001All right, our next spotlight is on from Harding Middle School, 8th grader Miguel Henry. He's not here tonight, I believe. Um, he faces unique challenges that most other 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 always shows respect to those around him and follows school expectations consistently, often modeling for others to do the same. He also participates on the Harding football, basketball, wrestling, and soccer teams. Miguel would love to be able to play sports professionally, but he states if that doesn't work out, he might try the military
002or college for marketing or engineering. One day, while visiting Principal Johnson's office for a good visit, not because he was in trouble, 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 that same level of excellence. So, congratulations to Miguel. All right. Okay. Uh, Yan Ferguson here began his high school journey in Jefferson's behavior focus program. At the time, he struggled with defiance, insubordination, physical aggression, and non-compliance. Daily interactions were often anger-based and argumentative. These challenges began earlier in his academic career, resulting in an IEP with intensive behavioral goals. Difficulties at home mirrored those at school, disrupting Yan's learning environment. Yet, beneath that tough exterior was
003a young man with tremendous potential. By 10th grade, Yan began taking several general education classes. And as his behaviors improved, he worked diligently in the behavior focused program to develop coping strategies, excuse me, utilize support staff and build confidence in his abilities. His work paid off, and by 11th grade, he was taking even more general ed classes. And in 2024, he successfully exited his IEP. >> Yeah. Well, it's like, yeah, man. Now, as a senior, Yan continues to shine. He was nominated to the homecoming court, is dual enrolled at Jefferson and Kirkwood, and maintains an impressive 3.32 GPA. >> Yeah, he's crushing it. This fall, Yan spoke at the district's new teacher orientation, sharing his personal journey with poise, honesty, and confidence. He serves as co-president of the Black Student Union and is an active
004member of the Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success. In 2024, he received the post-secary seminar award for his thoughtful preparation for future academic and personal success. And in 2025, he earned the literature history award for embracing knowledge and reflecting deeply on his journey towards authenticity. For these reasons and without hesitation, Yashan Ferguson was nominated by the Jefferson staff for this honor. >> Nice. [Applause] So awesome. >> Congratulations to all three of you. Uh tonight, I believe Director Newman, you have the staff highlight. >> I do. I do. Tonight for our um CR school staff highlight, the board of education would like to highlight Nicole Smith. Nicole exam exemplifies what it means to be an outstanding instructional coach and colleague. With more than 20 years of experience in the Cedar Rapids Community School District, Nicole has
005consistently gone above and beyond in her service to students and staff. At West Willow, her colleague shared that she supports teachers in every way possible, whether it's sharing resources, answering questions with patients and expertise, or stepping in wherever help is needed in the building. She also creates a weekly staff newsletter, the Windy Willow, filled with practical tools, strategies, and inspiration that teachers can immediately apply in their classrooms. Her deep knowledge of technology and instruction paired with her genuine care for staff and students makes her an invaluable part of both West Willow and Cedar Rapids schools. Nicole is highly respected by her peers, not only for her expertise, but also for her kindness, humility, and tireless work ethic. She never seeks recognition for herself, but her impact is felt in every classroom and by every colleague
006she supports. The Cedar Rapids Board of D School's board of directors is proud to recognize Nicole Smith for her remarkable dedication, leadership, and decades of service that continue to make a lasting difference for our staff and students. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Thank you. We will move on uh and hear from those who have requested to address the the board. Uh board secretary Schulty, do we have any requests this evening? >> We have one request. >> Okay. With one speaker this evening, you'll be given up to five minutes for your remarks. Please respect the time limit allotted. Board Secretary Schulty will serve as your timer and indicate when your time has expired. If you've submitted a request to address the board and choose to refrain from speaking in the interest of equality and fairness, your time may
007not me may not be yielded to another speaker. To abide by the open meetings law, there will be no dialogue between the board and the public during this time except to clarify 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. Lastly, I'd like to remind our speaker that the 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 speaker to state his name and address when called to
008the podium. Board Secretary Shelty, please call our first speaker. >> U we'll welcome Jacob on the topic of middle school girls soccer. >> Uh thank you. So um at Franklin Middle School, this is the least important topic we're going to have all night. I'm sorry, but at Franklin Middle School, we only had three girls go out for the soccer team, uh for girls. Now that was fine. We combined with McKinley the Bears and we got to 11 and everything seems okay. But while we were playing other schools in Cedar Rapids, it was great because they only sometimes had 11 too. I know a few of the other uh middle schools had to combine teams. That was great until we went to Oakidge and Marian and two teams come out with 30ome girls and our girls
009are expected to play twice. It was just kind of demoralizing and I I was just wondering maybe we can do something better next year to where we pull all of our resources because the same thing then happened at Regis Middle School where we had to go play 30 girls, two teams and we're expected to play twice again. We have only 11 who some of them have never played any organized ball and it just became another demoralizing scene. And then the last game we played a college community which that's like actual college. It's really nice out there. But same thing like 30ome girls, two teams, plenty of substitutes, and our girls are just dying out there. And I was hoping that we could come up with something where we can combine the resources we have, which
010are our girls are that resource, and to get them on a on a better start for these games. Maybe something more centralized or just random throughout the district where you have the team set up. you because as a parent, I don't mind traveling across the city because we already play ball outside of school. So, we're used to traveling to different places and marry and and playing games and practicing, but it just seems like there could be a better way to do it than just say, "Well, we'll combine these schools, hope you get 11, and then see your girls, have fun." That that's all I wanted to say. Maybe next year we can do something about that. All right. >> Thank you for your comments. It is time for Dr. Grover's superintendent report. Thank you, President
