Buck hopes to increase equity, innovation in Cedar Rapids schools

CEDAR RAPIDS — Brad Buck sat in a downtown coffee shop last week, reflecting on his days as a Cedar Rapids student.

'Under duress, I can (still) sing the Wilson fight song,' he said, referring to Wilson Middle School, where he attended grades 7 through 9.

But as the incoming superintendent of the Cedar Rapids Community School District, Buck will have to do more than that in drawing upon his history here.

This summer, he will take over a district hoping to challenge traditional education models and wrestling with concerns about racial and socioeconomic equity.

Buck, 46, said those two areas — along with improving overall academic performance — are his top priorities as superintendent. He will start July 1, leaving his job as the director of the Iowa Department of Education after two years.

He will lay out some of his plans for the district this autumn, he said.

Innovation and equity

Buck praised what the district calls its innovation initiatives — the project-based Iowa BIG high school, a parallel 'option' program at Roosevelt Middle School and the planned magnet school at Johnson Elementary.

'There's been a spirit of innovation in Cedar Rapids, as evidenced by those things,' he said.

He said he hopes to see more programs such as those in the district.

'It's always a balancing act,' he said. 'How do we hang onto the stuff that we know works well,' he asked, while also trying new things?

Buck and others said those outside-the-box ways of teaching students also can help improve equity in Cedar Rapids schools.

The district often sees black students drop out of some school activities in early high school, said school board President Mary Meisterling. Changing instructional models is one way to re-engage those students, she said.

Closing racial and socioeconomic gaps in test scores, graduation rates, and other measures is one way Buck said he hopes to improve Cedar Rapids school equity.

For example, students at the Iowa BIG high school primarily learn about math and writing through business-connected or other community projects, rather than by listening to teacher lectures.

Buck said he also hopes to improve racial disparities in the district's discipline practices. Federal investigators this year have been looking into those gaps, after a December 2013 complaint said that school officials discriminated against black students by disciplining them differently than their white classmates.

Returning home

'I was pissed when I didn't get it."

'I said to my wife, if this comes open again, I'm going to apply for it.'

- Brad Buck

On missing out on the superintendent position six years ago

Buck's knowledge of the Cedar Rapids community will be important to that work, district leaders said.

'Because he's from the Cedar Rapids area, he's familiar with people here, with the demographics,' said Mary Meisterling, the school board president. 'That alone will be very helpful in connecting (with) the community in ways that we haven't been able to do with people who have come from other states.'

Pete Clancy, the vice president of the Cedar Rapids Education Association, agreed.

'Knowing the community is huge,' he said.

Buck graduated from Jefferson High School in 1987. He also attended Truman and Van Buren elementary schools.

Buck, though, said he wasn't sure if his history in Cedar Rapids better prepares him for the job. But he said he has long been interested in returning to Cedar Rapids.

Buck was a candidate for the Cedar Rapids superintendent job six years ago, he said, when the district hired David Benson.

'I was pissed when I didn't get it,' he said. 'I said to my wife, if this comes open again, I'm going to apply for it.'

Buck said in hindsight, not getting the job at that time was a blessing. He said he now plans to stay in Cedar Rapids for at least a decade.

'It's not that I wasn't invested in other places that I've worked,' Buck said. 'But I really do feel like the level of passion and investment I have in this one feels a little bit different to me.'

Other experiences, he said — including administrative stints in the Saydel and Waukee school districts near Des Moines — have shaped his passion for improving students' opportunities after high school.

In Waukee, Buck said, school administrators focused on helping already proficient students advance even further. In Saydel, he said, very few students were even proficient.

'What it really underscored for me,' Buck said, 'is every child needs the best experience we can provide.

'Upon graduation, every door (should be) open for every child.'

State politics

'I like that work, but I don't love that work.

'I love to be around schools.'

- Brad Buck

On the difference between working for the state and being a superintendent

Buck said leaving the state Department of Education, which he has led since 2013, was more about returning to Cedar Rapids than leaving the state.

Buck declined to comment publicly on any reasons he did not like working in state government.

But Jason Glass, Buck's predecessor in the state director position, said the political pressures of the job can be frustrating. Glass, who served as Department of Education director from 2010 to 2013, also left to lead a school district where he had personal ties.

Glass, now the superintendent of Colorado's Eagle County Schools, said the debate over school start dates — an issue both he and Buck dealt with — was one reason he left the director job. He said that was one example of how state-level education decisions can be made for political reasons.

Buck admitted the start date issue 'had a wearing effect' on him, but he said it did not really play a role in his decision to leave.

Buck said he didn't realize at first how much 'policy and bureaucracy' are a part of a state-level education job.

'I like that work, but I don't love that work,' he said. 'I love to be around schools.'

Brad Buck

• Age: 46

• Current position: Director, Iowa Department of Education

• Previous experience: Superintendent, Saydel Community School District, 2011-2013; teacher or administrator since 1992

• Education: Ph.D., Iowa State University, 2006; master of education, Iowa State University, 1997; bachelor of arts, University of Northern Iowa, 1992; Jefferson High School, 1987

• Family: Wife, Traci, and six children