Iowa’s first magnet high school to be located at the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance

CEDAR RAPIDS — City View Community High School — the first magnet high school in the Iowa — will be located at the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance in the “heart” of the city, said Art Sathoff interim superintendent of the Cedar Rapids Community School District.

The school’s location at 501 1st St SE was announced Monday — pending approval by the school board next month — in a presentation that did not include the lease agreement.

“Very few places have a school like this, and the places that do are growth communities, aspirational places people want to be,” said Doug Neumann executive director of the Economic Alliance. Doug also is husband to Cedar Rapids school board member Jen Neumann.

The Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance has 17,500 square feet of space, which Doug said his staff of 23 does not need. Most of the space is used by the public for professional use.

Cedar Rapids school board member Dexter Merschbrock said the proposed lease agreement includes the district spending $600,000 on renovating the space.

“I plan to vote against the agreement at this time,” Merschbrock told The Gazette. “While I support the idea behind the City View program, my belief is the time and money would be better spent supporting our core mission. With administrative turnover and potential budget cuts on the table for next year, we risk taking from one group of students to support another by putting so much focus on promoting this new idea.”

The Iowa BIG program also will be moved to the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance from its current location at the Geonetric Building, 415 12th Ave SE, Cedar Rapids.

Iowa BIG — a concept championed by The Gazette’s parent company as the community rebuilt after the historic 2008 flood — is a part-time program where high school students team up with businesses to work on projects.

Recruitment of new students continues

Fifty-three students have been accepted to City View, and there are 33 new applicants, including 17 from outside the Cedar Rapids Community School District. The goal is to have 200 ninth- and 10th-graders enrolled this fall. By the 2025-26 school year, the district hopes to have 400 ninth-12th-graders enrolled in City View.

One of the goals of the school is to prevent historically marginalized students from being isolated.

About 75 percent of the students who have been accepted to City View are white, 5.7 percent — three students — are Black, and 17 percent are two or more races. Out of the 33 new applicants, 55.3 percent of the students are white, 29.8 percent of the students are Black and 12.8 percent are two or more races.

About 60 percent of students in the Cedar Rapids Community School District are white, 20 percent are Black, 10 percent are two or more races, 8 percent are Hispanic and 2 percent are Asian.

School board members Nancy Humbles and Marcy Roundtree expressed concern with the low number of Black students enrolled in City View. They stressed the need for more intentional recruiting.

“I want to bring to your attention how serious this really is to make sure that children of color and from every economic background have the opportunity to be part of something so beautiful in our district,” Roundtree said.

Merschbrock voiced concern that with more students of color at City View, historically marginalized students at the other high schools might be isolated.

City View Principal Dan DeVore said he is reaching out to historically Black churches and community leaders to help spread the word about the magnet school.

Adam Zimmermann, Cedar Rapids executive director of middle schools, said it will take time to build trust in City View with the whole community. “This is a five year process,” he said.

As a part of a $14.5 million federal Magnet School Assistance Program Grant the district was awarded in October 2022 for City View, the district will have to report annually the school’s demographics.

Friday, the district announced it was extending its K-12 magnet school lottery for the 2023-24 school year by one week. Applications can be submitted through March 3. To enter the magnet school lottery, visit crschools.us/schools/magnet-schools/magnet-school-lottery

Cedar Rapids students who live within a magnet school resident attendance zone can automatically enroll in that magnet school. These students are not required to enter the magnet school lottery to attend the magnet school serving their neighborhood attendance area.

Magnet schools provide students with more hands-on experiences than the traditional school model.

Initial funding a mix of grants, donations, district money

The district already has received $200,000 from NewSchools Venture Fund, a nonprofit that raises money from donors and invests it to support educators. Another $100,000 investment has come from the XQ Institute, which works in communities to rethink the high school experience.

The district has put aside $1 million per year over the next three years of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds to go toward the high school magnet program. It also has received several grants to launch City View.

Once the program is off the ground, it will be funded by state supplemental aid, which provides per pupil funding for K-12 public schools.

“I think the board is clear in their support of this project, and it’s exciting to see it unfold,” school board vice president Cindy Garlock said. “It’s great at this early stage we have so much community support already.”

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