001I now call the board of education regular meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Is there a motion to approve the agenda for Monday, October 27th, 2025? So, >> I don't think they can hear you. >> I don't think our mics are on. >> Okay, now I think it is. Say something. >> Okay. Can you hear me now? >> Yeah, your mic is on. >> Okay. >> Is the mic on? Okay, we're going to start over. I now call the board of education regular meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Is there a motion to approve the agenda for Monday, October 27th, 2025? >> So move. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed, same sign. Next, we are going to pass the meeting to the
002area chiefs for our student highlights. Ri. [snorts] Okay. [clears throat] All right. I have Skyla Nakamus here. She's a fourth grader at Cedar River Academy. Skyla is an articulate communicator and flexible thinker who shines both in and out of the classroom. She leads by example, showing kindness, curiosity, and a strong sense of responsibility in everything she does. Skyla is a fun and thoughtful young girl who brings true joy to those around her while remaining deeply focused on her learning. Each day, she challenges herself to think critically, reflect on her growth, and discover new ways to learn. Her positive attitude and dedication make her a true true role model for her peers and a joy to have in class and at CRA. Good job. [applause] >> No screen. >> Who's next? Oh, they put up the
003>> All right. I'm Josyn Hannah. I'm the principal at McKinley Steam Academy and I'm here to honor Evelyn. So, Evelyn is one of our McKinley Steam Academyy's outstanding student leaders. Evelyn is a model example of what it means to be a McKinley Bear. She's fully engaged in both of our areas of our magnet theme, fine arts and medical sciences. And she embraces every opportunity to learn, contribute, and lead. Whether she's in the classroom, on stage, or behind the scenes, she consistently demonstrates excellence and commitment. Her leadership extends beyond academics. Evelyn serves as a student ambassador, welcoming guests and proudly sharing our story of McKinley Steam Academy with visitors. She's an active member of our culinary club. showcasing her creativity and teamwork. And she plays a critical role uh role in our tech crew. She's probably
004the only other person in our building who knows how to run that soundboard. So, she serves as the sound engineer for every auditorium performance, a responsibility that requires focus, precision, and reliability. Evelyn's impact is felt across every corner of our school. She's a student who not only participates in opportunities but seeks them out using each experience to grow her own skills while uplifting those around her. She embodies curiosity, dedication, and leadership, inspiring both peers and teachers. We could not be more grateful to have Evelyn as part of our McKenley family. She represents the very best of who we are as a school community, and we are so proud to celebrate her accomplish tonight. THERE YOU GO. [applause] ALL RIGHT. WELL, good evening. Uh, tonight we have two uh, students from area 3. Um, Miguel Henry,
005who we heard about last meeting, is here again because I, due an oversight on my part, I his family wasn't here. And I'm glad that we redid this because the whole family filled up the whole first row. So, let's get to it. All right, Miguel. Um, our spotlight is from Harding Middle School. Miguel Henry faces unique challenges um that most middle schoolers do not. Despite this, Miguel has shown true grit and continues to put forth 110% in school. When given the opportunity to use accommodations, he pushes himself to be in class. Miguel wants to participate. He's engaged and is a good advocate for himself. In addition, Miguel is a thoughtful and kind classmate. He shows respect to those around him and follows the school expectations consistently, often modeling for others to do the same. He
006also participates on the Harding football, basketball, wrestling, and soccer teams. Miguel would love to be able to play sports professionally, but he states that if it doesn't work out, he might try the military or college for marketing or engineering. One day, while visiting Principal Johnson's office for a good visit, not because he was in trouble, uh he noticed a framed letter on the wall from former President Barack Obama congratulating and recognizing students at Harding Middle School for the President's Education Award. Miguel was excited and impressed by the letter and someday hopes to reach the same level of excellence. Congratulations to Miguel. >> All right, [applause] you're here. >> There you are, sir. All right. You bet. Thanks. All right. [applause] And then we have a area 3 high school student to be recognized tonight, Kate
