116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids school board upholds decision to raze Harrison Elementary
Save CR Heritage, residents asked board to reconsider school’s fate
Oct. 19, 2023 10:23 pm, Updated: Oct. 20, 2023 12:15 pm
CEDAR RAPIDS — The Cedar Rapids school board is upholding its decision to demolish Harrison Elementary and build a new school on the site after community members implored the board to reconsider.
Opponents believe the board’s decision lacks transparency and community input and could jeopardize a $220 million bond referendum going to district voters Nov. 7 to fund additional facility projects.
“I still believe a new facility is in the best interest of students, and I support the decision made back in April,” school board President David Tominsky said. “This recommendation will serve students, is fiscally responsible and will honor historic elements of the Harrison building.”
Ten people spoke during the public comment period of a special board meeting Thursday night, all asking the board not to demolish the school, built in 1930, in northwest Cedar Rapids.
The meeting was scheduled after Save CR Heritage — a nonprofit dedicated to saving historic properties — submitted a petition signed by more than 500 voters in the Cedar Rapids school district. The petition required the school board to place the request to reconsider the Harrison decision on its agenda within 30 days of receiving the petition, according to Iowa Code.
Mark Stoffer Hunter, a Cedar Rapids historian, submitted a letter to the board — shared with The Gazette — advocating for Harrison Elementary to be saved.
“If you haven't yet, go to Iowa City and see in person both the Longfellow and Horace Mann elementary school facilities,” Stoffer Hunter wrote. “Both have renovated and kept restored their historic original exteriors, created a new modern and functional interior and built large new additions that are very compatible with both the historic structure and the character of the neighborhoods they exist in. This works in Iowa City … it can work in Cedar Rapids.”
Cedar Rapids City Council member Ashley Vanorny — who said she spoke representing “my own office as a council member and myself as a citizen and alumni” of the school district — said it is “unnecessary” to demolish Harrison.
Vanorny mentioned how the White House — built in 1792 — has been modernized without being torn down and rebuilt.
“As much as people want to separate these issues, the school bond is at play in this decision,” said Vanorny, who was part of a volunteer focus group that made a recommendation to renovate and build an addition onto Harrison. “Unfortunately, your ultimate decision on this jeopardizes or potentially helps the success of the next initiative, and if you fail to do the right thing and reverse the decision on this, if you lose that bond issue, it’s on your hands.”
In 2016, the Northwest Recreation Center opened at 1340 11th St. NW, adjacent to Harrison. The district contributed $500,000 to the project, and the school initially used the facility’s gymnasium for physical education classes.
Stacie Johnson said at the time the district wanted to ensure the recreation center’s facade matched Harrison’s. “There must have been something there you wanted to protect,” she told the board.
Board responds
After hearing public comments, school board members Cindy Garlock and Nancy Humbles also said they are standing by their decision to have a new elementary school built in place of Harrison.
“I come to this decision with a lot of empathy for what you all are telling us,” Garlock said. “I’m an educator. I’m here to advocate for the very best for our students.”
School board member Dexter Merschbrock — who voted in April against demolishing Harrison — said the board’s initial decision should be overturned.
“I don’t think we should be closing any schools if we don’t have to, especially if they serve a community in a neighborhood,” he said.
Merschbrock made a motion to adopt the community proposal not to demolish the Harrison building. The motion did not receive a second.
“It’s clear to me throughout this entire process, and it should be clear to all of us because we’re asking people to vote to approve $220 million in additional projects right now, that community support is absolutely essential to make these projects happen,” Merschbrock said.
Design has begun
Superintendent Tawana Grover said the district has started working with an architectural firm on designing a new school at the Harrison site. Construction is expected to begin at the end of the 2023-24 school year.
The district is preserving historic architecture from the existing Harrison. It also plans to renovate Franklin Middle School — built in 1923 — if the bond referendum is approved.
The board has approved a plan to close Arthur and Garfield elementary schools — built in 1915 — but to keep the structures intact. The schools currently are for sale and will close to students next summer.
The Arthur and Garfield schools attendance zones will be combined and students will attend Trailside Elementary School — currently under construction near Arthur — next fall.
School board members Jennifer Neumann, Jennifer Borcherding and Marcy Roundtree were not present at the Thursday meeting.
Could Harrison be moved?
Tominsky said he would support the district putting some funds toward relocating the Harrison building to another site.
“I would at least want to explore that if there were folks in our community bringing that forward,” Tominsky said. “At this point, we don’t have a place to move the school.”
Beth DeBoom, past president and founder of Save CR Heritage, thinks it’s unlikely funding and a location could be secured to move the school.
DeBoom helped save a building known as the White Elephant from being demolished in 2017, buying the structure and having it moved a few blocks. She also assisted on a project moving a house in the Wellington Heights neighborhood. But those buildings cost between $60,000 and 80,000 to move and are much smaller than Harrison, DeBoom said.
The new elementary
The school board decided in April to have Harrison Elementary demolished and a new building built on its site.
Under the plan, Madison Elementary School, 1341 Woodside Dr. NW, would close and the attendance zone combined with Harrison in the fall of 2025. No decision has been made about the future of the Madison building or its land.
The board’s concept deviates from two recommendations made earlier this year for the future of Harrison from a volunteer focus group, based on assessments from Legat Architects, an Iowa City architectural firm.
The new recommendation was made by Cedar Rapids schools’ administration following community feedback.
The plan to build a new school costs $28.9 million, which includes $350,000 for demolishing the existing building and $400,000 for salvaging and reinstalling historical elements into the new school.
The Cedar Rapids district’s 2018 facilities master plan calls for building 10 elementary schools and renovating three over the next 15 to 20 years. This process includes the closure and repurposing of eight schools.
Each new elementary school will serve between 500 to 600 students. Right now, elementary schools vary in student population, serving between 200 to 500 students, creating an inequitable distribution of resources.
Improvements to Cedar Rapids elementary schools are being funded by Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE), an existing statewide school infrastructure sales and services tax.
Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters