Newcomer Kaitlin Byers, three incumbents elected to Cedar Rapids school board

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids school board member Dexter Merschbrock — who vehemently opposed a $220 million school bond referendum that failed Tuesday — was voted out of office, while three other incumbents who supported the bond are keeping their seats.

Newcomer Kaitlin Byers narrowly pulled ahead of incumbent Merschbrock in a 43 percent to 37.7 percent vote, ultimately defeating him.

Byers, 36, a capital access manager at Kiva Iowa, said she felt “energized” Tuesday night, and lucky to be joining “talented and dedicated leaders already on the board.” She also wants to help improve transparency between the school district and community.

The winning incumbents — David Tominsky, Cindy Garlock and Jennifer Neumann — are eager for a second term, having spent their first terms navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, a derecho, a cybersecurity attack on the district and death of a superintendent.

“It’s hard to slow down enough to really process everything that’s happened,” said Tominsky, 47, chief relationship officer at NewBoCo. “I feel like the district is truly heading in the right direction … to be able to be a part of that, I’m so grateful.”

Eight candidates vied for four open seats in the election. The seven-member board serves about 15,700 students in the Cedar Rapids Community School District and school board members are unpaid.

According to unofficial results with all precincts reporting, voters re-elected Garlock by about 23 percent and Neumann by 22 percent, beating out Richard David, Barclay Woerner, and Don Taylor for at-large seats.

David and Woerner were endorsed by Moms for Liberty-Linn County, a conservative political organization that advocates against school curriculum discussing LGBTQ rights or race and ethnicity. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights watchdog, identified the nationwide nonprofit as an extremist group earlier this year.

David Tominsky was elected by 43 percent of voters in a close race against challenger Stacie Rae Johnson.

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As a parent to young children, Byers said she hopes to be a strong advocate for families, children and teachers, and even inspire others to get involved in the election process.

Byers said that although the bond referendum failed, the district needs updated facilities to meet the needs of students.

“If we really care about whether our community is somewhere people want to live, work and raise a family, we need to be looking to the future to make necessary updates to students’ learning environments,” Byers said.

Garlock, 69, said as a former teacher, she understands what’s happening in classrooms and the “stress” teachers have.

“Some days they feel they’re being attacked for trying to do their very best,” Garlock said. “I know teachers go into the classroom, and they want their kids to have the very best education they can, and a lot of these other things are distractions for them.”

“I think there are a lot of people in the community who don’t have kids in school, so they’re not familiar with the problems we’re talking about … We just need to spend more time talking to the community,” Garlock said.

In a second term, Garlock said she hopes to focus on facilities, staff retention, attracting new staff to the district, and improve student achievement.

“Obviously, we have a challenge before us with the bond issue,” said Garlock, referring to the failed $220 million school bond referendum. “I think the board is ready to take another look at that and listen to what the community has to say. The needs haven’t gone away.”

Neumann, 51, chief executive officer of de Novo Marketing in Cedar Rapids, thanked the other school board candidates who “put themselves out there.”

“I applaud them,” she said.

Neumann said she is eager to work on improving student achievement and hopes the board can be “cohesive.”

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“We don’t have to agree on everything, but we have to work together to find compromise, to find the best way forward for our students and to get behind the plans being put together by Dr. (Superintendent Tawana) Grover and her team,” Neumann said.

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