001e e [Music] good evening 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 March 31st 2025 the Board of Education regular meeting as set forth and each item is considered ready for discussion Andor action so moved is there a second second second second all those in favor say I I I oppose same sign we have one public hearing tonight for the Cedar Rapids Community School District it's the Washington High School Ada restroom project board secretary siken have we received any written correspondence related to the public hearing on tonight's agenda we have not do we have anyone who has requested to address the board this evening regarding the published hearing Rel liting to Washington no we do not the aformentioned public
002hearing is now closed board secretary Sten have there been any requests to address the board this evening yes how many requests do we have we have four okay thank you with four speakers this evening you'll be given up to five minutes for your remarks please respect the time allotted to each speaker board secretary siken will serve as your timer and indicate when your time is 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 time may not be yielded to another speaker to abide by the open meetings law there will be no dialogue between board directors and the public during this time except to clarify the nature of questions or comments from the individual speaking we ask that the audience
00310 speakers refrain from using inappropriate language or 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 speakers that the board cannot address personnel and student matters the board policy outlines a process for addressing and resolving those 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 Sten can you please call our first Speaker Chris Ras on the topic of Staffing at high schools good evening my name is Chris rvis and I live at 2027 Red Rock Drive Southwest I want to thank the board members for your
004dedication and service to our school district your commitment during these challenging times for public education is truly commendable this is my 23rd year serving the Cedar Rapids Community School District I currently teach social studies and concurrent enrollment courses at Jefferson High School and serve as social studies department chair tonight I want to express my concerns about the proposed right sizing of the Cedar Rapids Community School District staff first it is important to recognize that we are in this position due to the continued underfunding of public education in Iowa supplemental student aid provided by the governor and the legislature has failed to keep Pace with Rising costs and inflation the fact that the legislature has yet to set supplemental student aid for the 2025 2026 school year something they were required to do in February further
005illustrates this challenge the right sizing of Personnel in a district of this size is complex the DM group was contracted for $450,000 to assist with this process before approving their recommendations I urge the board to engage closely with staff and the community our primary concern in our schools of the teacher student ratio next year our high schools will undergo the most significant curriculum shift in recent history for the first time all incoming ninth graders will be required to enroll in either world history AP World History or AP Human Geography additionally all 10th grade students will also be required to take world history effectively doubling the number of course sections needed this pattern will continue in the 20126 2027 school year when US History transitions from the 11th to the 10th grade despite repeated concerns raised
006by staff and building administrators no additional full-time teaching positions or or better known as FTE have been allocated to accommodate this substantial increase in course sections to illustrate the impact Jefferson High School currently offers 92 sections of social studies courses next year projections indicate a need for 105 sections however with registration for the 2025 2026 school year nearly complete there is still no clear plan for Staffing these additional sections as teachers are stretch to cover required courses Juniors and seniors May face a reduction in available electives potentially resulting in more study halls or early dismissals due to Staffing shortages students have been registering for next year's courses with the expectation that their choices will be available many students take social studies electives which often lead to AP or concurrent en uh concurrent enrollment courses in
007later years it would be a disservice to limit these opportunities due to Staffing constraints I am also concerned about the potential impact on Metro High School the DM group previously stated their model would be based on student needs and Metro provides crucial support for students who struggle in traditional settings any changes must be carefully considered to avoid unintended consequences that could push more students through the cracks additionally I urge the board to closely examine Staffing at the educational leadership and support center since August the District administration has hired multiple administrative positions including three communication Specialists a solution strategist a director of brand communication an administrator to the office of superintendent and an HR Manager at a combined cost of $523,000 along with the $450,000 spent on the DM group's consultation nearly 1 million has been
