Cedar Rapids school board members to hear enrollment study report Monday

A decision regarding the future of four Cedar Rapids elementary schools won't be made at Monday's school board meeting, but district officials still expect a crowd.

The meeting begins at 5 p.m. and will be held at the Grant Wood AEA Conference Center, 4401 Sixth Street SW. The meeting was moved to a different location to accommodate a larger audience.

The Cedar Rapids Enrollment Study Stakeholder Committee had their final meeting last month, at which time they narrowed countless "supposals" to five proposals. They are elementary proposals 1 and 2, middle school proposal 1, and high school proposals 3 and 4.

Elementary proposal 1 includes the closing of Harrison, Monroe and Polk elementary schools. Grant Early Childhood Center would become a K-5 facility and Wilson Middle School would serve sixth through eighth grade students. Proposal 2 is essentially the same, only it has Madison Elementary closing instead of Harrison.

The elementary proposals are the only proposals that address school closures.

All of the proposals are available on the district's website at www.cr.k12.ia.us.

Enrollment committee member Jim Craig will present the committee's report about to board members Monday.

The community can address board members at the board meeting, as well as those scheduled for Jan. 23 and Feb. 13, which also will be held at the Grant Wood AEA Conference Center. However, board members can't respond to those comments. Instead, the two public forums scheduled in February are the opportunities for back-and-forth conversation.

The Feb. 2 community input session will be held at the Grant Wood AEA Conference Center, 4401 Sixth Street SW. The Feb. 9 session will be held in the band room at Kennedy High School, 4545 Wenig Road NE. Both sessions will be held from 4 to 7 p.m.

Superintendent Dave Benson has said he won't make any recommendations to the school board until after the community input sessions.

Benson expects to submit his recommendations at the Feb. 13 school board meeting. He told committee members he expects board members to vote on the recommendations in late February or early March. However, he will submit items regarding the implementation of any school closures and/or boundary changes to board members Monday night.