001Mhm. >> Okay. I now call the Board of Education regular meeting to order at 5:37 p.m. Is there a motion to approve the agenda for Monday, January 12th, 2026? So moved. Is there a second? >> Second. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Great. Um before I pass uh the meeting on to our area chiefs for student highlights, um I would like to just start with a few comments and then I will have some more comments later on, but I want you to under I want everybody to understand we're breaking this meeting into two segments tonight. Um we will have public comment in two segments as well. So, we'll start with public comment not related to the discussion on budget cons- consolidation or the proposal to incorporate an intermediate grade
002structure into our district configuration. We will start as usual with student and staff celebrations, board reports, superintendent report, and administrative work before we move on to the consented uh agenda and then on to our work session and the administrative portion of our evening where we will have a separate public comment expressly to hear from those of you who are attending for that purpose. So, this first public comment we have we will have tonight will be for anything not related to that and the second public comment will be to hear all of your voices. So, um I will have some additional remarks at the start of that work session, but I'd like to remind everybody here that we are all here for the same reasons. No decisions have been made and tonight is all about hearing
003the recommendations to balance our budget and redesign our district to not only be sustainable, but to regain our position in the state and the nation as a top-ranked choice for education. I will turn the meeting over to our chiefs in a moment, but I do want to make mention of just a quick couple of things. With this many people um in the room, I want to make sure that nobody's view is obstructed and that people can hear. So, I see the lovely signs. You guys are very creative and I really appreciate that work, but make sure that they don't obstruct anybody's view tonight. Um same with cameras. Um when you approach the the podium up here, please don't move uh beyond that and just be respectful of the people in the room who are here
004to hear everything. Um like I said, we're all here for the same reason. We're here to listen. Um we're here to hear your voices and I hope we can have a productive meeting tonight. With that being said, I will turn the meeting over to our area chiefs for the student highlights. Okay, ready? Okay. Good afternoon. I have with me Sarat Neupane, a fourth grader at Maple Grove Elementary. Sarat truly embodies what it means to be a Maple Grove Grizzly. He is hardworking, kind, and a true team player. Each day he consistently follows our PAWS expectations. He does his personal best, is an active listener, um works [clears throat] and plays safely, and speaks kindly to others. His positive character and dedication shine in everything he does, and we are so proud to have Sarat as
005part of our Maple Grove community. Congratulations to you, Sarat, on this honor. >> [applause] [applause] >> Okay. You stand here. All right, tonight we are going to recognize Grace Good, a fifth grader at Harrison at Madison Elementary. Grace is a positive student leader at the school. She is kind and always helps her peers when they need support. She's a member of our student news reporter leadership team and helps record our morning announcements with a smile, adding her own to the zest to the productions. Grace is a role model for other students in the building and leads by example in everything she does. Congratulations, Grace, on this well-deserved honor. Okay. This is pretty good. Good evening, everyone. I'm Adam Zimmerman. I'm filling in for area one tonight and I get the pleasure of introducing you to
006Bella Emery. Um it's the first time I've met Bella as well. Uh we're excited to spotlight a remarkable fourth grader, Bella, for her strong leadership at Kenwood Leadership Academy. Um she has strong leadership skills and a positive presidents presence. Maybe president someday, but presence for now. Um in her school community. She's confidently stepped into her role as an office assis- assistant. In this role, she leads morning announcements, which communicate to our staff and students daily reminders, leadership insights, and the pledge of allegiance. Bella leads with kindness, is always showing a gen- genuine desire to help and encourage others, consistently models positive behavior for her peers. Through her actions, she truly represents what it means to be a Kenwood leader, leading by example with confidence, compassion, and character. Congratulations, Bella, for this honor. >> [applause] >>
007And as soon as you're done, right here in front of the board, we'll take one group picture quick. So, we're going to stand uh right over here. So, if you can all stand here and the board can squish together. Okay, ready? Everyone look right here. One, two, three. One more. One, two, three. Thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> Tonight, Director Laura Zimmerman will be providing our staff highlights. Yes, um Brittany White. Is she here by chance? Oh, thank you, Brittany. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to read about you. Um Brittany White is a kindergarten teacher at Kenwood Leadership Academy. The Cedar Rapids Community School Board is honored tonight to recognize an educator who truly embodies the heart and soul of our district. Brittany White is more than an instructor. She is a cornerstone of
008our educational community and a compassionate, steady presence for our youngest learners. Every morning, Mrs. Brittany walks into her classroom with an upbeat, infectious attitude that does more than just greet her students. It sets a vibrant, positive tone for the entire school building. In Mrs. Brittany's room, learning is never a chore or a simple requirement. It is a daily adventure. She possesses a unique gift for sparking curiosity, transforming standard lessons into engaging experiences that capture the imagination. Because of her creativity, her students don't just go to school. They arrive excited, eager to see what the day holds, and ready to explore the world around them. What truly sets Mrs. Britney apart is her unwavering commitment to the whole child. She recognizes that every student walks through her door with a different story and different needs. She
009consistently goes above and beyond to ensure those specific specific needs are met, providing the tailored support necessary for every child to succeed exactly as they are. She doesn't just see a classroom. She sees a group of individuals with limitless potential. Furthermore, she is a fierce champion for inclusion. In Mrs. Britney's classroom, belonging is not just a buzzword. It's a reality. She has created a sanctuary where every student is included, every background is celebrated, and every single voice is heard. By motivating and encouraging her students to be active, confident participants, she is giving them the tools to advocate for themselves long after they leave her classroom. Her impact reaches far beyond the four four walls of her classroom and into our professional community. Among her peers, Mrs. Britney is known for her listening ear and her
010remarkable ability to communicate with empathy and clarity. She is the ultimate team player, a mentor to many, and a stabilizing force who makes KLA a better, more collaborative place for everyone who works there. Mrs. Britney, you are a motivator, a leader, and a shining example of what it means to be a dedicated educator. You are, quite simply, one of the best. We are incredibly grateful to have your talent and your heart at KLA and within the Cedar Rapids Community School District. On behalf of the board, the staff, and the many families whose lives you've touched, thank you for everything you do. >> [applause] [applause] >> So, Rat, Grace, Isabella, and Ms. Britney White, thank you so much for being here with us tonight. This is my favorite part of the meeting every every week. Um
011tonight, we have five public hearings for the Cedar Rapids Community School District. Uh the first one, uh the 2026-27 school year calendar. The second, the new elementary school on Hoover Elementary School Site Project Bid Issuance Number Three. Uh the third one, new elementary school on the Van Buren Elementary School Site Bid Issuance Number Three. The fourth one, Kennedy High School Building Automation Systems Project. And the fifth, Wilson Middle School Roof Improvement Project. One thing I um did not mention earlier is because we have more than 20 um submissions for public comment tonight, all public comment will be limited to 3 minutes tonight. Um so, before before we we start with the public hearings, do we have anyone who has requested to address the board this evening regarding the published published hearing on the 2026-2027 school
012year calendar? We have not received any written correspondence for any of the hearings, and we also have no one that has requested to speak on the 26-27 calendar. Okay. On any So, on any of the public hearings, we do not have any We don't have anyone that's requested written correspondence or that has turned in to speak on any of the hearings. Okay. Um Sorry. Did you turn them in? We can vote on these all together, right? Secretary? Yes, we can close the hearing. We'll close each of the hearings. Okay. All right. The public hearing is now closed. Correct? Okay, yes. Moving on, um we will hear from those who have requested to address the board. Please note that if you are planning to speak on the budget strategy and school consolidation proposals, we have placed
013those aside until right before the work session time. Board Secretary Schelty, do we have any requests this evening? Yes, we have two requests for the first public comment section. Um given that plus the speakers for later on this evening, we want to be respectful of everybody's time. You will be given up to 3 minutes for your remarks. Please respect the time allotted to each speaker. Board Secretary Schelty will serve as your timer and indicate when your time has expired. If you have submitted a request to address the board and choose to refrain from speaking in the interest of equality and fairness, your can time may not be yielded to another speaker. To abide by the open meetings law, there will be no dialogue between the board directors and the public during this time, except to
014clarify the nature of questions or comments from the individual speaking. We ask that the audience and speakers refrain from using inappropriate language and outbursts as a matter of respect for all in attendance. This board has zero tolerance for profanity, vulgarity, demeaning language, or threats of any kind. And lastly, I'd like to remind our speakers board cannot address personnel and student matters. The board policy outlines a process for addressing and resolving concerns. We ask that speakers refrain from using personal names and information during public comment. Before we begin, I'd like to remind our speakers to state their names and addresses when called to the podium. Board Secretary Schelty, please call our first speaker. Our first speaker is Jesse Stoll on policy and procedures. Good evening. My name is Jesse Stoll, and I live on the northwest
015side of Cedar Rapids. I've had two children graduate from the Cedar Rapids Community School District, and I have two children currently attending high school. I come forward today to advocate for additional policy and procedure to protect our students and their families. This week in nearby Minnesota, I have witnessed ICE agents on school grounds taking parents from vehicles at drop-off and pick-up, students being pepper-balled, tackled, and detained. They have shown no differentiation between an undocumented immigrant, a documented immigrant, or even US citizens. They are using racial profiling, including skin color and accents, as enough reason to detain people, including students. There's not a question if they will show up in our community with the same type of force as they are as we are currently seeing in Minnesota, but when. The last communication I could find
016from the district regarding your policy with ICE agents was 1 year ago. The climate has changed, the the risk drastically escalated, and my own students are worried for their friends and of witnessing or worse, experiencing violence by ICE agents. My ask of you today is to provide further policy and procedure above following FERPA and not allowing access to unauthorized individuals during school hours to school buildings. Signs should be posted at school buildings regarding the need for assigned judicial warrants. Guidance given to staff on what to do at school events that are not on school grounds. Know your rights cards should be available in counselors' offices as well as other resources beyond organizations providing legal representation. Staff should be educated on their right to observe and record and notify students of ICE presence. Our school bus
017drivers should have direction on what to do if ICE attempts to stop their bus or if they witness one of their writers being taken. A specific policy on documenting any events regarding ICE and a communication plan for families is necessary. Schools in Minneapolis have now offered distance learning for all students for the next month so that students won't miss out on a public education despite the dangers they are encountering, again, on school grounds. Please don't hesitate until there is an incident. It's time to prepare for these situations now. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU. OUR NEXT SPEAKER IS CRAIG Steely on speaking on session one. Uh thank you for giving me this opportunity. I think we have a tremendous group of people trying to straighten out this mess. I'm a Christian, and
018I'm glad of it. I've never been more happy than I am now in my life. The Bible says that except the Lord build whatever's being built, those that labor labor in vain. That is a scripture. I can't help what the Bible says. The Bible is documented with 25,000 documents, making it a valid supernatural book. The next closest is Homer's Iliad with only 900 documentations in the 14th century. Our founding fathers and our founding documents were very important. They were, to a certain extent, inspired by God. Um God's giving me the power to love everybody on the face of the earth. I may I may highly dislike their behavior, but you can do it. Um 2 Timothy 3:16 says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. The cone A the not the cone Yeah,
019the cone A Greek word for inspiration is theo new stews. Theo God, new stews breathe. God breathed the words through the 44 authors of the Bible and did it right so they would be able to record it the way he wanted it done. Another good scripture that we should know about is Psalm 78:69 for all the people that think something's going to happen to the earth. God established the earth to last forever. That's what it says. In 2 Timothy 1:7, it says God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, a spirit of love, and a spirit of a sound mind. So, where do we get our power? From the Holy Spirit. God wants us to walk in the spirit, walk by faith, walk in love, and rest in the
020Lord all the at the same time. And the Holy Spirit can give you that power. What I really want you to emphasize is the four dominant learning styles. Auditory, visual, kinesthetic, which is touching, and what's the other one? Um and motion. Kinesthetic is mostly motion. That's what you should emphasize. You can test your students for that. Okay. Uh Are there any board reports this evening? Yes. I have a report from the academic and achievement core committee. Uh so, uh the committee met on December 15th and we received several updates. Nicole Brown, our executive director of curriculum and instruction, provided updates on the uh proposed use of home-based learning during our inclement weather days. Um that's going through the change management process right now. Uh the second update that she provided was on Senate File 175,
021which um is the legislation around field development instruction. Uh there is a committee working on um curriculum for that and videos for that. Sarah Cruise, executive director of special services, gave us an update on special education opportunity review conducted by the DM Group. They are in the phase of data collection, uh staff engagement, and coalition uh the coalition team meeting was scheduled to review those findings. There should be an action plan uh planning starting in January. Jen Van Fleet, our executive director of student services, provided an update including corrections to attendance coding that will more accurately reflect our uh student attendance, uh streamline processes for tracking five free days, and ongoing PBIS Tier 1 classroom observations. She also shared updates on reviewing the impact of community partners through principal feedback and one-on-one meetings, and reported
022strong interest from nine elementary schools in participating in uh future social emotional learning curriculum adoption. And that was the highlights from the meeting. Thank you. Thank you. We will now hear from Dr. Linnan as she shares her Thank you so much, Madam President, and um also just want to welcome all of our family members and staff members, community members. It's great to see everyone here. I think it's a great day when we have to open up the walls uh to invite all of our community members in. So, thank you all for being here. Always like to start my uh superintendent's report by focusing in on our strategic plan areas. Uh tonight I'll start with priority area number one around our safe zones sports. Um I want to take a moment to highlight uh for uh
023all the great work and impact for our students. Today marks the start of our basketball uh season, which is launching at Johnson STEAM Academy, Grant Elementary, and Cedar Ra- Cedar River Academy. Fourth and fifth grade students will participate in after-school basketball programming that combines sports instruction with intentional character lessons focused on teamwork. The photo you see on the screen is from our football uh season, which wrapped up just before winter break. Students shared very positive feedback about the experience. Many of them truly didn't want football season uh to end. You kind of know how that all goes. Um and I just want to say thank you to uh Jenessa and her team for putting this together. One day we should do like a little story on how all of this uh kind of got started.
024It really shows the heart of our staff members such as Miles, who remember his experience from when he was in school and the difference that sports made um in his life and the mentors that were established. Priority area number two, prepare for life. As our first semester comes to a close this week, our elementary students are preparing to take their winter FAST reading assessments. These assessments measure key literacy skills including comprehension, vocabulary, phonics, and word fluency. At Johnson STEAM Academy, students have been learning and growing their literacy skills all semester. To share one example of that growth, first graders at JSA began the year knowing an average of just four um nonsense words on their fall assessment. Through bi-weekly progress monitoring and focused instruction, they have increased that average to 14. Reading is an incredibly
025complex and challenging skill to develop, but with consistent practice, targeted supports, and dedication of our teachers, students are making impressive gains. At the secondary level, our high school students are preparing for finals, and we want to wish them the very best of luck as they finish up the semester strong. Finally, we are excited to celebrate the very first members of the CRCSD Class of 2026. Metro High School will be holding its winter commencement ceremony next Thursday, January 22nd at the DoubleTree Convention Center. Approximately 30 students will graduate, and we invite our community to join us in celebrating these graduates as they prepare to cross the stage. Priority area number three, partners. As we have staff and our parents as partners in this work, last week I had the opportunity to meet with uh several uh
026important stakeholder groups throughout um you know, that week so that we can continue to hear their thoughts as well as their feedback. This included our uh superintendent's teacher cabinet, superintendent community cabinet, and our community coalition. During these meetings, the district shared proposed cost-saving strategies and engaged in meaningful dialogue with participants. I received valuable input and thoughtful perspective from each group, which will help inform our work moving forward. I'm extremely grateful for the people that show up meeting after meeting to um share their time, their insight, and their reflections. Um their feedback is critical um for most of our groups. Um it's for us, the teacher cabinet and our community cabinet, we meet on a monthly basis um and they continue to help us move forward. And as we kind of get here towards the end,
027so priority area number four is around us being physical and responsible. And so as we close with this area, I would like to take a moment to thank our CRCSD leadership teams who have been working diligently since last week's board work session. Over the past week, our teams have been taking a deeper look at potential cost-saving measures, analyzing the data, reviewing the stakeholder feedback, and carefully reading through the comments, all of the comments and input that have been shared to help ensure our decisions are informed, they're thoughtful, they align, um and whether or not um you know, we move forward with the feedback or not, to acknowledge um what matters uh to our staff members as well as our families and how we have to think about those items as we move forward. And I
028just want to say I know that we have asked a lot of our community in regards to uh taking surveys, um but it's truly a way for us to have a a broad reach uh for feedback and for also uh being part of other meetings and gatherings um where we have also had the opportunity to have conversations. So, thank you um and I'll come back once we begin some of the other discussions to talk specifically about those areas. That concludes my report for tonight. Thank you. President Newman. Yes. May I? There is one public comment for section for the first part of our meeting that got into our part two, and I would like to call that person up if that's okay. Please do. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. So sorry, we'd like to
029call up Barb Hansen to talk about our at-risk plan. Good evening members of the board and superintendent. My name is Barb Hansen and I live at 6440th Street Northeast. And I'm here to speak about the at-risk and dropout prevention program. I'll try to pare down, but I will send my full message to you via email. Um according to the presentation, 4,150 students are currently identified at risk. The proposed plan includes over $8.4 million in funding, most of which goes towards staffing. The details around implementation matter, so here are some questions that I hope come in the presentation tonight, but if not, I encourage you to inquire about. How many of the at-risk students are receiving services from the partners? Is it near 100%? What tier one supports are in place to ensure students experience safety,
030regulation, and connection prior to discipline? What does de-escalation look like in practice? Is it relationship-focused, strength-based, or compliance-driven, and threat-focused? What training do the staff providing direct services receive? Do they learn about healing-centered engagement, neuroscience, how bias can impact perception, how disabilities can present in behaviors? Students with disabilities are often penalized for disability-related behaviors. Yet this plan does not explicitly address adequate training and resources for staff around that. And this is not hypothetical. In 2022, the district entered into a settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice after an investigation found students with disabilities being unnecessarily restrained and placed in seclusion, sometimes multiple times during the day. Yeah, in 2024-25, there was 318 physical restraints, up from about 200 the year before. Kindergarten had the highest number, 65 restraints, five- and six-year-olds. So when we
031talk about at-risk prevention, we have to be honest about what patterns of behavior in our district have been and what real prevention looks like. I say this as someone who is trained in ACES and in youth mental health first-aid, experienced in PBIS for over 15 years, holds a master's in child, youth, and family studies, and is neurodivergent, raising a neurodivergent child. Neurodivergent children who were all identified as at risk. My oldest is now a software engineer, my middle is an organic chemistry major. We actually moved here for my role in this district, where my youngest started kindergarten, and we left for safety. So I speak not from theory, but from lived reality. Another area needing reflection is the role of school resource officers. Their specialized training noted in the presentation is 40 hours, one week.
032Compare that to therapists, social workers, and school counselors, who receive years of training in trauma, development, and mental [clears throat] health. If our goal is truly prevention and regulation, we should be investing more in professionals trained for that work. I also want to name a concern about how behavior is being framed in this district. In your own survey last week, options that were used were about control and punishment, not regulation, connection, or belonging. That was a rap red flag. Being at risk is not a personal failure, it reflects the systems involved in our school and our community, and I'll send the rest by email. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU. MOVING ON TO OUR CONSENT AGENDA, are there any items on which a director has a comment, question, or further discussion? Going
033once, going twice. All right. Um are there any items on which a director requires an item to be pulled from the consent agenda for a separate vote? Finally, are there any items on which a director needs to abstain? If so, please state the item. Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda as written? So moved. Is there a second? >> [music] >> Second. This is a roll call vote due to the personnel report. Director Byers. Aye. Director Burns. Aye. Direct Vice President Drzymski. Aye. Director Garlock. Aye. Director Zimmerman. Aye. Director Timinsky. Aye. President Newman. Aye. Do we have a motion to approve Sorry, we don't have a pulled item. Moving on to administration, our first item is a presentation followed by the approval of the at-risk dropout prevention plan 2026-27 school year.
