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Cedar Rapids school leaders cite opportunities, obstacles
Leaders cite improvements in graduation, disciplinary diversion rates
Apr. 8, 2025 4:39 pm, Updated: Apr. 9, 2025 2:03 pm
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CEDAR RAPIDS — At an annual address Tuesday, Cedar Rapids Community School District leaders highlighted progress the district has made toward supporting student success — including another uptick in graduation rates — while acknowledging barriers that remain.
Speakers delivered their message as part of the district’s 2025 Educational Address. Nearly 100 people attended the event held at the Educational Leadership and Support Center in northwest Cedar Rapids.
The address included statements from district leaders, as well as representatives from the local business community and city officials. The message throughout: Strong schools underscore a strong society.
“Strong schools build strong communities,” said Cedar Rapids school board President Cindy Garlock. “That theme is more than just words. It’s a promise. It’s a responsibility, and it’s a vision for the future of Cedar Rapids and beyond.”
Superintendent Tawana Grover outlined the district’s four action areas meant to strengthen support for students, staff and the surrounding community. Those steps:
- Creating and maintaining a safe, secure learning environment.
- Preparing students for life after graduation.
- Forging stronger partnerships with and between staff and parents.
- Ensuring the district maintains fiscal responsibility.
Grover noted some of the progress the district has made toward reaching those goals.
She highlighted the 79.1 percent graduation rate of the district’s 2024 graduating class — below the statewide average of 88.3 percent, but up from the district’s 77.5 percent graduation rate in 2023 and 76.8 percent in 2022. She reiterated the district’s commitment to continuing the upward trend in 2025 and beyond.
“While we are not perfect, we are progressing,” Grover said. “... Our progress is commendable, but we remain steadfast in our intent to graduate 100 percent of our students.”
The district similarly saw year-over-year improvement in its school safety efforts, Grover noted, particularly as it relates to the frequency of in-school altercations and related diversion and disciplinary efforts.
In fall 2024, the district implemented phase one of its CrisisGo program, which helps schools prepare for a crisis and to recover afterward. The district also implemented new emergency protocols, launched violence intervention groups focused on students and their families and issued the first safety newsletter for parents.
That work built off previous violence reduction efforts enacted in prior school years, and by the end of 2024 the district saw a 50 percent reduction in student charges and a 30 percent increase to diversion programs meant to avoid charges.
Additional programming and training is slated to begin this year to reduce those figures even further, said district Safe and Secure Learning Administrator Janessa Carr.
“Safety is not a checklist,” said Carr, noting ongoing and upcoming school safety initiatives. “It’s not a lock on a door or a drill once a year. Safety is a system. It’s a culture, and it is a daily practice.”
The school district faces challenges, however, with Grover noting its rising cost of operations, its declining enrollment and stagnating state aid for schools, among others.
The district intends to float to voters a school bond measure on the November ballot to address some of those operational concerns, although staff are fine-tuning the proposal after community surveys showed that the district’s initial $211 million ask was unlikely to pass. A survey from the school district found that fewer than half the respondents would support a bond of that size. At least 60 percent of voters in the Cedar Rapids district would have to vote in favor of the bond for it to pass.
The goal of the bond would be to address facility improvements at various district buildings, fund additional safety measures and to take steps to “right size” the district to match enrollment trends.
A considerable portion of the initial $211 million proposal would have gone toward the construction of a new middle school, although staff now are studying the feasibility of that plan given community feedback.
A finalized bond proposal is expected to be ready for the school board’s consideration at its May 12 meeting, said Chad Schumacher, the district’s director of operation
“We’re going to continue to take a look at what our next steps are for that bond plan,” Schumacher said at the event. “We want to respond to the concerns and the comments from our constituents because we understand this plan is for and by them.”
To overcome barriers and better support students, Grover stressed the importance of community support — a point echoed by speakers Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance Executive Director Doug Neumann and Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell.
Nuemann and O’Donnell each reiterated the support of the local business community and government entities for the Cedar Rapids district, with Neumann noting students’ status as future workers and O’Donnell highlighting their current and future roles as educated citizens.
“I’m often reminded that the city and the school district are two very different entities … but the success of one depends on the success of the other,” O’Donnell said. “We are partners together in ensuring our city’s future.”
Comments: grace.nieland@thegazette.com
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