008allocated outside the classroom staff and community members notice these administrative hires and question their necessity compared to classroom teachers par Educators and support staff I hope that recent hires in non-student facing positions will be balanced by reductions in other administrative roles at the ELC I would like to urge the board to pay closer attention to Staffing allocations and should direct superintendent Grover to postpone administrative hires you have a challenging role as board members as a teacher I have been fortunate to work without excessive oversight from building or District administrators and I believe that should not be your role as board members either however I urge you to take a closer look at how our district is allocating its limited resources to ensure they are being used effectively if this board truly stands by The Motto
009every learner future ready then it is your responsibility not that of the DM Consulting Group to ensure our schools are staffed in a way that all allow students to thrive thank you for your time and [Applause] consideration our next speaker is Kevin Darrow on the changes to the district hello my name is Kevin darl and I live at 4301 topaz Avenue Northwest I have a student in the city raps Community School District and I'm a teacher in the district as well I'd like to thank the board for their time and service part of my job is I have to advise students on classes to take from anywhere from grades six into 11th grade I say 6th to 11th grade because it's a holistic process decisions made in the high school level have a direct impact
010on the Middle School sequence students need to and really should know their educational path once they reach Middle School this would mean that if a district was planning to let's say change the science requirements that they would need to address this at the middle school level first and not last when the decision was made to have all freshmen take biology next year and remove earth science from the curriculum this had an impact on the middle schools but has yet to be addressed parents and staff are still waiting to hear what science classes the current seventh grade students will be taking next year even though the registration is already happening it would also mean that if we plan on changing the math curriculum for let's say algebra as we already did this year there would be
011very important to include the middle schools first and not weeks into the school year has occurred this year this change in the math curriculum has been extremely difficult transition for the teams of high school teachers but they're doing an admirable job they give up each one of their prep hours for 50 minutes each day to go over the new curriculum while the curriculum is really good there is not adequate time allocated for the dissemination of material so what should have happened well at lindmar students were introduced to the new new math curriculum in middle school this allowed time for students to learn the new system while it was still difficult for the teachers to change this slow rollout process was made less difficult due to the students being familiar with the material and format as
012Mr R stated earlier we have double the number of students taken Biology in world history next year this comes with no additional FTE as we all should know the only way to facilitate It Is by allocating FTE from within those departments there is no other way to do this we cannot magically make FTE appear without specifically allocating more funds we will lose electives despite this point being brought up over a year over the last year by staff and parents this has not been addressed in fact the message from the district has been the opposite we've been told that no electives will be lost but once pathways andies are up and running we will again be allocating even more FTE to to teach in those Pathways despite already being short in multiple core areas what does
013this mean to a parent in the district well it means that despite months of disjointed information coming out despite multiple committees and dozens of surveys we as parents still have no clue what the sequence for our students will be when they reach high school this is not a communication issue so before we hire more communication directors this is a management issue there will still be no answers to the basic questions that we have been asking for over a year what science class will the current Advanced seventh graders be taking next year what preparations are being made to facilitate this transition to the new math curriculum what Advanced Social Studies classes will be taught to the nth graders as a teacher and a parent I have the unique perspective to see this as a multifaceted issue
014as do my colleagues we have children in the district we know the issues from an up close perspective so what are the teachers with children in the district doing we're strongly considering removing our students from cab Community School District some have already opened and rolled their children to other districts to be clear these are students who have spent their entire lives preparing to attend our schools and have been in the public school system with every intent to attend our schools these are children of Staff who had never even considered this these are not hypotheticals this is not hyperbole teachers bought houses and the districts they teach in in order to have the great privilege to have their students attend the schools that they teach the schools that they believe in they're now reconsidering this has
