Thanks for column that looked into C.R. schools

Thank you, Todd Dorman. Your June 10 column (“Tracing evolution on Polk”) enlightened many readers. The closed-door meetings, politics and secretive directives present the boldness of the Cedar Rapids board of education and Superintendent Dave Benson and his elite hierarchy.

The majority of the Board of Education “rubber stamps” any policy or decision the hierarchy wishes. Gary Anhalt was the only member who voted against closing Polk Elementary. He did not succumb to peer pressure.

Polk families and many other Cedar Rapids residents through public outcry, letters, etc., pleaded for the neighborhood school to remain intact.

The new ELS Center (Educational Leadership and Support Center) is an edifice of spectacular efficiency. Did the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the School Infrastructure Local Option, or SILO, tax fund the entire $44 million price tag? I feel the timing of building that facility is off - students from Polk will be bused to almost any school, not their home school, while the board of education and administrators sit in

their comfortable recliners.

Keep up the investigative reporting. Do not let the powers that be “corral” your research and voice.

Kathleen Noid

Cedar Rapids