007Maccgau. Okay. So tonight we honor Kate who is a senior at Metro High School. Kate exemplifies the portrait of a CRCSD graduate through her academic success and participation in extracurricular activities. Kate will be graduating from Metro this upcoming spring and plans to attend Capri right after graduation. Kate has been active in Steam Academy at Metro and participated in Metro's summer trip to Prague, representing Metro and CRSD on an international level. So, congratulations to Kate. [applause] >> We'll have all of our student spotlights come on up front and we'll take a picture. So, our situ >> All right. Smile on me. One, two, three. [applause] >> Great job. >> Thank you. And congratulations to all of our students. job. Well done. >> Uh before uh President Garlock, before our parents leave, I just want to acknowledge
008our parents and their family members in the room. Could we [cheering] give them a big round of applause? [applause] >> Thank you for coming. >> Bye. >> Awesome. She's adorable. >> Was that everybody? [laughter] >> Okay. Thank you. >> Tonight, Director Jennifer Borcharding will be providing our staff highlight. >> Thank you, President Garlock. Tonight, we are proud to recognize Justin Schaefer. [cheering] [applause] Yes, kind of running the show right now. Justin Schaefer, multimedia communication specialist for the Cedar Rapids Community School District. Justin has served our district for 23 years and during that time, he has become an indispensable part of our communications team and truly of our entire district. Justin is the first staff member to be recognized in all three categories of our new cultural framework. care, clarity, and communication through our sta staff
009shout out program. That achievement speaks volumes about who he is and how he shows up for others every single day. Justin is the very definition of a team player. In addition to his actual job, which includes producing videos that showcase the amazing things happening throughout our district, managing the district website, and coordinating public records requests to being the voice of those schools canled calls [laughter] he gets he gets to make it 4:30 in the morning to send on winter weather delays and running our board meetings live stream. He also somehow finds time to serve on the district's calendar committee, art committee, and the ELSC building emergency response team, drive a school bus when needed, organize ELSC's beloved winter soup group, and lend a helping hand whenever and wherever needed. Justin does it all with humility,
010professionalism, and a willingness to help wherever he's needed. Simply put, Justin is the go-to person for anyone with a question about anything in the district. Oh, no pressure. And if he doesn't know the answer, he knows exactly who does. His colleagues describe him as kind, patient, and always willing to lend a hand. They shared that he is the man behind the mirrors, someone who works tirelessly, often behind the scenes, to make sure our communication is clear, timely, and transparent. One colleague [laughter] summed it up perfectly saying >> there's more two more pages. >> There's so much awesomeness to recognize. So >> one colleague summed it up perfectly saying we see you Justin and we greatly appreciate you. Justin on behalf of the board of education thank you for your dedication your care and the excellence
011you bring to your work. You set a high standard for what it means to serve our students. staff and community, congratulations on this well-deserved recognition. [applause] [laughter] >> Thank you, Justin. Tonight, we have one, [clears throat] excuse me, one public hearing for the Cedar Rapids Community School District. It's the Cedar Rapids Community School District instruct instructional time reporting in hours versus days for the 2026 2027 school year. Board Secretary Schulty, have we received any written correspondence related to the public hearing on tonight's agenda? >> We have not received any correspondence. >> Do we have anyone who is requested to address the board this evening regarding the published hearing? >> We have no requests. >> Okay. The aforementioned public hearing is now closed. Moving on, we'll now hear from those who have requested time to address
012the board. Board Secretary Schulty, do we have any requests this evening? >> We have no requests. >> Oh my goodness. Okay, then moving right along, we will go on to the superintendent report. Dr. Grover, you're up. >> Yes. Thank you, President Gerlock, and thank you to the board of education for prioritizing our students and staff and providing opportunities to acknowledge them. What a beautiful evening to do so. I'd like to start here uh with priority area number one. So, thanks to our safe and secure learning team, we are now implementing the new statewide stop the Prop initiative that was developed by the Iowa Association of School Boards to reinforce our strategic commitment to priority area number one, safe and secure learning environments. The campaign addresses the critical safety risk that is posed by propping over