015nothing to do with politics this has everything to do with the lack of preparation in the face of ambiguity from our District our parents are concerning alternative options my daughter Khloe is sitting in the audience I first brought her to school when she was 4 weeks old and she sat next to me as I coached academic de cathlon and nearly every aspect of our lives have been entwined with the Jefferson Community I 110 Jefferson as I did and as our grandparents did it is an amazing School of fantastic programs but a lack of Direction and Outsourcing of decisions have left many of us with no option but turn to other places for our children school board members please please reconsider our current direction I implore the school board members to please come to the high
016schools and speak to the teachers many who are apprehensive to speak in a public format like this this is the only way their voices will be heard thank [Applause] you our next speaker is Cal loan regarding opposition to new Iowa bill hi my name is C loone uh from 376 Spring Valley Place Cedar Rapids um I want to thank the board members for their time it has recently come to my attention that the state of Iowa recently proposed a bill threatening to the defunding of schools that refused to disband diversity based clubs and activities such as the gay straight Alliance mentors and violence protection and the black student union I'm the vice president of Kennedy High School GSA or uh gayer Alliance an instructor for Kennedy's MVP and an attender of kenned BSU the cedar
017opet School District uh SCH district has worked tirelessly to create an inclusive and safe environment for students of all backgrounds and identities and it confuses and frankly disgusts me that we would ever even consider reversing that hard work for nothing students have every right to be frightened right now because their own state is persecuting them trans students have been the constant subject of contempt by their schools preventing them from participating in sports and activities as of right now Iowa schools are being investigated by Trump's Department of Education for the sin of having an all-gender restroom Governor Reynold signed a bill in February that strikes gender identity from the state civil rights law as you know making Iowa the first state to remove civil rights from a previously protected class I was able to gather multiple
018uh statements from members of the BSU on this matter quote eradicating these programs and the policies would provide educational roadblocks to students of color clubs like the BSU and Dei programs help us live and give structure to discuss our society be ourselves learn about our own history and our own classes without simplifying or whitewashing history erasing the progress oh sorry erasing the progress our schools have made when not put only ours but every student's education at risk students face threats to their safety but not for the the first time for most of this District's history they have fa faced immense discrimination not just from their own government but a bigoted School environment and if you think we cannot do anything about this situation that things might be better if we just waited out know that
019the inclusive space we call our district now wasn't made by being quiet and waiting for a storm to pass we fought hard for a safe place in our schools where students can feel welcome in their classrooms have teachers and other students looking out for them be able to talk in classrooms about their struggles and educate them M themselves on other people's existences uh experiences and perspectives the students before refused to be quiet instead they were themselves loudly and publicly and they won and I believe those same tactics can be used again uh please oppose the upcoming Bill thank you for your [Applause] time our final speaker is Ashley burns on the topic of school vouchers hi public members of the board my name is Ashley burns my address is 3171 13th Avenue hawaa and I'm
020here to speak as a graduate of private school education who is um vietn opposed to the school voucher bill um I took some time to just crunch some numbers and not being someone who's very great at math um I did what I could um but I am appalled and I wish that more people were telling this story um you know in Seed Rapids we've got about 14,000 students in the state of Iowa 48,6 65 is what I looked up beginning next year with the no cap on any income um for private school vouchers um we're looking at a four $450 million annual cost um starting next year so over just a couple of year span that's going to be a a billion unchecked program um which the same standards are not held to um our
021Public School System um but taking that out dividing it out if all of that money were to come back to us in the district we would have a 93620 um increase per year for each student so then when you take that and you do all the math we're looking at um $13 million being redirected into the Cedar Rapids Community School District which more than makes up the deficit um that the Cedar Rapid school district has right so I know um with all the respect I appreciate um all of the the commentary I think we need to hear um the stories from those in the district who are living out you know these issues with budget all of that stuff and I'm not here to talk talk about that but on the larger scale because I
022think it's one thing we should look at and hold our Schoolboard accountable we also need to look Upward at our legisl legislature if we haven't in this room contacted Kim Reynolds and we haven't contacted our local legislators we're not doing this correctly um we've always been told that we just don't have the money in our state budgets um to fund public education but this voucher program is showing us that that's always been a lie and I crunch some numbers again um from Xavier and I just instead of going through all the numbers um we're looking at a 21% increase approximately in tuition rates over the last 5 years so that averages about to over 4% coming back for the ssas we are arguing right now in the legislature without having a budget 2% or 2.25%
