‘Transformational’ career readiness programs coming to Cedar Rapids high schools by 2025

• The Cedar Rapids Community School District is identifying career and college education academies and pathways to launch at its high schools for the 2025-26 school year
• Academies and pathways prepare students high-wage, high-skill and in-demand careers after high school
• Larson Construction was unanimously hired by the school board to consult through the design, construction and completion of renovations at three of the school district’s high schools to support the new programming

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids students will graduate better prepared for high-wage, high-skill and in-demand careers because of the academies and pathways soon to be coming to three of the district’s high schools, educators say.

The addition of college and career academies to Cedar Rapids high schools — starting with freshman academies launching in the fall of 2025 — will bring real-world experience to classrooms that aligns with their future career interests. The change comes with proposed renovations to Jefferson, Kennedy and Washington high schools.

“We can’t launch something this transformational without having the facilities to support it. It is vital to the success of this program. There’s potential for us to be the leader in our educational facilities,” said Chad Schumacher, Cedar Rapids schools’ operation director.

Expanding college and career education has been a focus of Cedar Rapids school leaders for the last year to better prepare students for high-wage, high-skill and in-demand careers after high school. The academies and pathways offered to students will be based on local workforce needs and what careers interest students.

Adam Zimmermann, executive director of innovation for the Cedar Rapids Community School District, said the goal is to have the academies — such as for advanced manufacturing, health care, agriculture, business and financial services — identified by June 3. The school buildings will have to “look and feel different,” designed to match the programs the district will offer, Zimmermann said.

Larson Construction was hired last week by the Cedar Rapids school board to consult through the design, construction and completion of renovations at three of the school district’s high schools that will support college and career academies and pathways.

The school district is preparing to launch freshman programs at the three high schools for the 2025-26 school year. The academies will be small and supportive learning environments contained within a larger high school setting. The following year — the 2026-27 school year — the district will launch academies for sophomores, juniors and seniors at the schools.

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Many of the details of this plan still are being decided with the input of students, educators and the business community and local colleges and universities. Some of those details include what happens when students choose a career interest that’s not offered at their home high school, or how students can move to a different academy if they change their mind about their career interest.

And paying for them is among the questions. Voters in the Cedar Rapids school district last November rejected a $220 million bond for a larger facilities plan, but there are other budget options for these programs that could be examined.

Infrastructure to match programs

The Cedar Rapids district “has a distinct opportunity to be the best,” said Travis Schwartz, a project manager at the Independence-based Larson Construction who spoke last week at the school board. The district has “the ability to impact a tremendous amount of kids. Time is important. How many kids are we going to miss if we don’t get this done fast?”

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Iowa Workforce Development identifies high-wage jobs as a salary of $53,674 a year, or $25.80 an hour. High skill jobs are defined by the agency as jobs that require specialized knowledge, training or expertise often obtained through education, apprenticeships or on-the-job experience.

Experts at Larson Construction will work alongside district officials to determine what infrastructure is needed at each high school to support the new programs.

In the contract with Larson Construction — unanimously approved by the school board — the firm will consult with the district through design, construction and completion of the projects, lead and manage the design process, develop bid packages, bid the project and lead the construction process.

The consultant services from Larson Construction are estimated to cost the district 1.5 percent, and preconstruction services are estimated at 2.75 percent, of a $30 million construction budget. When the district enters the construction phase, Larson’s construction manager’s fee will be billed on an hourly basis.

The creation of college and career academies and pathways is an effort to increase graduation rates and ensure students leave the Cedar Rapids district with something more that a high school diploma, such as college credit or an industry certification.

Zimmermann said students who engage in college and career readiness education achieve more academically, are more likely to graduate, are more apt to graduate with an industry certification or college credit and increase their earning potential.

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What are academies and pathways?

The plan is for Jefferson and Washington high schools to have academies where students take courses with a college and career theme for at least two years, taught by a team of teachers from different disciplines. Academies also have partnerships with local employers and bring in resources from outside the high schools.

Kennedy High will offer a slightly different version of college and career education, called pathways. Pathways are series of three or more courses with a specific college and career focus. Students in a pathway can take courses alongside peers with broader career interests for a more traditional high school experience.

