Q&A with Cedar Rapids School Board candidate Barclay Woerner

Barclay Woerner is running for the Cedar Rapids School Board as an at-large candidate. He is not an incumbent. Here are his answers to a survey we sent to all of the candidates.

Occupation and Employer: Amazon Logistics

How and who should determine curriculum?

The district should encourage parents to be a part of the curriculum decision process. They should be able to review the textbooks, additional reading materials, and surveys that will be a part of their child’s education. By restricting access to textbooks, the district is preventing parents from having a clear understanding of what is being taught to their children which has lead to a growing distrust between parents and teachers.

Why do you want to serve on the school board? What relevant experience do you have?

I am a father of 5 children who have a wide range of experiences with the district. They have participated in athletics, music, and all levels of academics. I understand many of the challenges that students can face in the classroom as my children have grown up.

I have spent 20+ years working in retail management, which provided me with a good understanding of what good customer service looks like, how to work with 3rd party contractors, how to build a team, and how to manage a budget.

I have been disappointed with the board’s policy decisions that fail to protect our children, negatively impact their education, and ignore parents. The board has promoted policies that encourage pornography in the schools and has not been supporting parents in the education of their children.

How would you describe your attendance at past school board meetings?

I have been a regular attender of school board meetings and have enjoyed talking with the others who are in attendance to get their perspective on the district. I believe more parents should attend the meetings to understand the policies that are being put in place that have an impact on their children and to hold the board accountable for the decisions that they make.

What are your three top priorities for the school district? What will you do to address them?

The safety of students, teachers, and staff will need to be addressed. Officers should be added back into our middle schools, the district should provide a safe teaching environment for our children to learn in, and the staff should not be asked to work in unsafe conditions.

The process of approving and challenging books that are allowed into our schools should be changed. The administration should be supportive of the removal of books with pornographic scenes and graphics. They should not be forcing these books into our schools. Also, parents should be able to easily identify new books that have been with an easy system to challenge the addition of these books to our schools to help keep the district accountable.

The finances of the district should be posted in a manner that is easily understood by the community. This will help increase transparency and trust in how the district is spending our money. With the district selling a bond of $20 million, asking for another $220 million, and ultimately wanting $800 million, the Cedar Rapids community should be able to easily track where all this money is being spent.

Will you support the proposed Nov. 7 Cedar Rapids school bond referendum? Why or why not?

I do not trust the current board with $220 million and a total ask of over $800 million and I will not support the placement of our middle school children in warehouses. According to a 2015 Hanover Research study, a middle school should be between 500-800 students (not 1,200). As the school increases in size, student outcomes decrease with a higher impact on poor students and those of racial and ethnic minorities. In addition, the district should not be closing small local schools that will allow students and parents to participate in school activities.

All of this is being completed while the district is fighting declining enrollment and test scores. We need to provide support for the students, teachers, and staff inside of our current buildings so that they can be successful in the education of our children. We should not be creating additional barriers for everyone to overcome.

Are there any curriculum concerns you have with the district? Why? How should the school board address these issues?

The school district has too many barriers in place for parents who want to see the textbooks that their children are using in school. Parents who have tried to gain access to the textbooks used in classes run from department to department until they give up, which makes answering this question difficult. The lack of transparency combined with the pornographic books in the libraries is a cause for concern for me. Why would the district be hiding what they are teaching from parents unless they would be upset with what is being taught?

If you were required to cut the district's budget, what areas would you look to for savings and why?

I would remove the 3 executive positions that were just added to the district. The district can’t afford to add these high paying positions when it is shrinking. I would also end the contract to pay the University of Iowa to complete SEL research on the students and any other similar contracts should also be ended.

What level of control do you think school boards should have?

School boards should have local control and not sell off their control to other groups to help finance the operations of the district. A board with local control can be responsive to the parents in the community they serve and not to large organizations.

If the school district had additional funds available, what should they be allocated to? Why?

The district should be focused on fully staffing the schools, support teams, and additional officers. The additional staff would allow teachers to teach and our children to learn. One of the most glaring opportunities was the lack of paraprofessionals at the start of the school year. The district had almost 80 openings, which meant teachers were not able to focus on teaching their students. Also, the lack of officers in our middle schools caused parents to be uneasy about sending their children to school after a social media threat.

I believe that these additional funds can be found by reducing the excessive spending that has been occurring at the executive level and contracts to perform research on students. We should not be adding 3 new executives to a district that is shrinking and should not be paying the University of Iowa to perform SEL research on our children.

What will you do to be responsive to parents, teachers and district staff? What types of communication should the public expect from you?

I have enjoyed meeting with the community this summer and fall both in person and online. I have responded to questions as often as I was able while raising a family and working (usually within a day). Unfortunately, some of the contracts that the district has with the teachers and staff will restrict some of the communication that I have enjoyed as a parent and a candidate. I hope that I can continue to have open communication with the community once I am elected.