023for public school students it is incredible the things that we are asking our district to do on such limited funding and you know this this this is political um because if we weren't in this situation we would have more money to decide to do more things with so with all due respect this very much is a political conversation and what is happening at the state level level and the federal level is coming back and biting Us in the butt um and that's just something that I think I'm standing here and I'm encouraging everyone to take a second to call your legislators to call our federal Offices let them know that public education matters and this is our our duty um how do we then as a district plan for long-term success I mean we're looking
024at in FY 26 you know just I work at the library so public um institutions are under attack right now so how does the district plan um knowing that these things are coming um and I would just encourage us all to really like look into that um just in general um money is always been there it's just a matter of prioritization and that matters at the local level and N Statewide and nationally so thank you thank you to all of our speakers we're going to start our evening um today tonight with our student representative report by Malik soer so mik if you'd step up to the podium we'd love to hear your report hello everyone my name is Malik soer and I'm a junior at Kennedy High School so this Friday on March 28th the
025superintendent cabinet for the students participated in a meeting in which we discussed budgeting and Staffing for the next year as well as Safety and Security during the discussion on bonds and Staffing we discussed the new backpack method for adding supplementary staff based on a school's need this would be given to schools based on the number of students they have on free and reduced lunch after which we split students into small groups and we discussed possible supplementary staff that could be hired or other ways to improve the safety of our schools ideas suggested were additional counselors for schools whose counselors may be currently overwhelmed policies for reinstating students back into their home schools after behavioral problems encouraging better relationship building between students and their counselors and teachers more school JS for emergency scenarios especially at New
026School City View and met City View more use of in school suspension rather than out of school suspension and standardizing student expectations for behavior and policies across the crcsd outside of the cabinet meeting many students have been worried about the effect of new D policies and how the crcsd will continue to support students in various minority groups many celebrations are also occurring at our schools as many students are looking forward to dances such as prom as well as graduation additionally many students are having opportunities to learn about jazz speak out Open Mic nights and participate in fun runs thank Youk thank you Mr soer we we always appreciate hearing from students so appreciate your report and look forward to more of those in the future um and now it's time to turn things over to
027Dr Grover for the superintendence report thank you president Garlock I would like to also start my report tonight with student Spotlight um we turn our attention to our students in regards to our students who are working towards our portrait of a graduate uh to remind us of our portrait of a graduate it is our role and responsibility to ensure that we are equipping our students for college and careers that they are empowerful life and engaged within our community so tonight um our spotlights of our students they come from um across the district and I may have one or two uh in the audience with us tonight so let's start with Tay Jackson who is a fourth grade student at Kenwood Leadership Academy um Taye was uh presented to us tonight because he exemplifies pride in
028both uh his school as well as his community he leads with Integrity consistently demonstrating a strong sense of responsibility and fairness in all of his actions always willing to go above and beyond Tay selfishly uh helps others whether is offering guidance in class or lending a helping hand during group activities he plays a key role in facilitating learning during team activities Tay holds himself and his peers accountable to the seven habits so let's uh give a congratulations to Tay from Kenwood Leadership Academy if I call your name and you're here you can please stand uh seu J MO is a sixth grader at Roosevelt creative cordar Business Academy he exemplifies the qualities of a business leader and a future ready scholar he possesses strong communication skills respect for his peers and adults alike and takes
029courage to take chances in the classroom and confidence in his abilities um he has been according to his principle he has been a positive influence on his fellow sixth graders his teachers um and he is a symbol of a Visionary leader so let's congratulate say and lastly our third student Spotlight comes to us from Kennedy High School and I do believe Sarah is in the audience with us tonight she and her mom both thank you um for presenting uh yourself here to the Board of Education uh Sarah Martin trainer exemplifies the portrait of a graduate according to her school Sarah is a 12th grader uh who is a oneof aind with clear goals and a motivation and talent to reach them but equally uh distinguishable is her commitment to kindness empathy and involvement in extracurricular