011uh Garlock and the board for our staff and student highlights and to our speakers tonight. I would like to start my report with priority area number one around safe and secure learning. I'm very proud of this team and the ways that they are looking for proactive ways to uh address student engagement within our school. So tonight, a huge thanks goes to the vision of our student safety um and success advocate Miles um who is in our safe and secure learning department and to the support of the Iowa giving crew. Students at three Cedar Rapids elementary schools now have a new way to connect beyond the classroom, the Safe Zone Sports Program. It brings together fourth and fifth graders uh to stay active and develop essential life skills. As kind of alluded here tonight, um it's
012important that we engage our students early. The program was launched this fall at Cedar River Academy, Johnson Steam Academy, and Grant Elementary School. Through the program, students enjoy a structured and safe after-school activity, including flag football, basketball, and soccer. Each session goes beyond teaching sports fundamentals by helping students build social skills, teamwork, leadership, confidence, and a strong sense of belonging. Safe zone sports benefits not only students, it also provides staff and volunteers with meaningful ways to engage students beyond the school day, fostering stronger connections outside of the classroom. So huge um thanks to Janessa and her team for their vision, but also we want to say again a huge thanks to the Iowa giving crew. I had the opportunity to speak with them and they were just elated to support this program and they encourage
013others if you have initiatives that you are trying to uh fund at your schools, reach out to them. They might be able to provide some support. Priority area number two, prepare for life. So, we want to give some acknowledgement to our students as we are preparing our students for life. And we know that uh Jefferson High School and thank you to the Jefferson staff for being here tonight. As we know that they are preparing their CTE spaces in their freshman academy um is moving ahead uh with promising state-of-the-art facilities designed to deliver on priority area number two. While the temporary disruption it impacts current spaces, learning for our automotive students remains a key focus and it has not slowed down. This continuity is possible thanks to an outstanding collaboration with our district's transportation team. So
014yes, our students are right here with us. Um the transportation team, they are providing the necessary space and real world opportunities. This partnership ensures that the core of the CTE uh program meaning their practical hands-on experiences that they are still happening. And so when we are looking our students, we do want to give a special shout out uh to um Mickey uh Dar. Yeah. Deer Shedek, even though I've been pronouncing his practicing his name, but Deer Shedic and Passion Bardock. Um they recently worked alongside a district technician on a very critical uh project. They were replacing um the diesel engine injectors. Uh and just to call out um that is a high demand uh career area that our kids they're being able to uh support us right here. this kind of hands-on learning um is
015essential um complex and the students were just excited to take part uh in the districtwide effort to effectively supporting our logistics team. So, thank you uh to our staff members that are part of that of our teacher uh from Jefferson as well as the transportation team. Priority area number three, partners. So, as we continue to engage around our staff as well as our students being engaged in our work, our superintendent uh cabinets um they have started and so we've had the opportunity to meet with our teacher cabinet and record attendants. I must say I was very excited uh to have uh most I mean almost everybody was there u which was wonderful. Uh we really spent some time during this first meeting really hearing from our staff members about what they wanted to accomplish uh
016this year. Um I would say one of the the areas uh that the teachers they surfaced for us really was just the impact of substitutes and how that just really has an impact on um other people having to be pulled from classrooms. And so just really they felt like that was something that they wanted to spend some time and energy on. Um and maybe we can come up with some ideas on how to really think that through. Also uh today was extra special uh for us as we think about our attendance goal. We we say that we want 90% of our students attending school 80% of the time and we continue to monitor that. Um and so the same things holds true uh with their leadership um activities and um also we have one of
017our student representatives that was highlighted here uh Yashan. He's also a part of our uh student uh cabinet as well. Uh with that being said, um a lot of great discuss discussions and a lot of similarities among um items that were discussed with our teacher cabinet as well. So kudos to our students for being highly engaged. Uh students, they care about quite a few things. Uh safe and secure learning. Um they were really looking for high expectations for everyone. Um this year we kind of mixed up the groups uh where they were not just with their school representatives but with students from other uh campuses as well. So that was great to kind of hear uh them connect on some topics um when it comes to um making sure that the learning environments are safe
018and secure that we are providing mental health services for our students that need it but also high accountability for others. They're highly interested in like our school lunch program. Um is there an opportunity for us to move forward with providing different options? Um they talked about students coming from different cultures and backgrounds or just students that have different dietary needs. if you're a vegan, what are the options? And so that they don't want to have to leave campus. I always feel like they need to bring u their foods, but they were highly they wanted updates on um the pathways um uh program. I thought that was uh really wonderful. Um and just really thinking about how they can continue to make sure that they have information on some of the internships and opportunities and I
019know we're going to hear some of that tonight. Uh so just a lot of connections um across the board. So, thank you to our students um for showing up as well as for their principles and partners who supported them. And then just um just like to highlight America Reed's Day. I know that we had lots of board members that were uh involved in that as well as uh hundreds of parents and staff members and community volunteers who participated. This is always a fun time of the year. Um as you can see, we had lots of fun and I must say I enjoyed it myself. Uh, thank you to Jillian for being my sidekick there. Um, I think we did five versions of our little program across the district. Each time was different, so that you
020kind of let improv was the way to go. But so much fun uh with the students. Thank you uh to the board for allowing us to continue that tradition here in our district. And then just prior area number four, being physically responsible. And we know that um the board has given some attention over to our elementary schools, particularly uh Hoover and Van Beern. Um, and so we've been able to make that milestone of the groundbreaking um, activity. So, thank you to everyone that was a part of that. I think the most impressive part was just seeing the community come out to support these schools. Um, as well as we think about the next chapter and what's happening. U, but what really makes uh, being a part of this program is really being able to uh,
