Grace King

The official filing period for school board elections opens Aug. 25 and runs through Sept. 18. Candidates should file the necessary paperwork with their county auditor’s office.

Executive leadership staff span a 6 to 22 percent increase in proposed salaries as they take on new and expanded roles

The Academy for Scholastic & Personal Success’ summer program provides high school students an education they can’t find in a public school classroom. It teaches students about Black history, literature, math, science and financial literacy. The 2025 summer session concludes Friday with a closing ceremony.

The Iowa City school board unanimously voted to restore “gender identity” to a dozen antibullying and harassment policies Tuesday, a reversal of an earlier decision to remove the words to align with a new Iowa law.

There were more than 300 physical restraints of students in the Cedar Rapids Community School District during the 2024-25 school year — an increase from around 200 the year prior. But the U.S. Department of Justice reports there’s been a “noticeable improvement“ in employees’ understanding of problem solving and de-escalation.

Several executive leadership positions were removed from a revised personnel report approved by the Cedar Rapids school board Monday. It was the second time in a week the board has considered approval of a personnel report after last week’s vote failed.

Former Cedar Rapids schools superintendent Lew Finch, who served from 1994 to 2004, oversaw the last bond referendum to be approved by voters in the district.

New superintendent hopes to find ways to maintain the growing district’s ‘small-town’ feel

Union Community School District is one of 15 Iowa school districts that have contracts with ZeroEyes, a company that uses artificial intelligence in school cameras to detect brandished weapons within seconds.

Arts programs in the Cedar Rapids Community School District are on “life support” after years of under funding, Carl Rowles, Jefferson High School band director, told the Cedar Rapids school board Monday. Rowles was one of dozens of people turned up at the meeting wearing school attire and advocating for the arts.

Iowa students will be more engaged in their learning and with their peers as they head back to school this fall under new policies restricting the use of cellphones and other personal electronic devices during the school day, educators say.

A letter of intent has been signed for the Cedar Rapids school district to purchase a property adjacent to Van Buren Elementary School, allowing the district to relocate an access road that will be built to service the new school building planned for the site.

The Cedar Rapids school board did not approve a personnel report in a 4-3 vote Monday, so that it can further consider proposed changes in central office staff “responsibilities and pay.”

The Cedar Rapids school board unanimously approved the new contract with Superintendent Tawana Grover effective July 1, and ending June 30, 2028. Grover requested no salary increase as part of the extension.

Neighbors Monday voiced their concerns about how new schools replacing Hoover and Van Buren will encroach on their properties and alter the natural environment surrounding the current school facilities.