030activities such as dance team Academic Decathlon and the cougar bandana one of her teachers summed it up best by saying Sarah is an outstanding student and human being she cares deeply for others and has more empathy than any other teenager they've ever known s yeah that says a lot [Laughter] Sarah works hard both at academics and in clubs and activities she leads with a quiet confidence that her classmates and teachers respond so well to congratulations Sarah we're glad to have you in the C [Applause] [Music] Rapp now we'll turn our attention to our strategic plan priority areas and I will provide an update in key significant areas like to first start with safe and secure learning as we know safe and secure learning has been a top priority for our school district and recently uh
031we were able to announce in response to our teachers they have provided us quite a bit of feedback in regards to support for behaviors at the campus levels um in conjunction we're working with the office of academics and our student services department um this effort is being led by R Parker and Janessa Carr um and where we are looking to play Place one sebb position at each of our campuses uh this will allow our engagement specialist uh who currently uh work for us and they've taken on many different roles um and they need the opportunity to focus their work on implementing and coaching tier 2 plans our counselors as what was indicated uh by our student here tonight of course they have waiting list and they're also trying to do U multiple roles uh to
032support students as well and so by having this position it would allow an opportunity uh for the lead to focus on tier three uh interventions uh we will continue to work collaboratively with the campus principles uh to ensure uh that these positions are hired for um and uh ready to serve their students for the upcoming school year next I'd like to turn to Priority area number two um our students prepared for life um here uh we like to take the opportunity uh to acknowledge our Jefferson groundbreaking uh ceremony um I think the way Chad put it was it was a great day for building and learning at the same time at Jefferson High School as we know we are embarking upon our preparation for our Freshman Academy um in which we want to say thank
033you to the Jefferson staff um they have been very Cooperative uh they have pushed forward uh even decided that they want to go ahead with construction um after spring break uh and so we had the great opportunity so thank you to our Board of Education members who were able to join us we had City officials um as well as our staff members uh the leader the principal um but more importantly our students our students were there to take part uh in helping to shape their future um our third priority area for tonight uh would focus in on our uh parents and teachers as partners in our work uh we also had our teacher cabinet as well as our community cabinet uh hosted this past week and we kind of had some of the similar conversations
034uh that we had with our students focusing in on Staffing um as well as uh behavior supports we did have R Parker who um was gracious enough to join us for both of these event and events and join into some uh what I would say very informative questions um and our parents really seeking for some understanding but also offering uh some support and feedback uh one of the top questions that we did receive and also kind of related to a comment we heard here tonight um was really talking about the return on investment uh this was a question from the audience I had a couple board members there if anybody wants to weigh in but the main question there was about the return on investment for using the district Management Group and so when we
035think about the return on investment it's like what do we learn what did we get out of this process um this will probably lead into my next update here too as I talk about being physically responsible well as we know we were facing a $12 million deficit here uh within the Ceda Rapids Community School District uh for all the reasons um that have been stated here tonight where it's the lack of State funding um coming off of a $51 million uh investment through Essa dollars that we no longer have and so many um challenges facing our school district not to mention enrollment with that being said we needed to go through a process a very thoughtful process um and while this has certainly um it has been very complex uh it is definitely causing us
036to think about things differently and it will be a shift uh for all parties involved from the top of this organization all the way to the classrooms with that being said by going through this process we were able to identify $1 million of how we could shift our resource that was important for us so while we paid half a million dollars that process led us to identifying $1 million in terms of how we could address our deficit um this is not a one-time process when we were building out a model we're looking for a sustainable model of where we could provide the very things that our community and our staff members have ACC us for as hard as it is number one do we have a predictable model for hiring will we be able to