021highlight uh, what's special about our staff and students uh, right now and how that's going to impact them. Um and so again, uh we've been able to uh really pay close attention to um the costs that are coming in for these buildings and knowing that the efficiencies are on the way. And that concludes my report for tonight. >> Thank you, Dr. Grover. Lots of celebrations there. Do we have any other board reports? >> Yes. >> Go ahead, >> Vice President Roundry. >> So, you want you want to go first? >> You go for it and I'll fill in wherever needed. >> Okay. >> All right. So, we are um both on the core committee for recruitment and retention and so we covered actually quite a few areas and I'm just going to go over Thank
022you. Okay. Am I all right? Thank you. I'm just going to go over a few of them there. I'll start with the first three or four and then director buyers can um come in. All right. So what we talked about, one of the things we talked about is um the all core teaching positions for the 2025 and 26 school year and the imp overall improvement from last year. Um also I really want to highlight the uh principal pathway launch night is set and scheduled for November 5th. Things are about to get busy. um that launch we did last year was super successful, wonderful, and I know that many of our staff are certainly looking forward to this again. So, I'll go ahead and pass that on to you. >> All right, perfect. Yeah. So, I
023think a lot of the meeting we were um really talking about concerns and addressing them early um any concerns our staff might have and touched briefly on the formal agenda, but we kind of um were on to all different topics. So, um you know, how can we address those uh in a timely manner before they grow? So, she talked about the teaching positions and then also worth noting this fall we placed 37 student teachers with 100% of requests filled and we have 28 field experiences happening across the district currently. Um, and then she mentioned the principal launch day. Another thing that we covered, um, we've already had seven just in time staffing interventions which, uh, we were moving teachers and pairs where needed to keep classrooms stable and safe and supported. And another date to
024remember coming up on October 20th, we'll celebrate four of our own at the University of Deuke pinning ceremony, bringing more homegrown talent into the teaching profession. Something to celebrate for sure. Uh so big takeaway is we just want to keep um connecting our staff data and those just in time moves to sort of this bigger picture of staff engagement. And um I will toss to you. Jen was there too. So we've covered a lot of it. Anything else you want to add in? >> Nothing to add. Let me just say this. Are you done with that? I would just appreciate the work that um HR is really doing with recruitment and retention. It's really impressive so many things that you all have planned and it's really at the heart of uh just making sure that
025we are taking care of the people that work for us and thinking of bright ideas to for future employees. And so you guys are doing great work there. I'm so proud to be a part of that core committee and keep up the good work. Do we know where that pinning ceremony takes place? Is that here? >> I think it's here. It's in the It's right here in this What is the name of this right here? >> Cedar D. So that's where it was >> on the 20th at Do we know what time? >> I think it's in the foyer. >> Pointing at something. >> Yeah. So it is here. It is in this >> here in the >> It's here in the atrium. >> Okay. On the 20th >> at 5:30 on the 20th. here
026at in the atrium at 5:30 on October the 20th. >> Thank you. >> Do we have >> the white board in there? I think >> do do we have any other board reports? >> Yeah. I also want to mention that there was a um K12 music programming. There was some um talk of just strengthening that programming and addressing some of our challenges at earlier um during public comment. So we have um thanks to the staff for gathering um some of our vocal representatives, our band, our orchestra and getting us all in the same room to have conversations about you know what are the challenges, how can we address them and what are some solutions going forward and let's do that collectively. So I was really thrilled to be a part of some of those conversations
027uh at our table and I walked around everybody was engaged. It was um there was some really great information being shared and pathways forward. So Jen, I'll let you jump in as well. it it's it's very solutions focused. I mean, nobody's there really to air grievances or anything. Everybody's there to kind of roll up their sleeves and talk about how we can strengthen our K through2 music program. And it was really impressive and it was a good way to collect uh what our strengths, our weaknesses, our opportunities, and our barriers are and start to pull that all together and see if we can find some common patterns. We can find the short-term wins, the longer term wins. Um, so I I think everybody there feels appreciative of the opportunity to be a part of it
028and it was really the the group gets bigger every time we meet. So >> also worth considering is maybe having I know that we talked about in our core committee just some shortages across the state and um special education teachers. So maybe there's even some other subject specific or topic specific um ways that we can convene people similar to this structure around um you know special education for example and solutions moving forward. So, >> we'll make note of it. Okay. >> One of the things I noticed at the uh music meeting is that the rich culture as well in our music departments and the passion that our staff and our teachers really have for that. So, I'm excited for what is to come. I love it that we're having these uh gatherings and it's it's
029it's a good thing and so yeah, come to the next one. >> Okay. Thank you. Anything else from the board before we move on? Okay. 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? >> Um I was going to pull 19 for a separate comment >> for comment not separate comment. >> Um number 19 is referring to the Pebble projects. Yes. Uh physical plant and equipment levy. So just for a comment. Okay. >> Yeah. I just wanted to highlight um the importance around open communication and transpar transparency for those couple dollars which stands for physical plant and equipment levy. Um just as a recap a reminder that is a voter approved
030fund that um really helps us pay for those essentials. So think you know building upgrades and maintenance and technology and equipment. Um, so those are not dollars we can use for staff salaries um or program funds in the classroom, but it is uh really essential dollars and we're committed to making sure that we are being transparent about that. So you can always find all of that information is public. Um all the spending and expenditures of that fund are public. You can find those in our board materials. You can find them on our district website. Um so our our um and I want to mention that also it's guided. It's not just, you know, here and there. It's guided by an entire longterm long-term strategic plan that we have for the district across all of our
031facilities, which we really keep safety and equity and efficiency at the forefront. So, thank you again to the voters who um allowed us to continue using these funds for really important work and we will continue to be accountable for every dollar spent. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh, do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda as written? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> This is a roll call due to the personnel report. >> Director Taminsky. >> I. >> Director Borcharding. >> I. >> Director Roundtree. >> I. >> Director Buyers. >> I. >> Director Newman. >> I. >> President Garlock. >> I. We have one item under administration. It's the approval of requests to the school budget review committee for modified allowable growth for limited English learner excess program costs.
