Iowa City school board to tweak redistricting plans

The Iowa City school board still has plenty of questions about how to redraw school boundaries, but it is getting closer to making a decision.

The board said Thursday night it will talk about the issue, known as redistricting, again at its meeting Tuesday and will hold a work session April 27. A public forum will follow May 4, and a decision is expected later that month.

Thursday night's meeting was the school board's first since the redistricting process started. A 38-person committee has met eight times for more than 40 hours total since November developing three scenarios for the school board to consider. Its work was guided by RSP and Associates, the consulting firm hired by the district.

Board members did not deliberate much on the actual scenarios. Instead, they heard from members of the redistricting committee and received a report from representatives from RSP.

At the April 27 work session, the board will discuss the redistricting plans in more detail and possibly “tweak” them, to use the word of the night.

Superintendent Lane Plugge recommended the school board not make many changes to the scenarios.

Rob Schwarz, RSP's principal planner, suggested that if the board make changes, it do so based on educational reasons and not to appease anyone upset by the proposals.

And there certainly are some unhappy people. Board members and committee members said their e-mail in boxes have been filled up, and some of the messages have been unkind.

The committee itself had its disagreements, as probably would be expected in a group containing 38 people. Some stressed the need to address disparities among schools in the number of low-income students, while others said that would be very hard to do without major, and unpopular, disruptions to attendance areas.

Many spoke of the need for a third high school, but a couple of people said the money may not be there.

A few committee members also took jabs at RSP, saying they didn't believe they had a chance to fully consider all options.

“I left the last meeting not feeling real comfortable where we ended up,” said committee member Ryan Heiar, who is North Liberty's city administrator.

Schwarz has said people here are more divided in their priorities than in most communities he's worked in, partly because the school district covers five towns.

West High Principal Jerry Arganbright, who was on the committee, said it was hard for members to think globally because each person represented a certain school, neighborhood, town.

“I think it's incumbent on the board to be the global thinkers for the community,” he said.

Nearly everyone agreed that the question that needs to be answered first is whether the school district should add a third comprehensive high school or stick with the two it has now and accommodate the growth other ways.

“You're going to have to make a decision as a board, which one, and move on,” RSP's Mark Porter said.

District officials have said they want to build a new high school in several years, but they don't believe the district can afford to operate it.