037be transparent and everyone understands how we hire and replace teachers within our organization do we have an equitable Staffing formula can we say that we're providing the same level of resources across our buildings that will be addressing the number of students as well as taking a look at the needs of our students and third as we really think about some of the district priorities we have a priority especially around Behavior avior safe and secure learning where our teachers have been basically begging us for additional support we can have a priority but if we don't have funding to put behind it we will not be able to elevate that priority so by going through this process that is our return on investment where we now have a model that we can use year after year we
038are able to address our deficit where we are preparing ourselves to have a balanced budget this board and this district has worked for many years to maintain a fund balance where they can be sustainable and we will also o have $2 million that we will be able to put forth uh for our organization to support behavior supports at the campus level yes this did require 6% of a reduction of our Workforce at our campus but it also reduced 11% at the central office so all of our staff members they are important and everyone will definitely feel the shift but throughout this process I do want to say thank you to all of the principles that's been involved all of the conversations um very thoughtful process and so now we are at that stage where uh
039we're committed to doing what we said at the beginning of this process is really thinking about how we can take care of our people in the best way possible even though we are facing this level of a deficit in one year here in our organization by going through the attrition process we are working closely with the outline Surplus guidelines that have already been in existence for all of our work groups so thank you to the human resources department along with CRA where they have been working day and night um making individual calls to our teachers making sure that they can offer them a position and while we know it may or may not be the same position that they had last year but we were committed to making sure that we can find a place
040um and so um we will continue that process until we have exhausted all of our Avenues um and so what's coming up next as we think about that um our certified teaching staff as I mentioned um they the Surplus and process um it is underway um as we think about our support staff notifications of impacted staff uh that they should be completed by the end of next week um and so you can see how complex it is uh par professionals notifications of impact of Staff should be completed by the end of April this is in guidelines uh with our normal timeline and as we think about the ELC staff here uh notifications uh will go out to them uh this week so while we've had many questions about the ELC staff again that's 11% reduction
041here and it it starts in my office I would have been without staff all year and positions that would not be replaced and there will be several uh departments but even when we um are able to manage staff um at the campus level as well as the ELC just want to keep in mind um what we've learned from our students the kindness the empathy the care and concern uh we will continue to execute in that manner um and we're all on the same team and I really do appreciate the call to act action uh for us to continue to advocate for funding for and support for public education because this District uh has been very conservative um has taken many steps to honor their core values of supporting staff and by going through this process
042we will still be able to honor many of those values as we manage to transition So speaking of managing the transition um a very complex organization that is certainly a time where we are needing all of us to become allies and support uh for a common Mission uh one being the bond proposal uh continues to be uh under discussion um as we know that we are having to address our facilities where the average age of our building buildings are almost 65 years old and where it has been 25 years since we have entered into a general obligation uh bond with the school district so going throughout this process our community has been very engaged uh we sent out a survey and I like to think of it as more than a survey um it's an
043opportunity for us to invite all of our community members around the table how else can you get everyone to have equal voice and to be able to give their input um thousands of people at one time and so that's exactly what has occurred here uh they have provided us their input and we're still analyzing the input U we've also taken a another step uh here this time around uh with the report of the economic Alliance um a third party where they are able to go out and do their own independent study so we are kind of comparing notes um at this particular time and so it's time for us to review it and take heed to the direction and the information that our community is providing us and we want to continue the discussions before
044we come back to the board of education so here's just a short brief outline uh for full transparency in terms of what we will be discussing and going over uh for the next month as it relates to uh the bond so April 1 first are we that's tomorrow I believe we'll have our task force meeting and kudos to all those people who have been sticking with us throughout this process uh we will have a meeting with them we will also um engage with our finance and Facilities committee um as well as we'll come back to the board of education on April the 7th to just uh have more discussions at the board level uh some of what we're hearing uh we will continue between April 7 and April 28th um engaging in focus groups uh