034I will turn the meeting over to Carla and Jen Van. Talk right up here. Is this where we stand? Sorry. Good afternoon, good evening everybody. My name's Jen Van Fleet, I'm your executive director of student services. Can you hear me okay now? Sorry about that. Jen Van Fleet, your executive director of student services. I'll let my co-presenter introduce himself. Yes, and uh Derek Leech, uh business services lead, here to offer support for Jen. Awesome. And um I did hear our previous uh commenters' questions. I was trying to write them down, I could not keep up, but I will go back and look through those in the transcripts and make sure that we are addressing those. So our goal tonight is to give you an overview of our at-risk and dropout prevention program plan for the
035next school year. This is a yearly required presentation that we would come to you and give as uh from the planners to the school board, so you can see a preview of what we are planning to do with this opportunity for modified supplemental aid um and the district match that goes with that. Oop. I'm sure. Okay, so the goals tonight are to go through the plan um with you so you can see what that looks like. Thank you so much. And then um it is a requirement that we would ask you to uh review and approve the modified supplemental request that we would take to the school board review committee. So the presentation that we want to make sure we include with you tonight includes components um of the program goals and objectives, how we
036identify our students, staff PL and how they use the resources, how we evaluate and measure our growth and our success with the programming, and then the budget that supports that request. Three goals can center us in what we want to accomplish with our at-risk and dropout prevention program. Goal number one, we want to ensure that students who need support in the areas of academics, SCBH, social-emotional-behavioral health, and attendance receive those. Goal number two, we want to make sure as we work with our students, whether they are considered at risk or not at risk, that they have a plan and a pathway for their future. And goal number three, we want to make sure that with this program, we are monitoring the fidelity of implementation and the outcomes. Our key objectives, if we are seeing success
037with this program, is that we would decrease absenteeism and truancy, that we would increase access to high-quality social-emotional supports for our students, and we would increase our student and family engagement with the school environment. So just a couple quick definitions because there are a number of factors that would go into determining whether or not a student would be considered at risk. These are the definitions from the state and federal definition of at risk and who could be considered. So two pieces here, one would be returning dropouts. So these would be students who previously dropped out, but are returning to the school setting. We want to support them. And then we have a category the state defines as potential dropouts. So these would be students who are demonstrating poor school adjustment, typically by two or more
038of these indicators. So we would see attendance or truancy issues, they might feel um lack of identification with the school environment, we might see poor grades or poor achievement scores, um we might see for K3 um at-risk status as far as their fast reading, and then there are a number of other at-risk indicators includ- including homelessness, low SES, socioeconomic status, mobility of students, and then also suspensions and referral rates. When we look at the entire plan together, there are a number of components, and we uh couple each component with professional learning for our staff. And so there is a wide range, um it's a large program, and so we are able to accomplish and provide many pieces to the puzzle here. So we provide classroom behavior supports, school-wide behavior support, social-emotional learning instruction, safe school
039environment practices, attendance supports, alternative programming solutions, individualized plans for students, restorative practices, and positive behavior intervention systems. We have a quite a bit of staff included in our dropout prevention and at-risk program. The lion's share of the allocation goes towards staffing, and so you see a whole host of teams here who work together to accomplish those goals. So, behavior techs, district review officer, district SEBH interventionist, engagement specialist, executive director of student services, health coordination specialist, alternative programming administration, high school facilitators, SE social emotional behavioral health intervention specialist, alternative program secretary, student safety and success advocate, student service specialist, campus safety liaisons at the middle school, kindergarten paras, campus security at the high school, and alternative program teachers. Some programming examples that you will see throughout the program. Metro is our alternative high school program. Many
040of the components for Metro are supported with the at-risk and dropout prevention dollars. We also couple with several community partners including Tanager Place who helps us connect students with school-based therapists and behavioral health intervention service workers. Foundation 2 provides us critical mental health crisis service. Zach Johnson Foundation, we partner with them for academic and enrichment programming at all grade levels. And then Kids First provides restorative practices to our students, conflict resolution largely through what you would call a peace facilitator, and professional learning for our students. Not on this slide, it must have gotten cut off. We also have I-JAG in our program as well as the opportunity for our students to ride the city bus. And then also our school resource officers are included in our at-risk program. When we are looking at the program
041and figuring out we have a plan on paper and then how is that coming to life and how do we know we're making the right decision for our students? We have many pieces that we are looking at and we are getting better and better all the time at measuring our impact and what is our return on investment for students. And so we uh do a number of fidelity measures. So, we have building team self-assessments of how are their students doing? How do they feel they're maneuvering through the plan? What kind of feedback are they seeing and hearing? We walk through the buildings to do some observations and to listen to staff and hear how it's going as far as the school and classroom environment and also the planning at the building level, the meetings behind
042the scenes to help make that happen. We also take a look at a blueprint of our professional learning to determine if we are making the next right choice when we have the time to put professional learning out in front of our staff to support them as they build their capacity in their roles. And then we also make sure that the at-risk and dropout prevention program options are infused in school improvement plans. For perception measures, we have our yearly conditions of learning survey which we I believe we'll do again this spring. And then we provide opportunities for staff feedback and listening sessions for how the pieces of the puzzle are going from the building level. Uh when we look at and then what for our outcome measures, what we are wanting to see is an impact
043in a positive way for our academic achievement through ISASP or credit accrual with our students who are at risk. We want to see a reduction in office discipline referrals and suspensions and we want to see their attendance stabilize. And here's where my friend Derek comes in. He's going to talk about the money. All right. And so how funding is secured for the dropout and at-risk program is through a modified supplemental amount application due to the state. So, the the funding amount is based next year's funding amount is based on current year cost per pupil and our current year certified enrolled number and we can request application for up to 5% of that. So, we are requesting the maximum $6,354,534. And there is a required 25% match. So, that $2.1 million is the district match which
044gets us to our total program budget of that just under $8.5 million. And then as Jen mentioned, our primary expenditures is district staffing and our community partners. This salaries and benefits does make up a majority of this with supporting Metro, our high school alternative program, as well as counselors, engagement specialist, behavior techs. Every single one of our buildings across the district is impacted and has support with this funding and to help with those behavior supports. And it also helps with our staffing and our safe and secure learning department as well and in the efforts that they are putting forward. And then as well as our community partnerships to help expand our mental health supports, credit recovery, and conflict resolution efforts. And so second piece, next agenda item is the resolution that would it does need
045to be a separate agenda item but that is requesting board approval through resolution to be able to submit our application for that $6.3 million. We'd also like to offer the opportunity ask any questions if there's anything that we can clarify or something that you're wondering about that we could find and and bring back to you. Are there any questions from board members? I'm just curious what the data is looking like so far. You were talking about the assessments and surveys and and how we evaluating this. Sure. So, right now we're taking um baseline data for where our return on investment is with our partners. So, our district leadership is getting return on investment training and so that's kind of walking us through here the pieces that you would look for. It's a shift for us
046because before that if you looked at our agreements for example with the partners, we would see implementation criteria. We're going to have this many programming with this many students but we were lacking the and so what. So, right now we are building number one, what would feedback look like? And so we started with listening sessions with principals but then we are also looking at and what is the outcome data? Some of that looks like making sure we have specific rosters of which students are accessing which programming. That helps us to track students who are eligible and who do engage or who don't engage in a certain kind of program. And then we can pull some comparisons as far as and are we seeing a return on that investment? Are we seeing those outcomes we're looking
047for? So, we're right in the middle for that but we will absolutely bring that data set back to the board. I'm going to pair off of what Barb brought forward. Thank you, Barb, for some of that information. And I remember this being discussed last year when she was talking about, you know, the last time we had this presentation, some of the numbers specifically in kindergarten and the restraints around that were quite high. And so that was definitely a point of concern and we had discussions around, you know, more free play or, you know, other things that could be worked into the kindergarten day. Do you have any updates on how that's going, what that looks like, and, you know, what real prevention looks like? I am hoping my friend Riles will come up and talk
048about that very answer. Thank you. Sorry. Hi, I'm Riles Parker, chief of schools. I also oversee behavior supports. So, speaking of some of the changes we made this year in kindergarten, myself and Chris Gibson, our outgoing director of student services, spent some time last spring with some kindergarten teachers to start kind of wrestling with this problem, right? We made the decision to just start dipping our toe in the water to making some adjustments. What we did at the beginning of this year for kindergarten specifically is we increased our para time in our kindergarten classrooms from 3 hours to 5 and 1/2 hours a day. We also provided some guidance to teachers to kind of lessen some of the restrictions around instructional minutes at the beginning of the year to provide teachers with more of an
049opportunity to get to know their students, to do more play, to do more of those expectation setting with students. We're halfway through the year. I can say I was just at a building last week and talked to a couple kindergarten teachers. They were very positive about the changes and then we're just saying, "Okay, now what's next?" And that's kind of the work we're tackling right now is we have a good data set now to see that this little bit that we've done has given us some good gains and then we need to go back with our kindergarten teachers and start talking about what further steps do we need to take because I think we would all agree that we do need to take further steps. We just want to make sure we're taking them in
050the right direction. So, very positive reviews so far but we know we have more work to do. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Other questions from board members? I I do have one real quick. Um what is the likelihood the request will be fully funded? Is this something that we This is something we do every year. It's It is. Yep. We do this every year. There is a deadline to have the application in by January 15th and as long as it's presented before the SBRC, automatically gets approved. All districts that have it in by that deadline, it gets approved. And I apologize if you said this. Is this an increase over last years or Um it is I don't know the exact dollar amount. Overall, it is a slight increase overall, uh but that's because the
051district cost per pupil is increasing. So. Just trying to think through what this looks like in the school setting, right? So we have these we allocate these different resources, these partners, whether it's Tanager Place or we Kids First, you know, um the rundown there. So how we're allocating the cost to the district and you mentioned you get feedback. Um I'm just wondering, you know, so I think it was like a 61% decrease in office referrals over at Johnson this year. So that indicates that something is working, right? With when we when we hear those specific stats then, are we making you know, not waiting for an end of year of year survey, but instead saying, "Hey, what is it that's working for you? Is it, you know, that onsite um counselor from Tanager Place? Is
052it the peace circles? Do How do we get that in real time so that we can make when we see those big um dips? Like how do we do that? Um what does that look like in real time versus, you know, waiting for a survey or waiting to get feedback later just so that we can be really diligent about where we're putting those services and when? Absolutely, really great question. So one thing that um something that I do, I work around the district and sit down one-on-one with each principal and have just an open dialogue about what's working what's not working and then how can we better serve that? So that's one piece. Um additionally, um what we've been doing and we've had two sessions with principals in the last week here is we have
053a working uh draft of how we're assessing need throughout the district um based on a number of metrics and then how we would take the access that we have to say community partners, say it's Tanager Place school-based therapists, and where how do we allocate that reasonably, effectively, um and principals have been able to give a lot of input and um and shape that resource. Uh they're going to have a lot of um input when it comes to their building what that looks like. Um and they've got a variety of options. So we've definitely been working hand-on-hand hand-in-hand with them to take this pot of resources and then get it out into the buildings where it can do well. That's great cuz I just know every school looks very different, right? We can't one setup doesn't
054work for the next school. Um and then I know that SEBH specialists, that's we've kind of bulked that up um in this past year. So I'm curious about you know, how are we competitive with who we're attracting that we're getting the best people in those roles since that is a very important program and um how do what do we look like compared to other districts? I'm going to have Ryle speak to the SEBH um pool. Um the question was are we competitive with other districts in regards to that position? In regards to pay so that we can get the top [clears throat] people in those roles and really get to the root of that. Um so that position as far as like the Cedar Rapids metro goes is a little unique. We spent a lot
055of time with Iowa City. We've modeled a lot of what we've done off of what Iowa City has done. Um compared to that position in their district, we pay considerably more um for that position. We've had really good success in attracting highly qualified candidates with degrees um and or that have experience at places um working with with adult students with mental health. Um that's one of our top-notch work groups. They've um been amazing coming in. We've also, I know you've probably heard me talk about, we've also done a ton of training with that work group um because they were a fresh start this year. We were really able to be very intentional about specific expectations we have for them and what their job duties needed to be and the learning we needed to get them.
056So that has helped us create a very strong group of people. They were meeting today um to tighten up again. Um so I would say we're very highly competitive and that work group is doing tremendous work um so far this year. That's great and certain one more one last thing while you're up here probably. Um because I was thinking of where's my note? Um oh, the this came up in the comments and then also had it in my notes of the restorative practices if we are conducting that in these groups with students and some of us were over at Kids First last week um kind of getting an update. What How are we ensuring that, you know, everybody in our schools to the point of, you know, SROs or staff just have an understanding of
057what that is so that we have >> [clears throat] >> you know, the ability to really reach students and it's not they're going from here to, you know, then a classroom where they're not informed about that practice. I want to make sure it's very fluid and do we have the option to do that? Yeah, and I'll let Jen tack on too if she has any other um work around this. I was more doing a lot more of that work last year. So we worked with Kids First last year to kind of tighten up what it means to have restorative practices because there are a lot of different definitions out there in the world about what does that mean? Um this board a year and a half ago spent some time wrestling with like what does
058that mean to have restorative practices, right? It means support as well as um kind of guidelines and then our expectations and things like that. So we worked with Kids First on that. I know another piece that's funded partially through this, I believe, is some of the behavior techs that we added at our secondary level to where they facilitate in-school suspension. Those folks um as well as our middle school um safety liaisons have been getting restorative practices training from our safe and secure learning team um and that has been guided from the same work that Kids First has used so that we make sure that we're speaking the same language. But again, this is 6 months in to this plan that we've done. We have great results so far, but we know we have more work
059to do. Do you want to tack on anything? We are working with Jenny Schultz from Kids First. She's actually coming to our behavior council, which is our our planning team, um two Fridays from now to kind of give our whole team an overview of the opportunities that we maybe aren't looking at yet with restorative um practices training and that again will help us map that blueprint for which roles need what next step with that so we can we can tailor that. Um some buildings have taken Kids First up on that offer for professional learning. Some buildings weren't quite sure what their options were. We want to assess that and make sure everybody knows what their options are and then help them tap into that. Any other questions from board members? I just have to make
060a comment and then we'll wrap up, but the control and punishment language in our surveys just making sure that that consider that. Absolutely, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there a motion to approve the at-risk dropout prevention plan for the 2026-2027 school year? So moved. Second. All those in favor say I. Those opposed say nay. The next item is the resolution at-risk dropout prevention funding 2026-2027 school year. Are there any questions for Carla, Derek, or Jen before we um regarding this item before we move to the resolution approval. Okay. Hearing none, um is there a motion to approve the at-risk dropout funding? So moved. Resolution, sorry. Second. Second. All those in favor say I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes. All right, at this point in time before we move into
061our work session, we're going to take a 10-minute recess. Um at Is there a motion for the board to take a a 10-minute recess? I move that we take a 10-minute recess. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. Those opposed say nay. All right, we will reconvene at 6:42. >> All right, we will now reconvene the meeting. We now want to hear from those who have requested to address the board regarding the budget strategy and school consolidation proposals. Before we move into that, um, I have a couple requests to make of you. So, we're with time limited to 3 minutes per speaker tonight. We want to hear from everybody. This is really important and when we when we have outbursts or prolonged applause, I'm not going to say don't applaud at
062all because we can't help it, right? Like, this is important stuff. But, just keep in mind that we have a lot to get through tonight and I really encourage everybody at the end of this to stay for the work session, to stay for the questions the board has, the presentation that will be done, and the discussion that ensues. This is where good information comes out, more context, and it's I think this is a really important part of this entire process. So, um, that's my my request of you, um, before we move into that. I also just want to say, I started off by saying at the beginning of this evening that we are all here for the same reason. And I know that some of you may doubt that right now. Um, you're frustrated, you're
063scared, and you might be angry over some of the changes that are proposed. I understand that. This board is here to listen tonight and that's what we plan to do during public comment and during the presentation. We're here to listen to the recommendations being brought forward and ask questions and discuss what those changes might mean for you and our community. We also have many of our staff and building administrators here to provide more context for the recommendations for the budget and the opportunity we have to think, rethink how we deliver education to our schools. This work is hard. There will ultimately be hard decisions that need to be made, but we've run out of time to kick this can down the road any further. Failure to put a plan in place will jeopard- jeopardize student
064outcomes. I've been on this board for 6 years. Enrollment started declining in 2018 and year after year we hoped and were even advised that it would level off and even pick up a bit and pick up at some point. And that was before ESAs, which pretty much obliterated that hope. At the same time, while the district was hoping and and praying the consultants were right, we used one-time funding to pay for ongoing expenses like salaries instead of making incremental cuts and systemic changes. And yes, I was on the board during that time and I own that. To be fair, there was a lot going on and we didn't even know how the pandemic, the derecho, and Superintendent Bush's passing would affect us. We can't continue down this path. Dr. Lennon has cut the budget all
0653 years that she's been here, but it's too little and it's too late. And I'm willing to own that as someone who's been here and and was a part of this. What I can promise you is this. No decisions have been made at this point. Tonight is about recommendations, questions, and discussion. We hear all of you and we are committed to ensuring we give this process and this community the time needed to design something we can all live with. Yes, there will be sacrifices, hard decisions. We will not make everybody happy. But as a board, we will guide this district with integrity and common sense and empathy and heart. To that end, we've already discussed not implementing major changes in the fall of 2026 while we seek enough budget reductions to balance the budget for
066the next year and listen, plan for, and design a system that serves all our students, our staff, and develops the feeder system we've needed for decades. This is an opportunity to reimagine Cedar Rapids schools. It's hard, but I appreciate every single one of you for caring so much about this. We are here because we believe every student can achieve. We may differ in how we think we should get there, but together we can chart the right path forward with student outcomes at the forefront and building our resilience and sustainability for the future. So, like I said, please stick around after public comment. Um we are listening to you and we hope that you'll listen to the public or to the discussion tonight and to the presentation and you will keep in mind that we are
067all pulling for the same thing. So, thank you. Board Secretary Shelton, can I Can I read into public comment and we will have time for discussion after? I think it's important. I would like to just I would just like to take a pause and say, you know, I I do know that it's very tough to conduct this board meeting tonight um while we have so many people in the room, so many emotions in the room, and um to be, you know, it feels sort of wrong to be sitting here doing that without uh and asking questions about anything other than what everybody is concerned about. So, I just want to say that, you know, we've been inundated by calls and emails and texts and um for good reason. So, before we dive into public comment,
068I do think it's worth, you know, some some of us up here sharing that um reiterating no decisions have been made been made. Everything is on the table. We have to put everything on the table so that we know what we are working with. Um and we want to do whatever won't disrupt teachers and students, right? That's that's the main goal and we understand the decisions we're making. Um not only are they um very timely, but they're going to majorly disrupt, you know, lives of kids and family potentially and we don't want that. So, I I just want to say that we we know that these carry impact for many years to come and it's important that we take a pause and we slow down. It It requires us to really be thoughtful about the
069decision-making, look at the big picture, and we do not as a board intend to rush into plans. Um we don't intend to risk a poor rollout uh because we know that that does carry long-term consequences. We're aware of that. Um and we we've heard concerns about a lot of things that people will share here tonight. You know, we we've heard about boundaries, we've heard about staffing, we've heard about transportation, we've heard about transitions, designing spaces for different age groups and students in those buildings um and the numbers of students in buildings and those are all important things that we need time to anticipate potential issues um with each of these items and we know that um we need to know all of the unintended consequences before moving forward. So, we don't if teachers teachers aren't
070supportive of this plan, we will lose them. We know that if families are nervous about this plan and they don't feel like we are listening, we will lose them. And if we don't have students, we don't have a district, right? So, it's really important that um you know that we all have also our own you know, we when the when this was rolled out on Friday, a few we heard about it a few hours before the teachers, right? So, we saw this information and and that's the way this this the structure's going, right? So, we you know, jaws on the floor. I guess I can only speak for my job. My jaw was on the floor. It's It's It's a lot to take in and we understand that and um it's a lot for us
071to take in. So, thank you for reaching out. Thank you for giving us all of that insight. It's really important that we have that information um because we've been dealt a tough hand and we need to see what options are on the table um but these are certainly not fully vetted options, right? These are not We're not there yet. Um we're still processing. We're all processing collectively. So, know that we're in that with you um and we all have our own personal experiences with these schools, with teachers that work in these schools, with our students in these schools, and our history with these schools. So, to all of us this matters deeply and we just want to make sure before we hear everything. So, I know there's so much emotion, rightly so. Um I think
072it's important to just to to pair on um what Jen was saying, a director uh was saying that we that we're that we're right here with you. And so, thank you thank you so much for coming tonight um and this is different than most board meetings. So, thank you for being with us in this and know that we're we've got everybody's best interest at heart. Board Secretary Shelton, uh can you kick us off with our requests for this evening? Yes. We will start with Rebecca McCarty to speak on the Pierce legacy. Thank you for allowing me. This is my mom. This is Marge McCarty. She has been at Pierce Elementary School from 1968 to 1992. She was a teacher at Adams when she started teaching at Cedar Rapids Community School District in 1961. Her legacy
073is not ready to die because if you allow Pierce Elementary School to disappear, so is the prairie pollination zone that you guys established for her in her name. Also, she left a big bookcase of fossils, artifacts from Iowa that I myself had to go along with her as a child to go and find these things and make this prairie happen. And it was all through Iowa that we went and found these things. If you guys are going to get rid of Pierce Elementary, where did this showcase go? I want to know because it belongs to the kids, not the administration. Where is it? I've asked many a people and she died in 19 2014 and they had no recollection where it was except saying, "Oh, it's in the library." and they would not allow me
074to go see it. I want to know where it is. It's a valuable piece of artifacts that belong to the children. I don't want it. Give it to the Indian Creek Nature Center because, as you know, a lot of you folks, that pond is in her name. It was dedicated to her by her students that went to Pierce Elementary and graduated from Kennedy. I went to Washington, but I should have gone to Kennedy because we are in Kennedy's district, but at the time Washington was where I went. I am proud of that, but I want to know I want accountability as to where is her artifacts. And if the school is going to disappear, then what are you going to do with that prairie restoration project that you guys have and that is in your
075thing and also the monarch establishment that was in her name right outside of her classroom. I was in her at the school yesterday. Her classroom is empty. I have not seen it that empty since 1992 when I had to evacuate her out of the school system because she retired because of cancer. Thank you very much and I will be less than 3 minutes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> All right, I'd like to remind all our speakers who are going to go up to the podium, please feel free to adjust the microphone so that everyone can hear you. Our next speaker is Haley Lata um speaking on school consolidation concerns. Hi, I'm Haley Lata. I live the southwest side of Cedar Rapids and I am here speaking on behalf of the West
076Willow Elementary PTA. We also sent you our concerns in an email this weekend. We write as concerned parents to express our disappointment with the district's proposed school consolidation plans including the creation of intermediate schools. While we recognize the significant financial pressures facing the district, we believe the current proposals, particularly option one, raise serious concerns regarding equity, student well-being and long-term outcomes. While neither option is ideal, option one is notably less equitable for certain elementary students. Under this proposal, students from West Willow Elementary School will be reassigned to schools they would not otherwise attend under established or historical attendance patterns. This approach concentrates disruption in a limited group of students, creating negative impacts without a clear academic benefit. Research consistently shows that minimizing unnecessary realignment and disruption supports stronger academic and social-emotional outcomes for students. Additionally,
077the proposed plans would require students to change schools every 2 years. Frequent transitions disrupt peer relationships and destabilize connections with teachers and staff. Research demonstrates that increased school transitions are associated with declines in academic performance and increases in behavioral challenges, particularly during elementary and middle school years. Stable relationships between students and educators are critical protective factor for both behavior and emotional regulation and repeated transitions undermine that stability. These changes also risk impacting the trajectory of already marginalized students whose families lack the financial means or flexibility to pursue pursue alternative outside of public schools. At the same time, more affluent families may be positioned to use new government resources as an exit from CRCSD, further exacerbating enrollment loss and the the district's budget challenges. Further, this decision would jeopardize the relationships students have built with trusted
078staff and peers as well as the strong sense of of West Side community pride that families have intentionally chosen for their children. Disrupting these connections will negatively affect all students, but the impact will fall most heavily on students and families already navigating trauma and limited resources. We respectfully urge the board to reconsider the proposed consolidation options through stronger equity and outcomes-focused lens. Specifically, we ask the district to reject option one due to to its disproportionate inequitable impact on certain student populations and reduce unnecessary school transitions that negatively affect academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes. Thank you for your consideration of the real measurable impacts these decisions will have on students, families, and communities. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Courtney Isaac to talk about budget cuts and student concerns. Good evening,
079board. Mr. Timmerman. I uh I come before everybody today not as a public speaker or figure, but as a single mom with four kids with high levels of trauma. Um we've been to three schools in the last year. Our third of which has been Harrison at Madison. I started off the beginning of the year with a 5-year-old who, because we converged into two different schools, one building, Madison Elementary, um we've got high capacity of students, high volume, uh not enough staff. And at the end of the first day of school, my son was shuffled onto a bus. I want to emphasize that he was not ever intended to be on public transit. He wasn't a bus rider. He was a pickup or uh walk if we were in distance, which we're not, so he should
080have been in my car at the end of the day. And just so we're clear, I'm super nervous, so if I'm rambling, I apologize. I'm trying to paint a picture of what it looks like when we have too many students in one building. I showed up to pick up my children. My first two children arrived, got in my car. I waited for 25 minutes. 25 minutes I sat in my car panicking, asking multiple staff members, "Where was my child? Where was my 5-year-old on his first day of kindergarten?" I got nervous glances. I saw teachers looking around scared, talking on their walkie-talkies, trying to figure out where my son was. It turns out that he was dropped off at St. James, which is a daycare. Now, I was told by the school, you knew I
081was going to say this. Uh I was told particularly by Mr. Timmerman that my son was supervised, that he never left the bus. That was a lie. The district then sugarcoated this information not only to myself, but to every parent in the district. I have an apology on my phone from Mr. Timman Timmerman that states, "I could have been more empathetic." I was told to calm down, that I was overreacting. But was I? Did we have too many students that day? We had teachers that were scrambling, that apologized to me faster. Teachers that, mind you, my students don't attend their classes. They apologized to me before Mr. Timmerman. It took him 4 days and that was only after we had a screaming match on the phone because he kept telling me that I was wrong.
082I spoke to the daycare. He was dropped in an empty parking lot. He found other children playing on the playground, to which he asked, "Where's my mom? Can you help me find my mom?" There were so many students in that school on that day and pick up and drop off was so chaotic that he was allowed to be dropped off without an adult and no other students. And it was the daycare provider that gave me that information. The school >> Thank you. Your time is You're welcome. This is what happens when we have too many kids and not enough staff. Cutting the budget >> does nothing. We can afford to give money to Israel. We can afford to give money for everything else to for genocide. I don't care. You can remove me. Our taxes
083can go to genocide. Genocide. However, we can't afford we can't afford to pay for a proper education. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. I'll see myself out. Our next speaker is Jill Azarowits talking about school closures. If I could remind our speakers tonight to state your name and address so we can follow up if there's anything. Appreciate it very much. Thank you. Um Jill Azarowits, Palo. I'm speaking tonight because what is happening right now feels less like thoughtful leadership and more like a scramble. And our children and staff are the ones being asked to absorb the impact. You've known about this financial situation for at least 2 years. During that time, the district continued to buy new curriculum, roll out initiatives, expand ELSC staffing, and increase salaries. Those Those decisions were made knowingly without a
084sustainable plan. And now, instead of owning that reality, the solution being presented is to close neighborhood schools. This crisis was not created by the students. It was not created by teachers or the families and it should not be solved by uprooting them. What we are calling feeder realignment is in reality displacement. It is young children losing familiar buildings, trusted adults, and a sense of safety. It is staff being thrown into uncertainty and it is communities being told that they are expendable. Small schools and neighborhood schools matter. They matter because relationships matter and they matter because families matter. Research is clear that younger students, especially those with higher needs, thrive in smaller, stable environments where adults know them well. I want to draw attention to data from the school report card. It shows a clear and
085concerning pattern in the schools being proposed for closure. Five of the six elementary schools identified serve some of the most vulnerable communities in our district. These schools have disproportionately high percentages of students living in poverty, English language learners, and students with disabilities. For example, Wright Elementary serves a population that is over 73% low socioeconomic status with nearly one in four students being English language learners. Cedar River Academy serves more than 80% low-income students. Cleveland, Johnson, and Nixon show similar trends. The numbers matter and they tell a story about who is being most impacted by these decisions. We also need to talk about who is not in this conversation. We have almost 2,000 families in the district who do not speak English, many of whom attend these schools. A significant portion of our ELL families have
086not been meaningfully included and do not have a voice in this process. Asking families to choose between two options without a clear plan, without knowing where their children will go to school, and without understanding transportation, services, or continuity is not engagement. It is confusion and it is fear. This uncertainty is harming families and it is harm harming your staff morale. It is It is damaging trust in a district that claims transparency. A majority of our children in these schools don't just need one seat, they need two. A general education seat, access to speech services, titles support, special education, and ELL services. Um sorry. And the most troubling part is you're rushing this when you've openly stated there's a year to plan, a year to engage families to analyze and reduce spending in areas that won't
087harm the kids. Here's what we're asking, to pause the process, remove school closures from the table, and commit publicly to solving this deficit without sacrificing our children's stability and our community's trust. Slow down, own the past, and do better moving forward. Our kids deserve leadership, not damage control. >> [cheering] [applause] >> Our next speaker is Matt Brems, speaking on the budget. Good evening. My name is Matt Brems. I live on the southwest side. I'm speaking as a parent in the district and a teacher at Pierce. When I heard about our budget issues this fall, I wasn't too surprised as the state has not adequately funded public education in many years with more money now going as vouchers. What truly surprised me was the size of the budget deficit. When I attended the work session last
088Monday, I was left with several questions. How did we get to this point? When CFO Carla Hogan said over the past 10 years we've had 6 years of operating in the red, why weren't corrections made sooner? When the plan plan was laid out last Monday night and deadlines set, more questions arose. How big is the contract from instructional empowerment if we can cut 1.3 million from it? Why not cut the entire contract saving you more money? There's talk of right-sizing our schools, which directly impacts the students. Has there been talk of any right-sizing of the ELC here? There's talk of how we have lost over 600 students from the district to private schools. Has there any been talk of why the families left, what demographics of families have left, or how to get them back?