032It's a mouthful. Does anyone have any questions for Carla before I ask for a motion? Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the request to SBRC for modified allowable growth for limited English learner excess program costs? >> So move. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Oppose. Same sign. Tonight we will hear from Adam Zimmerman and Dennis Becker with an update on the Iowa big programming. So Adam, it's all yours. and Dennis. >> I will be very short in my remarks and then hand it over to Dennis. I'd just like to thank this team um who really embraced um their roles at Iowa Big. They've been um in business now for um I think 13 years um and have really led the work on
033some of the the programming they're going to be talking about. Dennis was there um from the very beginning and has stepped into a leadership role this year. So, I just wanted to say thank you um and they'll uh lead the presentation tonight. Uh thank you uh thanks Adam and thank you board for for letting us come and speak. Um as Adam said Iowa Big has been in the district for 13 years founded by the Cedar Rapids School District and then in partnership with college community in Lindmar. Um so it has been a long time where we've been doing this community connected project based work where you know you had up up earlier one of the priority areas is partnerships. Uh Iowa big has worked with hundreds of partners in our community. Um it is really
034a unique educational program in the nation nationally recognized for for a lot of the work that we have students do. Um students it is all driven by our students. So it is driven by student interest and then combine that with community problems that they see. Uh from the very beginning of BIG, we started with a simple question. What makes you mad? And that was really to get students to start thinking about what would they want to change in our community? What do they want to see that is different? And then connect them with other entities in the community to help make some of that change. Um you'll see some of the numbers here. So over 400 community centered projects have been worked on. Thousands of learners or a thousand over a thousand learners since the
035inception. uh 30 plus career industries exposed to. So we have connected students with a lot of opportunities and and driven really by student interest and community need. Um I'm going to have Mark Madson and Becky Herman come up and they're going to speak a little bit about big as well. Um and yeah, your turn. >> We're a little bit shorter than Dennis. Um >> easy. >> I I wore my my high viz sweatshirt today. uh that Mark and I made on our our heat press. Um in the construction world, they they call this color high visibility, right? Because so you don't get hit by cars and stuff, but uh that's what we were really looking for um at Iowa Big is is more closer to the mic, please. >> Sure thing. More visibility um in
036our program or for our program um and for Cedar Rapids because Cedar Rapids now is the only district that has Iowa Big and we're basically the the authentic model, right, that a lot of other schools are are basing their models off of. Um, so we're going to talk about people sometimes ask like what does an Iowa big student look like? Who is an Iowa big student? And I saw a couple kids earlier that you guys talked about that would be great. And so that to give you a face, those those guys are the future. >> Yeah. So we'll just quickly go through a few of the profiles here. Um, obviously this doesn't touch everyone. Um, but it hits most of them. So profile number one are just a simple student could be college or career
037ready. Doesn't really make a difference. Um, who just wanted a different experience. um they wanted an experience outside of their traditional walls. Um and so they would come to Iowa Big and we would partner them with someone who that they were interested in touching base with, working with um and just getting some different experiences out in the real world. >> A profile too, uh we called Struggle Bus. Uh if you've ever had trouble in school and it's like, man, this is not for me. This environment where I'm sitting here for 60 to 90 minutes listening, you know, not really getting to use my hands. I want something different. And so Iowa big is very different. You control your time. You control what you're learning about. Um so a lot of those things we we help
038them with task management and things like that. So kind of working on those executive functioning skills that that's for those kids. >> Uh the third profile student is one who is just uber creative. Um loves designing, loves thinking outside the box. Um and sometimes in a traditional model that's a really hard thing to tap into. Um, and so again, by allowing us students to kind of choose the projects that they want to work towards, um, those super creative students have the ability to be super creative and kind of follow through with their dreams. >> And then finally, our AP and college track students who want to stand out more than kids across the country. Right? If you think about it, I was looking up the statistics earlier today. Graduates of the class of 2024, over
039a third took an AP test across the country. So, a third of the students that are graduating, your transcripts look just like theirs. So, we're trying to give kids kind of a leg up, right? Something that can make them stand out from every other graduate when they're applying for different programs, when they're um applying for scholarships. And I know we didn't put the numbers up there, but over hundreds of thousands of dollars have been awarded to our our graduates from our Iowa Big program and our high schools because they have a story to tell. So, it's something they can for their Common App, for any of their scholarships, all of that is is hitting hard there. So, we've got a lot of things. >> Sorry, I'm just going to throw this in there. My daughter
040was one of those. Um, she was in Iowa Big. I was not a teacher there at the time. Um, but I I saw this firsthand. We were in a admissions meeting. Um, and the person was asking for her story and it was the I mean, just traditional, like super traditional. And the guy finally said, "Is there anything else you want to say?" And the whole time I'm like, "Tell your big story." And finally she goes, "Oh yeah, I was part of Iowa big too." And he's like, "Well, what what's that?" And so she then went into the project she worked on and the things she participated with. And you could just see the guy was like, "What?" Like, "I've never heard anybody do this in high school before." And so immediately he said, "We'll give
041you 5,000 a year if you come here." Um, so it was a $20,000 offer just on a a literal 45se secondond story. So it's real. >> How's this work? Are you >> Yeah. >> Oh, okay. Okay. So, we're going to invite Bridget up to tell her story. We we put her whole story up here just so that you had it for your notes later. Um, she's obviously not going to read off and she's going to just talk about her experience, but you have that for later. >> Hi everyone, my name is Bridget Charles. Before Iowa Big, I loved learning, but traditional classrooms sometimes felt limiting. I joined BIG because I wanted to explore hands-on projects and really challenge myself. One of my first projects was at St. Luke's maker space where I 3D printed a
042brain model to show how depression medication affects uh different areas. I also made an adoption video for the Humane Society combi combining creativity and with helping others. This year I'm back with St. Luke's maker space making a silicone model of healthy and cancerous organs which connects to my interest in oncology. I'm also working with Crafted to help nonprofits reach the community. Along the way, I've learned skills like laser cutting, solder, soldering, and silicone casting. And BIG has helped me build confidence, especially in public speaking. Overall, BIG has been really valuable. It's clarified my my passion for medicine, taught me practical skills, and giving me the confidence to take charge of my learning and my future. And next up, we have Fatima Tourist. Hello. So, basically, I really wanted to highlight how amazing Iowa Big is.
