‘Likable curmudgeon’ ends 18 years of speaking at Cedar Rapids school board meetings

CEDAR RAPIDS — After attending Cedar Rapids school board meetings for 18 years as a parent and a city resident, Lawrence Wenclawski feels he has made a difference.

Wenclawski, 67, said in his years of speaking during public comment at school board meetings, he tried to “be a part of the solution.” Now, Wenclawski is stepping away, hoping someone else will take up the mic because for him it is “time to move on.”

One of the things he is most proud of is his part in advocating to get sidewalks added to undeveloped lots near Viola Gibson Elementary School, which opened to students in August 2002 in a growing area on the northeast quadrant of Cedar Rapids.

“Students had to walk and ride their bikes in the street to get to and from school,” he said. “I pushed and worked with the city to get the owners (and) developer of the undeveloped lots to install sidewalks … this greatly benefited the safety of students.”

Wenclawski also advocated for school board agendas to be uploaded online, which can now be found at crschools.us/about/board-of-education/meetings-and-agendas. Before this, residents had to go to district offices to get an agenda before a meeting.

Wenclawski himself ran for school board in 2013, which he said was “one of the greatest experiences of my life.” Although Wenclawski was not elected, he said he learned a lot about himself. “When it comes to voting, local elections have the biggest impact on your community,” he said.

At the time, The Gazette reported that his run was “fueled in part by a desire to boost transparency and improve communication between the board, district and the community.” He called “the level of distrust and dislike the community has for the school board” among the largest problems within the district.

The Gazette’s editorial board said its members “share some of Wenclawski's concerns and salute his willingness to serve beyond critiquing. … He openly professes his desire to play the devil's advocate. However, we wonder whether he would be a coalition builder, one who can bring about constructive changes instead of fostering divides,” the editorial board concluded in 2013.

Kirsten Wenclawski, 23, Wenclawski’s youngest daughter who graduated from Kennedy High School in 2018, said her dad has “always been there for me. He always shows up.”

Wenclawski not only was an advocate for his daughters, but also for their friends, Kirsten said. “I know he very much wanted everyone to have a great experience in school,” she said.

This might be because Wenclawski, who grew up in the Chicago public school system, “had experiences I wish didn’t happen. Some things I thought were unfair,” he said, not going in to further detail.

Wenclawski, who has not worked professionally in Cedar Rapids, has a background in engineering and software development. He began attending Cedar Rapids school board meetings when his family moved to the area from Chicago in 2003. At the time, he said he was concerned about budget cuts to arts programs in the schools.

‘A bunch of bobbleheads’

While Wenclawski sought to offer solutions at school board meetings, he also has been critical of the board over the years.

“They’re a bunch of bobbleheads,” said Wenclawski, adding that the school board has little discussion at the board table.

One of his biggest criticisms is how the Cedar Rapids school board conducts public hearings, which are formal proceedings to hear comments from the public on a proposed issue before it is voted on by the board.

“There should be a presentation by the board ahead of the public hearing, so people aren’t commenting on speculation,” Wenclawski said. “They should know the facts of the project before they get to speak.”

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Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, said while the law doesn’t require government officials to summarize the matter on which a public hearing is being held, it also doesn’t prevent it.

“The law is silent on what the discussion should look like leading up to a vote, but the spirit of the public meetings law via that by attending those meetings the public should understand the basis and rationale for decision the board makes,” Evans said in an email to The Gazette. “That basis and rationale comes from the staff presentations and the debate and discussion among the members.”

Wenclawski also thinks the board could “act as surrogates” for the public, asking questions at the board table the public poses — by emailing school board members or during public comment — about an issue.

Evans said that many government boards, by policy, don’t respond to audience questions, claiming members risk violating the public meetings law by discussing items not listed on the agenda. The council disagrees, Evans said.

“The agenda requirement is intended to prevent boards from voting on matters that were not on the agenda,” Evans said. “But voting is different from board members answering questions posed by members of the audience. When board members and government officials refuse to answer questions, it deprives the audience of information that could be of interest to those spectators.”

Wenclawski: Board lacks knowledge of meeting rules

Wenclawski criticized the school board for not having an understanding of parliamentary procedure — rules of order and the proper procedures for the conduct of meetings. A recent example of this occurred during a board meeting June 12, he said.

During that meeting, board member Dexter Merschbrock pulled the personnel report — approving contracts for newly hired staff members — for a separate vote from the consent agenda, which is a group of routine items that can be approved in one action.

Merschbrock said he had a concern about the hiring by the district of an individual on the personnel report, which summarizes school staff, including salaries and benefits.

Merschbrock said he received information by email from a community member the night before the meeting about that individual being hired that made him “uneasy and uncomfortable” to approve the personnel report. He said he didn’t feel comfortable sharing the information about the individual during a public meeting.

“I don’t know how we could amend (the personnel report) to remove one person without highlighting that person,” Merschbrock said. “I assume we need to approve it in order to get the contract start dates.”

School board president David Tominsky said he was not “clear what to do with that.” “We need to approve the personnel report. There’s a lot of people on that,” he said.

Former school board secretary Laurel Day — who retired June 30 — said if the board didn’t vote on the personnel report that night, a board member would need to make a motion to table it and the motion would need to be seconded. The school board would then take a vote on whether or not to table the personnel report for a future meeting.

Merschbrock made a motion to table, which was not seconded and the motion failed.

Ultimately, the school board approved the personnel report with Merschbrock abstaining from voting.

“They didn’t want to talk about it publicly, which was great, but they didn’t have enough knowledge to go in to a closed session,” Wenclawski said.

‘Likable curmudgeon’

Brad Buck, who was Cedar Rapids Community School District superintendent from 2015 to 2019, said Wenclawski is a “likable curmudgeon.”

Buck appreciated that Wenclawski brought things to the board that “were probably fair.” He appreciated his active engagement and holding school leaders “accountable.”

“He and I had a good relationship,” Buck said. “We went out to lunch a few times because I wanted to better understand his perspective. He was paying attention.”

In a statement to The Gazette, Tominsky, the current school board president, said the board appreciates hearing from and receiving feedback from all their constituents.

“It’s hard to remember a board meeting without Lawrence in attendance,” Tominsky said.

But Wenclawski also “hurt his credibility” at times because of the things he said while speaking during public comment, Buck recalled.

“Some of the things he said at the podium I disagreed with completely. He would tell a joke or go off on a rabbit trail — I kind of wish he hadn’t done those things,” Buck said. Even so, “If you get to know Lawrence, you appreciate what he’s trying to do,” Buck said.

Wenclawski will be one of the first to say he wishes he could have handled some things differently over the years. “I can get too emotional,” he said. “I’ve gotten too angry over the years. I learned to check my emotions at the door.”

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