089600 students at $7,000 of state money accounts for $4.2 million of this deficit. Friday after school we were presented with several options for our future as a staff. I was shocked to see Pierce and many other schools on the list to be closed. Pierce is going to be closed because the cost to keep it running in ADA compliance. I understand Pierce has three levels. There are stairs. But this fall when we had a student in a wheelchair due to a broken leg, they brought in a temporary ramp to accommodate that student. So I wonder, have we thought creatively enough to look at what cost-saving options are there? I thought about the students at Pierce, CRA, Cleveland, Wright, or Nixon, and how will they get to their new school since they can't walk there. This means
090a busing. Studies have shown the longer students are on a bus, the more likely there be behavior issues, greater absenteeism due to long bus ride, and less engagement in the school school setting when we get there. Will we have enough buses, bus attendants, and drivers to do these new routes, including increases in fuel consumption, which means of course more money? Schools are the linchpin for communities. When schools are in the neighborhoods, they serve the families and serve as a common place to gather. Neighborhood schools develop a greater sense of community when they are all within a close boundary, not spread out all over. When families feel closer to their neighbor, they feel closer and stronger connection to their school. Students develop a greater sense of community when they play on the playground after school or
091walk home together. I still see some of our for former Pierce students coming back to play on the playground. But since this meeting is about money, let's talk about money. On average, when a school is closed, the neighborhood home values decrease from anywhere from 7 to 13%. Home value decreases mean less property taxes, which means less money for us. I understand we have a budget shortfall. We need to find ways to make up the money. However, I think we are rushing to find a solution. As we tell our students, when you rush, you make mistakes. I think by closing schools and taking students out of their neighborhood communities for school, we are making a mistake. We will not be the Cedar Rapids community school district. We'll be the Cedar Rapids whichever bus route your student
092is on district. I urge you to slow down, re-examine the numbers and choices possible. Please try to think creatively, and thank you FOR YOUR TIME. >> [cheering] [applause] >> OUR NEXT SPEAKER IS MELISSA Burrows on building consolidation. Hello, my name is Melissa Burrows. I'm a resident of Cedar Rapids on the northwest side. I'm here tonight as a parent of a student with special needs at Cleveland Elementary. While I understand the district is facing a 10 to 12 million dollar budget gap and needs to right-size, I'm deeply concerned that the proposed consolidation and the new fifth sixth grade intermediate model will disproportionately burden our most valuable students. Those who rely on stability, specialized facilities, and consistent routines to learn. I have three specific points for the board to consider. Most students with IEPs struggle significantly with
093transitions. Under this new model, a student will move from elementary to intermediate, then to middle, and finally to high school. That is four major transitions in 8 years. For a child with autism or anxiety, each move can cause months of academic and behavioral regression. How will the district specifically mitigate these transition trauma for students who cannot handle frequent changes in the environment? Secondly, many of our current schools have been retrofitted with sensory rooms, adapted restrooms, and specialized equipment. As you identify buildings for closure, I ask for a guarantee that no specialized program will be moved to a facility that is less equipped than the one it replaces. Efficiency cannot come at the cost of accessibility. Lastly, you noted that consolidation allows for full-time access to specialists. However, larger buildings often lead to larger case loads.
094I'm asking the board to commit to maintaining or ideally lowering the student to parent educator ratios in our level classrooms regardless of the building size. Before a final vote is taken on which buildings will close, I am asking the board to release a special education impact report. We need to see in writing how the feeder patterns will keep our regional programs intact, and how transportation times will be capped for students who cannot tolerate long bus rides. Our students with special needs are not light items to be moved around a map. They are the heart of our community. Please ensure that right-sizing doesn't mean sidelining the kids who need you the most. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Our next speaker is John Swift on possible Pierce closure. >> [applause] >> Okay, that's not going to work.
095All right. Good evening. My name is John Swift, and I live in Cedar Rapids, and I'm speaking tonight as a parent at Pierce Elementary and as a volunteer in the Pierce community. I'm here tonight because Pierce Elementary has been identified for possible closure, and I'm concerned about how quickly the decision is being is moving and how disruptive it'll be to the children and the families. Um most recently families received a feedback form sent late Friday, due by noon on Monday, asking them to weigh in on feeder maps, building capacities, and information implementation timelines. Respectfully, that is not meaningful public engagement. These decisions are permanent. These families are being asked to respond under extreme time pressures, mostly through online surveys. Pierce serves many working families and families with limited resources, and relying on most almost entirely
096on short window digital input risks excluding the very people most affected by these changes. My son is happy and thriving at Pierce, and it it's stability that matters. It's not just academic academically, but emotionally and socially. But I'm also concerned about the broader impact of closing multiple schools at once. Once several schools are closed, those disruptions compound and the district options narrow quickly. I also haven't heard of a clear explanation of what the alternatives what alternatives have been considered before the closures was the primary option. If those discussions have happened, families haven't been meaningful meaningfully included in them. Closing schools gets attention, and you certainly got mine. But it shouldn't be the first time families feel invited to the conversation. Pierce isn't just a building, it's a family. It's an anchor for the neighborhood and
097the broader community. It sits next to Kennedy High School creating a natural logical PK to 12 connection for students and families. The connection already exists in real ways. Pierce students sometimes visit Kennedy on field trips, becoming familiar with the campus and seeing where their path can lead. The long-standing before and after school program at the neighboring Lovely Lane Church is staffed part in part by Kennedy students, giving Pierce children daily role models from the school that they will someday attend, students they recognize, look up to, and learn from. The district has said it values clear continuous PK to 12 feeder pathways. Pierce already provides that continuity in real everyday way. And clo- And closing it would dismantle something that's already working. What concerns me most about this is the sequence of the process. The district
098has stated staffing and operational planning will begin shortly after the facilities vote, and the long-term strategic plan with the community input would will follow. That order matters. A long-term plan should come before deciding which schools to close, not after. Without that plan, families are being asked to absorb a major disruption without clear vision for what comes next or how success will be measured. I I understand the financial pressures facing the district, but urgency should not eliminate deliberation, especially when children's daily lives and families are at stake. Once a school is closed, it rarely opens. Okay. Thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> Our next speaker is Amara Stevenson to talk about closures. >> [applause] >> Hello. My name is Amara and I am in second grade. I don't want my school to close. My school is
099small and that is important and all I know I know all of my teachers and they know me. They help me learn and feel safe every day. If my school closed, kids will feel sad and worried that we might have to go to different schools. Schools and be separated from our friends. That would really be hard for us. My teachers care about us a lot. They work hard and love our school. Closing our school would hurt them, too. My teachers even came to my birthday party. That's how much they care. My My school feels like a family and family should stay together. Please do not close my school. Thank you for listening. >> [cheering] [applause] >> Thank you, Amara. Our next speaker is Elizabeth Pomeroy on school closures and timeline. My name is Elizabeth Pomeroy
100and I am at Stony Point Road Southwest. I am a West Willow Elementary parent and parent Excuse me. Public educator and tonight I'm also speaking on behalf of other families who have asked me to raise these concerns. I understand the district is facing a significant budget gap, approximately 10 to 12 million dollars and it difficult decisions must be made to right-size the district. Fiscal responsibility, but as a parent, what is most concerning is what is being presented as a proposal reads more like a plan that is already moving forward. A true proposal would be grounded in study, clarity, and clearly explained reasoning and families have not yet been given that foundation. This issue is deeply personal for my family. My daughter will be entering fifth grade next year and my son will be third in
101third grade. As a parent, I am trying to plan not just for one child, but excuse me. But how these can Excuse me. Ah! But how these changes ripple across our entire household, school locations, schedules, transportation, child care, and daily routines. Right now those basic questions do not have any clear answers. The current timeline moves quickly into consolidation and grade restructuring without first addressing the questions families already are struggling with. Where will their children attend? How long will their bus rides be? What will the school day look like and what staffing is in place? How will these changes affect child care and younger siblings? These are not small details. For many families, including mine, they determine whether a school day is even workable. Transportation is one example that continues to raise contro- concern. Many families
102currently walk to neighborhood schools, which reduces pressure on an already strained bus system. Longer routes, later dismissal times, and extended rides links Excuse me. Ride links would place a real burden on families, especially those with elementary age children who rely on predictable schedules and safe transitions between school and home. >> [snorts] >> Process matters, especially for parents trying to make a stable decision for their children. Less than 3 months ago, this community was asked to support a bond to build or renovate schools. At that time, there was little discussion about closing multiple elementary buildings. This disconnect makes it very difficult for families and taxpayers to understand how today's decisions align with what is recently asked of the community. Family and staff have been asked to complete surveys and attend meetings, yet it feels as though
103those may Excuse me. Yet it feels as though those major decisions have already been made. When feedback appears to come at a after the direction is set, it does not build trust. At least feeling families feeling unheard rather than included. As both a parent and an educator, I strongly believe in this process, but it needs to slow down. One full year should at least be dedicated to studying what the impact would be, which you did state tonight. The transportation, boundary, staffing, and building conditions, and program access. A second year should then be focused on the planning and clear communication on what would be expected. After that, should the implementation occur and what would occur we should all happen at once. We should not have these tiered outruns or Excuse me. Out I can't even think
104the word out. Uh not through phase changes that repeatedly disrupt children, families, and communities. Our children, including mine, are not lines on a budget sheet. Thank you for your time. >> [applause] >> Our next speaker is Nick Ludwig on elementary closures. Thank you. Nick Ludwig, 3700 Antelope Court Northeast in Cedar Rapids. We have three children. Uh we're in the Pierce district. Uh this is a lot of information very quickly. Uh I echo a lot of the comments around the timing and the the planning and the procedure that uh in the sequence of events that you would hope to see from something as drastic as closing uh seven elementary schools. Um obviously directly impacting families and their their days daily uh communities and the children's experience. Um and just to be honest, I'm not necessarily entirely
105opposed to a a better situation, but I just the the timing of this and I I think you can tell by the uh the people in the room um it's just a such a a purgatory of lack of information. It's so difficult to be able to comprehend um and I think we all maybe are just stuck in that. Um and obviously I don't want my kids' school to close. I'm uh also um like many of you, I'm sure, equally concerned, frustrated, angry um at our context within uh the role of um how public education is being treated by the state and I encourage and deputize each one of you in your elected position to get angry, be on the news, and maybe even get arrested because I'm I I've been tweeting, calling, you know, etc.
106And obviously it doesn't do a thing. So, um as uh and I know many of you, um I'll vote for you twice as hard if you get arrested. It's it's frustrating. Um I I love Cedar Rapids. I want to be here. I don't want to take my kid out of public schools. And I I hate to even say that I would consider it, but I think I represent a lot of families that if we're not looking at the best situation for our kids, we're going to we're going to move our kid to a a private school and I don't want to I don't want to do that. Um So, um all that being said, I hate the ESAs. I'm sure you do, too. I like the resolution that's at the end of the meeting today.
107Um please multiply that effort by a million and yeah, I guess get arrested. So, thank you. >> [applause] >> You heard the man. Let's all get arrested. Our next speaker is Kaylee Marlow on the consolidation plan. My name is Kaylee Marlow. I will not be giving you my address because that is unsafe because we are being broadcasted. Um I am the vice president of the PTO that my children go to. Um and we're going to start with I'm also livid. It is astonishing to me. I have been here for 2 hours waiting to speak with you. And you should have made this the first thing. YOU ARE WASTING ALL OF OUR TIME by making us sit here for 2 hours. It is a Monday night. Do you know where I want to be? At home
108with my boys. The fact that you are disrespecting parents, siblings, grandparents, teachers who have grading to do, who give so much of their time to you, to us. 2 hours. Abysmal. I'm so glad that some of you have thought this through and I'm so glad that you have heard it all, but have you really thought about it? Have you actually thought about the kindergartner who's not going to be getting off the bus until 5:00 p.m. because you're putting them at a school that is 15 minutes away without additional bus stops? Have you thought about the cost of it, the emotional and mental impact it's going to have on our children, on the teachers' jobs that you are costing, SOME OF THE BEST TEACHERS I HAVE EVER seen in my damn life. I'm sorry. If this
109plan goes through, I fully intend to pull my children. They will be going to Iowa City. They will be going to Clear Creek. They will be going to Marion, Linn-Mar. I do not care, but they will no longer be going to a district with a board that thinks this makes sense. Do you guys honestly Can you look at me and honestly say that you think that you can make this plan work in 6 months? Even a year? No, you can't. You cannot make this plan work, probably not even until 2030. And you know who is going to pay for it? Not you. You know who's going to suffer? Our children ARE GOING TO SUFFER. AND YOU GUYS WILL GO, "WELL, WE TRIED and we'll keep going." But they're going to pay for it. I'm going
110to pay for it. My children who love their school, their teachers, their fabulously amazing brand new principal are the ones that are going to suffer. You think that this is going to be saving money for the district? Congratulations. This has been a problem for years. You admitted that, and I appreciate that. Why now are we making this drastic change? You're not going to pay. All of us are, and our children will. I need you to think about it. >> [applause] [applause] >> Our next speaker is Cara Trouble Smith on consolidation. Thank you. I'm Cara Trouble Smith, and I live on Keith Drive in Cedar Rapids. Um, and I my son attends the Wright Elementary uh school. So, first I do want to acknowledge that I know you're in an incredibly hard position, and I recognize
111that continued disinvestment in our public schools have made it really hard to operate the district the way any of us would prefer, and I see that, and I take this on as a shared challenge. Uh second, I am also asking that any path forward is done so with clarity around all of the impacts, and not just the ones that feel the most obvious and immediate. So, as I said, I'm a parent of a first grader at Wright, and I have a 2-year-old who I was excited to send there. My family has built our life around this school. When our kids were babies, we we sent them on the strollers around the loop that they now run on at recess. We have spent countless hours at those playgrounds. It's where we walked our dog, we met
112neighbors, we caucus, we vote, we look for monarchs, and we practice writing our bikes there. Because of its proximity to where we live, we were able to keep our son in the in-home daycare we love while also going to preschool at Wright. We have been looking forward to him walking to and from school on his own to build some good independence that we think is really valuable, and also to decrease our before and after care costs. I recently joined the PTO because I want to be more involved and contribute to the school that I love, and to build relationships with other families who are raising kids near us. When people ask me about where I live, which I do get a lot because I work remotely with a lot of people no one in Cedar
113Rapids, the first thing I say, and I'm not joking when I say this, is that I love my neighborhood school, and I feel so grateful to have it. I wish I could put a dollar value on that to factor into this cost-benefit analysis we have to do, but I can't. It's just not there. So, it's not surprising to hear that I was really sad when we got the email on Friday. Um, despite that initial reaction, I did want to understand more, so I did watch the video of the working meeting. Um, and I was hoping to feel more encouraged, and to be honest, I didn't get that. Um, I heard a lot of excitement about what will happen with grades fifth and sixth, and a little bit about preschool, and very little about K through
114fourth, and specifically uh not a lot about what will happen to those kids who are especially losing the school. And I have to be honest, when you're talking about an impact as significant as removing an anchor of our community, that felt pretty dismissive and demoralizing. I am a strong public school advocate. I echo the former parent and other gentleman up here. I believe so much in public education, and even I had to think about whether or not we would explore other options. I hate that reaction. I do not want to do that at all. Um, but it was a good reminder to me of how much trust matters in this process. Uh if there is if this is the path forward truly, then I am asking that you come to the schools that you are
115being asked to lose the most, and show up in person, and not ask us to come to you, but come to us and get the feedback and input that you need to move forward. >> [applause] [applause] >> Our next speaker is Marissa Collander on the intermediate model. My name is Marissa Collander. I live on the northwest side. I'm also the president of the Franklin Middle School PTA, and I'm here. Um, Dr. Lannan, President Newman, esteemed board directors, here to talk to you, or I guess read to you a letter that we sent to you earlier this week. Franklin holds a unique position within the Cedar Rapids School District. Our students currently feed into both Area 1 and Area 2 high schools, with some students attending Washington, and still others attending Kennedy. We appreciate the district's
116efforts to develop a coherent feeder system, and recognize the deep complexity of this work. As a middle school PTA, our mission is to support students, families, and staff by putting students first. We also know deeply and personally the realities of raising and educating adolescents. Middle school students experience rapid physical, emotional, social, and psychological growth. This is a vulnerable and formative time. Research and our daily experience consistently show that students at this age need stability, consistency, and strong relationships with trusted adults in order to feel safe, connected, and ready to learn. Under the proposed model, students would experience transitions at multiple points. Elementary school consolidation and transition in fifth grade, another in seventh grade, and again in ninth grade. That's four transitions during a developmental period when stability matters most. Research shows that frequent school transitions
117are associated with declines in academic achievement, increased stress, and disruptions to peer and adult relationships. To put this into real human terms, many of our current sixth grade students attended Arthur Garfield in fourth grade, Trailside in fifth grade, Franklin in sixth grade, and under the proposal would move again to McKinley in seventh grade. Four schools in four years. Four sets of teachers, four peer groups, four building closures, and four times having to start over. The pattern will be replicated across the district as elementary schools consolidate. As parents, we already struggle with how best to support our children during the brief 3 years they spend in middle school. We worry about friendships, mental health, academic confidence, and behavior. The [snorts] idea of compressing support systems into a 2-year intermediate or junior high model raises serious concerns.
118I'm going to jump. We believe there's a more sustainable and compassionate path forward, one that values the strengths of our existing middle schools and centers the needs of students. A 5-8 model would significantly reduce transitions and better reflect what we know about adolescent development. Positive, consistent, teacher-centered relationships are foundational for motivation, behavior, and academic success. Those require time to grow. We urge you to consider these logistics and facilities and lived experiences of our children. Thank you very much. >> [applause] >> Our next speaker is Ashley Shellducker on school school changes. My name is Ashley Shellducker, and I live on the northeast side. My son, I'm going to speak for him because he goes to elementary school, Wright Elementary School. Can you go a little closer to the microphone? >> Thank you. Is that better? Yes.
119Okay. I stand before you as a parent, a concerned parent, pleading to take Wright off the list. There is no secret that my son has behavioral problems, but as a parent, I have never felt more seen and more heard from Wright Elementary School. They have worked so hard and worked with my son so much, and I he adores his teacher, counselor, and principal. I come also as a mom, but also someone that has worked with children for 4 years and counting. Someone that advocates for children. Your job is to advocate for children. I ask, how is the solution advocating for children? How is this benefiting our children? So many children can't handle new changes. This greatly impacts them all. I ask you to think about these kids. We are shaping them to mold the future.
120I have never been more concerned for my son's future, but all these kids that you're about to rip out of their schools and stuff them somewhere else. For what exactly? What does Wright Why does Wright Oh my gosh. So sorry. Why does Wright Elementary School have to be on the chopping block when the building alone has been around for so many years and has shaped so many kids. I thank you for your time. >> [applause] [applause] >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Ashley Is it Evers? Okay, perfect. For on school consolidation. My name is Ashley Evers. I live on the northeast side. I'm here to read to you the email that we sent over the weekend from Trailside Elementary PTO. We write to you as the board of Trailside Elementary School and Home and
121Partnership PTO. We commend the district for its efforts to expand local community days community-based full-day preschool. We understand that such a move would require moving fifth grade out of elementary schools. We respectfully urge you to reconsider the proposed reconfiguration to intermediate schools. Our children and families have lived through this district's elementary con- consolidation process. We have witnessed firsthand the effects that school transitions have on children, staff, and communities. Arthur and Garfield were afforded years of planning years of planning and preparation under the strong leadership of Joy Long and Jennifer Nurit. Even with the thoughtful and intentional work, the transition has been challenging. A new school brings new rules, expectations, procedures, and uncertainty. While change can be exciting, it also places a heavy burden on children. At Trailside, we have seen increased behaviors that impact students'
122sense of safety, their love of learning, and the well-being of our deeply valued staff. These impacts are real, ongoing, and difficult. We ask you to be courageous in your leadership. We understand that the proposed 5-6 and 7-8 model offers administrative efficiencies, but the lived experiences of Trailside children tell a different story. Increased transitions bring increased uncertainty, fear, behavioral challenges, particularly when combined with the transients created by school closures and consolidations. We firmly believe the district can prioritize both efficiency and community. We love this diverse and vibrant district and want to see it thrive. To truly embrace who our students are, we must prioritize prioritize stability, strong student-adult relationships, and a sense of belonging. As the district considers closing up to seven elementary schools, our experience at Trailside is especially relevant. Under the proposed model with
123elementary consolidations, students could attend as many as four different schools within a five-year period. This level of disruption is deeply concerning. Research supports these concerns. Um Hanover Research, which we emailed you the link to, um found that intermediate schools serving only grades five and six were not supported by the literature and that students in these grades fare better in schools with a wider grade span. Additional research research shows that multiple school transitions during early early adolescence are associated with decreased decreases in self-esteem, grades, test scores, engagement engagement, and attendance, alongside increased increases in disciplinary infractions and suspensions. The transition to middle school has also been shown to be more harmful for low-income students than their higher-income peers. Um almost 70% of Trailside students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, significantly higher than neighboring districts such
124as Linn-Mar, which is 25%, and College Community, which is about 30. Given these realities, we struggle to understand why the model has been shown to exacerbate challenges for vulnerable students who would be considered Thank you. >> [laughter] [applause] >> Well done. Um our next speaker is Sarah Hale Koisman on the budget. Hi, my name is Sarah Hale Koisman, and um I live on the southeast side. I'm a parent of a student at Trailside and a student at Franklin. Nearly 70% of those students qualify for free and reduced lunch, and I think it's vitally important to note that many of the parents who are here tonight um are not the parents who are will be most impacted by this decision um or the one standing here speaking today. Families facing economic hardship do not often have
125the time, flexibility, or capacity to attend meetings like this or advocate publicly. Those of us who serve on PTA and PTO boards take that responsibility of representing these families seriously. We are committed to representing all of our stakeholders in doing what is best for all students, especially those whose voices are not present in this room. When we look at the research on school transitions, the evidence is clear. Students who are already at risk are the most vulnerable to negative impacts. Mul- multiple school transitions during early adolescence are consistently associated with decreases in self-esteem, academic performance, test scores, engagement, and attendance, along with increased increases in and suspensions. These effects are not theoretical. They are well documented and disproportionately affect students who are already navigating systemic challenges. That's why many urban districts, including Cincinnati, Columbus, Milwaukee,
126and Portland, have moved towards K-8 models. The research on reducing transitions is strong. I understand that the instinctive reaction is often to protect younger students from older behaviors, but the research actually shows the opposite. K-8 settings create opportunities for leadership, mentorship, and strong school culture. In fact, a 2021 analysis by Hanover Research found no support in the literature for adopting a 5-6 model. As a lifelong middle school teacher in a different district and a doctorate in educational policy and leadership, I want to acknowledge the difficult truth. Separating students into narrower grade bands can be easier to staff and easier to administer. I understand the operational appeal, but leadership is not about choosing what is easiest. It is about choosing what is best for students, especially those who are most vulnerable. I ask you to be
127bold, to ground this decision in research, and to center the needs of the students and families who are least able to advocate for themselves. The choices that you make here will shape not only school buildings, but student outcomes, equity, and trust in this district for years to come. Thank you for your time and your service. >> [applause] >> Our next speaker is Justine Alcaraz on um getting data. Hello, my name is Justine Alcaraz, and I live on the southeast side of Cedar Rapids. I'm asking the board for transparency. We've been given as parents in the district, we've been given vague statements. 11 schools with 70% enrollment. Which schools? Schools not meeting ADA requirements. Which ones? There's no way to find this data. I've scoured your website. If I'm wrong, I'm happy that it's an operator
128error, but I don't believe I am. I'm asking for the data to be released. I was told during the intermission or during the recess that it is in the YouTube video. I personally don't have 2 hours and 57 minutes to wait for a YouTube video and pause on a screen to get that information. I'm asking the district why this isn't proactively being released along with the plans on which schools they intend to close. There's a logic, and it's not being shown to those of us in the district. I would actually like to pause my time, and in 2 minutes, can you show me where I can get that information? During public comment, we're not allowed to we just listen to. I just wanted to make that clear. >> Okay. To be clear, please time yourselves.