043So, I got my thing. Um, I do really good in school. Class rank four. I get A's and things like that. And I think a lot of thing I learned cuz I'm a senior in high school. Um, and I went through a lot in the doing different classes, trying AP classes. And I've realized that I forget a lot of the things I learn after like a year. The next year I'm forget everything I've learned. And I think that's really common for high school students as well, unless they're just already extremely interested in that topic. Um when I think a lot of the times high schoolers have a question where it's like when am I going to use this in the future? Especially when taking a class, they're not really interested from the get-go. And I
044think Iowa big really highlights on learning but also applying it to the real world. And I think a lot of students need to be able to not only learn these things that they're learning in the classroom, but to also apply it to the real world so it can have meaning, more of a purpose and it's something they're passionate about. I think Iowa Big does a really good job at helping finding opportunities for me to do that. Whether it's having to write something up so I can talk to a new organization and convince them using my words and my essay, my emails. I have to write it so it can be convincing to those people for them to help. And I think Iowa Big is just an amazing thing for students again to help the community
045as well. So they're taking what they're learning and applying that and helping out everybody else as well. And that's definitely what I wanted to share. It's just very amazing program and I think it's helped me a lot personally with finding things that go with what I want to do in the future and instead of being just future ready to be able to implement it now because I think every student with what they're learning they can implement it right away in the real world and they're very much capable of doing so. [Applause] Okay. So looking at uh present and future opportunities. So as you heard from these guys, both of them college career ready. They're looking at that. They're looking at their futures, trying to figure out, okay, how am I going to get better? How
046am I going to be ready? And we do that with, you know, time management. Um these guys both talked about some opportunities they've had so far. Uh once they go out, they'll have that confidence. And that that's really what I see a lot is is that confidence that that students build while they're with us. You know, at first I'm like, "Hey, I'm just a high school student. What am I going to do?" Well, in the end, they end up doing a lot and they see it and they they become more confident. They meet people in the community. Um, I'll let you talk about business and marketing. This is a business guy. >> So, it just to connect the business aspect of it. Most of our projects in some capacity are connected with businesses. Um, so
047just expanding the students networks. Most of the time in a traditional classroom that's really difficult to do unless it's just a random guest speaker that comes in or whatnot. um where the students in our program like are working side by side with somebody in industry um on something that's professional to them. Um so it just helps expand their network. We want to keep our great kids here. We don't want our great kids to like pack up and say, "Oh yeah, that was awesome, Cedar Rapids. See you." Um we want to keep those kids here. And by having those connections to our business world, I think is going to help in the long run. And then our third opportunity, we kind of noticed there was a gap in our district um in terms of cyber security
048and computer science. There just aren't a whole lot of opportunities and it's so up and coming. Um so we we have been partnering with different organizations in in the area like Newokco K12 uh Grantwood AEA the IT people there um Iowa State University. So, so places where they're doing this work now. Um, and we're offering like video game development and uh cyber security in at Iowa Big just so that kids have those opportunities and projects and they get to do competitions and and so you don't you don't get to have that at all the the different other high schools and we're kind of that central location. >> Uh, so talking about the pathways moving forward, we're not exactly sure and I'm not even sure if you guys are sure quite yet how this is going
049to look. Um, but when we were given kind of a a rough draft last year of like these these could potentially be our pathways, Becky and I sat down and and just from last year alone, we started looking at all the projects that the students had worked on. Um, and I think we hit on like 95% of the pathways, we had projects within those pathways. So, when we're thinking forward to our future, um to Big's future, to the Cedar Rapids district future, one of the things that we really like stood out to us was, man, our program could be like a capstone for multiple pathways um whatever those pathways happen to be. So, if a student wants that, you know, senior level or whatever experience with us, they could come work on a project in
050industry in the area that they're focused on and kind of as a capstone course for that pathway. So, we're super excited about that. You want to talk about that? >> Yeah, sure. And and again, they can choose that traditional path like they are now. You know, some kids they just they want to take, you know, a bunch of AP courses and then kind of go that route or they're going to Kirkwood and they're doing an academy through Kirkwood, which is awesome. Or there's Iowa Big. So, it's just another opportunity that we have for the students in our district, which is great. Like, I mean, we've we have we we want to have more students that we're trying to work toward having um more industry recognized credentials, which are IRC's. You probably I don't know if
051you've heard the state been has been throwing that around a lot but um we are uh training for the biz innovator um it's coming up in November. We also will have we're going to become a testing site for sir report and compia um so we'll be able to offer that for our students that are interested in cyber security and computer science and we also um can offer a workbased learning credit to all of our students. So, we're able to cover a lot of bases there and we're always we're nimble because we're small. Like we we there's not a a lot of teachers. So, we can kind of change directions really quickly. It's kind of like a ship that can move quickly through the water. Um so, we're able to kind of uh practice some of
052those things before, you know, the district decides one way or the other what they'd like to do. Okay. We wanted to thank you guys for having us today. Um, and and while I'm thinking about it, wonders, I know Dennis talked about the history of Iowa Big, but for those of you that are just don't exactly know how it works, students come to us for part of their day, usually one or two blocks. They work on projects with businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies. And then the rest of the day, they either go to their schools or they go to Kirkwood depending on what their schedule looks like. So that's that's what we do. We match kids with their interest. And you can kind of tell by Fatosma and Bridget when they talked about their stories, the
053things that they're interested in. Um, and so yeah, what questions do you guys have? >> I absolutely love your enthusiasm and all the comments that you've made. I like I want to come to Iowa. >> You should. >> Well, and that's that's something too. We wanted to extend that. We We're in a new location this year. We're upstairs in the economic alliance. It's best view in the city. So, we would love to have all of you anytime. Um, especially when our kids are there. I think it's cool when kids see their school board members come through. So, either during our morning cohort or afternoon cohort, that those are the best times. So, please come, stop by, come talk to our kids, see what other things. Like I said, you only got to see two students.
