News Track: Admin, student programs move in to Iowa City schools’ new Center for Innovation

IOWA CITY — More students are expected to learn at the Iowa City Community School District’s new Center for Innovation next school year where they will get hands-on, real-world experiences.

The new space is expected to be a hub for innovation — as the name suggests — providing immersive learning experiences for students K-12 from every school in the district, said Lucas Ptacek, the district’s executive director of secondary schools.

The district expects to launch two health care academies at the Center next spring, offering Kirkwood Community College classes.

School officials also hope the Center for Innovation will soon offer classes for adult learners, including a high school completion course and English language learner classes through Kirkwood.

  Buy Photo

The building is the new location of district leaders’ offices, including the superintendent. Administrators in March moved their offices to the Center for Innovation, 2255 N. Dubuque Rd., Iowa City, from the Educational Leadership Center at 1725 North Dodge St.

The building will be a space for teachers and staff to receive professional development. It also contains offices for staff teaching at ICCSD Online, the district’s online school.

In purchasing the building, a priority was for school leaders’ offices to be “in the same spaces as our students,” Ptacek said.

“It’s been a fun experience since we’ve moved over here. Those of us who have worked in a building once — that’s the hardest part is you don’t see students much. It gives us a ‘kid fix,’” Ptacek said.

The Iowa City school board is expected to have their first meeting in the new boardroom at the Center for Innovation next month.

Ptacek said plans for the soon to be vacant Educational Leadership Center have not been finalized.

Background

The Iowa City district in 2022 purchased the building for the Center for Innovation from ACT for $8.7 million with Physical Plant and Equipment Levy funds, which are property tax revenue that can be used for the purchase of grounds and purchase, construction and remodeling of buildings.

  Buy Photo

The 85,000-square-foot building is seated on 7.9 acres of land.

In 2023, the district engaged educators and leaders in the business community to talk about what programming at the Center for Innovation could look like.

The district hired Trace Pickering, cofounder of Iowa BIG — a project-based learning center in Cedar Rapids that opened in 2023 — as a consultant on the Center for Innovation project.

Last month, the school board voted 5-2 to sign a letter of intent to move forward with a new partnership with Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa to create a career exploration program called Dream Accelerator at the Center for Innovation.

Construction for the Dream Accelerator — expected to cost around $2.1 million — is being funded by the district’s Secure an Advanced Vision for Education, a capital projects fund of statewide sales tax revenue allocated by the state of Iowa to school districts based on certified enrollment.

What’s happened since

While construction in some areas of the building is ongoing, many students did get to learn at the Center for Innovation during the 2024-25 school year.

Second-graders participated in a literacy day and fourth-graders held an art show at the Center for Innovation.

All sixth-graders in the district participated in BizTown — a program through Junior Achievement in which students learn in a hands-on, simulated economy where they operate a town as business leaders, employees and consumers.

Middle school students went to the Center for Innovation to learn about opportunities they will have in high school and worked on their four-year plan.

High school students participated in DesignDash — an event through the University of Iowa’s Jacobson Institute where students work in teams with entrepreneurs and business and industry partners to solve problems using innovative and entrepreneurial solutions.

The building is the future location of two health care academies — Pre-Nursing with Nurse Aid Certification and Patient Care — through a partnership with Kirkwood Community College. The teachers for the program would be employed by the Iowa City district.

Ptacek said health care is a popular career choice among students in the district according to a career interest inventory.

Students can access those classes now at the Kirkwood Regional Center. But having an option that’s on Iowa City district grounds and within the class schedule could make it more accessible, Ptacek said.

The district also would provide transportation to the Center for Innovation from the district’s high schools.

Ptacek said there would be room for about 40 students to enroll in the health care academies in the first year.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com