129I don't think you can find that information on your public website in 2 minutes or less. And parents and I'm missing wrestling practice right now. I'm also missing dance class. We're all very busy people, just like all of you. Please give us the information you already have access to, because I shouldn't have to come to a podium and publicly speak to know where your logic lies to make such drastic changes to our district. >> [applause] [applause] >> Our next speaker is Sarah Williams on budget and school closings. Thank you. Uh my name is Sarah Williams, and I live on the northeast side. Um first off, I'd like to say that I'm very disappointed in the board. Um when I look over the last 5 years of our district and the things that have happened, it
130is astonishing to me that we haven't addressed these concerns sooner. We've been so focused on passing a bond without constituent input that we forgot to look at what was going on within our schools. We really need to look inward to determine where change is needed. The lack of creativeness and unwillingness of the board to listen to constituents has been detrimental to the district. You, the board, were voted into office to be the voice of the community, enable our district, and make the best decisions for our children's education. While the state government continues to dismantle our education system, the district will continue to face budget challenges without real reform. I'm asking you to consider realistic options for change to a balanced budget. Firstly, we need to assess the leadership at ELSC and the positions and district
131changes that have been made over the last 3 years. >> [applause] >> This includes the area director's position and City View High School. Eliminating both of these will open up almost $1 million in budget in 2026. We need to consider alternate design options for the schools that have building projects in place. Could we look at Van Buren, Hoover, or Harrison to be better suited for students in those areas? We need to really think about redrawing district lines to not align geographically, but min- and minimize um socioeconomic diversity. We really need to be looking at minimizing transportation needs and expanding socioeconomic This impacts the ability of students to learn from and empathize with students of different socioeconomic backgrounds. There's a better way to organize the schools with limited disruption to our students. We also need to
132reconsider the schools that will be maintained and available for feeder school purposes. I speak on behalf of myself, my student being at Pierce, Franklin, and Kennedy, and removing Pierce from the inventory adds significant transportation needs. I can only speak students, but those in my area going to either Harrison would in significantly increase capacity of that school. Hiawatha will also have increased capacity, and Maple Grove is the longest commute from our district. We also need to consider intermediate schools at Roosevelt or Taft, and those students who live in Robbins who would have to travel to Taft or Harrison as an intermediate school. That doesn't make sense. So, I really just would like everybody to take some time to consider the options. Consider that Cedar Rapids Prep and Xavier are taking away from our students and the
133population that we have available. We really need to think about the future of the school. >> [applause] [applause] >> Our next speaker is Katrina Davenport and the topic questions on the budget. Good afternoon. My name is Katrina Davenport and I live on the southeast side of town. And I watched the meeting last month, I mean that last week, excuse me, and I was really really concerned at number one how fast we're moving, number two all the cuts that you're doing, uh the budget how it has been just compounding over years and we've not done anything. There was no research on why our students are leaving, no research on how to get our students back, and I just have a lot of questions on how we move forward, slow down first, and how we move forward
134and keep all of our schools the way they are. Like there has to be a different way. Um What about our and people have already said this, our special needs children and ELL. We We need to worry about that. That is very important to us as a grandparent. Um my kids went to a different school this year from last year and they are thriving at that school, and that's one of the schools you're thinking of closing down. So, that means we're going to have another transition as other parents have already said and how hard that is on a child to do that transition. Um Is this deficit that we have, was that just a one-time thing or is this a reoccurring thing that we're having going on? Is there other ways that we can cut
135costs in different areas? Did we look at repurposing our buildings that we have? What happens to those buildings once we close them down? What happens to the the landmarks that's around there? Uh one person has spoke of fossils, but what happens to all these things? Have we put that in play? Where is it on your website where I can see a true A through Z of what we're doing, how it's going to impact the different communities, and how we're going to move forward to not have the same deficit in the future because I don't see that anywhere on the website again. And the last thing I have to say is I really thought coming to these meetings would give me more of a understanding of how we come to these decisions, and I've been coming
136since I will say August, and I have not gotten that. I've listened to the meetings online. I've read through the different information on the website, which is not very helpful. Um it the way it is put together is not very easy to manage. Um and I do have time to go through it, but when you get down that rabbit hole, it gets bad at 11:00 at night, so. Um I just need you to just be more transparent and give us more information. Give us more than you think we need so that we can digest what we want to have and throw away what we don't. Thank you. >> [applause] >> The next speaker is Bob Smiley on the budget. Uh yes, wasn't it wasn't it last year you came up with money to buy 7
137million or something for some property that wasn't near not near worth that, which I commend you for looking to the future, but we shouldn't throw away our present for the future. It It's and it's hard to get get answers. Uh I went to Harding. A year ago you wanted to close Harding. I never publicly found out why you wanted to close Harding. What was wrong with it? Well, I I guess it's still open, so it must have been okay. Uh It It >> [clears throat and cough] >> It just seems sort of fiscally unresponsible unresponsible to uh some of your actions that you do. And uh the bond thing shouldn't make any sense and it just seems seems all short-sighted. And I guess you uh you better increase your uh um staffing of the delinquency
138department uh more than what you already have cuz in 5 or 10 years you're going to need them because riding a bus for hour or two every day for a little kid, they learn to hate school. Their friendships get fragmented. You better have more people in your delinquency department. And thank you. >> [applause] >> Our next speaker is Stephanie Erbe on the budget. Hello. My name is Stephanie Erbe and I live on Amherst Drive on the west side of Cedar Rapids. Uh my kids attend West Willow and Jefferson right now. Uh I myself attended Jefferson, Taft, and Hoover. My parents attended Jefferson, my husband attended Jefferson, and all five of my sons hopefully will as well. Um I have a strong passion for being west side best side, and I definitely think uh many west
139siders feel that way. Uh I love the idea of the true feeder schools. Uh as many parents here, I've chosen my home based on where I want my kids to go to school. I also understand that with our incredible deficit, that those things could change and may need to change, but I'm struggling with the emergency that this plan has been developed. Jefferson families have felt ignored. We've felt forgotten, not protected, and definitely not valued by the district and board for years. Our current boundaries seem laughable to those of us on the west side. The options being presented to us with the latest survey continue to show that you're keeping certain pockets of our west side out of Jefferson High School. Taft has been and will always be a Jefferson feeder, and families will leave if
140that changes. The model of 5 6 and 7 8 buildings could possibly be different to some of us if those were closer to our homes or had better environments and facilities to offer our students. They are not. Your surveys have given us little time to process. They seem to have general concepts and ideas, and then it seems you use that data to make specific decisions we didn't know could have happened while using that data against us to say we supported one of those choices. This school year, as parents, we've been asked to juggle the idea of your pathways. We've been struggling with researching to find board members that we can trust. And now you're asking us to fix a budget problem we didn't know was so large. I do not Do I have a solution
141for a $12 million tonight? No. But you've been hired, you've been elected to look at all options, and I ask you to find another one to consider. Please consider it as if your child was asked to make those specific changes. Please look at boundaries before voting to close schools. Please give specifics when you ask us to send us a survey so that we understand how our feedback will be used. And if you continue with this plan without our support, please keep Jeffer Taft a Jefferson feeder. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Our next speaker is Brooke Oja on budget and consultation. Hi. My name is Brooke Oja and I live on the northeast side of Cedar Rapids. Um I have three kiddos, two of them are in the Cedar Rapids district. Um I'm speaking today as
142a parent with a lot of skepticism. I am very hopeful that the work that has been put in to present the plan that you guys will officially hear tonight has thought of all the things that we have been emailing and texting and calling you guys for the last week and for one reason or another you guys have um chosen not to go with those plans. Um the speakers that we've already heard have made the decision that they're going to talk and share with you guys all the things and reasons why we shouldn't be closing schools, um why we love our schools, and good news I'm no different. I love Pierce. I want Pierce to stay. Our families are so embedded in this school. Um the staff are amazing from the principal to the teachers and
143staff, the students, the custodians, the lunch helpers. My second grader knows their names and interacts with them, loves all of them. Um I am year seven at Pierce. I participate in PTA and different events that they offer. Um I see the interactions between the Pierce Panthers and the Kennedy Cougars. They come over to Pierce for our walkathon and they cheer us on during our fundraiser. We get to go and watch their plays. We see them all the time throughout the year for different reasons. And you guys stated that that is one of the reasons that you want us to look at these true feeder patterns. So, don't close Pierce. We are literally already living that relationship model. >> [applause] >> Um a lot of other things that I wanted to talk about and I have
144rewritten my whole speech. Uh being here today is I want to make sure that I talk about not only the land that we purchased, selling that, but if you do choose to close schools because declining enrollment it's here. But we need to really look at selling those schools and I know that there is a fear of a charter school or a private school buying it. Who cares? They're buying GoDaddy. Like sell them. Take those charter schools money so that we can get Pierce ADA compliant and keep it open. We don't need to hang on to schools for hopes that our enrollment will go up. We'll deal with that. But right now you guys make it sound like we're in crisis mode. But then you tell us we have a whole year before we have to
145roll any of this out. So, let's take that year to really think about what is best. Um >> [sighs] >> The Oh goodness, I lost my place because my notes are all over. Um I know oh shoot. >> [cheering] [applause] >> Our next speaker is Logan Schultz on speaking about City View. Exciting night. Wow. Hi, my name is Logan Schultz. I'm here on behalf of the City View PTSO. I'm also a stepfather to a student at City View and a small business owner in town. I was going to say we didn't get the memo on matching shirts. So, if you'd let us know I know you nailed it. Well done. City View needs to be allowed to continue to operate in its current form. That's based on its growth trajectory currently as well as its
146unique value proposition to the district. I want to reference something that board president Jen Newman said at the beginning. You opened it by saying that we needed to regain our position as a top-rated choice for education. I agree with you on that. However, I think that it requires obviously not just cuts and consolidation, but choice, growth, and innovation. I think that's something that City View is doing particularly well. If you're not familiar with City View and I wouldn't blame you, it has not been well communicated by the district. City View High School is a magnet school that offers individualized project-based learning. It's based within a Kirkwood building and so they have Kirkwood classes that students can attend. Almost all students attend in building. It also operates on internship learning. So, all students are out in
147the community with businesses taking internships. They are this is the future of learning innovation as far as I am concerned and that shows. Their test scores have grown by double digits year over year. 70% of students got an A in their college classes already this year. It's extremely exciting. And speaking of that, the relationship with Kirkwood is incredible as far as I'm concerned and unique. It's not something that's being replicated elsewhere. Students at City View have taken 260 credits of Kirkwood classes. They have saved families $57,000 this year in what would have been college credits. It is innovative and growth. The internship learning all students are are getting these practical skills. They're building their resumes before they go on to college. And you also have launched a fleet of ambassadors for the district out in
148the community. It's it's something that you couldn't pay for. That individualized learning is incredible as well. They are learning in a through things that they're interested in, their passion and engagement. They're seeing a direct return on that. Um City View also is perfectly positioned to be an additional expansion point for other things. It could be a hub for home school learning so that those students can be getting that internship learning as well and having those additional experiences. Same with online learning. It can be a hub for them to also get those additional experiences. It is an answer to Cedar Rapids Prep as far as I'm concerned. You may not see it on a daily basis, but it's already a success and I believe that City View is the answer to Jen Newman's vision and my
149vision for the future of the district. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Our final speaker is Megan Murphy-Salier on the budget decision. Good evening. And thank you for taking the time this afternoon. I know it's not an easy decision and I know it's not easy to be yelled at a lot. I want to instill two principles that I use in my work and that I learned at the Cedar Rapids Community School District. One is no surprises. And two is show your work. Any sixth grade math class you know you show your work. So, right now um I'm sorry, did I introduce myself? I'm Megan Murphy-Salier. I'm on the northeast side. Um I'm also a Cedar Rapids alum. And I don't feel like I have enough information to make or form an opinion at this point. Um
150I read through the survey and I followed the links and there's just not any information there. So, what I would like to do is make it very clear how this incorporates into the other plans that have been announced, how it fits with the bonds, how it fits with the the weird plan about the career pathways. Um if that's even still a thing, I don't know. Uh because I don't have a ton of time to dig into this. I couldn't find your budget on the website. I found some bills from 2022. Um that's about as all far as I got. So, make it easy for me, please. Um I also want to acknowledge the larger picture that the state has systematically defunded public education over the last X number of years. Put in the number, I
151don't know. Um and I do just want to instill in this room how important your vote how it matters because this is how we get here. Um now the fact that we are here and it is a surprise is a little bit more of what happened in the district. So, um show your work and let us know. So, what I would like to ask is for any big announcement that and we've had a few that there is a community communication plan, that you go to the schools, that you have open houses in the community, that you present your work and be able to be there to answer questions. Don't just put your principal up there to try to defend it for you. I want your staff people that have the knowledge in there and I
152want to see the references. I want to see the research. Um and I want to be able to form that opinion. So, give me what I need so I can make the right decision and support you as we go forward. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. That concludes our public comment. Again, I really do encourage you if you can stay. I hear you. It's late. We are all tired. But this is energizing work and even though it was hard to hear a lot of what you had to say tonight, it's good. It's good input. It's important input. So, if you can, please stay. If not, there's a thrilling live feed of it to recapture if you cannot. And with that I'm going to turn this over to Dr. Grober. All right. Thank you so
153much and thank you uh, to our families. I just want to start out by saying at the beginning of the year, and just just bear with us because I'm going to try to see if I can cover some pieces that our team may not cover, um, to try to get to some of the things we heard tonight. At the beginning of the school year, uh, we rolled out our culture framework around care, clarity, and communication, and I think we have been so dedicated to that. So, even though we're having a tough conversation tonight, it doesn't mean that we don't care. I also want to state that even though we're talking about the school closures because of many different factors, it has nothing to do with the quality of our staff members as well as our
154students. I just want to say you heard me up here bragging on JSA tonight. I personally been over to Pierce. Their staff is amazing along with their principal. She has so much great insight, and they all work together. >> [cheering] [applause] >> Cleveland, we are so proud of you. The hard work that you've been doing to show that even some of our most vulnerable students that they can achieve at high levels. And just hands down, people have nothing but extraordinary things to say about Truman and our early childhood center and Monica and all of her leadership over there. Nixon, we had to get a new leader. You all rallied. You came together. All of the things, right? And right along with Wright's new principals. I love what that the parents [cheering] said. So, this conversation,
155it is not about that. To our presenter who said like no surprises, I have really taken it to heart of what you all have been saying, and we have to let you know the things that we're talking about. So, it I know it feels like it's so much, it's rushed, and all the things. But I'm just glad that you're here. No decisions haven't been made, but I want to talk a little bit about kind of how we got there, maybe some of the things we've been hearing, as we go forward. So, over the past several weeks, a lot of conversations, back and forth, a lot of emails, social media posts, all the things. I've heard the concerns shared publicly and privately, and some people have asked, "Why didn't you tell us plainly that if the
156bond failed, what would happen?" So, just out of full transparency, when we were having those conversations, we kept saying that we're going to have to make tough decisions if the bond does not pass, right? And so, when we started saying schools may have to close, people said that we were inciting fear. We did not want to incite fear, but the whole point of whether or not schools are going to have to close. And so, we recognize that maybe we did not make that clear. And I own that tonight that we did not say to you specifically what would happen if the bond did not pass. And so, as we go on, you know, what about the different schools? I hope you see tonight how these schools were actually selected to be a part of the
157conversation. I also want to acknowledge that no matter what we do, your own individual experiences, I know that it may impact you in a certain way. Let's talk a little bit about the budget reality because that's what people have been saying, "How could you get to such a big large budget deficit?" So, this year we are facing a $4 million budget deficit, right? That's a lot of that has come from the number of students who did not return back to our school district. We had anticipated for about 300 or so, we landed with 600 or so, right? So, that did create a budget deficit for this year. Um, the next category is overspending in categorical budgets like special education, English language learning. So, we don't get enough money from the state. And every year, the
158the board has been approving deficit spending in those categories. Of course, that's hard, right? Because we know that those students need extra support, but when we overspend in those categorical budgets, it creates a deficit. We're also being proactive. So, more of what you're seeing in this conversation is about being proactive to ensure that we can create a sustainable budget moving forward. So, when we look ahead to the 2026-2027 school year, we are anticipating about a 4 to 5 million dollar gap as enrollment continues to decline, right? There are more options. We things are different. It's a different landscape, so we have to prepare for that. It'll be great if we don't need that much, but in in relation to our trends, that's the number that we have come up with. At the same time, we
159know our staff, the people who pour their hearts and expertise into our students every single day, they deserve to be honored. So, a 3% raise simply to keep pace, that will cost us $4.8 million. And as a community is also asking us to rightly strengthen student supports in what they experience in our school district. So, this earlier this year, we had a conversation about the fine arts programming. And if we were to support the fine arts program in making sure we have specialists in all of our buildings, that is an approximate cost of $650,000. The behavior supports in our larger elementary schools, and understand some of that trepidation because when the buildings when we went to the larger buildings, we've been told that we were promised to have different types of staff members in those
160buildings, and currently I don't think that we've done that right now. Our model is one per building. It really doesn't account for the size of the building. So, if we were to put in additional behavior supports into your larger elementary schools, that will cost us about $435,000. I do want to say that when I was out visiting all of the schools in the first semester, and really hearing what staff members felt like they needed, this is how some of these conversations are coming to be. We can't really give people what they're asking for because of the budget constraints. So, we're stretching a budget that is already thin across a growing set of needs and underfunding. So, in order for us to move forward, the way that our system is currently set up, it just it
161makes it hard. I know that there's a perception out there in terms of that decisions have already been made. I want to kind of track the way that we've been moving forward, and I hear all the feedback in terms of how we can get better. Really even starting with a better website that's coming. I agree things are hard to find, and we have a lot of conversations up here that are long, and just all times of day and night. So, it can be hard to get that right place for all the information. But decisions have not been made at this point. The board asked us to bring forward recommendations. Those recommendations were grassroots efforts, which you will hear about more of that tonight. And so, this is what listening has looked like across our system.
162We've had multiple working sessions with our executive leadership, including our campus leaders and principals, as well as our leaders here. We've had ongoing talks with our teacher cabinet and our community cabinet. A first staff survey on consolidation models and budget reductions. So, we had about 1,200 people respond to that. A community coalition was formed. There were 179 people who signed up. The first meeting, there were 70 people who attended the meeting. 54 completed the survey, and 75 attended the second meeting. So, the community coalition is not a decision-making body, but it's definitely there where we can get insight, ideas, feedback, and also a place where we're hoping that we can share information that can be shared out with others who may not be able to attend those meetings. From that input, the intermediate model received
163the strongest support. And the question on the survey is, "Which option would you like for us to explore more?" So, that is the model that we are exploring more. When we were went out for in the 2018 plan, and I'll talk a little bit about that, too. In the 2018 plan, that plan was strictly about elementary schools, okay? And on that list, you had Wright and Kinwood was scheduled to close. You had Nixon that was scheduled to close. Truman was scheduled to close, and Cleveland was scheduled to close. So, just to acknowledge that Pierce and JSA, they were not on that list of closures. So, I can see how that could have come about as a surprise, and you'll kind of see how they hit the list this go around. And so, as we move
164forward, other ways that we feel like that we've been listening, when we sent out the survey, there was huge opposition or lack of support for outsourcing, so we took that off the table. We also saw for Metro that people we really want to keep Metro open, and we really do appreciate all the work that happens. And they are our alternative school. They're really connected to the community, so that's off the table. You're not going to hear about that. We continue to hear conversation about instruction and power. We were able to talk with our leaders where we first had slated $400,000. We can talk about that as a separate topic, but we have removed that $400,000 to bring instruction and power down to zero, and able to put that $400,000 back over to community partners so
165that we don't reduce that as much. These are all the ways while we can't do everything, we are trying to make sure that we're we're listening, and where we can make those adjustments, we do. So, when we sent out a second survey to our families, we sent it to 17,000 people. We're trying to invite people to the conversation. We had 1,000 responses. With that, we heard preschools should be embedded within the elementary schools. We also talked a lot about fine arts should be prioritized and how we need band and orchestra and choir beginning in the fifth grade. And so when we talked about again the intermediate model. So while this started as a budget conversation, it became more. It became more about how else can we best serve our students. And so as we go
166forward, I will say to the comment that was made earlier as we continue down this path, I I do believe that starting in fall of 2026 and I do agree that's going to be very hard to do. I would recommend that if we can just get to a point of having a model very similar to how we rolled out the bond, can we get a package or something that we can actually take out to our community so that we can have more conversations. But we have to know which schools are in play as well as the boundaries in order for us to get the answers to all the questions about transportation, what the staffing model will look like. So as we move forward toward the January 19th and January 26th meetings, on January 19th the
167board will vote only on the cost-saving measures that we presented half last week and we'll present another set tonight. On January 26th and this is my recommendation the board asked for recommendations, I'm just bringing it forward, you get to make that decision. But on January 26th my recommendation is that we identify one consolidation proposal including the boundaries and timeline, not a final decision but just a clear direction that we can then go out and talk to our communities so that we can get that deeper engagement. I know that these are hard choices. Hopefully you'll be able to see throughout the rest of our presentation. It's just not about this one year, it is about trying to sustain over time and that right-sizing, it is just a big piece of us being able to sustain and
168not have to just keep coming back with proposal after proposal where it can become very confusing. So thank you all so much for your engagement and I'm going to turn over to the team. So hopefully we'll still have some people here who can hear some of the nuts and bolts. Thank you. >> [snorts] >> We're going to start off talking about the intermediate model, the reconfiguration. We do have our building leaders coming up since they've been leading a lot of the conversations and decisions around this particular topic. Thank you. So we're going to talk tonight about the work that's been done to plan out the proposal that you've been looking at. Tonight we're going to look at the the intermediate model in depth. We're going to look at the process of determining the viability of
169each building, generate preferred feeder scenarios and review additional cost savings and recommendations. Our current reality is 31 total buildings within the district that includes one pre-K building, 18 K5 buildings with some offering pre-K six 6-8 buildings and five high school buildings and our Polk alternative location. What the proposal that you've been reviewing looks at is reducing our pre-K buildings pre-K four buildings down to 12 buildings but offering pre-K at all sites including full day paid pre-K at every elementary school and then converting to that 5-6 model. So we'd have three 5-6 buildings and three 7-8 buildings keeping the high schools and Polk alternative the same to reduce down to 24 total locations. So the data that is shown up here has been the data that has been kind of collected throughout the process. And so
170when we started the process back in November as administrators, that was after the bond was passed. We kind of worked as a group to kind of throw ideas out of board. So we had a lot of opportunity to sit down, talk as an admin team and ELT team and just pie in the sky what are some ideas. So a ton of ideas were generated from that elementary consolidation, middle school consolidation and the idea of an intermediate model came up out of that. And so in conversations, that's where the three came out for people to provide us feedback. And so we started with staff. What were staff thinking and feeling around the options that were out there. Did they what were their thoughts around elementary consolidations, middle school and then that intermediate consolidation? And from there
171you can see that the favorable choice from that to explore was the intermediate consolidation option. And then there was a community coalition group that had been meeting and they also validated to explore the intermediate option. And that is when families were asked what are their thoughts? Are they could they be in favor of this? Could they support this? And so you can see the data around fours and fives. It was a scale from one to five where we fell out at. The next grade is going to show three fours and fives where three is kind of that neutral, I maybe need more information, I don't know enough. And you can show that staff was at almost 87% of that time that they like to explore the intermediate consolidation plan where community was about 78% and
172families at that time for a 345 were at 80%. So from this data, we as an administrative team started to explore what do those mean and what do those look like. And so as we dug through as a team with that, we really dug the data which tells us to start looking at the 5678 model to decide really what does that look like and what are the benefits around it. And so these were some of that research pieces of things and in our conversations around how the 56 model really helps and 78 the developmental appropriateness. Even down to preschool to fourth grade, you're getting those preschool students invested in their building from the moment they walked in and really start to know their school community. But it also helps with our fifth and sixth graders,
173our sixth graders not being exposed to some of that teenage behavior. We really can start to focus in our instruction on age-appropriate of what they need. It also allows us to have a more targeted focus instruction. And so when we think about our sixth graders, one of the big shifts coming from fifth grade to sixth grade is the number of transitions. And so when they feed into one middle school coming from multiple elementaries, they're all coming from very different experiences of what transitions look like for their day. Some are still walking in line order when they come in to us. Some are getting the practice of going from a couple fifth grade teachers and that change is very different amongst what elementary school they are coming to us from. And so this opportunity would allow
174us to really practice within our fifth and sixth grade those transitions, less transitions, more controlled transitions and really work up to seventh and eighth grade really preparing them for high school because we see that transition from eighth to ninth grade also being very difficult of the difference between middle school and high school. In many of our buildings in middle school, we're operating on a one section. So we have one sixth grade ELA teacher and so there isn't a lot of movement in the day of how we can shift kids around. There isn't a lot of teaming that can happen because there isn't a sixth grade. If they want to team, they have to go talk to another school with those pieces of things and how we model that for them. So that teaming model where
175they can really collaborate on their content with each other. And really teachers can build in that whole team model of working with each other so they have other partners with it. And then we also think about we're just stretching across lots of buildings. I think about some of our resources around sports. We have some of our middle schools who don't have enough kids that can even have an eighth grade basketball team right now. And so those kids aren't getting the same opportunity as another school that can or seventh graders have to play up with eighth graders because we don't have enough kids to even put them out there. And so when you think about across buildings, the supports and services that kids get is very different depending on the number within those as well as
176elementary our staffing. So here's kind of those transitions that we've heard a lot of people talk about as the increased number of transitions. And so right now our current model has two transitions. If they are in our preschool programs depending on if they are not in their home school ready, they actually will have a transition there which would be three. But our proposed model would have those three transitional pieces but those kids stay together all the way through. So here is a picture and many of us can as principals can talk through that we don't have true feeders. One of the few spots that true feeders do exist is the Wash McKinley and then your three elementary schools are about the only spot you truly see that. And I think as I had a conversation
177with my staff on Friday, they're like what what about we are a feeder? And not realizing the whole system that that is not everywhere that that feeder system is that true all the way through. We have kids crossing to go to multiple schools. They might start in one elementary that they would be um together, then they all separate that elementary to go to different middle schools, and then again they may separate to different high schools just depending on where they go and where they live. Anything to add to that? Nope. We'll do together. You got it. All right. So, transition some of those conversations we've heard of it from a lot of you is about that transition dip. Um and each transition can have an impact on student achievement um because they have They do.