013exterior doors which compromises our secure perimeter and allow unauthorized access. By standardizing the practice of keeping all exterior doors closed and locked, we are enhancing our operational security. This initial action involved safe and secure learning team placing high visibility stop the prop reminder stickers which were provided to us by ISB on all of the exterior doors across every building to serve as a constant visual cue to reinforce for staff and students compliance with our established protocols along with the trainings we provide each year. Priority area number two, prepare for life. Our commitment to priority area number two is powerfully demonstrated through the breath and rigor of the Cedar Rapids Community School District's advanced placement program. AP courses are crucial stepping stones providing students with a genuine college level experience while still in high school. AP
014offers 40 courses. The Cedar Rapids Community School District offers the offers the highest number in the metro area. Each year, we offer from 30 to 35 courses over a two-year span. Over the last three school years, we have grown in the number of students that are enrolled in our AP courses by 9%. That 9% represents an additional 206 students who are now participating in advanced placement classes. This improvement is a direct result of our focus on ensuring every student is college and career ready. Thank you for the to the board of education for continuing to prioritize college and career readiness because research does show that students who take one AP course have a higher probability of being successful in college. To truly illustrate the value of this program, we would like to now share a
015brief video spotlight featuring one of our recent AP students discussing how these challenging courses prepared them for their current success. >> I'm in AP human geography. >> I'm taking AP psych. >> I'm taking AP stats. Throughout high school, I've taken six AP classes. I like AP classes because they're more fast-paced and more indepth >> and the normal classes weren't as challenging enough. >> When you're in the AP classes, there's usually less people in your class, [music] so you get more one-on-one time with the teachers, which makes it easier to learn. >> I like the AP courses because I feel like they [music] help prepare me for college and just my future education. >> And you also get to earn college credit with them, which is great. Cedar Rapids Community Schools offers 30 unique different types
016[music] of AP classes. Of those 30 unique classes, we have a grand total of 115 sections [music] across Jefferson, Kennedy, and Washington high schools. A few of the classes that we offer happen to only be offered in our district every other year because they're very unique or individualized types of classes. offer about 35 of the 40 different options [music] that there are from AP. >> I'm taking AP physics. >> I'm in AP environmental science. I'm an AP Langen comp. >> I'm an AP pre-calculus. >> I'm taking AP world. I'm taking AP Euro. >> AP is different from other classes because [music] of basically the amount of rigor. It is like taking a college class in high school. It goes ahead and gives [music] students the advantage of knowing what it's like to take a college
017class while they're in the comfort [music] such as a high school classroom where they're able to go ahead and succeed with the great teachers that we have. >> Made me realize that maybe I wasn't challenging myself enough in normal classes. >> In my personal opinion, you should take an AP class if you feel that you are like good at that subject. I think if they're curious about the topic, then they should dive deeper in AP [music] classes. >> I would encourage a student to take an AP class. if they were interested in going into that subject in the future, like [music] if they wanted to be like a doctor in the future or something, it's very important to take AP bio and AP chem and AP [music] physics because you really get to learn whether
018or not you actually are interested in those subjects early [music] on in high school and you get to have that college feel of classes in high school to know [music] if you're interested in it, which also saves money, so you're not like experimenting or floundering as much in your first few [music] years of college. But also in general, if you just want to challenge yourself, if you want to earn some credit a little bit earlier, I think there [music] are a lot of great reasons why you should take UV classes. Thank you so much to our communications team uh for the video and we'd like to say to all of our families uh that there's a place for you in Cedar Rapids Community School District as well as in our AP classes. If you have
019a question about it, please see your school counselor. Now, as we move over to priority area number three, I'd like to draw our attention to our new teacher pinning ceremony. This year, uh, we are proud to celebrate a significant victory in our talent pipeline and community engagement efforts. On Monday, October the 20th, the University of Deuke, they officially pin four of our newest teachers during their fall graduation ceremony. This event is is a powerful testament to the successful career pathway created through our partnership as these four talented individuals began their careers in Cedar Rapids Community School District as dedicated par profofessionals. I would like to say thank you to our human resources uh department for really making a connection between this uh transition with our par educators that now we are excited to announce that
