Cedar Rapids enrollment committee talks elementary schools

The Cedar Rapids school district's elementary schools were the focus of Tuesday's enrollment study stakeholder committee.

The 23-member committee was charged with making recommendations regarding specific schools to be maintained and the boundaries for these schools, with attention to grade level configuration.

This doesn't mean committee members began constructing a list of possible school closures. Instead, Tuesday's discussion will be revisited at future committee meetings.

“This week we're talking about elementary schools,” said Rob Schwarz, principal planner with RSP & Associates of Overland Park, Kan.

The committee will focus on the district middle schools in two weeks, followed by the high schools two weeks later. After six weeks, Schwarz said committee members will have a better understand of district needs for the next five years.

Schwarz shared the district's enrollment study results with committee members earlier this month. The same report was presented to school board members in May. The report stated that the district's enrollment, which has steadily declined over the past 10 years, should remain flat, with about 16,000 students, through the 2015-16 school year.

George Kanz of Shive-Hattery, Inc., spoke at the beginning of the meeting, sharing data from the facilities report. Kanz shared this report with school board members in June. The purpose of the report  was to rank schools by the amount of facility need based on the type of facility.

Copies of both reports, as well as notes from the enrollment study stakeholder committee meetings, are available on the district Website at www.cr.k12.ia.us

The goal of the enrollment study stakeholder committee is to ensure equity and access to programs and services; alleviate overcrowding; consider future development and design; reduce operating costs; establish pure feeder schools; maintain neighborhood schools; and uniform grade configurations (AK-5; 6-8; 9-12).

The committee will meet every other week throughout the fall. The public will have an opportunity to provide feedback on the committee's findings and recommendations, likely around November and December.

Recommendations are expected to go before the school board in late winter/early spring.

The group's next meeting will be Sept. 6.