178We have to acknowledge it. There are those transition dips. Um they're navigating those new buildings. They're navigating new systems and expectations and what that looks like and identifying those new groups. We see that right now when they come in from three elementaries, they're navigating those near new peer groups and who they are and forming those relationships. And that is a true thing that can happen. But when you think of the power up through a feeder system, it really helps cuz those kids start to get to know each other as they work their way up. Um and ways to think about those transitional dips is some vertical PLCs. So, that's kind of your going up so that schools are talking to each other. We have less schools to talk to about all of these transitions. We're
179in a lucky spot that I only have three elementaries, but for other middle schools, their kids are coming from four or five and then they're transitioning off to multiple places. And so, how can you have that consistency amongst those four elementaries of 5 6 7 8 up to their high schools to really get that common language. Um and so, other things you can do is consider looping of administrators, counseling staff. You can really do a move up day. Um that can be hard in some of our settings now because kids go to multiple different directions um in fifth grade and it really provides that stable friend group through the true feeders. So, when we were exploring this initially, um I was probably the most skeptical person in the room uh when it came to the
1805 6 system. In fact, we divided up as principals and ELT in the room and I was by myself in a corner um because I was the least interested in this model initially. But what sold me on exploring this more deeply is that this system gives us what we believe to be the best pathway to having a true feeder system, which is something that we've been talking about wanting in this district for many, many years. I've been in the district for 13 years um and I know that conversation has gone on long before I came here. So, what are the benefits of having true feeders where students who are in an elementary school will go to a single intermediate school together with uh four other uh elementary schools and then from that point forward, they'll
181go to the junior high and the high school together with the same group of kids for the next uh eight years. Uh that peer group stability is an extremely important part of this. Um although there are more transitions that will occur, the notion that I will transition once to a new group of friends, but then from that point forward, I'm with the same people for the next eight years during those most formative years, fifth through 12th grade, um is is extremely, extremely valuable. Um and avoiding the as Jocelyn pointed out, the crisscross that happens where I'm with a group of kids, then we split apart, and then sometimes we come back together, um which happens now uh especially I'll say for students at Kennedy where we bring in four of the middle schools come to
182our school. It's just very dis- disjoining for a lot of students. And the fear that a lot of students talk about isn't the new school, it is the people they don't know, the students that they don't know. So, we think that peer group stability really is a very valuable benefit of the true feeder system. Uh this process also allows us to implement fine arts and athletics in fifth and sixth grade, which we don't have uh as strong as we could now, certainly not in fifth grade. Uh it would allow us to do competitive intermural or interlogistic sports in fifth and sixth grade, which we don't offer at this point. Um and it would allow us to offer band, orchestra, vocal show choir in fifth grade, which our peer uh neighboring school districts are doing and
183we need to catch up with them on because we are behind when it comes to where we start uh the music programs that we have. Um it allows us to increase um the competitive programs that we have in the 7 8 level as well. As Jocelyn pointed out right now, because some of our middle schools don't have enough students interested, uh this consolidation will allow for uh larger populations at the 7 8 buildings and thus have operational teams, uh operational arts programs as well at that level and and likely more competitive programs at all of our middle schools. Uh we know that behavior is a consideration for a lot of folks. We think splitting away the 5 6 um from the 7 8 is beneficial, but we also believe that having a true feeder system
184where the high school, the intermediate school, and the middle school are all aligned to each other allows for us to do that vertical articulation of behavior expectations in a much more clear way where we can talk about how students that start off in that fifth grade program, you're going to be a ninth grader someday at Washington Jefferson or Kennedy. And thus, here's the expectations that are going to exist there. That's the same expectation you're going to have for the next four years between fifth and eighth grade. We think that could be a very important thing. And then that connection to the high school identity, which we've already heard about how important it is that students know where they're going to go to high school or the connection they have. Being able to build that up
185even stronger starting in fifth grade, it is hard now. We at the high school level can't go down to most of our middle schools and celebrate with the entire school because all of the schools that feed into Kennedy uh go to different middle or go go to different high schools. And it turns out that the Jefferson and the Washington families don't like Kennedy the Cougar uh you know, encouraging their kids to come over to Kennedy. So, we don't want to do that. We like We want to be able to have that consistency. So, having all three high schools, Wash, Jeff, and Kennedy be able to work with uh and and build up that identity with the middle schools uh with the intermediate schools, we think will have a really uh significant impact on students wanting
186to stay in our school district uh throughout their middle school and high school years and also building up that connection uh to what the expectations are when they get to high school. So, there we see a lot of benefit especially for preschool as we consider pre-K 4 option as well. So, allowing preschool to be in each elementary school starts our foundation with students earlier. Um while we appreciate and love Truman, there is that transition when we take students from Truman into the elementary school or potentially from other preschools and daycare centers and places. So, if we could offer a preschool option in every home school elementary school, that would be a big benefit from starting those foundational um relationships with families. Sort of like they said about setting the tone for how you're going to
187do school, all of that can start as early as three and four years old, which is a big benefit. So, every elementary would offer preschool. We'd be able to offer full-day preschool options in a way that we can't right now in our current system. Um it'll hopefully, if every if we approve this, then every elementary students living those neighborhoods would have access to preschool, which isn't always the case right now without sitting on a bus for 30 or 40 minutes to get across town. So, getting that into neighborhoods is really important as well. And then being able to consider the ages of the students coming in. So, while a transition from from fourth to fifth and then another one from eighth to ninth might feel like a lot of transitions for those middle years, that
188preschool transition can be very difficult for four-year-olds into five-year-olds, too. So, that's a benefit to the younger students. And what I found from having preschool in building and having pre- not having preschool, having that connection with families is huge. We have students that want to stay at our building simply because they started in our building. So, giving every op- um elementary that option will be huge for our community as well to build some of that foundational relationships with families. Um and then like we said, uh ensuring preschool spaces in every place and um allowing the redistribution of the Truman staff into the neighborhood schools will be into these PK 4 schools will be important, too. And I know somebody mentioned, this isn't on the slides and this is just my opinion as a as a
189principal. I know um there was a lot of talk or there was some talk from the community about how does this benefit anybody besides preschoolers? And when I think about our current fourth graders and giving them the opportunity to be leaders within the building, having them be the oldest students in the building and be able to set that, they still love coming to school. Um and and having them to be strong leaders in the building, I think that's a benefit as well. Really quick, um could I have the three of you just introduce yourselves to everybody here? Sorry, I'm Jenny Gable. I'm the elementary principal at Maple Grove Elementary. Jocelyn Hannah, principal at McKinley Steam Academy. Jason Klein, principal at Kennedy. And Director Newman, can you clarify we are waiting till the end of each
190of the presentations to the questioning, not throughout? Yes. Okay. So, some important things to consider um as we go forward with this and explore this is we need to make sure that we are identifying and we've heard a lot of the concerns tonight. We're identifying those concerns and addressing those concerns. Um we believe that that this is going to be a difficult transition. There's no question about that. Um it is not going to be simple to to do this. Um so, we need to make sure that there is opportunity for families impacted by changes to uh permit to schools if they wish to. Um as well considering continuity if a student is on permit, allowing them to consider in that that school of choice if a boundary were to change. Um and then providing that
191as intentional supports within the feeders for the students. Um we we think that it's very important that the board focuses on making sure that arts and athletics in those intermediate schools are a key part of this cuz we because we see this as a major draw for our schools. The the survey data show that that arts and sports were two of the top reasons that um parents chose our school district and we want to keep it that way. Um additional behavior supports in our pre-K four buildings as especially if they are larger and um making sure that our teachers have time to team uh appropriately and be prepared. And then uh the communication part of this is extraordinarily important, making sure that we lay out very clear timelines, providing every family clear understanding of the
192of the school path for their uh particular address is very very key. Next we're going to talk about how uh to understand how we got to this point um and looking at the individual uh school buildings. And so Chad is going to help us with that. We're changing to a different outcome, so I don't know did you want to do questions on that first outcome or how do you want to Okay, sounds good. So, the next outcome that we wanted to consider was understanding the process for determining the viability of school buildings. How do we go about getting to the list that we have shared with the community? So, the first thing we did is uh we wanted to create a goal that would help with sustainability um and making sure that we have a
193footprint in our district that is going to allow us to maximize our resources for our students. And we understand that capacity is one of the key indicators of that for our buildings. And we understand that we want to try to um go towards the goal of 1,400 students within each of our high schools, which is about 350 kids per grade level, uh which is allows us to have 700 at the 7-8 and 700 at the 5-6, and 500 at the PK-4 buildings. So, that was that was our goal in in trying to figure out uh what buildings would be viable to be able to be um able to hold that many students within those uh buildings. So, the survey also um guides our work and the survey asked the question to those that took that
194survey and you can kind of see that location, the geographic location of schools uh was about 58% of the people said that that was important to them. Uh student counts or capacities, enrollment balance uh again was important and the physical condition of the buildings uh was also important as well. So, those kind of rose to the top when we when we sent out our survey and asked people to weigh in on that. So, the guiding parameter that we came through our true north star was that we want try to accomplish a true feeder system with all of the options that we take a look at. A true feeder system allowing us to really uh have the benefits that our previous speakers have talked about tonight. Um determining the viability of the buildings within our current
195inventory, we had to first look at capacity and then we had to look at physical condition and then the cost savings. And those things started to allow us to take a look at um what our um buildings would rise to the top for uh the list of buildings. Next slide. All right, and then after that once we start to get into the uh building the attendance zones, then we're starting to look at location of the buildings, um enrollment balance, can we try to balance the enrollment across our different boundaries. The high school boundaries would play into that as well and the academic needs of our students. And I think that that was kind of brought out at our last meeting. Academic needs meaning all those different opportunities for enrichment and special populations within our buildings.
196So, knowing that those are our criteria that we are going to live by, we first started to look at capacities. And so Jocelyn's going to talk a little bit about that. So, um as principals in our meetings have kind of divided us up and so we had different committees that we were part of and so we could be part of kind of building the capacity, building our building capacity, our feeder system. We could be part of a communication team, so how are we communicating, what's the timeline? And then we could be part of the staffing. So, principals had an option and so our committee that really looked at boundaries, um we worked together to determine and create some sort of rubric that would go out to all principals. And on this rubric principals would share
197from their perspective what their building has because we could look at just their building map, but that doesn't tell us everything about how spaces are used, what the spaces are for, all those things. And so the rubric went out to building principals and they shared um what their they had a whole bunch of questions, so they had to share uh classroom space. One thing to note is like preschool, kindergarten, first grade have to be on a first floor. And so they had to tell us how many classrooms they had on a first floor. They had to tell us how many classrooms they had for second through fourth. What does their special space look like? So, do they have a dedicated art, music, IMC, um their gym space? And then we also looked at lunch rooms.
198So, how what's your capacity within your lunch room? What's the functionality within that lunch room? And they all can hold different capacities. How many shifts do you have to get through your kids now? What how many shifts would you need at 500? Um we looked at then remaining spaces for ELL, title, special ed, um specialized classrooms, so the sensory rooms. What other type spaces do you have in your building? What are you using them for? And then we also looked at playgrounds. So, we know that a preschool playground has to look different than a kindergarten through fourth or fifth grade playground. And so who has the preschool playgrounds, who doesn't, those kind of things. And from there principals completed that for us and then a small committee of us um got together and we took
199those rubrics and we put a point value on them. And so two means it was ready to go on the those things that we asked of them, so they were ready to go. A one means it's possible, but maybe just a little bit of work needs to happen. And a zero was it's just not feasible in that space. We can't add a classroom if there isn't enough classrooms in that building with those things. And so when we focused on capacity, uh we focused on whether a building could hold hold 500 students. And so that's those numbers on the previous screen showed you kind of how many in kindergarten. So, class sizes are huge, they're in that average number. And so from that we determined we needed 20 core classrooms in a building. So, that's the
200number we were looking at. And 10 of those classrooms have to meet the PK and to first grade requirement of being on a first floor. So, if it is a building that has two floors, we also had to ensure that they had 10 on that first floor to meet those expectations. And so we went through all of those pieces of things. If they scored a 15, that meant we there was enough capacity for us to go on to look at the rubric for 5-6. And so from there um if they scored a first a zero on capacity, so we knew that they could not hold in a 5-6, we were looking for approximately 30 to 34 classrooms, but we hit the number about 31 in the middle when we think about how many core classes
201we needed and then those offerings that Chad just talked about to ensure we had all those additional offerings at the 5-6 building that we had space for those as well. And so if they didn't have a capacity, they didn't have 31 classrooms in there, we did not continue to score the rubric cuz we knew that the rest of it was not going to come into play cuz we have to have 31 spaces. Um and what we discovered um from that is um the only elementary building that was viable um was Viola Gibson that had uh 31 classrooms. And our new buildings actually only have 28 in them. Um those are built differently um because they have a lot more small classroom sizes. They don't have traditional what you need for like core specials in them.
202And so that is how we discovered the buildings that are you're seeing for elementary um and then how we decided 5-6 had to stay with the current middle school buildings cuz those are the only buildings that have enough capacity other than Gibson with that. Um then we highlighted the buildings that would work for preschool through fourth with that 500 capacity. Um and that helped us kind of determine those. I know people have pointed out that area one sometimes has five schools in it and what we discovered as we will look at the whole thing here is that um there's only one new school in area one. And so that capacity piece of things, we need more buildings with that. Can I go back to my first question? We're we're going to get to it. I
203yeah. >> Yeah, for sure. Yeah, no problem. So, um through that process once we um took all the buildings through the um the process of looking at capacities, then we looked at physical condition. So, the next thing we looked at was ADA compliance, um whether or not they were fully ADA compliant, somewhat ADA compliant, or they would just were not. So, a zero, one, or two for that score. And then necessary improvements, uh we took a look at that and said uh they needed no improvements, uh low amount of improvements, a medium amount of improvements, high or very high amount of improvements. So, we scored zero through five on that. Once we shook those uh through that process, then we took a look at cost savings. And we based that on the data that we
204had uh gotten from our work with MA+ in the task force meeting and we took a look at the price per square foot to run a building. And we went from um a score of one, two, three, or four on that depending on the cost of price per square foot. So, the next slide shows you kind of how all these scores fell out. So, if you were to take a look at um area one, you can see that Trailside scored an 18, which is the highest score you can score um in that first line capacity. Now, the way we did this again what Jocelyn was saying is we took these through that first just looked at capacity alone only. Can we have the uh amount of students needed to be in those buildings? And so
205that was the first criteria. Once we were able to establish that, then we moved on to the physical condition of that building and you You of see how those start to fall out. You can also see that area two will have the new Hoover, new Van Buren, and West Willow. Now, these are all just recommendations of a scenario that is possible. That doesn't mean that this is the only scenario out there, but we wanted to try to stick with what we call our areas right now and take a look at those areas as they exist. So, that's kind of how we built these these models. So again, if we were to stick with those areas, area two would have three new buildings. Area three would have three new buildings if you consider Viola Gibson to
206be new in relationship to the rest of our buildings in our district, and they would have three new or newer buildings. And then area one would only have Trailside as one of our newer buildings. That's kind of why we have Johnson on there as an option if needed for capacity of buildings when we start to draw our boundaries. Now, this is all work that goes into before we even start to look at boundaries of these different things. And so, that's important to understand as we we take a look at how we kind of fell into the buildings that we're recommending for um this process. What do you notice or wonder about this? This is your chance to ask questions on this or just kind of make some comments. So, for the board. Okay, we're going
207to start at this end and so Laura, I'm going to give you the first opportunity to to ask questions. We'll come back if you if you don't have it ready. Okay, Cindy, do you do you want to take the next one? I think they might turn it on over there. Just use mine. Thank you. Can you review for me just real quick the buildings that have a physical condition of zero? Was that ADA compliance or what what was that? >> So, that would be like right would be that they're not ADA compliant. They have stairs that they do not have an elevator. And it also means that they are high on the needs for improvements to that building. Okay, so it's ADA and needs for improvement. >> Yep. Okay, thank you. We'll come back to
208me. Scott. Not right now. Ashley, not right now. Dr. Dr. Byers, Director Byers. Thank you. So, thank you for all this information and trying to just take all of this. So, the first thing that comes to mind is, you know, taking this model and these numbers and then balancing that with who are the kids in the schools. And when we take a school away, what does that look like for the neighborhood, for the students? You know, those are the things that I think we hear about tonight. So, it's hard to just take the numbers without taking into account, you know, going back to Johnson, taking that out of a neighborhood, what that does to that entire neighborhood. And when we even think about the way we develop our city, what that what those long-term repercussions
209might be. So, just kind of that's where my head is and that can go in a lot of directions. So, I know that there's a lot to consider, but I just want to bring that to the forefront. Because those are looped in, can we get like an ADA accessibility breakdown? Like which ones are actually not accessible? Do you have that like as a list that the board can see at some point? It doesn't have to be right this moment, but >> do have we have a full matrix. We can get it to you. Yes, for And then I was just I had a note. We can go back. I'll mention one more thing, but um thinking about preschool. So, let go I'll start there. Um we did have some schools who rolled out preschool last
210year. So, we have an idea of kind of how that roll out went. That's my concern is just we we can say, "Hey, you know, that's great. We we got a playground." You know, there's a lot of factors. There's a lot of factors. So, when what does that roll out actually look like? I want to make sure that that implementation, who's overseeing those teams to make sure that, you know, that's going to go smoothly. Um and how do we do we have the staff capacity to actually oversee that level of implementation in a year? So, um maybe you can talk a bit about that specifically around um paint a picture of how that, you know, major pulling Truman, pulling that into every building, what does that actually look like? Yeah, and I I guess I'm
211going to lean on others to talk about pre-kindergarten, preschool, and all of that. Sure. So, I can I can just speak from my experience. So, in preschool, right now in the current model, Monica and I both oversee preschool, right? I have preschool at Maple Grove. She oversees basically all of the preschool programming under my umbrella. I am still the evaluator for preschool. So, I'm in that preschool classroom. I'm still connected to the learning that's happening in there. I sit on the IEP meetings. I have those transition meetings when kiddos come from preschool into kindergarten. So, as far as like the supervision of the preschool program, that still falls to me as a building administrator. Monica's a huge asset to me if I have questions or things that I'm wondering because preschool is slightly different than
212kinder. It's a different experience. Um but we also have AK and I see AK as being a sort of in between. So, I I still supervise that as a building administrator. So, if I see this rolling into every elementary school, building administrators in those elementary would oversee that programming. Okay, that's helpful. I'm I'm trying to just, you know, you close a building, where do all those staff go? Do we have the staff at those buildings for those preschools? These are the things that, you know, what does that even look like logistically and how are we making sure our people are put into those roles? We hiring new people? Where are they coming from? And I don't I don't necessarily want to say that that's not an important question, but I wonder for me I'm going
213to back up a little bit because the comment about Johnson really it's important to understand that. I spent all a long time Saturday driving the city literally in my truck around these neighborhoods and trying to figure out if this building were to close, where would these kids go? And literally drove our district on Saturday thinking about all of this. And so, there's a lot of emotion there, but we also have that we understand that we're in a we're in a position where we have to think about things as well and look at things from a different lens. And so, the numbers speak to a a data and a formula that we we use to try to identify buildings, but we also understand that there's there's humans involved with that. So, I wanted to um double-click
214on that Director Byers and let you know that that's in our minds as well. Um so, when we stand up here and give data, it's we're we're trying to come from this with some mathematical equations, but we're also trying to think about how it impacts our district as a whole. Um and I think that once we get to a model, we're going to be able to answer some of those other questions much better, but I think we have to grapple with first um what is the right model? And these are some recommendations, but it doesn't mean that that's decisions have been made yet. So, I'll let if you want to, Rise, I'll let you speak to a little bit of the preschool, but I wanted to speak to that as well. >> correct me if
215if this isn't the time for that level of deep dive, I can pause on that, too, um and say, but I just want to make sure there is an opportunity These are the most pressing things and these are quick decisions. So, I want to make sure that we have some idea of what it what it looks like. I'm Monica Fry. I help oversee the early childhood for the district. I would be happy to answer questions. If this isn't the time for it, I'd be more than happy to sit with you or provide any information that you would like. We did have a really in-depth survey that we did send out to families that we did did gather some incredible information about what our community wants for preschool. I'd be happy to sit down and share
216that with you, look at numbers and all that kind of stuff cuz we do know that preschool is very important in our district. I'd be happy to share that information with you. Director Zimmerman. I was just going to ask a question and I know this is just elementary information we have right now, but with the proposed plans, we suggest that we put, you know, 5-6 and some of our oldest buildings who need the most work. So, I'm just I I just want to understand that rationale that some of, you know, these scores, yes, but what would those what would Roosevelt, Wilson, Franklin well, how would they score? Sure. So, number one, again, we looked at capacity first. And so, we knew that if we were going to have a 5-6 building of 700 and a
2177-8 building of 700, we had to have a building that could hold that many kids and have the classroom space that would be able to do that. We did take a look at our newer elementary buildings and could those possibly be used as a 5-6 building. We there's potential that that could possibly happen, but I think we'd have to re-evaluate what what programming we we could offer at those buildings then because there are classes like engineering and other things that we're able to offer if we have the space to do that. But with the with the classroom the number of classrooms in those buildings, we felt we would have to give up on some of the programming to put a 5-6 building into those newer buildings. So, those are some of the things that we
218grappled with as well. Just looking at capacities and looking at what buildings were viable, that's kind of how that was that process was taken through. Does that answer your question? Kind of. All right. I'm just going down the line. Director Garlock. Director Trzynski, Vice President Trzynski. I've got a few things, but I think I'd like to wait for the rest of the facility part of the presentation to be done. I think it'll make more sense when we put it all together. >> just going down the line. Mark. Director Byers, one last Is it possible then with the 4-1-1, 5-1-1? Like does it have to be an exact science on any part of town? So, you know, there's multiple closing in the northeast side of town, for example. Are there some considerations or flexibility because we
219just saw option one, option two. I'm wondering if if we can mix and match essentially. >> Yeah, and you guys are actually going to go be able to go through that process as a group here in a second. And we're going to give you the parameters of what we thought about. But real quick, I would say that number one, in each area you need a high school. And number two in each area you need two middle schools or two buildings that could hold an intermediate in the middle. And then from there you need four elementaries, possibly five. So, that's kind of the parameters and so there are some things you could do but those are other considerations to take in the we'll talk about that when you guys go through your process. So, clicking the