020these four individuals they are now teachers. they were able to help us fill vacancies immediately within our district. So, congratulations to Arteria Sanders who will be a fourth grade teacher at Trailside Elementary, Connor Bartos, who will be a Strat One teacher at Wilson Middle School, Stacy Murda, a Strat 2 teacher at Hoover Community School, and Aaron Davis, Strat 2 teacher at Nixon Elementary School. Their journey from classroom support staff to a fully licensed teacher is a prime example of our strategic investment in developing our own staff here in Cedar Rapids Community School District. So, if you see them around, say congratulations and just a wonderful testament. I had the opportunity to attend this event and they had family members there, colleagues from all of the schools just really uh championed them on and what a
021beautiful journey of how uh together uh over the years they were able to move from one position of par educator to a teacher in our district. Congratulations. And moving over to priority area number four, that time is upon us uh to really focus in on our bond, which will be on the ballot November the 4th. So, this is an opportunity to really think about uh us being fiscally responsible. The passage of this bond is vital to our financial stability. We are at a very critical juncture within our school district. This bond allows us to fund necessary capital projects such as modernization focusing on safe and secure learning environments, accessible learning environment. It also gives us the opportunity to free up some of our other funding sources such as PEPO to redistribute it for other critical
022needs across all of our buildings. So, what are the bond projects um that are on the ballot? Um would like to continue to provide this information for our community. We have four projects that are included within this bond initiative. We have McKinley Steam Academy. McKinley is becoming a flagship middle school for science, technology, engineering, and arts and math. As we think about the future, McKinley has demonstrated the power of school choice and making sure that our buildings are state-of-the-art and that we continue to offer programming that our families want and need. [snorts] Wilson and Roosevelt. By renovating Roosevelt and consolidating with Wilson Middle School at Wilson, uh we've seen the power of when our staff members are able to come together to get the support they need in order to establish a culture where students
023are safe and secure and establish clear. I'd like to note that at Wilson Middle School this year that we have seen a decrease of 29% of aggression incidents that have occurred at this campus. It really shows uh the power of the focus of bringing a culture together that we know will also benefit Roosevelt when they come together. Also, our next project is Grant and CRA. By combining Grant and CRA who will move into Wilson uh Middle School as we know it today, it allows for a better facility that provides access and opportunities for our students. Um we know CRA to be our former Taylor School, which was one of our flood impacted buildings. Um we've done our best to extend the life of this building, but maintenance concerns now outweigh repair. So both Grant and
024Taylor have reached the end of their building's life and so the new facility brings safety, accessibility and magnet programs that will be expanded to all students by combining uh grant and CRA. We also have Kennedy High School um which um if you didn't get a chance to see the article in the gazette um just this past weekend, I would uh ask you to turn your attention of I learned some things actually in that article. Uh and so by expanding the kitchen and cafeteria area to strengthen um access to lunch for our students. Right now Kennedy is our largest high school but they have the smallest cafeteria of all of our high schools. Also we will be providing new equipment so that our staff members uh will be supported in the way that they do um
025and perform their jobs on a daily basis. Also impacted by with Kennedy High School will be the freshman uh academy. And we know that the freshman academy will help students find a sense of belonging, early college credits, and stay on track to graduate. I'd like to also uh say thank you to our community uh to getting us to this point as we approach November the 4th. The next step for us is acknowledging the election day. know that we still have three opportunities to participate uh within the election and the opportunity uh to vote. We encourage all community members to participate in this important vote. Please be aware of key deadlines and procedures. If you are utilizing an absentee ballot, it must be received by 5:00 p.m. on election day. Early in-person voting is also available.
