food drives, toy drives, counseling services and much more. JSA is a pillar and beacon of hope in our community … This school means everything to me. Closing JSA would not only be a loss for our students, but would devastate our community,” Kelley said.

Johnson is one of several magnet schools in the district, emphasizing its theme of science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

In 2019, Johnson was named a Certified National Demonstration Magnet School designated by Magnet Schools of America, a designation that recognizes the hard work of the best magnet schools in the nation.

Megan Johnson said she chose to send her children to Johnson STEAM Academy after touring parochial and other public magnet schools.

“JSA stood out immediately. It offers a truly unique educational experience and a richly diverse student body, which is exactly what we were looking for for our children,” Johnson said. “We’ve come to understand that Johnson is far more than a school. It’s a beacon of stability and hope for families in Wellington Heights. Keeping JSA in the neighborhood ensures access to essential supports that families rely on: Education, transportation, food and, most importantly, strong and trusted relationships.”

Teachers who have taught at Johnson for more than a decade and teachers in their first year spoke about how the school is a safety net for students and families.

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Johnson is one of the more diverse schools in the Cedar Rapids district. Forty-two percent of students are Black, almost 10 percent are Hispanic, 15 percent are multiracial and almost 33 percent are white, according to the 2025 Iowa School Report Card.

Almost 17 percent of students have an Individualized Education Plan, 12 percent are English Language Learners and 70 percent come from families with low socioeconomic status.

Kelli Rozendaal, who has taught at JSA for 14 years, said “displacing” students puts them at risk for “being misunderstood, stigmatized and treated unfairly.” Students might not feel the same sense of belonging they do at Johnson at other elementary schools in the district, she said.

“The building is not just a pile of bricks. These are life-altering decisions you are making. Equity should be a priority in this district, and you must protect the spaces where the students who face the greatest challenges are already experiencing success, stability and care,” Rozendaal said.

Other ways the district is ‘rightsizing’ its budget

Since 2020, the district has used federal pandemic relief dollars to supplement revenue and expected an uptick in enrollment based on demographic studies. But year after year, competition for students between public, non-public and charter schools has increased as birth rates across the state decline.

Last week, the school board unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the administration to implement about $12.9 million in approved cost saving measures for the 2026-27 school year.

The spending reductions include eliminating eight positions from the Educational Leadership and Support Center — the district offices — implementing a one-year salary freeze for administrators, reducing 33 teachers through attrition and reducing consulting contracts, among other cuts.

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