220next slide you can jot this down and maybe we'll come back to this later but is this process clear and are we missing anything and you guys can give us some feedback on that. So, the next slide then These were the options or the ideas that we were given to you and also to our community. And again, this is just when we took it into consideration again we looked at capacities. We looked at buildings that could hold elementaries and we looked at all those things that we talked about. We also tried to try to stay true to what we have in areas right now. Area one being Washington, area two being Jefferson, and area three being Kennedy. We tried to dis the least amount of disruption when we looked at this but that does not
221mean we can't look at other things. So, again this would be idea one and two for area one with McKinley and Wash or Franklin and McKinley being the 5678. Area two is area idea one was Wilson and Roosevelt as the 5678 and Wilson and Taft as the 5678. And then area three um idea one was Taft and Harding and then Roosevelt and Harding. Again, with those schools that scored on the lowest lower end the ones that were put on there for consideration to be consolidated. So, that kind of takes you through the method of our madness of how we got to where we're at and why we considered the schools we did. Um The additional ideas that we were were out there and we got a lot. I got some emails, I got some phone
222calls, I know others got emails and phone calls of ideas. And there are ideas of different various feeder patterns that we could possibly look at. We want to vet those, we want to look at those. And and when we talk about feeder pattern, it's really we're talking about the schools that then feed into the high school. We talk about boundaries we're talking about where does Chad Shamoka's kids go to school and that's the boundaries we draw. Within that boundary those kids go to this school. Feeder patterns are the schools that feed into the middle and intermediate and then into the high school and trying to keep all those together. So, we can shift feeder patterns around somewhat but once we identify our feeder patterns with those schools that go into the high school then we
223can start to draw our boundaries and start to say, "Okay, these four schools are going to go into that high school." Now, let's start to draw boundaries around that if that helps make sense. So, Chad I promised I would wait but I'm not going to. >> [laughter] >> I I think that's one of the things I heard a lot about in the emails I received and conversations I've had. Can you help me understand if if I'm you know if if I'm a parent and my kid's going to Franklin but I live close to Kennedy because Franklin's on the area one list with Washington. Does that mean my kid's going to Washington? Or if I live currently in the Taft area and Taft option one sends that to Kennedy. This is actually true cuz I do
224live in the Taft area. If if that that were the case would Kennedy then become my school? Can you I think you just addressed it but can you just hit that one more time for me? >> problem. So, our goal is to have a true feeder pattern within different areas of the of the district. So, for instance in a in a feeder pattern you would have four elementaries, one 56, one 78, and one high school. And so, once we identify the schools within a feeder pattern then we can start to draw boundaries around those to look at things like um distance from schools and how long will you be on a bus? Things like you know where you're at in the city and how you know you're sitting on the river or you're on First
225Avenue and all those things that go into looking at boundaries but we need to identify our feeder patterns first. I think that's what you're what you're saying. Yeah, maybe another way to ask it is if I attend Franklin right now does that 100% assure I'm going to Washington? If I attend on on those options. If I under option one if I attend Taft right now does that 100% assure I'm going to Kennedy? What I'm hearing is that that's not how that's set up. You're really truly just looking at buildings and how they go not where which student goes where. >> And it's interesting cuz you chose two schools that actually split. So, even today it doesn't guarantee that you go to those. In the future if Taft is identified as a school that would feed
226into Kennedy then if you attend Taft you're guaranteed to go to Kennedy. Right now you're not guaranteed cuz it does split. And if it's identified to feed into Jefferson if you go to Taft then you would guarantee to go to Jefferson but we have to identify those schools first. But but those those boundaries would change for those schools based upon where they're headed not Yep. not where they're at today. Thank you. Hopefully that's helpful to folks and and we can keep talking about it but I just appreciate you taking the time to hit that one. >> Yep. And so, we want to make sure we look at all feeder pattern configurations and we want to make sure that we vet or flush out all feeder pattern configurations. What we presented were some options. We feel
227strongly that the schools that have been identified are pretty solid on the ones that we are recommending for closure but we also want to make sure we vet all of the different configurations. Um We also Well, moving on to the next outcome we want to know that if we can generate a preferred feeder scenarios to review next time. So, what we're going to is this where we're going to transition into? And I think you're coming up to talk. Yes, we are. Yep. Okay. So, our next outcome is really around generating preferred feeder scenarios and we have a lot of information for you to be able to unpack to help you. I've heard we've we've seen option scenario one or option one or idea one being presented, idea two. There are many other ideas and given
228all of this information that you have now around the scoring matrix, how that was completed, we want to give you the opportunity to wrestle with some of those things cuz we also have additional consolidation criteria that we received feedback around in terms of geographical location and enrollment balance and high school boundaries do how how intact do they need to be? What are the expanded achievement student expanded opportunities for student achievement when we think about um the number of students who qualify for packed and ELL and free and reduced and those types of things that are all factors that we want you to be able to think about and we won't necessarily know some of those expanded opportunities until we hear back from you around here some here some things we want you to go test
229out and then we can bring back like real more real numbers around what those boundaries look like. So, what we want you to be able to do is take that into consideration and work in pairs to create your own scenarios. Um with with some very um with just a few guardrails. So, we'll go over those guardrails. Hey, speak real quick. Of course. And knowing that this is a two-step process, right? The first step is to identify the feeders. We're getting through that process and once we get through the process of identifying the feeders then we can move on to the boundaries. Feeders feed the high schools, boundaries tell our families where you're going to attend school. Can I just reiterate something that I heard a lot of families and we've been fielding a lot of
230emails. A couple of things I just feel like we need to be very sensitive with drawing boundaries. You know, families have reiterated over and over again they bought their home where they bought their home for a reason and we have to respect that. Also, a lot of you know, neighborhood schools like really placing value in those neighborhood schools and getting to close schools close by versus you know, well across town when they weren't prepared for that or didn't sign up for that. And so, I just wanted when families to know that when we're doing this we're going to be very respectful of that and like I think Chad you mentioned like these are options, there's some options and we haven't been able to really work them out and so, that's what we're hoping to do
231now with all of your input which we really appreciate. And and also I think just to remind you that the intermediate model is just being explored. This is exploration right now, this isn't what we're going to do. we realize that we need focus groups around all those different models that have been you know, 58 was brought up, K8. So, I think we just we need we owe that to our community to have more conversation about this kind of generational change that would happen. And so, just want to know that we hear you and we value that and we plan to do that when we're going through this exercise and we do appreciate all this work that you've done to give us these scenarios. And and again, we have to vet them and decide if this
232is what's best for our community. We plan to do that. I don't I don't mean to jump in again but I I sort of wanted to just take a step back cuz I I agree with that and I I guess I didn't realize we were To me when we're doing these exercises it does feel like we're kind of moving in this direction, right? So, I'm trying to go back to just we we want to make sure we're not violating trust by moving at this rapid speed, right? And I want to make sure that we do have other information on the table. I want to make sure that this isn't the only cuz we have limited time and I just um I want to be presented all the options for our reductions potentially instead of just
233instead of spending the work session solely on the one option. So, I I don't mean to blow it up, but I do Chad, if I could make a suggestion, I I know that you have an activity plan, but I think that the board is interested in understanding what options look like. I mean, there is a lot of I don't know if the word is creative, but I and I know that you've talked about a lot of different scenarios and we're trying to make something work, but you know, is there room for exploration of what different models, maybe even incorporating the intermediate model, but what it might look like and timelining that out over time versus trying to necessarily shoehorn it into this model right at this moment. >> [applause] >> I would I would welcome
234conversation from the rest of the the executive cabinet. I I guess for the director of operations, I kind of here's the information I gave to you as far as the the buildings and things go and they can speak to vetting other options. I'm also concerned that the research we mentioned is over 20 years old highlighting the benefits. At almost 40 Yep. All right, I'm going to ask I'm going to ask we hear you. I hear you, but I and that's important and we'll take that into consideration, but I do want to let them speak right now. Thank you. So, it's a great question and we would take direction from the board in terms of the options we have. So, let's just review where we started and then if we want to go a different The
235whole activity was to give us the scenarios that would allow us to take the ball and move it towards something you could actually evaluate and say, yes, no, let's try this. If there's other ways that we should be thinking about it, let's let's talk about it and get it out. Go ahead. I think sorry, I just I think we want to before we consider any cuts at the built at the school level, um we want to hear all of our other options. I think that's what we would prefer. So, you clear Yeah. So, just so we have clarity about where you would like to go. So, all of the other cuts uh that are on the list, you would like to shift into that conversation now before we continue to discuss any more about the
236consolidation one going forward cuz the only thing I will say is so just for clarity and we're here to take direction from the board. I just want to make sure we understand. And that is right now, we are looking at um depending on where the board lands, right? I I think we keep trying to be clear that we're clear about where the budget deficit exist. It's kind of up to the board in terms of how much of a budget deficit you want to absorb. We have presented $19 million worth of options. $6 million of that is around school consolidation when the model is fully implemented, right? Depending on how many buildings close. So, there's no way to like absorb or that we will get a return on a consolidation within 1 year. So, this is
237really not just about the budget. I think we're in If the principals, you're in the room and you can say it better than me, please come up to the microphone. I think when people started working through the options while we were having a budget conversation and all the other impacts of the budget. For example, staffing. So, right now part of the budget shows that we have over $2.8 million worth of staffing that will have to be cut out of the buildings, right? If we stay in the situation that we're in. So, what the schools have explained to us is that losing any more staff would be hard. It's hard on everything else that we are trying to accomplish. So, we've also heard, you know, directives we need to do better about the fine arts, but
238you could say maybe you don't want us to focus on the fine arts because you just rather have the schools. So, I I think it's about understanding how all of the pieces work together and again, as far as the intermediate model is concerned, it really is about one step at a time to understanding the model more. The elementary model was already out there. We can go back to that if you want to talk about consolidating other schools. The middle school model was already out there, but the cost and what it takes to do that, that wasn't approved by the community either. So, we're just saying to the community that we want better outcomes, better experiences for our students and we want to stabilize our budget in order to do that. In absence of a conversation
239about consolidation, that's the back to the right-sizing that we've been trying to do in this district for years. We have too many buildings. That's just a fact. If we want to keep the buildings, that's fine, um but even if we make all the other reductions, it will still not address the other needs and for a long-term solutions. I just want to be clear about that. We do have the other list of all the other cuts, the ELSC. I know people are talking about that. We want to make sure we explain all of those pieces. We have that ready to go for conversation tonight. We're ready to talk about it. Um I saw Jason coming up to the mic. I don't know if you were coming to add to the conversation. We just want to make
240sure we just get a clear path about what we're doing um and it doesn't mean that any decision that you make that it has to start this fall. It doesn't even have to start next year. We just have to have something to work with so that we can continue to address all the other issues in the school district. I certainly don't think I could say it better than that, but I would I just add that when this process started with the principals, the last thing any of us want to do is close our own buildings down. Like that's not something that any principal wants to do, but we also recognize that if we don't make changes to the inventory of the buildings that we have, then we are spending money on things that don't actually
241help our kids and we become less and less competitive with the other districts, with the private schools, with the charters if we're not able to fund those things. And so, if we look at that list of the 19 million, um one of those things is not giving teachers raises. Well, our teachers already not competitive in terms of salaries in many respects, especially starting teachers. And so, if we're not giving raises, we are losing teachers to other districts. We're losing teachers to other institutions. And so, from the principal perspective, we realize that this is extraordinarily hard and we you know, none of us want to make this decision, but given the situation that we're in, I think Dr. Grover put it very well. Like something we're going to spend the money one way or the other
242and we got to figure out how we can best spend it on the kids. And so, that's where that really came from initially with the principals. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. So, I just have a quick thought. So, you know, we're up here as a board and we represent, you know, students and student achievement. And so, I think one of the lenses that maybe we could try to refocus on or just get some more clarity around is just how are these specific things going to advance student achievement? When you put things on the table, right? Um is by closing a building, what do we gain? And I think that we're doing a decent job of showing that, but I think that there's a way that we could do better. And so, it it really is
243a question of what are we going to give up to gain? What are we going to gain if we lose? And I just think that there might be a way, I'm not sure yet, but to get that communication, that clarification out for all of us. I mean, yes, we all want to save our schools. We want that local community and what is in the best interest of the community at large and how do we all come together to try something different? Yeah, I I think it comes down to the point and I think we've we're saying it in many different ways. We have a choice to make. We we are in a budget situation that we need to address. So, the question is where do we put our money? Do we put it in brick
244and mortar? Do we put it in staff? And I would always vote for the people, for the staff because we know that the teacher in the front of the classroom or in the classroom is the most important influencer of learning. It's going to hurt to have to close some buildings, but they're buildings. They're brick and mortar. We need to keep our staff. We need to keep highly qualified staff. And that's like in the at the end of the day, if we want to give our staff a raise, that's $4.8 million. If we want the staffing to remain at the level it's at right now, that's $2.8 million. So, there's over $7 million that we would be investing in our staff. And I don't know if we need to survey that again, but it would seem
245to me that keeping our highly qualified staff should be at the top of our priority list. I Yeah. Please. I I think that's true. I don't I don't have any disagreement with that at all, Director Garlock. I think you said it very well. Um I I mean again, I've had 50-plus emails. I appreciate all the people in the room, the time you've spent here tonight. Um I I think and I I've heard a lot of people recognize the challenge we're in. What I'm hearing is there's concern about the speed at which we're making a generational change for our district. And that's tough. And and uh Jason, I I really appreciate what you said, too, and in bringing that home. Um and that's, you know, the the it shows the the situation we're in right now.
246Um I'll be honest, I'm not ready to do the exercise tonight. I don't think I'm there. I I I do I If somebody said show show the work, um and I I think we can do that. I I think we've got some of that stuff out there. We don't have maybe all of it, and we do need to get it out there. Um but we need to give time. There There's been huge value in the last 20 minutes or whatever it's been in what I've learned, because again as as it was pointed out, I I think I actually got my um uh my update on what it looked like about the same time I got my parent email about it. And And so we literally been working on this for a couple of days. And
247what I learned tonight um and and and the information I gained is is hugely valuable, but we need to do that in the community as well. And so um I I know there was a little disparity in what I think we've said so far about timelines and stuff like that and and waiting a year and and that sort of thing. So I think I think we need to spend time kind of discussing that and where we want to go on that. I mean I I would argue we we have to make a decision sooner rather than later. That's what I continue to hear here, because um for first of all, we we put staff in limbo. We've put um our our teach our um parents and our families in limbo. And so um you know,
248we can I'm not real comfortable waiting too long and and with the budget challenges, um while I don't want to treat it as an emergency that has to happen right away, I also don't want people waiting on that because there's a lot of impact um to to individuals and families there. Um At the same time, I'm a huge fan of of saying once we know what we want, let's get it right. Let's put our teachers on it. Let's put our our PTOs on it. Let's put our um you know, our our folks in the buildings on it and and get this thing done right. And so I'm a strong supporter of waiting until uh the fall 2027 to roll it out. Understanding that that's what then drives some of these other impacts that we have
249and and that that discussion. I'm also interested you know, in what what our I I I don't I hate spending reserve, but what is the ability to do that and and and those are the things I feel like we need to to figure out. I I mean I I'll be honest, I'd be interested in understanding people have brought up but K-8. I'm not sure how that even works in one of our buildings, especially since we're struggling, but let's let's know that it's ruled out. Um I've heard a lot about a 5-8 model. Um I in my head I'm trying to figure out how that works, too, because you know, there's only so many band rooms, there's only so many gyms, there's only and and and so I I I think I think the the work
250is there, right? I we just need to do the communication on that. And I've I'd like to do that before I do it. I mean I've got ideas about Bio Gibson. I mean I I I will point out the biggest thing I've noticed is we don't have a middle school for Kennedy right now, and that is making all of this harder right now. And I think it's something we'll have to come back and and have a conversation about in the future. Uh that's not tonight. Um but I I just There's a lot of stuff and I have questions, so I I've pontificated plenty there. I I imagine I'm sure some of you guys have seen the meme where it's like the guy I think it's from Always Sunny in Philadelphia where he's in front of
251the chart and the strings are all over and there's a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. That's kind of where I I picture Chad working on this um on any given day. Um I think we need to get to that level, too, where we are exploring those, where we are moving things around, and where we are trying to find uh the best scenario in conjunction with our public. So I appreciate the the work that went into create the exercise for the feeder school. We get the need for the feeder school. We have to figure out how we can do that with the least amount of disruption for our families and students, keeping our staff. And I know in a way I'm saying like eat have our cake and eat it, too. Um I know there
252are financial realities at play here. I know that there is going to be a while before we can realize some of these savings, but I think that we just we have options presented to us, but I don't feel like we have all the options at this point. I'm just wondering um Julian or Chad, could we do that activity as homework? Would it work as homework if you gave us some direction? No, because that's committing to a decision. We would really rather you not That's just committing to a decision. We all feel very strongly that you guys are promising us you're going to think about it and then saying just kidding, we're going to go home and do it. I apologize for being vocal, but I it it's Okay, that That's why I didn't ask. I
253understand that concern. I understand that concern. I think um what Director Garlock might be saying is this is this something that we can at least spend some time looking at at the maps as individuals and understand them. Um we do have some maps here. Um you know, I I heard loud and clear um the problems with finding data on our website, and I assure you that our communications team is working very hard to build a new website for you right now, but the one we have is it is not good. I hear you. Um but we need to get some of this data in a place where you can find it and you can go through it, too. We want you to have access to these maps where you can be looking at those as
254well. And then I think what we need to do is do this in more of a focused group scenario um rather than trying to I I don't know, almost performatively try to go over to the corner and try to figure it out as a group. I I think we understand the need for feeder schools. There is no doubt in my mind that feeder schools are important and the I really like the idea of keeping these kids together as cohorts cohorts from fifth all the way through 12th grade, because the social transition is the hardest. I'm not saying the other transitions are not, but the social transition, having watched my daughters go through it, it's brutal. It's really brutal. Um so I There are a lot of good things to take away from this, but we
255I don't think we are there yet. I was there at the year with pathways. It's not on the agenda. Yeah. Just because I don't want to create something that we are that we can't answer every question. Um I do understand that with pathways and feeders, I assume that you mean like if kids opt into a school that's not their home school. It was presented as you can pick because you were supposed to pick your pathway. I I can ask a question cuz I I had it on my list of questions. I I think I think one of the things we need to be looking at is is just how um you know, first of all, I know there's a conversations need to happen on pathways, right? I asked about that. Um and I know it's
256coming, but um but yeah, I mean the part of the model was if if you didn't have the program at your school that your kid was most interested in, you'd open enroll to that. And and I I think it I mean, I'm going to speak for myself. I don't I don't know what's in here. I don't I know that, but my my hope would be that we continue to leave it as open as possible so that students are still able to make the decisions that they need uh whether it's for pathways or for, you know, to be able to get, you know, brother sister from school after school or or whatever that that need is. Um I mean that's one of the things that I I know has given flexibility, and and I think I
257saw that maybe in the presentation that the goal would be to And And again, as part of thinking this through really deeply, of making sure that there's still that space that if a kid wants to to change their enrollment from you know, what would be their home school to another school, it would be available to them. That's Again, sorry. I That's my >> for the board uh then would be, you know, we we've all received a lot of emails, we've all received a lot of information, we've heard a lot of information here tonight. Um would our next board meeting with our our next work session be better off taking that time in that next week essentially to prepare our thoughts um and come to the table and talk about more options? Is that a better
258way to spend that next work session? I mean, it's in public, it's but we're we're taking sort of this week to do some of our own homework individually and coming to the table with the input we've received. What do we you know, I just want to take a temperature on that. I think that's great, and I also want to clarify that I'm not opposed to any of the things on the table, but it is it is rapid, it's fast. Um and it's really difficult to potentially vote on information that we're all still processing. Um and something that has been communicated many times, so um as we discuss, you know, the teacher how many teachers we have in our building compared to what that looked like in the past, we need to do that here as
259well. So um the board for that work session, if we can have some sort of breakdown of all of the roles at the ELSC, um all of those salaries, benefits, what's that total cost that we're spending here? Um and then if we can have a cross comparison of of what that looked like maybe 5 years ago. So we So we have an idea of what people are discussing. Um when that comes up repeatedly, I would like to be able to have more clarity on that. Um because just like we say we we need to right-size teachers based on students, I want to make sure that we're doing that, you know, here. We do. Is that So we still have additional slides for tonight, right? >> Yeah. So I'm I'm curious about how we can just
260get When we say get creative, you know, we have we're all sitting in this large building and if we need to get creative, you know, and we have lack of supports in buildings, like we need to consider other options of I mean, I'm just throwing stuff because at this point we've got to consider like how do we get some of the people from here into our buildings potentially if we have extra space there, you know, how do we think about these things? How do we utilize this space for some of our programs that we're paying other locations to house. You know, these are the things that I would like to better understand first before we're going forward to explore a new model. What What are those cost savings so it buys us time to make
261informed decisions for a potential 20 27. So, I'm going to ask the board this. I think we have some budget reduction slides to get through yet tonight. What do we think about reconfiguring that? And I know this screws up the timeline, but you know, we need to we need to take the time to do this right. What if our next work session is specifically around exploring the options to get to still, you know, potentially with theater piece of it in as our, you know, as our holy grail here, but working together with our administration team, which means kind of slicing and dicing data on the fly here. It's That's above my pay grade, but It doesn't bother us about the timeline. I just want to say that we are not pushing a timeline as administration.
262The building principals and the teachers themselves, they asked us to know. They said they want to know by the end of January, early February because it impacts our teacher contracts, whether or not people want to be in certain buildings, and all the anxiety. And we've even had to people say to us just rip the band-aid off because we've been talking about this conversation for 15 to 20 years. So, this is not about us driving that. I just want you to know that that we are willing to work around any timeline. I would just want to know from the board what are you expecting for us to bring back to you next week? Will you be bringing the options? Uh do you want to send the all the options have to be vetted. We have several
263options that people have submitted to us. We're summarizing them, looking at them. I think I just wanted you to understand especially for our staff so that we can speak to our staff as well. I think that's the reason why you saw within the results that the staff members almost 80% 70% to 80% of the staff members, they support the models. That also mean that, you know, 20% they don't. But the reason why they do is because they are living it every day in terms of how our current state is impacting them. As we also in the survey, we asked people, do you want to roll it out 26 or 27? Again, you can see it was split half and half, right? So, and I am even saying as a superintendent, yes, delay the roll out.