054We have a ton that have all different stories. So, we'd love to have you. >> Cool. Okay, I'll open it up to the board director. >> I'll kick us off. So, first of all, I just want to give you guys a bear hug uh for what you do. Uh my daughter was went through Iowa big as well and um similar similar situation where it really impacted her college admissions and what she was able to receive um for scholarships. Um and I just got to watch her grow and her classmates and um it was it's a great great program. Um how many kids do you have enrolled in the program right now? >> This year we're at 42. Okay. >> And it's all Cedar This is the first year we were all Cedar Rapids students. So
055it used to be college community and Cedar Rapids. So uh Jefferson expanded and actually we went we kind of switched up our recruitment tactics tactics because in the past it was just kind of like hey look in the program of studies if you see Iowa big and this year we're like you know we got to get there we got to talk to people. So we went to lunches lunchrooms at all the high schools. Um actually one of our the best things that we did we went to Washington and they gave us time to to basically give an assembly. had some kids on stage. It was like 15 20 minutes and got to talk about what Iowa Big is and we had a ton of people sign up. The biggest challenge we have right now is
056we have a list of over a hundred kids that are interested and because you know through there was a little bit of miscommunication with transportation. Kids didn't know if they could get there. They dropped off the schedule. So, we got to make sure we have everything lined up and we hope that'll double or even triple in the future. Are any of those 42 full-time Iowa big or are they morning cohort and back at their sort of mothership in the afternoon and vice versa? >> I would they're either morning or afternoon. We don't have any full-timers right now. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, I I'm glad to hear you say that you guys do like an assembly or something because when my kids were uh in this district, I didn't know about Iowa Big. there
057it seemed to be select children who were privileged to that information. So I want to make sure that all kids have the opportunity to be a part of that if things line up the transportation um on and the some of the things that you mentioned because that's important. Um I wasn't happy with that. I did not know about Iowa Big until after they had graduated. So um making sure that that is open to whoever is interested is very important. We a thousand% agree with you. >> You agree? Awesome. Okay. All right. Let's do it then. Let's make it happen. Thank you. >> Can you talk a little bit more about the transportation challenges just so we have an idea how we could be helpful? >> Uh I I think so. I think it's tough to
058get bus drivers in any district right now. Um and so I think that's probably part of the issue. Um, and we've tried to been tried to be nimble in terms of like when we schedule kids so that we are able to do that with the transportation schedules that exist already. Um, I know their first priority is getting kids to their schools, right? So then, okay, so now we have kids at our schools. How do we get them to big? And the reason we we're kind of we're off campus, right? So we're in a different location, but that's so all of the kids from different schools can come to our central location and we're with the economic lines. So then they're kind of rubbing shoulders with business people, right? So >> that's the biggest challenge I
059think for equity because we want to make sure that it doesn't matter if you can drive or if you have a car, whatever, that you're able to get to us. That that's for us is our biggest thing. There have been times where we've had to drive, you know, kid home or something if if a driver hasn't come. We we're totally willing to do that, but we want to make sure we can get as many kids there as we can. >> Sure. Do you can you break down the grade levels that you have? >> Yes. So, this year we have sophomores, juniors, and seniors. In the past, we've mainly had juniors and seniors, but we opened it up to sophomores because we thought, you know, we want numbers. Let's get some kids here. Once they see
060it, it's gonna, you know, they're going to say, "Hey, you guys should come to Iowa Big." As the capstone and the pathways develop over time, we think we think that what's going to happen is it's going to be kind of a natural progression. They'll say like, "Oh, this makes sense to do this, you know, for my business, you know, pathway or my entrepreneurship pathway or my um environmental, you know, studies pathway, whatever that is." Um, and I again, that's all part of that conversation. >> Okay. Thank you. Other questions? I wanted to give a shout out to Becky because you were our staff spotlight I think two meetings ago. So, thank you for the work that you're doing and to all of you. Um, I also had like a front row seat to the start
061of Iowa big and working in the original location in the geometric building and so I I remember just like learning constantly because I was witnessing the projects the kids were working on and um even got to engage with the kids and um it was right when I moved back to town I remember thinking like wow this town we're really doing something here. you know, so it has such a distinctive um space in our in our district in our curriculum. So, thanks for all that you do. Uh and then I paid you a visit in the Armstrong Center. Was that where you guys were? Um so, I'm curious just how the space is working out. Um you know, you've been moved around a lot. So, how are you feeling about the space? Is this idea? >>
062I love this space to be honest. Like literally all of you should come come check it out. You're going to be like, "Whoa, this is cool." Um we were we felt kind of like in the corner, you know, for a couple years there, but I feel we feel a lot better about where we're at now. So >> Okay. And then what's the um max capacity? We're kind of talking numbers with your staff with the kind of where do we fall there? >> So I would say probably between 45 and 50 max at a time. So in the morning and then in the afternoon. So 100 90 to 100 is is probably best. Um if we had another teacher that was full-time. Right now we share an English teacher with City View. So that that's a