045we would like to be able to set up a meeting where we are inviting teachers in we will put some dates out uh and so anyone is welcome to join we're looking to have a teacher focus group a parent focus group as well as a community focused group between April 7th and April 28th uh and with the intention of bringing forward some form of a recommendation to the board on April 28th so how about with all these complexities we know why we come to the Cedar Rapids Community School District every day and it remains despite the challenges it's about our children our students in their future so I'd like to conclude my report tonight with three quick celebrations and shouts outs uh so let's go congratulations to Jefferson's academic the Caston Team 25 consecutive years
046give it up for Jefferson state champions state champions wow shout out to uh Kennedy students who completed the leadership for Five Seasons class if any of you know about that you participated you know that's something special as well and finally to the members of the Washington speech team on another championship banner and ringing the bell in the courtyard congratulations Washington Warriors that concludes my report for tonight thank you Dr Grover do we have any other board reports I have a board report I have to find My Notes so okay um so um I am a member of the superintendent's core uh committee for policy and compliance oversight so I'll give the report for the last two meetings um the the first one February 24th that committee discussed recent developments concerning diversity Equity inclusion at the
047state level um administrative and legislative um as well as a federal level um we had outside legal council present for that um to provide general information about the executive orders and other Communications from the federal government known as the dear colleague letters um the committee also met met March 25th and at that time we heard updates regarding federal and state law and related Authority with respect to immigration Dei and um some of the um the flurry of activity around cell phones and classrooms so um the committee was presented with final edits to the board manual provisions on substance free workplace uh review of a provision on the school Improvement advisory committee which is commonly referred to as Sak and recommendations for edits to a provision concerning the District certified staff evaluation process finally we received
048a follow-up report concerning efforts to ensure that District fund rating fundraising efforts are coordinated basically with so many buildings um in our district and everybody doing fundraising from PTA um all the way up to you know high school booster clubs we just want to make sure those are coordinated and that includes recommendations to Res revise the board manual provisions on the donations and fundraising that's my report thank you any other board reports I'd just like to make uh a quick comment regarding the executive order that came down from president Trump regarding the Department of Education we've received some questions about that and the the short answer is that there is a lot of uncertainty about what those changes will mean to us at the local level just know that we are watching and listening um
049and we will keep you a breast of any changes that have an impact here on the district please know as always our main priority is keeping all of our students safe keeping them secure providing them with a safe learning environment we will always do whatever we can to achieve that so our commitment remains no matter what happens at the federal or state level um to our students to our teachers and to our families in the community next up we have director boring who's going to give us the staff highlight for the evening thank you tonight for our CS crcsd staff highlight the Board of Education would like to highlight Mr Chuck tanelli science teacher and steam Academy coordinator at Metro high school he has been awarded the 2025 Iowa stem teacher award recipient from the
050southeast Iowa State region Mr tanelli encompasses Metro's Vision whatever it takes to help build his framework for supporting kids from all backgrounds with 100% of his students being identified as at risk of not completing High School Chuck is truly dedicated to the mission of ensuring students have access to the skills and educational success they need to be Future Ready he was instrumental in creating Metro steam Academy as a way to help students experience learning through project-based and immersed Community opportunities Chuck has fostered numerous par Partnerships with our community that not only provide a benefit to Metro students but to Our Community Partners as well with this award sponsored by Google Mr tanelli receives funds for his classroom and personal educational growth thank you Chuck for your dedication and commitment to crcsd congratulations to Chuck and
051thank you director boring for that uh we have a special guest with us tonight it's uh my pleasure to introduce Mr DT McGee he is here representing the Iowa Association of school boards and I believe he's here for a very special purpose tonight yes I am thank you president Garlock greetings I'm D McGee I apologize for my voice it's allergy season and so I'm definitely experiencing the joy of Iowa in March uh I have the pleasure of serving as the executive director for the Iowa Association of school boards to educate support and Inspire Public School boards in their pursuit of world-class education for all students in Iowa this mission statement has been The Guiding Light for the Iowa Association of school boards and it is with immense pride and gratitude that we recognize Jennifer boring
