‘Total systems renovation’ to strengthen safety, security in Cedar Rapids schools

CEDAR RAPIDS — Janessa Carr, Cedar Rapids schools’ first designated safe and secure learning coordinator, is planning and implementing strategies for a “total systems renovation” to ensure every student not only is physically safer at school, but emotionally safer, too.

Carr, 34 — just a few months into the job that pays $105,000 annually — is leading efforts to address the safety and security of students, staff and families in the Cedar Rapids Community School District, and prevent crises from happening in the first place, “so we’re not just responding,” she said.

While part of her job is ensuring schools have proper procedures in place for fires and tornadoes and active shooter and response training, it’s more about addressing the system to ensure continued safety, Carr said. “It’s going to take a lot of time,” she said.

District officials have given Carr license to be creative as she explores solutions as she works to address the root cause of disturbances in schools including fighting, school threats and group violence that includes three or more people, she said.

She is piloting weekly meetings with the Cedar Rapids Police Department and the Group Violence Intervention program, managed by the nonprofit Foundation 2 Crisis Services. Group Violence Prevention is a strategy aimed at engaging those at risk of being offenders or victims of gun violence and providing them with community supports.

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Foundation 2 Chief Operating Officer Erin Langdon said communication between the organization and school officials has increased since Carr joined the district, strengthening their ability to engage students to prevent violence.

Kids identified as being at-risk of committing violence or being victims of violence can access free, voluntary and confidential help through Foundation 2 Crisis Services, Langdon said. Langdon said students are encouraged to work toward their education goals, which can “impact their entire well-being.”

“I think Janessa’s role is vital to a safe community,” Langdon said. “There is proactive communication to students identified to hear our nonjudgemental message against violence. We want that person to be safe, alive and free, which means not on probation or parole or have any restrictions from a legal perspective.”

Carr also has assembled a “dream team” to create a Safety Advisory Council made up of community members, including representatives from Linn County Public Health and Kids First Law Center. “They’re people who understand the community, safety, equity and education,” Carr said. She hopes to create similar advisory councils that include families and students.

“There are great things coming,” Carr said.

Another tool to address violence in schools is to teach empathy early, Carr said. “It’s a part of education as much as teaching math and reading,” she said.

These lessons could be taught by school counselors who could have some time freed up if they aren’t always needing to react to crises — and instead could focus on being proactive.

“We need kids to be able to think about the person next to them, what they might be going through and how to care for that person,” Carr said. “Students who are fighting are not safe. Students witnessing that fighting also experience trauma. Your brain isn’t wired for learning when you’re worried about who is going to fight next. When we get students to a place where they feel like fighting isn’t the only option, learning can happen.”

In having conversations and making suggestions for improving safety and security in schools, Carr uses data including student suspensions, office referrals because of physical violence, the time of day incidents of physical violence take place, where fighting happens in schools and in what schools it’s happening.

Carr said it feels like the “stars aligned” for her to be in the role of safe and secure learning coordinator. “Every single job I’ve had really prepared me for this position,” she said.

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Carr, who graduated from Marion High School in 2007, initially was interested in joining the FBI, but some of the harsh realities of a career there deterred her. Then Carr took a class about why crime happens.

“I knew I wanted to be a part of preventing kids from ending up in the criminal justice system. A lot of it is a lack of basic needs being met,” Carr said.

After graduating from Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Carr began working for the Iowa City Community School District as a student and family advocate. Her job was to evaluate students — particularly Black boys — who were being considered for the individualized education program. An individualized education program, or IEP, is a legal document developed for students who need special education services created by a team of the child’s parents and school personnel.

Black boys are more likely than any other group to be placed in special education classes, with 80 percent of all special education students being Black or Hispanic males, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.

In the Cedar Rapids district, Carr was “extremely instrumental” as law enforcement officers and school officials navigated a threat made on social media in late September, Superintendent Tawana Grover said at the time. In light of the threat, school officials made the decision to close schools Oct. 2 and enforced safety measures for the remainder of the week.

“This position grew out of the concerns our staff shared during my initial listening tour and with the support of our board of directors,” Grover said in a statement to The Gazette. “While we cannot eliminate all risks, we are steadfast in our commitment to minimizing them and providing a safe and secure learning environment for all our students and staff. Janessa plays a vital part in the goal.”

Carr was recognized in January 2022 by the Dr. Percy and Lileah Harris “Who Is My Neighbor?” award for the ways she is following in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr. by working to build a better community in Marion, where she lives.

She co-founded the Marion Alliance for Racial Equity in 2020, a community organization working to amplify the voices of people of color and dismantle systems of oppression.

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While a counselor at Linn-Mar High School — the position she left in July to work for the Cedar Rapids Community School District — Carr was a staff leader of the school’s Social Justice Club, which is for any student who has felt marginalized, including students of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students.

Carr has seven kids in a blended family with her wife, Rachel Carr. Rachel is the director of emergency services for Shelter House in Iowa City, which provides support services including housing, employment and mental health recovery to families.

Most recently, Janessa and Rachel Carr adopted their son Kendrick, who is 4 months old.

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