The career-focus of the pathways and academies at each high school will be different. Students likely will be able to choose which career field they’re interested in, and attend a different high school than the one that’s within their residential attendance boundary.

Students could choose to take more traditional classes or even participate in extracurricular activities like athletics at their home high school while attending an academy or pathway at a different high school, Zimmermann said.

District officials are working on how transportation would be provided to students who want to enroll in an academy that is not at their home high school.

Cedar Rapids school board responds

Throughout a presentation of the plan last week, school board members were asked what they were excited about and what questions they had.

“We are making a promise to our families and to our students that they will graduate high school with more than just a diploma,” said school board President Cindy Garlock. “We’re being public and intentional about that. This is a big change. How do we bring our families, staff and students on board so they understand this shift and why it’s important?”

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“I’m excited about the intentional, innovative change,” said school board member Marcy Roundtree. She said the academies and pathways will mean “great things” for students and will engage school staff and the community in an “amazing” way.

“It’s the change that we need in this district,” she said.

“How do we communicate this in a way that gets parents excited about it and helps our staff really rally behind it? How do we build and afford the facilities to do this in? This takes space,” said school board member Jennifer Neumann.

Upgrades could be on the ballot in 2025

A renewed focus on college and career education also is a part of the district’s strategic plan, approved in September 2023 by the school board. District leaders have set a goal of improving graduation rates by 10 percent and ensuring every graduate leaves with college credit or industry certification by May 2027.

Additions to Cedar Rapids high schools for career and technical education was one priority of the $220 million bond issue that voters turned down last November.

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Last month, a team of architects — including a representative from Larson Construction — toured all 32 schools in the Cedar Rapids system as the first step in creating a new facility plan before the district takes another bond referendum to voters, possibly in November 2025.

The tour was a part of an $850,000 agreement with Shive-Hattery, an architectural and engineering firm based in Cedar Rapids, unanimously approved by the school board earlier this year to help guide planning for the bond referendum. Larson Construction also is included in an agreement between the school district and Shive-Hattery to provide cost estimating for proposed projects.

Schumacher said school leaders are looking at how infrastructure work to support college and career education programs can be “strategically” funded with money the district already has.

This could include money from the Physical Plant & Equipment Levy (PPEL) and Secure An Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE), both capital projects funds with a purpose that includes the construction and remodeling of buildings and major equipment purchases.

In September, voters in the Cedar Rapids school district will be asked to consider extending PPEL for an additional 10 years. The district is asking for $1.34 for every $1,000 of assessed valuation, creating between $10 to $12 million in revenue for the district. That includes the 33 cents the district is allowed to spend on its own.

If approved, the extension would not raise the existing PPEL tax rate. However, it still wouldn’t create enough revenue for the district to build new schools — but it is important for maintaining buildings, Schumacher said.

SAVE is an existing statewide sales tax allocated by the state of Iowa to school districts based on certified enrollment and does not require voter approval.

Attracting educators to teach industry classes

Last fall, the school board approved a contract with Steele Dynamics Consulting Services to help develop a three- to five-year action plan to create college and career pathways. The $70,000 contract is being funded by a federal magnet schools grant the district was awarded last year.

As a part of this effort, a task force was created for strategic planning collaboration to provide input on four to six high-skill, high-wage and high-demand career pathways that meet the demands of the Cedar Rapids area labor market, among other things.

In an interview last year with The Gazette, Jay Steele, chief executive officer and founder of Steele Dynamics, said hiring teachers with the experience and certification needed for programs like engineering can be challenging. It can be a “big pay cut” for some people to leave their industry and go into teaching, he said.

He encourages districts to work with leaders in the industries. Some people who have had careers as engineers, for example, might be ready to retire from their field but want to keep working.

“If you build it, they will come,” said Schwartz, with Larson Construction.

Larson Construction was the construction manager on the Waterloo Career Center, a $17.5 million addition and renovation to half of the Waterloo Central Middle School. The facility was the first of its kind in Iowa and opened in 2016 to provide high school students with opportunities to explore future careers and get real-life experiences in health care, information technology, manufacturing, culinary, sustainable construction, electrical and plumbing.

“An electrical instructor at Waterloo came from the trades. He was an electrical supervisor probably 10 years from retirement, but he was ready to make a change in his life,“ Schwartz said about attracting educators for the programs.

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