Gazette Daily News Podcast: Tuesday, Apr. 30, 2024

- Court order moves fatal crew club lawsuit against ISU to trial

- Here’s how closing Hills Elementary saves the Iowa City School District $1.66 million

- Western Iowa man dies as spate of tornadoes hits the state

Episode Transcript

Welcome to The Gazette’s Daily News Podcast for Tuesday, April 30, 2024. This podcast provides the latest headlines from the Gazette newsroom. I’m Becky Lutgen Gardner.

First, a court order has moved the fatal crew club lawsuit against Iowa State University to trial next week.

Two ISU students drowned during a crew club activity after capsizing on Little Wall Lake three years ago.

A former faculty adviser and a former coach for the embattled Iowa State University crew club —are “immune from personal liability” and have been dropped from the lawsuit.

A Story County judge agreed with the defendants, including Iowa State and the State of Iowa, on that portion of their request for summary judgment. They were seeking a court order negating the need for the May 7 trial.

But the judge, in her April 26th decision, denied the summary judgment request for the rest of the defendants — including the State of Iowa and Iowa State — agreeing with the family of 20-year-old Yaakov Ben-David, one of the students who died on March 28, 2021, that “summary judgment is not proper.”

The judge’s order states, "The defendants attempt to disclaim any duty of care associated with the March 28 water practice in isolation, arguing that they did nothing to expose Mr. Ben-David to a risk of physical harm he would not have otherwise faced by getting on the water that day. The court is not convinced.“

Ben-David’s parents, Eric and Sarah Ben-David of New Jersey, filed their initial lawsuit on Nov. 1, 2022.

Family members of the other student – 19-year-old Derek Nanni of Normal, IL settled their wrongful death claim with the state in December 2022 for $2 million.

A last-minute settlement in the Ben-David case is unlikely, and at least part of Iowa State’s request for summary judgment has been denied. A trial in Story County next week appears imminent.

The judge wrote in her order, “Despite the defendants’ attempts to distance themselves from the crew club, it was not just a random group of adults from Ames, Iowa, who chose to form a group and go rowing off-campus. Instead, it was a school-sanctioned club subject to certain written policies and procedures — including certain ISU employees being specifically assigned to be responsible for safety training, approval of off-campus travel, and other related matters.”

She went on to say, “A reasonable jury could find that the defendants could have reasonably foreseen harm to Mr. Ben-David in engaging in a crew club practice without any life jackets or safety training, particularly in light of the crew club raising these exact concerns to the ISU employees more than a year earlier.”

Next, Closing Hills Elementary School at the end of the academic year saves the Iowa City School District $1.66 million annually through staff reduction through attrition. The Iowa City school board made that decision last month.

Hills Elementary staff who want to remain with the Iowa City Community School District are being moved into other open positions across the district. According to the district, no educators or non-instructional staff are losing their jobs. Instead, the reduction in staff is being made by people leaving the district for retirement or other opportunities.

Adam Kurth, Iowa City Schools’ chief finance officer, said the $1.66 million saved by closing Hills Elementary equates to just under 9 instructional full-time staff members, including teachers and librarians along with about 25 non-instructional full-time staff members, such as the principal, other school administrators, school counselors, custodians, and stipends for after-school club sponsors.

Spokeswoman Kristin Pedersen said in an email to The Gazette, “We worked with each staff member individually to determine their placement in our district for the next school year based on their preferences.”

Current Hills Elementary Principal Reagan Boeset was named the new North Central Junior High assistant principal beginning July 1. “This administrative role will assist in our upcoming transition to a middle school model,” Pedersen said.

In the fall, the Iowa City school district will move sixth graders from elementary schools to middle schools, which will teach sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Currently, the district follows the junior high model, with only seventh and eighth grades in those buildings.

Six teachers and 10 support staff will move from Hills Elementary to Alexander Elementary.

Students in the Hills Elementary School attendance boundary will attend Alexander Elementary School in Iowa City, about 7.4 miles from Hills.

Over the last three years, the Iowa City school district has reduced almost $25 million from its budget. Kurth said this hasn’t included nonrenewing educators and staff for budget reasons, although staffing levels have been reduced over the years through natural attrition.

The decision to close Hills was one of $5.5 million in budget reduction efforts made by the school board in March. The district will need to trim an additional $2 million next year.

Finally, A man seeking shelter in his basement as a tornado tore through Western Iowa’s Minden has died of his injuries as forecasters seek to determine the strengths of at least 17 twisters reported in the state on a single day last week.

The man, identified by family members as 63-year-old Nicholas Ring became trapped in his basement Friday and was taken to a hospital as soon as he was freed. He died Saturday night, according to WOWT-TV of Omaha. Ring’s wife suffered a broken ankle, the Omaha World Herald reported.

The tornado tore through Minden, a town of about 600 in Pottawattamie County about 30 miles northeast of Omaha. It damaged about 180 structures and flattened several, leading officials to declare a state of emergency and institute a curfew. The town was closed off to visitors.

The National Weather Service offices in Des Moines and Omaha have confirmed, preliminary, 17 tornadoes across western and central Iowa from Friday's storms. Damaged trees and homes were reported across multiple counties, from Crawford to Union, Ringgold to Polk, and Jasper.

The NWS said it’s still reviewing the damage, radar data, reviewing videos, and examining satellite imagery to determine the final count of tornadoes. They said it could take days to weeks to determine. They will be updating specific information on each tornado.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds visited Pottawattamie County on Saturday to assess the damage and issue a disaster proclamation authorizing the use of more resources as the cleanup continues. On Monday, the governor issued disaster proclamations for eight additional counties: Clarke, Crawford, Harrison, Mills, Polk, Ringgold, Shelby, and Union.

Our weather has settled down since those deadly storms. Tuesday’s weather will be sunny, with a high near 76. Tuesday night showers are likely and possibly a thunderstorm, mostly cloudy with a low around 53. Wednesday’s weather has a chance of showers after 1 pm. Otherwise, it will be mostly sunny, with a high near 74.

The Gazette's Business Breakfast Series will host its next event on May 7th. The focus is on retail. What's working when it comes to retail in downtown neighborhoods? What communities are getting it right? Join The Gazette with the presenting sponsor, the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance…and housing development panelists for a morning of networking and insight on this timely economic topic. Register now at thegazette dot com slash business breakfast.

Thank you for listening to The Gazette’s Daily News Podcast. I’m Becky Lutgen Gardner.