063little >> And then a quick follow up to that. So you mentioned the authentic program. I think I'm saying this correctly, Cedar Rapids. And then you mentioned Lindmar College Community. Um what are are you guys still connected to those students in some way or kind of what are the major differences in those programs? Are there ways that we can learn from them and grow our program? >> Yeah, absolutely. So uh at Limar it's called the venture program. Okay. >> Um and what they decided to do was a little more curriculum based. Um the curriculum director there describes it as a like an Eagle Scout project um that the students would have while in a class. So that those are his words. Um and I know like Molly Pra who we work with with Aea, she
064taught with Venture for a while. So if you see her around the LSC, talk to her. Okay. >> Um >> but they also have a community de development specialist like we do. Amanda Zornney does amazing work. we share her with with City View and she's the one that goes out gets partners. When I say, "Hey, I have a kid that's interested in this." She's like, "Oh, I know a couple people. Let me reach out." So, she's been awesome and she's a business owner, so it's like perfect. Uh, and then college community is uh they've adopted 3D and I believe we're going to do that at Washington um especially with our freshmen and and probably grow that along with the students as they get older. Um 3D is kind of like Iowa big in a package
065that's national and so they've they've taken what we've done and and monetized it and but created something that is easily replicated across the country. Okay. >> So it's ours is very community-based, very local, authentic, original. Um that's I guess the major difference that is with um they partner with uh Junior Achievement. >> Yeah. Okay. Wonderful. Thanks for the distinction. >> Okay, Director Taminsky. >> Um, first of all, thank you so much for being here. Um, you've already gotten a shout out, Becky, but I would say this that um, my son, like every time he knows that I've seen you, he asks about you. Um, I think you are really one of his favorite teachers. So, just appreciate I think the energy that we're seeing tonight is the energy you bring to every day. Um, and
066that really had an impact on my kids. So, thank you. Um, can you maybe elaborate on the profile of a partner? So, I'm curious of what are the trends that you're seeing when uh kids are coming um projects that they're mad about, things they're passionate about, what are they asking for is the first part of that question. And then two, what would you say to partners out in the community? This is what you should expect and this is really the profile of a really strong partner for an Iowa big student. Um I I know that we really look for partners and Amanda I mean she she'd be answering this probably better than I can but we we're looking for people that are understanding right they know that they're working with high school students that are
067learning. So you know giving a little but at the same time becoming that that tutor or that coach or that mentor. Um we do I mean Amanda does a lot of training. We make sure we're in touch with the partner. We Mark and I or Dennis or Amanda are in every meeting with the partners so that we're able to kind of coach kids afterwards like after the partner leaves like how do you think that went and you know kind of talk through a lot of that reflect. Um kids in general want to expand their network, right? They want to meet people that are doing the thing that they think they want to do. They want to meet people that are solving the problems that they want to help solve. So, I think those are the
068people we're really looking for. Um, and and we make sure that we don't pair kids with people that just want grunt work, right? It's that's not what I would big is it's not I know sometimes internships can be that way. Like get the coffee, get the papers, make the copies, you know, that kind of stuff. And that's all I think there is some value to that, but that's not what we're doing at Iowa Big. At Iowa Big, it's more studentled, student driven. Even if a if a project is coming from a partner into us, we still make sure that the kids have that like are in the driver's seat in terms of where what direction that project goes in. >> Yeah. >> Um I think a a big point is like that economic line of
069resource that businesses have like above that line, the business has to do it themselves. The stuff that's right below that line, we would love to help businesses do that work. So, it's things that they wish they could do with the resources that they have and they just don't have enough. >> So, if they think of think of Iowa Big as a real partner with them with adults and students who can bring some creativity to what they're thinking about and then kind of build up a solution for that. I think that's that's really what we're looking for from partners. >> Okay. Director Borchik, >> this is awesome. Thank you so much. I love project- based learning. Um so I just have a question about uh if you have a percentage if you happen to know offhand
070if you've been trending uh what percentage of students do pursue po postgrad or post high school graduation um education or placement and the second part of that is is there like a student advocate that works with students when they're like seniors and they're graduating saying here are your options for college. here's here's a place that has a program that's going to really align with what you've learned and where you've identified your idea or your area of focus. >> So, I'm not saying we're experts, but we do advise kids in that regard. And I and because our counselors right now, our school counselors have so many students versus Mark and I having this many students. You know, it's a lot easier for us to personalize, you know, that journey and what comes after. So by the
071time the spring rolls around, we know what every kid is planning on doing when they graduate. And sometimes it's been something that we've done to help them kind of get their foot in the door. Sometimes it's their parents have helped them. Sometimes >> they knew because of a teacher at their school. So it's it's kind of we we think of it as just a huge team. We're all like in their in their, >> you know, in their circle and we're we're trying to get them to where they want to go. Uh, I think what Iowa Big does best is we create that confidence that they might not have had, you know, just that like I'm not really sure how the real world. Well, I do know because I've gotten to to talk to people that
072are in the community. So, that confidence really kind of gives them a step up. >> Awesome. Do you happen to have any like percentages on how many students go into college and how many students are employed immediately post high school graduation? >> Sure. Uh so last year it was almost half and by almost half that that half included students that were going to both community colleges and colleges >> and then the other half were either going into trades or work of some kind like an apprenticeship. Um >> and and it's not always that way. I mean four years ago it it was totally different. It was more like 60% or 80% from years behind. So it just depends. We do see a trend, I think, nationally, of less kids going to college because they there's
