Shive-Hattery hired to help guide next Cedar Rapids school facility plan

CEDAR RAPIDS -- A locally based architectural and engineering firm promises to collaborate with the community to create a facility plan for the Cedar Rapids Community School District that will be met with “enthusiasm and excitement.”

The Cedar Rapids school board on Thursday evening unanimously approved an $850,000 agreement with Shive-Hattery, a firm based in Cedar Rapids, to help guide planning to take a general obligation bond referendum to district voters possibly in November 2025.

The agreement comes three months after voters overwhelmingly said “no” to a $220 million bond issue for Cedar Rapids schools.

“The need to reach the voters of the previous bond referendum is a key component to moving forward,” school district Operations Director Chad Schumacher told the Cedar Rapids school board. “Shive-Hattery already dove into gathering voter data. … We know that they’re going to lead us to a successful PPEL and bond vote.”

In September, voters in the district will be asked to consider extending the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy for an additional 10 years. That’s an existing capital projects fund for the purchase and improvement of grounds, construction and remodeling of buildings, major equipment purchases including technology.

Under the agreement approved Thursday, Shive-Hattery and other consultants would review existing research on the district’s infrastructure, create a facility plan, engage the community, lend assistance in the bond campaign and create conceptual plans of the school projects.

The agreement is a result of the district requesting proposals from consulting firms for the general obligation bond efforts. A committee of 20 interviewed five firms that submitted proposals.

Cedar Rapids school board ‘confident’

School board members lauded the proposal made by Shive-Hattery.

Kaitlin Byers, who is in her first term on the board after being elected in November, said she feels “confident” in the team’s abilities.

“I personally get very excited when we say things like ‘shared vision’ and ‘community,’” she said. “Those are central to making this work.”

Board Vice President David Tominsky said community engagement is “absolutely critical” as the district considers a new facility plan.

It “felt like a step back” when the bond referendum failed in November, Tominsky said. “But it also told us we need to understand thoroughly what the community is looking for. I do think the community wants significant change in our facilities, so we can serve our kids better.”

School board member Nancy Humbles and President Cindy Garlock said they appreciate the focus on students and learning.

“It’s about what’s best for our students and the best learning opportunities for them,” Garlock said.

Voters to receive ‘post-mortem’ bond surveys

Shive-Hattery will start the process by mailing surveys to the almost 88,000 registered voters within the Cedar Rapids Community School District as a “post-mortem” on the failed bond, said Greg Kanz, its marketing director. Voters also will have a virtual option for feedback.

“Building trust starts by listening and giving people a voice,” Kanz said.

A second survey will be sent out to residents early in 2025 to "test the market, tell whether we’re on track,“ Kanz said. “It will be a barometer of what’s to come.”

The community survey specialist that Shive-Hattery will work with -- School Perceptions -- gets up to 20 percent of people responding to similar surveys, Kanz said, which can lead to a good forecast on how voters will lean in future bond proposals.

Team includes experts in education architecture

The agreement between Shive-Hattery and the district also includes MA+ Architecture, a firm based in Oklahoma that provides professional services in interior design, master planning, bond planning and furniture selection for schools and other organizations.

One of the architects on the project will be Gary Armbruster, a principal architect at MA+ and one of only seven accredited learning environment planners in Oklahoma. Armbruster also was the only architect appointed to serve on the Oklahoma School Security Commission following the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown Conn., where 20 students and six adults were killed.

MA+ Architecture has consulted on a similar bond project in Oklahoma City Public Schools, where a bond issue was successfully passed in November 2022 after it previously had failed.

Like the proposed bond last year in the Cedar Rapids district, the Oklahoma City Public Schools bond was the largest referendum proposed in the state, faced opposition from preservation activist groups and there was “a disconnect between the school district and the city,” Armbruster said.

Also on the project is Shive-Hattery education architect Michael Kleene, who specializing in crime prevention through environmental design, a theory to prevent crime by designing a physical environment that positively influences human behavior.

Akwi Nji, Shive-Hattery’s communication strategist, will assist in the project by building “emotionally charged storytelling initiatives and campaigns that are information-based to boost engagement and enthusiasm and trust in the school district,” she said.

Nji is a former communications director for the Cedar Rapids Community School District, resigning from the position in 2020. She graduated from Washington High School and later taught there for more than a decade.

Nji said the team will work to bring residents around a shared vision and goal. To do that, a “common language” will need to be created around what it means to have updated, renovated, modern and future-ready schools, she said.

“We’re ultimately talking about massive change,” Nji said. “That comes with a lot of emotion.”

Larson Construction, a company based in Independence, also is included in the agreement between the school district and Shive-Hattery to provide cost estimating for proposed projects.

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