Architects tour Cedar Rapids schools to gauge facility needs

CEDAR RAPIDS — A team of architects this week toured all 32 schools in the Cedar Rapids Community School District as the first step in creating a new facility plan before the district takes another general obligation bond referendum to voters, possibly in November 2025.

Next week, people living in the Cedar Rapids school district will begin receiving a survey by mail or email, asking for feedback on why a majority of residents voted “no” on a $220 million bond issue last November. It also will ask what facility projects they would like to see prioritized.

“It’s easy to think about facilities as buildings, but it’s so much more than that,” said Chad Schumacher, director of operations for the Cedar Rapids school district. “It’s the fabric of our city and making sure our kids have every opportunity to be successful and propel them into a workforce and entice people to come live in Cedar Rapids.

“We need to have a plan this community can support,” he said.

On average, the district’s school buildings are more than 68 years old.

District leaders note heating, electrical and plumbing systems and roofs and windows have reached or exceeded their service life. Many schools have unused classrooms, which is inefficient financially. Some classrooms are too small for current teaching and learning standards.

Updates are needed to address Americans with Disabilities Act requirements to improve access to classrooms and other areas of school buildings, including restrooms.

A new facility master plan could include closing buildings to reduce operating costs and eliminate future maintenance expenses. It also could include renovating existing schools and building new ones.

The plan also could bring a renewed focus to career and college education programs by building spaces that those programs require.

Tour of buildings

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Heath Tate, principal architect at MA+ Architecture, wrote detailed notes on floor plans of each school and took pictures, walking an average of 6 miles a day while touring the schools over a four-day period, he said.

The Oklahoma-based firm was hired in February by the school board under an agreement with Shive-Hattery and other consultants to review research on the district’s infrastructure, create a facility plan, engage the community, lend assistance in the bond campaign and create conceptual plans of the school projects.

MA+ Architecture provides professional services in interior design, master planning, bond planning and furniture selection for schools and other organizations.

The work being done by school leaders and consultants will help “right size” a bond referendum the community will support, Tate said.

Tate said he has assessed “millions” of square feet of school spaces during his career. Schools built more than 60 years ago were not designed with the needs of students and teachers today, especially with the technology now used in the classroom, he said.

“We are walking through looking at how many students in a classroom, how much time they are spending between classes getting from Point A to Point B, and are the classrooms functioning the way they should for optimal academic achievement,” Tate said.

“We’re really seeing the potential issues we can solve,” Tate said.

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Survey asks about facilities

Community feedback is “vital” to creating a facility plan that serves “their kids,” Tate said.

The first round of surveys being sent out next week aims to gather input from staff, families and the community on how best to address the Cedar Rapids school district’s facility needs.

The five-page survey will come from School Perceptions, an education research firm the district is working with, and will be available in English, Spanish, French and Swahili.

Survey responses will be kept confidential and returned to School Perceptions, which will analyze the data and report the findings to the Cedar Rapids school board. Results will be available on the district’s website.

Residents can respond to the survey online, return the survey to any school office or mail it to School Perceptions. The survey should be completed before April 22.

A second survey will be sent to residents in the district later this year.

Questions on the survey include: Did you support the bond? If you voted no, why? And what college and career readiness classes and programs are most important to you?

The survey also will ask residents if they would support renewing the Physical Plant & Equipment Levy expected to be on the ballot this September.

The Physical Plant & Equipment Levy (PPEL) is an existing capital projects fund used for the purchase and improvement of grounds, construction and remodeling of buildings and major equipment purchases, including technology. It must be renewed by voters every 10 years.

If approved, the extension would not raise the existing PPEL tax rate. However, it still wouldn’t create enough revenue for the district to build new schools, though it is important for maintaining buildings, Schumacher said.

“We are dedicated to hearing what the community wants,” Schumacher said.

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Facilities support kids education

Michael Kleene, an education architect at Shive-Hattery who was on the schools tour this week, said projects proposed in the facility master plan will be prioritized by looking at the needs of students, the needs of the district, the needs of the community and the financial realities.

“I believe every student deserves a stage to perform on and someone to be inspired by, whether that’s in the classroom, on the stage or in the field,” he said. “They deserve those opportunities to express themselves and learn what their abilities and strengths are.”

While the school district has historically had two plans — one that addressed the elementary schools and a second plan that addressed the middle and high schools — Schumacher said the new plan will be more “holistic.”

“We want to make sure we are being fiscally responsible to our taxpayers and using our buildings to their fullest capacities,” he said.

Schumacher has met with about 50 community members from different quadrants of the city, different socio-economic levels, faith backgrounds, business leaders, parents and people without students in the district.

He has a goal of meeting with another 100 people one-on-one by May 1.

He said the feedback indicates people would love to support a school bond issue but had a hard time supporting the $220 million plan put before voters in November.

Questions about the district proposing to build a new middle school without knowing the location led to some voters saying “no,” Schumacher said.

“What these tours are doing for me is reinforcing what we know are the things we need, but we’re also peeling back the onion to say, ‘Maybe we could be a little more creative here.’ ”

The schools do need upgrades, though, some of them major, Schumacher said. Some of the elementary schools, for example, are still using their original, “antiquated” heating systems, he said.

The school district isn’t starting completely from scratch. A 2017-18 analysis of the district’s elementary schools and a 2022 analysis of the district’s secondary buildings are still around.

One of the last schools to be toured last week was Washington High School, where Principal Ian LeMaster said he would like to see a facility plan that expands opportunities and helps students feel a greater “sense of belonging.”

“I think the classes that really resonate with our students are the ones where they see a real-world connection and gather skills they can use for the rest of their lives,” LeMaster said.

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

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