073so many different routes that are that are being publicized and, you know, they hear about. So, >> Sure. Yeah. Sure. I'm happy to hear you mention skil trade. Um, my other question is, so you were talking about projects that are kind of coming in to Iowa big that are people are saying, "Hey, we need some help with this." Do you guys like have like a pitch day where you just like throw out to all the companies and you say, "Hey, here's our pitch day if there's >> Okay. Can you tell me about that? >> Yes. I love pitched day. So, um, what we usually do is >> Becky, this is the thing Becky really loves. >> I just really love this. Uh, we always start off with a design dash. So, that's really quick. So,
074this year we did, uh, design the best backpack. And that's a couple days, and that's just getting kids used to each other, learning, you know, meeting each other. And then the second part of our kind of disorientation, if you will, is a is a hackathon. And that in that hackathon, they are coming up with a problem to solve, a project that they want to work on. And they work on that for about a week and a half to two weeks. And by the end of that time, they have this team and they pitch it. They pitch that project. They practiced a bunch of times, you know, they practice in front of other peers. They practice in front of us and they and they pitch. And this year it was in the multi-purpose room um at
075the economic alliance. And then we have community partners come in. Amanda invites people from the community. Um they come in and they listen to the pitches that the students have. So those are what we call outbound projects. And then they also we she brings in people that will pitch the projects she's helped harvest which are called inbound projects. So we actually have people business people come up and they pitch to the students. So it's really cool. There's kind of this like yin-yang where we have adults pitching kids pitching and then in the end we have kind of a pick day where everyone kind of gives their top choices and if we can get enough kids then it's it's a project. So >> that's awesome. >> Thank you. >> Is it still called partner pulooa? >>
076Yes. the part of Palooa and then um the great picking is the great picking. >> Can I follow up on that? So in my experience um with the inbound and the outbound I think that was one thing that partners were almost surprised by right the amount of students ideas that were coming at them. So I think they show up and they're all excited about pitching their idea to students realizing that the students have their own ideas that they're extremely passionate about problems that they want to solve. So um are you seeing a pretty good split on inbound or outbound? Are you seeing like far more of those, you know, student uh starting ideas? >> We actually have a lot of new students this year. And so I would say there are a few less outbound
077projects this year, but it's always that secondyear kid that's like, "Okay, I know how this works now. Like, I got some ideas. I've been I've been thinking about this all summer." So, a lot of times it's that junior that's was a sophomore or that senior that was a junior that comes back and is like, "Okay, I got I got it, guys. Let's do this." And and they're able to get other kids around, you know, kind of in that. So, we have a lot of first years this year, but it's still still super fun. I would just add this for the community in in my experience that was because I was able to go out to 3D's event last year. They were piloting it with some other school districts and it did seem like a lot
078of those ideas were coming from established companies and they had specific problems that they wanted to solve. So the students were then put on those teams. So I do think that this is what makes Iowa big unique is truly starting with that question that you said Dennis. What makes you mad? which I think kind of catches people off guard and then to genuinely care about what makes them mad and then working with them to help them solve the problems they see, not the problems other people see. So, I just appreciate the work over the years um and just being lucky enough to be in the community and be a part of it, being a partner over the years. So, thanks for being here. >> I just wanted to kind of expand on something that you
079just said when you were talking about kids are thinking about what they want to do over the summer. Are there any opportunities for like summer internships or continuing work throughout the summer for students? >> We we have had some students that when they worked with their partners, their partners are like, "You need to come work for me." And so that that turns into either a job or an internship. >> Um yeah, it's pretty awesome. Um and so there is that there. We're looking at I know Fatima's working on a girls who code summer camp and planning that um with Nubokco actually and and being a counselor at that and so you know possibly helping me write a grant and they did a a summer like a STEM best summer grant last year which they didn't
080have very much time so we didn't have anything but I know City did end up doing something which is cool. Um, so I'm thinking that might be a great like how how many of you started writing grants in high school? Like that that's gonna be awesome, right? So yeah. >> Okay, this is amazing. Thank you so much for the presentation. We've learned a lot. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. [Applause] >> Our last item tonight under board governance, it's the annual appointments of the 2025 IASB delegate assembly. I've been informed that we do have a need to amend the details on the published agenda with regard to the names of the proposed appointees. Uh do I have a motion to amend the details of the published agenda? So that number two identifies Director Caitlyn
081Buyers as the IASB alternate. >> So moved. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same sign. Is there a motion to approve the amended annual appointments of the 2025 IASB of Director David Taminsky as delegate and director Caitlyn Buyers as alternate? >> So moved. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same sign. >> I want to provide a reminder that the next board meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 27th, 2025. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Do we have a second? Second. >> All those in favor say I. I. >> All oppose, same sign. With no further business, we are adjourned at
0826:33. >> Thank you everyone.