C.R. district take a reasonable step forward

The Cedar Rapids Community School District is preparing to move ahead with the next phase of its facilities master plan for elementary schools. The overall plan was set in motion four years ago, but picked up again in November following a "pause" as the district built two new elementary schools.

On Monday, the school board is expected to vote on a series of recommendations that will make next steps clearer. Exact recommendations haven't been released, but feedback sessions have sought input on the following:

Appoint a subcommittee to figure out what to do in the Harrison (which opened in 1930) and Madison (which opened in 1961) elementary attendance areas. There are many options still in play: renovate and add on at Harrison, build on empty space at Madison and review attendance areas for current students. If the combined student population is at Harrison, the district would meet with historic preservation team on a potential renovation project.

Harrison has 269 students this year, while Madison has 165. (Viola Gibson is the district's largest elementary with 521 students this year.)

A second recommendation centers around a new build on annex land at Arthur Elementary while merging Arthur and Garfield elementary attendance areas. Arthur, with 235 students, opened in 1915; while Garfield, with 209 students, was designed in 1914. If approved, an architectural RFP could come yet this spring, with the plan of opening the school in the fall of 2024.

Both projects could be funded using funding streams not requiring a public vote.

Additional elementary work will still be needed, and decisions about Erskine and Grant Wood, Hiawatha and Nixon elementaries and Hoover Elementary would likely be focal points when the facility master plan committee resumes elementary focus next fall.

Superintendent Noreen Bush contends the district is not in the position to continue to fund elementary schools of fewer than 200 students. The district can better staff and balance equity by having fewer but bigger schools with modernized systems and spaces which still draw from neighborhoods, she has said in public feedback sessions in recent weeks. Larger elementary schools already in the district have shown positive learning outcomes, the district says.

We’ve also heard from people who have concerns about the district’s plan, including educator Leigh Ann Erickson, historian Mark Stoffer Hunter, Grant Wood Elementary parent Maura Pilcher and Save CR Heritage board member Cindy Hadish. Our editorial board met with members of the public facilities master plan task force and others who expressed criticisms of the district’s process and have concerns with any plans that close neighborhood schools.

They also argue that the public input process they’re taking part in seems designed to present district plans, but not to encourage public input that could reshape those plans. They fear the loss of architecturally significant school buildings, question whether larger schools will improve student achievement and worry that consolidating neighborhood schools will sacrifice students’ ability to walk to school or participate in after school activities.

These are valid concerns. But we think the plans at issue on Monday are reasonable and logical next steps. Going forward, we urge the district to continue a more inclusive process for gathering public input during the design phase and future committee work. We’d like to see the district continue a process where all voices are invited to be heard and where those voices can have an actual impact on shaping and refining the plan, with an emphasis on input from neighborhoods affected.

We also want to see greater city-district cooperation on how all facilities can best serve neighborhoods they're in — in the form of neighborhood centers, library branches or other gathering spaces — that can help serve neighborhoods. These schools will influence neighborhoods for decades to come, and visible collaboration and cooperation between various government bodies — including with how old buildings are repurposed — can make these investments yield even better outcomes in all neighborhoods.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com