264I think the unknowns of people not knowing what we're going to do. And we also face this with the career pathways. That's why there's so much ambiguity. Right now, we got it a holding point. Is either like yes or no, what are we doing? We we just want what's best for kids, but we just have to have clear instructions on what do you need to make a decision and where are we going because I want to be transparent with the community. I don't want us in these budget deficits, but I'm also putting on the table to you in terms of the realities of why we are in the budget situation that we're in because this the the decisions, they're hard and they're tough, but they have to be made in order for us to get
265better as a school district. So, let me ask the board, what do we think about submitting your questions and potential scenarios? And we'll share that information out too. We won't I mean, we can we can share that at our board meeting um and make that available, but sending those questions and scenarios into let's just say our board secretary um over the next Well, we need to give our team time to prepare. So, you're going to have to do it fast. Uh tomorrow. Um let's say let's say Tuesday at this point in time. That is at least a good place to start from when we get together the Wait. Nope. Sorry, it's Monday now. We've got a meeting Monday. You need to get those in by Wednesday probably. So We still have a board meeting don't
266we? And we're talking about options and models, different models as well. So, not just what schools, right? But the different models. Okay. Would we have an opportunity to invite the community back into that conversation? That meeting is open. I guess I mean like hearing different proposals. I just feel like the more the more brains we have in the room, we can maybe come up with even a better, more creative option. Um so, I just wonder if we offer that one more time. Maybe on >> [applause] >> Wednesday? And I don't know if the best way to do that is via email the way we've been doing it or if we want to create some sort of input aspect of it. I'm sorry. What we could do is go through all the survey comments and look
267for ideas that were suggested. We could list all of those. We could ask people are any models missing, you know, from what they've already submitted and then we can start trying to give you the details behind it. We We appreciate the reason we got this idea is cuz we opened it up and we say it put every whatever you want on the wall, we're willing to investigate it. We say that same thing to the community. Just let us know. I know they might be tired of surveying. We have had community meetings, but you just don't get everybody in the room and that's the reason why we've been trying to do it both ways. We've been trying to also do a survey, then we've also been inviting people in the room and we can let you
268know all the ideas that have already surfaced through those conversations, a list of them to see if anything is missing. Okay. I'm sorry. We I'm sorry. We do not have additional time for public comment at this point in time. I encourage you to send it to the to the board as an email. So, all right. So, what I would like to do go ahead. One other point just to consider. We have a community coalition on Wednesday that we can incorporate this into. Um we'll see if we can figure out if we want to do that in addition to a survey. Um the other point that I needed to to nail home because I think there's some urgency on the timeline for this year and we talked about it the last time, but was around registration
269um and staffing. And so, getting to a solution, at least an immediate like what do we when do we tell parents they can sign up for our schools will directly impact enrollment for next year. Um so, just for consideration. Thank you. I know that we have additional slides that we need to get through and I think those are important to get to. I I'd like to So, I'm asking the board to do a lot of homework this week and get your questions in by Wednesday to Secretary Shelton. I encourage the public to email us. We do read every single one of those. There are a lot. We don't get to a chance to reply to every single one of them at least not in a timely manner and I apologize for that, but they do
270get read and they do matter. So, um please if you have ideas on this, I mean, we are looking for constructive solution-oriented ideas right now. So, and then we will roll up our sleeves on Monday and dig in on this and continue the work. So, I do think it's important we hear about the remaining um the remaining slides which are budget reduction proposals um because we will have to get to that at some point in time. So, if we can move into that, that would be great. Can I just have a clarifying point about the urgency cuz you mentioned that it is possible for a 2027, but we were there was a lot of urgency around the closing of the buildings initially. So, I just want to make sure we all as new board some
271new board members like and myself have an idea what did those reserves look like? What is the what are our options there? And That's something that we'll have to ask the staff to provide for. We need we need to be very careful about reserves, spending against reserves, and spending money that is a not a revenue stream and it's a one-time expense is can be very misguided and and indeed reckless and is why we are in the situation we are right now. So, if we do that, we just need to consider that it is a very short-term um piece of it and it shouldn't be the bulk of spending. >> And in no way do I think that's a sustainable model. I just want to have all the information so I know what that even looks
272like for our district and what our options are. All right. Um so, that is something that we would definitely need input from our finance department on. So, speaking of finance, we are moving on to the next round of slides. Okay. So, I'm here tonight to bring you the next round of reductions. And so, we're going to go through these one at a time just like we did last week. However, last week um I didn't go through the the one-pagers for the um audience or for those people online and we're going to do that tonight um to make sure that everybody has a good foundation of what we're presenting. So, the first one uh is it says last week, it should say this week. Um the first uh one on your uh right-hand side is um
273CityView. Consolidating CityView, Iowa Big, CRBA, and Home School. And so, I'm going to invite Adam up to talk through that. Adam, just one thing is that you you all should all have this printed for you in front of you. Yes. Does everybody at the board table have that? Okay. It's also online. It's also posted online for Yep. So one of our City View parents actually spoke to the proposal pretty um in a bygone way to you. He looked on the website or um someone else who had a conversation, but we didn't. Um but I think that speaks to the value of the programming that are defined here. Um these four programmings, City View um Home School Assistance, CRVA or the Virtual Academy and Iowa BIG all are alternatives, right? Where kids are looking for different
274programs. Um the proposal on the table is to bring those four entities together. They all operate separately with Iowa BIG and City View having some connection um to create solutions that families want. And so how do you know what families want? We surveyed families that left the district um specifically those who have looked for virtual or home school environments. Um and they said they would need it three things. We talked about this before, but flexible or hybrid schedules, individual academic support, and early college and career pathway opportunities specific specifically college credit. We think we have an opportunity here to bring kids back. Um what we do know now is two things. One, that we we have a budget deficit that we're running when you put these um programs together. We need to close that. Um
275and we do that through enrollment. So they are under under enrolled programs currently. Um so the goal is put them put these two these four programs together in a room with the staff members to create solutions around how um to increase enrollment around these priority areas that our parents or former parents have told us. Um we anticipate that this 215 number will grow um when we understand the program design. This is the first um of what could be a additional. I'll stop there. So when you're saying consolidation, you mean the building or the the space that they're at? They would be together and you're saying they would share staff to some degree? So I I think the building is a question um that we want to explore cuz each program has different needs. Home School
276families and Genie was here um Home School families need something different than a potential high school student. Um City View had a great um discussion of what they were looking for in Kirkwood was specific. The question is what can we do? I think we can find some efficiencies. I know we can find some efficiencies um and we'll bring that back later. Um but this would be the initial cuts that we found um to to really say we value these four programs and wanted to write by them and we think it's also an opportunity um for enrollment going forward. I see the City View's heavily funded through um the grant. I assume that's the uh the magnet school grant. That runs out eventually. So would you need to get it to a sustainable model over time?
277Um But uh the the building itself and and just for clarity, I had a kid who started in City View and missed some of the things you could do after school at their their home school and so she's back at Jefferson, but um the the building itself uh we're we're renting space from Kirkwood right now cuz I think some people still think we're at I've heard this a couple times, so I just want to make sure that we're still at the Metro Economic Alliance, but we're not. Correct. Iowa BIG is out of the upstairs of the Economic Alliance. Um City View is at Kirkwood. >> Okay. Thank you. Is there space that in in our current inventory that we could house them instead? I know some people have offered even like the LSC being used
278for the those student groups rather than paying rent? I think it is yes, there is space. I think the question is what are you giving up with the move and we just want to consider that more to to value the program that they have. I I just want to say one thing on that if I may, please. When we went to speak with the City View parents, still the decision is yours. I just want to state it that many of the students who attend City View, they just did not want to be in the larger high school environment. So we would just have to think about our other spaces that um would be small enough feel for them as we're looking at it. And initially we City View came with, you know, centering downtown with
279internships and that whole model and then we just moved out to Kirkwood, which it sounds like there's a lot of support for what's currently going on. I'm just trying to understand also with the Home School Assistance program then going down one like are I think of, you know, there's a Marion Home School location, for example. Um is there value in having like a central space for that? Is that program growing? Um do we have more context on on that specifically? Genie will come up. She actually directs our Home School program. Um so she'll facilitate it, so she'll explain. Uh good evening. My name is Genie Johnson. I'm the director of the Home School program here in Cedar Rapids. Yes, we have a lot of potential to grow our program in Cedar Rapids, which then would
280um potentially bring back students that have open enrolled to other districts. Marion's district is very large and they do have um one sustainable building for all of their Home School programming. The student enrollment for their Home School program is half of the Marion district's enrollment. So if you saw the Gazette article that came out about a week ago, that information was in there. Um the other thing the other big piece for me, I've been in this role for 5 years and we've continued to downsize it. And um because of enrollment, because of that $1.4 million that we're paying out for open enrollment, but that's because we're not offering as much as we used to in our programming for students who are Home Schooled. We're not offering those enrichment classes um the same amount of enrichment
281classes. We're not offering um community partnerships like we did. So becoming part of the City View umbrella, I think has a lot of potential for our students to grow and continue to stay Home Schooled for the reasons their parents have that choice. That's the biggest piece with Home School is continuing to allow parents to have choice. That's why I asked cuz we're in a time where that is huge and we need to consider that. We can't ignore that. Um and half of Marion district the trend we're trending in that direction. I you know, that's not what I wish for my students, but st- choice, right? And so we we just have to consider, you know, with the uptick in Home School across the US and if our program's dwindling, is that in the best interest
282of our community? Um so thank you for speaking to that. You're welcome. Other questions? The $770,000, is that all in up to date to date? That was current that was current year. Okay. Again, cuz of context wasn't here. Can is can we just while we're making the decisions um get information maybe for next time just so we have it like uh what did we what were all those costs to at the EA, you know, to operate that program, to build out that program? What does that look like now? What does it look like year to year so we can really get a sense of what um we need that number to look like consistently to um you know, the other points made if most of it is grant funded not a long-term plan. We have
283[laughter] a running one right and that running one is running out. So yeah. Heard. Okay. We'll go to the next. Hello again. Okay. Um I'm going to have Sara Cruise, our executive director of special uh services come up as well. Um I kind of want to talk a little bit about the number there. We are committing to next year being able to reduce our deficit across special education um services and spending by $2 million. For the board members that were uh with me last year as I um took over the behavior supports work that we were doing, you heard me talk a lot about digging into all the data and figuring out where we were um needing certain things. That process is what we've mimicked now um within the special education department. I think um
284Carla, Derek, they get lots of emails, phone calls, texts, uh knocks on their door from myself and Sara as we continue to dig and dig and dig. And here are kind of some overlying themes that we found. So in the past 10, maybe more years, we have transitioned um our approach to special education several times in our district, whether that be through leadership changes or just general um beliefs about how to best serve students. Where where that has left us is where we often end up having to band-aid things across buildings cuz we've gone from programming to reducing programming to increasing programming and it makes it very difficult for us to appropriately staff and program for our students. What it also creates is that we don't always have the number of spaces available in certain
285programming and that means we have to layer on a lot of additional support staff in buildings because we don't have space within that programming. So our first look at how to create efficiencies across our district is really looking at providing more narrowly focused programming across our district not only because that will create efficiencies in how we utilize our uh funding, but it will also allow us to better provide support for students. Um we know that there is a rising need, especially as we look at our earlier earliest learners, um our identification rate probably goes up most years um for our incoming kindergartner pre-K class. We know that we have to offer um services to meet their needs. We're a little a little on providing all the programming we need because we flip-flopped, frankly, several times
286over the past 10 years. Um Sarah has been wonderful in working on how to chart a course on how to move forward um with that for our students. That is where the bulk of these efficiencies will uh be able to be realized from as we get further direction on the board um when we talk about building inventories and things like that. That's the next step for us to go out and identify, right? Um in a few years down the road what are we going to be the buildings in our inventory? Working with Chad and the operations group on finding out where we can place those things. That's the work we're doing now, but we've started working through how we could appropriately staff those programs and identify efficiencies. You guys are really tall. All right. So,
287in addition to that, we're also looking for something that not only helps us create a a space for kids to thrive and succeed now, but what does sustainability look like going forward? What does it look like to be good stewards of our resources and what are we using as markers to to track that progress? And so, as part of this this work, we're shifting from being potentially more reactionary to more proactive. What does it look like for us to use data-informed decision-making, something that we lean very very very heavily on in the world of special education um as it pertains to our IEPs. So, how are we modeling that with our resource allocation? So, very much our our intent in in this proposal here this evening um as as we seek to continue to be
288more transparent and and not only our efforts, but our updates with you all as well as needs arise. What questions or clarifying points do you all have? When you say we flip-flopped multiple times, what do you What does that mean? I'll take a stab at it. Yeah, we could go back and forth on any certain question. Um so, um we've heard a lot tonight about research, right? There's a lot of research out there about how to best serve student students with disabilities. We have to um this is a difficult conversation to have, but we also have to balance the research with the financial realities that we're in. So, um when we have made some decisions on um there is some research that says you need to group students with like needs together. There is some
289research that says every student should attend their home school and be fully included in their general education environment. Those are um different beliefs, and there's a research to back both of those. Um we have gone back and forth between those two approaches, and where it has left us is where we're doing neither one very well, and we're also band-aiding in both of those um to address that. The current reality when it comes to the needs of our students and the growing needs of our students as well as our financial realities with the funding we're able to get for special education, we have to look towards narrowing our focus on programming to meet the needs of students and do it within our budget. Do you want to add to that? Do you mean narrow our focus
290by like cutting some out and just focusing on one like community partner? I guess what do you mean by narrowing our focus? Like the specific needs of the students or Sorry, community partner? I'm looking at maybe I'm student services department community partners. Is that what we're talking about? >> We're on special ed. Oh, for the love. No, it's okay. We're here to help. Um nope. That hopefully that >> fair, it was out of order. That was the first one, so that's makes sense. Our Our really our intent is to bring the the focus to the the explicit needs identified on the IEP. So, rather than having our children or try to program children to fit our schedule and what works for us, what is work What do our kids need from us um to to
291meet their needs? And we also as part of our work Remember last year the DDSDP? I presented that. Um we have to update that every 5 years, and that speaks to our full continuum of services and how how do we represent that throughout um the entirety of our of our district across the areas? We've tried really hard as part of some of our shaping and shifting to um replicate what that looks like across each area so we don't have to do a lot have a lot of students travel across district to receive the services and supports that they need, but how can we keep them potentially close to home and coming with their same-age peers up through the feeder um as we would hope to be able to do. But what we want to continue
292to do and what our department would would say that they've heard over and over again is what does the IEP say? What does the kid need, and does it match? And are we are we um are we providing all of those needs identified? A couple of things just a more of first a comment of hopefully we can get the model and and stick with it, and I think that's one of the things that that I I'm new here, I know, but um I hear that a lot of we all kind of went back and forth, and and I I think the goal should be to, you know, figure it out as best we can at that very moment and and do that. So, I appreciate that. Can And I don't know, maybe this is a
293Carla question. Maybe this is actually maybe one of our um advocates on the board. Why is the state not funding us to provide these programs? And do we advocate for that? How do we get that fixed? >> [applause] >> I mean, I get it, right? That's It's I'm going to go get arrested, I think. >> [laughter] >> Yes. Where is that gentleman from Pierce? Brian, come get the cuffs. >> to work on We're going to work on getting arrested. >> There's a resolution coming up, so there's a vote. >> Vote. Vote. Vote. Vote. And we're going to talk more about it in the resolution. Okay. Thank you. Do you have any other questions, Arnie? Thank you. Okay. So, we did skip community partners. They're out of order in your packet compared to how they are
294on the screen. So, we're going to now go to community partners, and Jen Van Fleet is going to talk about that. Hi, we're all up past our bedtimes, so now we can talk about community partners. Um so, what you see in your packet is a $150,000 reduction. This current year we had $750,000 that we spent on student services community partners. Um you can find those that we partnered with in your summary. And this year we are proposing for next Sorry, for next year we are proposing to go to a $600,000 budget, which would save us about $150,000. The way that we have looked at each community partner, the capacity that each partner has, and the return on investment with each community partner and what our students ultimately get, we actually have a plan that we
295are working on, and I mentioned this earlier when we were talking about the dropout prevention and at-risk program, where we are working with principals, and ultimately I think that most of our buildings are actually going to have even more access to these community partners with the way that we're reconfiguring based on need. So, I'm pretty excited about that. Um I feel very hopeful about the $600,000 and not dropping services. Um the partners that we're scaling back on or not continuing with is just about district dollars. We're having ongoing conversations with them about what other grant funding do they have? How can we partner with them to continue on? So, I feel very optimistic um and feel like this is a workable reduction without um removing services for our students. Are there any questions about what
296you see as far as an adjustment on that proposal? So, if I'm reading this right, I'm going through the current costs here on on the first page, and on the second page it says future context we would include certain partners, and it's really just one partner that's not listed there. Um but I don't quite understand how that comes out to the cost reduction. So, are we reducing costs or we reducing what we are paying the remaining partners? Uh so, a little bit of yet to be determined cuz what we're doing is we're working with each building principal. Um they've got some discretion there about where they want to lean with those partners and bring those services in based on their buildings, and so that will ultimately help us figure out exactly how much goes to
297each partner. So, it's an ongoing conversation with partners. Um with one partner we completely reduce that by again we're partnering with them on alternative funding, and then for a couple other partners we will come in at a a reduced um level that we can contribute, but they have other funding that they're working with as well. Okay, thank you. So, just confirming we're not losing any We're not like losing a social worker that just came into a building through this. No direct Okay, thank you. Just cuz I think it's always good to point out some of the good stuff that's happening. We Several of us had a chance to go to training and the experience there, but what I also learned is that thanks to their fundraising, we are getting full-time support in in not all
298of our schools. It'd be great to figure that out at some point, but um getting into a number of our schools, and we're paying significantly less for a well-trained individual to come in than because of their fundraising efforts and their support, so appreciate that. Yes, for sure. That's a huge I feel like I speak need to speak to Tanager Place only because I was at Roosevelt and as a as a teacher, and the Tanager therapist was phenomenal and did so much good work with our students. I wasn't there during a Kids First Peace facilitator facilitator, but I've heard amazing things about restorative practice kind of cutting off ex you know, escalations before they get arrive. So just really good programming here that we don't want to lose for sure. Absolutely and that was echoed by
299the principals in those listening sessions and in all the conversations that we're having. Any other questions? Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Okay, so next is software. Um and software reductions um is $300,000. And um primarily that's going to be through software audits and utilizations. Um right now we spend almost $3 million a year on on software. And moving forward the IT department is going to establish a review process to shoot ensure that all departments and schools understand um the software that's being purchased. And we will have an SOP that everybody has to follow um to purchase software in the district. And so it's the goal is to have foster a collaborative partnership with the schools and departments to ensure that every software investment is fiscally responsible and educationally impactful. Um so the savings will
300come from um tiered licensing optimization. We have a lot of departments that purchase different software. We don't have a sheet on this, I don't think. That's my fault. It was left off of we PDF'd printed it. So we can get that added. We'll get it added. Sorry. Um and then um core utilization uh retiring low engagement software which we have several um software that we we currently aren't really using that much. And then looking at how um softwares purchased on people's P cards. So all in all it's going to be $300,000 next year and it will be an ongoing process as software renews. Any questions about that? We'll get you the sheets. Okay. Who's involved in those conversations and when we would just retire the low engagement software we get we offload something system changes
301and whatnot. How do we go through those processes? >> Yep. So the IT department will run those processes. Right now they have um a form that you have to fill out if you want to purchase software. Not all departments and schools are utilizing that. So in the chief's update we will put out that um guidance and we will continue to um let everybody know as they purchase software what that looks like. Um some software we're purchasing one-off um licenses when we already have district-wide licenses and could add to those licenses cheaper than we can the one-offs. So uh a total look at all of our software. Okay. And next we're going to have Nicole talk about curriculum purchases. Good evening. I'm Nicole Brown executive director of curriculum and instruction. Um so here to talk a
302little bit about curriculum. Um so last year I was able to work with my team to really establish where we were across the board elementary, middle, high school and all of our different content areas as far as um when curriculums were purchased previously, how long the contracts are um because for all curriculums that you purchase um with the vendor or publishing company you get to choose if you are on a year um cycle. Some are 3 year, some might be up to 6 years. They obviously package it where I'm kind of like when you go to Costco like the more you buy the cheaper it is in the long run. Um so we really just kind of where are we as a district and um we're able to collect some really good data and we
303put together a standard operating procedure for how we're going to review curriculum. Um we created a 7 year um cycle. And so we really started digging in right away early this fall to the ones that we knew that we wanted to review. Um things were going pretty well or things were in motion uh and then budget conversations started happening and so we were at a place that um we had the opportunity to pause and reflect and look at which ones might we be able to extend further and were there any that the contracts running out at the end of the school year and we needed to be able to move forward with. Um so I have been um able over my last couple years here to have right just kind of shy of $2 million
304to work with for curriculum um and that includes large scale. So many of you were on the board, some of you were not. Couple years ago when we purchased and adopted CKLA that was a very large scale. Lots of teachers, lots of students were impacted, high price tag. Then we have um that all the way down to a smaller population like we might be looking at some special education curriculum that involves 17 teachers and 41 students. Um that's what we would consider pretty small scale, but all curriculums no matter if they're large scale or small scale are on that cycle and um we're able to review. So um this winter like I said we were able to collect some information from teachers and principals, um publishing companies just again kind of going back to where
305we were with everything and made some decisions on which ones we felt like we could pause um and which ones that we we couldn't because of um just the allocation timeline like I mentioned before. So all of that in short we were able to come up with saving around a million dollars if we pause on some of those for the most part larger scale curriculums and have them. I was kind of even tweaking it last night. I was texting with Jillian so I think you probably have the most updated document um but I don't know if there's any specific questions on any of those curriculums that are listed or just in general about the process or cycle that I go through. I just have a quick question. So I'm noticing um just in the italics
306that I read that it was important to note so pausing some larger curriculum purchases that there will be outstanding costs later on. Do we have any sense of just like how much we're talking? Is that a smaller amount or are we going to run into some trouble? And it's really like compounded. It's like one of the things that my team is working on right now is looking at so we created the cycle on paper the 6 to 7 year cycle. Well if we're pausing um certain ones this year, are we going to do them next year or we going to push what we were going to do next year off the next year. So for some of them I think we can push them off and extend, but for some we're going to have to
307do um more than we thought maybe next year. And so it's like it's evaluating that and um one thing that we definitely take a look at when we are creating the schedule is especially for the elementaries that teach the all four core content areas for the most part. Um we want to make sure that they're not implementing two new curriculums in one year and so that was something we were really strategic about. Last year new science standards were adopted and so we thought we were going to be moving forward with elementary science for next year. Um social studies standards are being adopted this year um but we know we're not going to ask elementary teachers to do science and social studies next year. So we're going to be at a place where we're going to
308get some input on which one they would rather do. Um but in some cases it does compound it because we're going to be running up against like for some of these it gives us a one year extension um but then there's others that we can't push off into the further year. So that was just like a financial note that pretty big cost savings right now for next year, but just something to be mindful of um moving forward that that we could kind of see that um kind of uptick in cost I guess some years. It's been interesting to learn about curriculum and purchases in this timeline and cycles around that just in this board role and um talking to other districts and you know, um how it's real unfortunate when you have a district in
309piecemealing different curriculum together and really some of these initiatives were to get us on the same page science of reading. These things change. We have to be up to date on um you know, what we're teaching and how we're teaching and so I understanding all of that and the level and time the level of implementation and how much time that takes. Um so I guess my question is coming from that scope. Like if we pause some of these things, are we going to have some ripple effects on down the way that we've really you know, we had these major purchases and now we're not actually implementing them properly. So it was all for not sort of thing. Like where do we how does that look like long term? Yeah, that's a great question. Um I
310actually think no. Um I actually think that this is giving us an opportunity to do a deeper dive. So for example, we were planning on piloting elementary science like actually right now like end of January, first part of February with being able to make a decision and purchase this spring to implement next year. Um we received some learning around a couple different options that we're looking at for science back in November and we've collected a lot of data and information and we've really tried to communicate with our teachers and our schools that that's not for nothing that we're going to be able to use that and just build off of it moving into next fall. It'll give us an opportunity to extend a pilot in the fall and not be so rushed in making that
311decision. One thing I definitely have learned in this role and this size of a district is ordering early is important. So that is definitely a goal that that I think will actually help and I actually feel really good about implementation is very important to me and I really feel good about where we are with all of our current even our newer current curriculums with how implementation is going in our schools. Nicole, I appreciate all the work that you've done to to organize all those so that we can actually see where the need is immediately and where we can maybe delay a little bit. I I will say just from my experience sometimes you get on a cycle and you're just you get new curriculum because you're on the cycle. And sometimes you don't really need
312that curriculum but who's going to turn down right new materials, you know, so I appreciate how much time you put into making sure that the need is there before we spend the money and and you know, vice versa sometimes you need it before it is actually your turn in the cycle. So I appreciate all your work there. Yeah, a couple points that thank you Cindy. Uh We are really blessed like one of the structures I've really helped to support the last couple years is to have curriculum and content leads and so our content leads for the most part are all full-time teachers and they've taken on this extra extra duty but they're experts in their area. So like especially our specials like music, PE, art and so we were able to have conversations with them
313about like do you need it next year? If you do we'll look at you know, considering that and if not can we pause it for a year and so just getting their expertise I think has been really helpful. So it's been great. That's a good point. You said we do currently have those curriculum content leads. >> Mhm. Yep. And do we compensate those individuals for that? Okay. Yep. Across the I'd be interested in learning more about that. Thank you. >> Yes. Yep. They have five extra days. One of those days is spent throughout the summer and the other days is really to help cuz they're really our main professional learning leads on our PL days like for example next Monday and then they're also our go-to when it comes to curriculum and resources, those kinds
314of things. So I appreciate all the information there. It's very interesting and I'd love to put a pin in this so we can come back when we're going to have another 3-hour meeting and and give Nicole some more time to to just walk through the whole process, how it works, who's involved and maybe bring some teachers in to talk about it too. That'd be great. Thank you. Hey Nicole, I just have one quick question. I think the survey results did say that staff was hoping to actually pause curriculum new curriculum. Am I right? Okay. Okay. So I wonder if we could just if and you probably have like teased out that feedback from them like how does this look? Do you just want more time in your current curriculum and is that okay? Is that
315So I just wanted to make sure that was noted that they had suggested that we pause that too. Yes and from that survey we actually sent individual surveys out to each of these curriculum areas to do just that. So we know that in some areas they actually wanted to and were excited to move forward and in some they're like let's slow down, let's give this process more time, those kinds of things. So we actually have really good data on on each of them. Any other questions? Okay, thank you. Okay and next is our backpack and supplemental based on enrollment. So last year when we rolled out the new staffing model, we have supplemental backpack fund allocation that goes to all the schools and it's based on enrollment. So for high school they get $134 for
316every free and reduced student, middle school 538 for every free and reduced and elementary 419. And that comes out to about $3 million. And then we also had another allocation which is $70 per student and that's strictly based on enrollment. So next year just due to the loss of enrollment of the 622 students that total allocation will go down to $3.8 million so it'll be a $200,000 reduction. Questions about >> So no change in per pupil funding for backpack, correct? We won't change their per pupil. Right. It's it's Yep, it'll stay the same. It's just if your if your building lost five students, you'll lose the appropriate allocation for those five students. >> Yeah, okay. Thank you. Yep. But we what I feel like there's other things to take into account there. Just the number
317game doesn't always take into account the population of students and needs in the building. So how do we factor in you know, those needs? You lost five students but maybe those students didn't need any assistance with you know, other supports that you need to bake in for other students. So help me understand like how that So it's based on free and reduced. So we rolled forward the free and reduced count or pulled the new free and reduced count. We also pulled um the the per pupil allocation. So just because you lost five students, they might be high levels needs students or low level but these funds are actually to supplement the staffing that you're already being being provided. So you're already being being provided ELL teachers, packed, special education. These are just to supplement those
318um allocations. Thank you. I misunderstood the current context versus future context there and just trying to get to the root of you know, our when we created that program Yes. do we feel like that ended up meeting all the needs? It was kind of we talked a lot about well, you can defer to the backpack funds. I just want to make sure that that now that we have some time that we've been sitting in that model do we feel like there have been gaps in backpack funds at certain schools and how do we continue to monitor that? >> they would like more backpack funds because they don't have very high free and reduced and they don't have very high enrollment. So our under enrolled elementaries that don't have a very high percentage of free and
319reduced aren't getting very much funding but they um also are typically not the schools who need the supplemental um staffing. They're schools who on the Iowa performance profile do pretty well and not the schools who um need more assistance. Thank you. Just trying to process and then how we collect that information just because I keep hearing you know, we're still understaffed or whatnot and we say backpack funds. I'm just not I want to make sure that that at this juncture covering the needs in those buildings and that we have that information from building leadership. Maybe that is the case. I just I would like clarity on do we feel like based on this model this is working across all of our schools cuz I would hate to reduce further. So that's where I am. Other
320questions? Just a clarity. This is the needs based arm of the model and so like the need is based on free and reduced lunch to try to cover some of the areas. I think the principals going to always feel like it's probably not enough money. It just kind of goes back to the fact of of what I think they've been trying to explain is how our system is built and we're so stretched across so many we're trying to spread the little money that we have across so many buildings. If a principal want to speak to it, come up. I don't want to over represent but and I don't want to over like state it cuz I don't think any of them would say that it's enough but I think it's a fair formula that we
321understand that this is based on free and reduced lunch. So she's right. She's right. Every principal will say we would like more resources. Again, I'll speak to my bigger building. I have the same allocation as I had at Nixon. The same number of administrators, the same number of coaches, the same number of secretaries, everything's the same. But I'm almost double the size. It's not equitable in that way. Now I'm fortunate because my free and reduced isn't high in some regard but the volume of students still is the volume of students. We still have at risk students. We still have a need there. So I think all principals say yes, we would love to and I think what Dr. Lennon is kind of referring to too is with being able to right-size the district and the
322schools we've been able to provide some of those supports with in this example 12 elementaries versus 17 or 18 or 19. So Perfect. Other questions about backpack and supplemental? Okay. We're going to move on to the staffing model. You don't have sheets on the staffing model. Um but the staffing you do? I don't. Okay, perfect. I'm glad you have sheets on the staffing model. I do not. Um, so the staffing model is truly um Cedar Rapids Community School District staffing model that we started last year. And taking the enrollment at all of our schools and putting it through the model with our current staffing that we have for the 25-26 school year. And looking at the rules and what we did was we didn't change any of the rules in the staffing model. And so
323the only thing that changes is teachers. And so teacher staffing changes based on enrollment. And um it'll be 33 teachers and uh a savings of $2.8 million. Questions? What? Oh, yeah. It's 33 FTE. I apologize. I'm the kid in the class talking while you're talking, but I was asking Jillian a clarifying point. Can you where are these teachers coming from? How are we determining that? Did you just go over that? I'm sorry. >> be Can we clarify? Do they have the I don't have the handout. >> There's a lot of numbers there though, so I'm just wanting like some >> Um, yep. So there should be uh a column in there that says um the reduction of teachers. Do you see it on the website? I can read it out. Okay. Okay. So it truly
324is just based on enrollment. So if it's it's based on enrollment, what's the likelihood we could get there with attrition? We will be able to get there with attrition. Um we turn over anywhere between 120 and 150 teachers a year. So um we will have that many teachers um leaving this year. So the 33 FTE uh will be through attrition. I I couldn't think that it wouldn't be. So we will not be just We won't be riffing teachers, [clears throat] no. That's what I'm Thank you. Yeah, we won't be riffing teachers. I just want to make a clarifying point cuz it's just like out of full like transparency. So this represents 33 FTEs. Yeah. Right? Which means that we could cover that through attrition. So when somebody leaves, we won't replace it. But this does
325mean that the schools will feel the impact. There will be one less body in their building. So I just want to be fair about that point. And it also might mean that teachers have to move. Which happens across our elementaries every summer. As enrollment comes in and people register, we can we keep track of that and we see where the schools are under enrolled. So right now we have some buildings that didn't get adjustments last summer based on we thought more kindergarteners were coming in than actually came. And so we will we do have buildings that it might say that they need to to um downsize one teacher, but they might not have any movement. And so then those teachers have to move to other buildings. And we continue to do that throughout the summer.