026You must go to uh the Lynn County's website. They have a plethora of information. If you're not sure where to put it, just put in the Google search bar Lynn County elections 2025. Lynn County elections November. Anywhere you put it in there, you will find the information because for early voting, it does vary by the different sites. So, please go to their site, you will get the most updated information um if you are participating in early voting. And then on election day, election day is November the 4th. Polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. You must vote at your assigned polling place, which can be located also on the Lynn County web page. If you go to Lynn County polling place locator, if you're not sure where to vote, please go to
027Lynn County polling place locator and you will find out exactly where to vote. Finally, um residents also have the option to register and vote on election day at their polling place if they bring their required identification and proof of residence. This is your right to vote and we encourage you to do so. Um I'd like to again just kind of recap where we've been with our community that this is a communitybuilt plan. The community built this plan. The community carried this plan to the ballot by getting out, getting the signatures required for the petition and now the community has the opportunity to determine the path forward for the future of facilities in Cedar Rapids Community School District. Thank you in advance for exercising your right to vote on November the 4th. And that concludes my
028report for tonight. >> Thank you, Dr. Grover. Uh, Director Taminsky, I believe you have a board report. >> I do. Uh, it is for the policy review committee. We met to continue ongoing review of district policies. The committee discussed legislative updates related to a few provisions and reviewed several policies from other districts related to memorials, donations, and donor recognitions. Uh, further research and discussion is still being done on this topic. It was agreed to move forward with the IASB version of the regulation on alcohol, tobacco, and other substances after comparing it to suggested community language. Lastly, revisions to the student health services provisions were presented along with the new policy on prescription medication supply aligning with IASB recommendations. Updates to the public records policy and procedure were also reviewed, including a new fee schedule. Uh
029the committee supported advancing these items to Dr. Grover for approval prior to placement on tonight's agenda. And that is the report. >> Thank you. Any other board reports this evening? >> I have something. >> Am I recognized? Sure. >> Awesome. So, I just want to take this time to apologize to the board and to the community. Um, I was surprised when the Gazette had reported that I'd missed six meetings in 2025, which is probably about the same amount that I'd missed in the previous seven years of service. Um, I apologize. I have had aging and ailing parents who've had some significant surgeries and been moved into assisted living. They're a thousand miles away, so that has made attendance very difficult. Um, however, they're on the mend, so that is good. Um but again apologize for
030having missed that number of meetings. [clears throat] Any other board reports? Moving on to our consent agenda. Are there any items on which the director has a comment or question or requires the item be pulled from the consent agenda for a separate vote? >> I have something I'd like to pull for comment. >> That's number 11. >> Number pardon me. Number 11, the agreement. Cedar Rapids Community School District and Shutterly Behavioral Solutions. >> Okay, we can address that. You can speak your comment. >> Yep. Thank you. So, I just, you know, I I wondered if this was a new program or or a continuation. It's a new program, which is really cool. It's a point of celebration. And I think it's just important to know that uh the funding for the agreement was through the
031therapeutic grant that was awarded to the district which is a pretty big deal. So thank you Riyles for your work on that and just wanted to celebrate that a little bit. Hope for a future uh presentation to learn more. >> Yes, we always appreciate the work that our executive cabinet is doing for us to bring these grant opportunities forward. So thank you. Anything else? [clears throat] Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda as written? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. This is a roll call vote due to the personnel report. >> Director Taminsky. >> I. >> Director Borcharding. >> I. >> Vice President Roundree. >> I. >> Director Humbles. >> I. >> Director Buyers. >> I. >> Director Newman. >> I. President Garlock. >> I. Our last
032item tonight under board governance is a close session to evaluate professional competency as provided by Iowa code section 21.51i. Is there a motion to move into close session? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> This is a roll call vote. >> Director Borching. >> I. >> Vice President Rryree. >> I. >> Director Humbles. >> I. >> Director Buyers. >> I. >> Director Newman. I, Director Taminsky. >> Hi, >> President Garlock. >> Hi. The board will now move into close session for the final item. >> Thank you everyone.