326One thing that's kind of coming to mind and a little concerning is is our class sizes. And I just want to know like what's our what are our average class sizes? What are our largest? What I cuz I I feel like taking away teachers is only going to compound any issues we have there. So I just I'm just wondering I get that we would be losing people who are already ready to leave, but I'm just worried if we don't say we're going to replace those people that that's going to affect our kids. So I just worry about that. >> class size caps. Um class size cap for pre-K is 20. Class size cap for kindergarten is 25. Uh first and second grade is 26. Third, fourth, and fifth is 28. Okay. That feels really large.
327And I feel like that's something and I know maybe that's not a conversation for tonight, but that is something I know that our staff and our families have consistently requested that we be kind of market comparison to other districts and make sure that you know, we've got these charters coming in saying, "Oh, well, we'll max at 22." You know, and so I know I know I maybe we're talking impossible things, but I think we need to be on that track for our families and for our staff. And so how do we how do we preserve this? I don't know. I'm asking the room. And I would agree with that. I I know that that was a huge adjustment for our teachers. I'm not I don't know the all the answers right now, but I do
328hear that. And so when I see that there's three teachers leaving a building, that's a significant impact for those buildings when it feels like we're adding these behavior supports, we're taking away teachers. I just I'm trying to understand how that makes sense given what teachers are looking for, what students want. And so maybe we can continue continue to have those conversations. Um so we can flush that out a a bit more. I I I just keep thinking it through and and I've had a lot of conversations too as we talked. I I I see sometimes as people say, "Oh, we're getting rid of buildings, so that means getting rid of teachers." This model is based on the number of students in the district and then in each building. So I mean I I I know
329it'll never be perfect, right? Cuz you're going to have some class that's specialized at the high school that's going to be, you know, 10 students cuz that's what they take, but it's a it's a key course to have. You're going to have, you know, uh probably even now with some of these schools that only have one section, it's probably even harder to regulate that a little bit. If they they could be smaller, they could be very big and and that that sort of thing. So so does does adjusting our school count help Yes. then with with that class size? Yes, because you're going to normalize across the district. So right now we have some um small buildings that have um in there maybe kindergarten or first grade, they might have 15 or 16 students. But
330I talked to a group of teachers at um one of our elementary buildings before Christmas and they were super excited because they had very low class sizes this year. And I said and the year before they had high class sizes. And I said what you have to remember is yes, this year you have 15 or 16, but somebody across town Maple Grove, West Willow um they have 25, 27. So it it it'll cycle through because right now some of the smallest class sizes are in buildings we haven't seen small class sizes in for a number of years, but they have small class sizes and then next year they will probably have larger class sizes than somebody else. So it kind of it it just moves around. Okay. I thought as we adjust this if we
331I'm just trying to think and I'd love the board to think through if we're going to adopt a new model at some point and consolidate in some way. And then this next year we're moving seven teachers here, five teachers here. I mean those are also now they're double impact for potentially not a longer term scenario. So again, just trying to balance those two things and the timeline around that and if it's if there's some what are the options essentially if we go one way or the other would be helpful context. And remember last year it was like 77 teachers. For every year you don't make the adjustment, the next year if we continue to lose enrollment, you're going to adjust more. So we were super lucky that the first year we did our staffing model
332it was 77 teachers. We were able to do that through attrition. If if you don't right size your district for a number of years again you're you're just compounding that problem and you'll get to where you're have to reduce 80 teachers again. And then it's harder for people like Dr. Waro to figure out all those moves. Okay? Okay, so the next thing we're going to jump back over to that we're going to talk for just a little bit about tonight is our ELSC reductions. And for ELSC uh we've committed to a half a million dollars. And um so you don't have anything about this in your packet. We just compiled this today, but in FY22 here at the ELSC, we had 214 um staff members. FY23, we had 189. FY24, we had 195. Uh FY25,
333we had 177. And for this year we have 153. The 153 is um based on the reductions we did last year. We reduced uh 27 FTE here at the ELSC uh for $1.8 million in salaries, $2.3 million with benefits. And um the ELSC salaries are 8% of the salaries across the entire district. And um the other thing for context that covers the superintendent's office, it covers the office of compliance, uh the office of innovation and research, office of human resources, um the office of business services, which includes accounting, business services, food and nutrition, purchasing, printing, warehousing, and uh printing and graphics, uh transportation, uh operations, custodial, building and grounds, food and nutrition, payroll and benefits. And then we have the three areas, and they cover um the area, so area one also includes curriculum, instruction,
334and assessment. Area two includes uh special services and behavior supports, and area three uh covers uh student services. And so I'm going to invite Dr. Waro up, and she's going to kind of give a little bit of a historical context about executive cabinet. Thank you. Well, thank you. I I've done a lot of things in this district. I don't think I've been here to to 10:30 at a board meeting. Um I do want to say just um Dr. Waro, I have been a teacher in this district for 30 years. Um and I went to school in this district. So I I think back about I was that class that when the ninth graders all moved, now I'm reliving what our parents went through. The ninth graders moved, the sixth graders moved. Like we did that.
335I lived through that, and I was okay, which I think now the relief I have when I saw the community here tonight. I've had just real relief because I've been worried about our bonds. I've been worried about does our community really care? Our community really cares as they have since I was a Cleveland Charger and a Jefferson Jayhawk. Like our community cares, and that is not lost on me, nor is it on the people that are here. Um I say that in that I actually was on the superintendent's cabinet when Dr. Benson was here. We had 12 people on the cabinet. As I do the count today, I think there's eight or nine on our cabinet. It gave me um I I work in human resources now. I came out of Wilson 2 years ago
336as a teacher at Wilson, and now I'm working on retention in our district, so we can I'll just take a breath on that. Um I think what we should bring to you is a true historic perspective of how um our executive directors have worked. When I was on that cabinet, um I I looked at it was a pretty small group, but when I left to go do some some things in Des Moines, there were three superintendent titles and seven executive director titles that sat on a cabinet of 17. So we have ebbed and flowed in this district on who's leading and what the state is asking for us at the time, what the community is asking for us at the time. And um I think we're not in new waters, we're in really really treacherous
337waters that our community cares and our staff care. And um I think taking this pause, uh Dr. Lena, and I think that's a great moment for us. Thank you. Pausing, thank you, board. Let's then also have some time to look at our staffing model. We were able to do that last year and do it with grace with our staff. I think we can do that again and use this time to make some plans for that in an even better way. So we will bring back to you a historic perspective. Carla, does that sound good? Okay. Any questions? When you say historic Thank you. And I think that's you know, feel emotional just even watching and talking to people tonight and um because we all care. Right. >> [sighs] >> And so thank you for speaking
338to that. Um historical perspective, huh. What How far back are we going? What does that look like? Um cuz I think you started And sure. >> 2022 with 214, and now we're down to 153. What did that look like pre-COVID? What are the new needs? >> Yeah, I think we could even start with um I would we were in FEMA trailers, and what did that cabinet look like? Cuz you would think it would be pretty pretty small, but a lot of decisions had to make had to be made after that, and I think you saw a cabinet and executive leadership team really grow. It got very large right after the FEMA after the flood of '08. And so I'm like, back [clears throat] in '08 but but really it did, it grew, and there was
339a reason for that. So I think we can look at what were the different um we had different grants that came in, and so that as you've seen, people had to had to monitor it that, and they were on cabinet for those reasons, or there was an executive director role for that. But there were at points in time there were deputy superintendent, there was superintendent associate superintendent, and superintendent. There were three that sat there. Along with the executive directors. So I think it's just it's good to see that that ebb and flow of our leadership. And so that's what I think we can bring back and show just just so you can can compare. I think we always say we've we've we put things out as a very drastic statements, so maybe we need to
340look at the facts that back that up. I wonder if we could also too look at like a market comparison of other districts similar to us, and just, you know, the administrative and leadership compensation, and just how that looks, and where we stand, and um you know, just make sure nothing is excessive where we are. You know, we want to be comparable. We can absolutely do that from human resources for you, for sure. Fellow Cleveland Charger and Jefferson Jayhawk. In fact, if you moved into ninth grade, you were the one of the first ninth graders. I missed you at Roseville probably because I moved into Roseville the year that happened. But um hey, I I I want to say thank you. I I I had sent an email about this not that long ago, and
341and this information is valuable. And again, I keep bringing it up because you you hear things things get shared, um and and I just I really wanted to understand what that number was. I knew we had the big significant cut last year, um but having that historical data, and and I would really appreciate. I know it's a lot of work, and you got to go through different systems and things like that, but I appreciate um that that history would be excellent um to share as well. Um we actually had a conversation come up when I attended the CREA meeting about this too. And and one of the struggles, and and I mean we all do a good job with this, but one of the struggles when you do the comparison is just that different districts
342have different titles. I mean, in in my business, what I do, I have one title, but if I switch to a different company, I'd have a a better title. Um you know, and that happens. And so I it's tough to do that, but I think if we can get that too, that would be fantastic just to to help understand, you know, and and just to get a sense as to what half a million dollars or a million dollars or, you know, 5 million dollars some of these shared you know, what that really means and how that impacts that. And and if we can get that list of all of the different groups too, you know, written down there, that'd be fantastic. So again, I appreciate that I asked for that last minute, but thank you
343for providing so much today. We are lucky. We have access to They're called budget books that Steve Graham used to do, and I can go back and look at all of them, and it has tons of data in there. Um so next time the board will be talking about all the recommendations from last week and this week, and talking about how they want to move forward with um all the reductions. I I don't think I got a full understanding when we talked about the historical perspective, but we didn't really get a breakdown of what ELSC reductions look like. Can we have that by next time we meet? Okay. Thank you. Do we have other stuff we need to do? Okay. Oh, we got got to ask one question just for compliance officer on that particular
344subject. Yes, we're committed to the ELSC reductions, and right now we have the 500,000. Is this the question I'm supposed to ask? And I think it's about landing on the amount of reductions, and then we can come back and talk about what they are supposed to be. Is Just want to make sure I'm following through the steps. >> And that's where I struggle too, because I would rather know to the earlier point, like what do those supports look like? What do we need first you know, what it What is the structure of that? How do they support our schools? What are the options there? Because it's it's hard to just put a number. Um so it'd be great to just have a breakdown and the the historical comparison to truly get to what that might
345be, and make sure that we're still adequately serving our students and staff. Sure. So there are a couple of different ways to look at this, but the starting point in any event is that um through the particular policy in the board manual, the superintendent decides how to organize the administration. So um in close consultation with outside counsel who um, can give us some ideas about best practices across the state. Um, the idea would be that um, the board will weigh in once there's a a general plan for restructuring. But before that, Bless you. >> the the board will just, um, be receiving information from the superintendent for awareness purposes. So, I think what what's going on right now is that, um, Dr. Linnan is telling you that um, we are comfortable committing to $500,000 in
346reductions in ELSC, but then she's going to need to take that back and figure out um, where those cuts will be and provide you a general plan without identifying specific, um, FTEs or positions. So, it's a little bit different than talking about a line by line budget item and and giving you information, for instance, about mentoring and and induction because you're talking about the administrative team which, according to the board manual, is organized according to the superintendent's discretion. So, I'm sure that, you know, it's a collaborative effort between the board and the superintendent, but it is a little bit, um, more in vested in the superintendent's discretion. Not to say she's not going to share it with you, but the voting that the board does will be when it comes to hiring or firing. Am
347I >> Can I summarize that? Is this correct that the board's responsibility lies primarily in the financial aspect Yes. >> of that reorganization rather than the actual people or job titles? That's spot on. Okay, thank you. Yeah, across the district, right? I mean, the board doesn't say cut this person from this school. True. Um, or so. Okay, thank you. Yes. Any other questions? And with that being said, cuz I never intended to go that deep. I'm just trying to get a general sense of is it are we in compliance then to just understand what are, without naming names, how much are we spending at the ELSC for, you know, a total benefits include, you know, what is that because we just don't have that. I prefer I'd like to have some of those numbers is
348what I'm hoping to get out. >> what you're going to be getting. First of all, in a in a more generalized format, um, and then the by approving sort of a general, um, plan for restructuring, say, um, you know, we're going to we're going to reduce, um, over in student services or we're going to reduce, but we're she's not going to tell you how many positions or whatever. And then, um, once you give the superintendent authority to go back and operate within that general plan, then she will come up with more specific, um, recommendations, a more specific plan, and then sh um, it has to be consistent with the general plan, but that's what gives her the authority to go in and make more precise decisions. And then at some point, um, it's the superintendent
349who carries out any restructuring, any reductions. And then the final thing that the board will vote on will be the personnel report, the actions for recommend recommending hiring and firing. Thank you. Do we have additional slides? Are we at the end of that? Okay. I know it's very late and I'm super impressed that there are still this many people here. So, um, give yourselves a round of applause for that. Um, so, um, with that, we do have kind of our marching orders as the board for the next, um, between now and Wednesday to submit your questions and potential scenarios to board secretary Shelly that we can review and talk about that in our next work session. Um, with that, I want to provide a notice that the next board meeting will take place Monday, January
3509th, or January 19th, 2026. That's next Monday. Um, do we have a motion to adopt Do you have a resolution on this? Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry. It's Yep, I I totally totally missed it. I know you're not. I'm sorry. >> [clears throat] >> Forgive me. It's late. Okay, our last item tonight before we adjourn is under board governance and it is a resolution urging the Iowa governor and state legislature to fully fund public schools and phase out education savings accounts and I will turn the meeting over to Director Garlock for comments. I'm actually turning it over to Director Burns. She's going to open the comments and then we'll open it to the rest of the board for comments. And now for the longest part of the meeting. Just kidding. Um, so, I just want
351to be very clear about why, um, we're bringing forth this this resolution and I just want it's been what, 5 hours now and I just want all of us to to think for just a moment about how tired we are right now, how frustrated and how just kind of mad at the system we might be. Um, but part of this has to do with what is happening at the state level. And so, tonight we are putting forth a resolution, um, as organized by, I always forget the name, the Iowa citizens, um, for just a minute, community impact and their organization is called Public School Strong and that is what they're working for. It's an initiative. So, I'm just going to read the So, the resolution, the two things, I'll spare you the entirety of it,
352but just the two, um, points that we are putting forward tonight. So, number one, the Cedar Rapids Community School District Board of Education does hereby urge the governor of Iowa and the Iowa State Legislature to fully fund public schools by an annual 5% increase in state supplemental aid or SSA rate adjusted for inflation and two, the Cedar Rapids Community School District Board of Education does hereby petition the governor of Iowa and the Iowa State Legislature to keep the income cap on education savings accounts, ESAs, to phase out the ESA program over the next 5 years and to use public funds for public schools only. So, just a little bit of context. Today is the first day of the legislative session as I think most of us know. And every decision, every difficult decision that we
353face as a board and as a community right now, budget reductions, staffing pressures and questions about program sustainability, is made harder by state funding choices beyond our control. So, this resolution is here to connect those dots for us. Um, it's no doubt that this is painful, but this is not just a Cedar Rapids issue. It is a systemic issue affecting school districts across Iowa and that distinction really matters. Um, so, here are the facts. So, according to the Iowa State Education Association, um, SSA an SSA of below 5% means that more more than 200 districts statewide, particularly our rural districts, will not receive enough state funding to keep up with declining enrollment and rising costs. At the same time, student sorry, state supplemental aid has averaged just 2% annually since 2012. That does not keep
354pace with inflation, staffing, transportation, special ed, or student supports. It is not sustainable as I think we've seen tonight and it is another key reason districts like ours are forced into conversations about reductions. Just for a point of reference and some context here, the estimated cost of those education savings accounts vouchers for the 25-26 school year is $315 million. That is roughly the equivalent of a 5% increase in per pupil funding for every public school student in Iowa. So, before us tonight, this resolution, across the state, school boards are responding by adopting this resolution. Districts including Decorah, Keokuk, Albia, Belle Plaine, Camanche, and Bennett have already adopted this resolution. So, tonight, it is myself and the advocacy committee on the board who are bringing forth this resolution, um, for a vote. Do you have anything
355to add? >> I of course I have something to add. I'm sorry to keep everyone, um, I the the gentleman from Pierce, uh, made the case better than I think any of us up here can. We are in the situation that we're in for a variety of reasons, but two of them at the very top of the list are insufficient SSA over a long period of time and the use of educational savings accounts. Director Burns referenced the $315 million that are going to vouchers this year. All told so far, there's been it's been nearly a billion dollars of your tax dollars that have gone to the ESAs. A billion dollars. Think about what that could do for us here in a public school that takes every student in this community and provides whatever service is
356required by that student and that family. We would not be sitting here tonight at almost 11:00 discussing budget. So, we are inviting the board to approve this resolution. We are also inviting other school districts around the state to join us in a collective effort to send a strong message to our state legislature and to our governor. That 5% is what we need and we need to phase out the ESAs. Thank you. Any other questions or comments from any other board members? >> [snorts] >> Okay. Um do we have a motion to approve the resolution urging the Iowa governor and state legislature to fully fund public schools and phase out education savings accounts? So moved. Do we have a second? >> Second. Um all those in favor Oh, this is a roll call vote. Director Byers.
357I. Director Burns. I. Vice President Ruschinski. I. Director Garlock. I. Director Zimmerman. I. Director Timinsky. I. President Erwin. I. Resolution passes. Thank you. Um and finally, uh do we have a motion to adjourn the meeting? So moved. A second. Second. >> Okay. All those in favor say I. Opposed say nay. If we waited one more minute, it's 10:45. Um with no further business, we stand adjourned at 10:44 p.m.