052for her exceptional service on our board of directors since March of 2021 Jennifer your dedication and unwavering commitment to our mission have truly been inspiring your insightful contributions and tireless efforts have played a significant role in advancing our goals and supporting school boards across the state your leadership has been instrumental in fostering a collaborative and forward-thinking environment and your passion for education has left a lasting impact on all of us at ISB as you embark on your new Journey as the executive director for of the district Czech Village and New Bohemia did I get that right M awesome the ISB board and staff want to extend our heartfelt thanks for your service and dedication we are confident that you will bring the same level of enthusiasm and Excellence to your new role and we wish
053we wish you all the best in this exciting new chapter we will miss you though thank you Jennifer for everything you have done for the Iowa Association of school boards good luck in your new role and we look forward to seeing the incredible things you will achieve I wasn't expecting this thank you thank you Mr McGee and let's give Jennifer one more hand of one more [Applause] hand director boring has been a strong advocate for for our district with the Iowa Association of school board provided a lot of leadership and communication of concerns from us to to the association so we appreciate the work that you did director borchering moving on to to our consent agenda are there any items on which a director has a comment or question or requires that the item be
054pulled from the consent agenda for a separate vote I I do have a question on uh number nine the right sizing for the cedar offet community staff and this is just a comment okay uh I had the opportunity on Friday uh to observe uh the process that CA and uh HR are going through with our right sizing and to be quite honest I was really overwhelmed uh the process uh the time that is being taken to look at every detail uh so I spent some time with them and I know we have other work groups and it appears well it appears to me that CA has a process in order and I want to make sure that other work groups have a process in order and maybe even talking with CA using some of those
055components because this is a process that this is step by step I mean I went in there there was a huge screen up and they were walking through each person individually uh so looking at what is the best best fit for our teacher so I didn't understand the process but walking into that room I I learned a lot that time is being taken and care to make sure that we're getting it right so I thank them uh CA and and and nhr this is a real process they are going to yeah I want to tag on to that I have a few thoughts that I was writing down about um the Staffing process as well so I just want to start by acknowledging that these this is very emotional um it's it takes a toll
056on everyone involved from the building leadership to District leadership to um the teachers who are maybe being reassigned and everybody in the building who um is connected to those people um and it all trickles down to some of the students too you might be feeling uneasy um during this process we want to uh recognize that and it's also taking a toll on our board members um we aren't robots we are humans and we uh these are really hard decisions that we're making and um because our people make this District great uh so please know that um kind of to the public comment today you know we aren't entering into these situations lightly um we do want don't want those unintended consequences as you're referring to um and so we really appreciate you being here to
057share those things with us so we can just continue to do uh the role that we were um placed here to do um we haven't had if I recall this type of reduction in over a decade actually someone told me when Cindy was in the classroom right is that correct so want to reiterate yeah yeah um that is a realignment it is not a mass layoff um so really as they alluded to stabilizing all of our resources to meet our student needs and also being fiscally responsible um but it doesn't make it any easier because this is hard um so I also want to just reiterate a few things that you know I know our board is paying close attention to as we're working with the superintendent through this process um so in addition to
058some of the other comments that were being made you know I and noted down that we are trying to as Nancy was saying find as many positions as possible we want to keep and retain staff right uh we value our staff we want to find a place for you and that based on your certification and interest level um so communication is key and that is um being carried out uh we also believe it's really important for individual schools to have autonomy as they align some of their staff with their school needs um to fit their culture so that kind of leads me into the third point is that we know every school is very unique there is a unique culture of the school and sometimes a mindset of the school and we don't want to
059lose that um and we know that this model is being put in place for a reason um because we are thinking about things being equal sometimes equal doesn't always mean Equitable right so that's where we want to make sure that we are thinking through what this means um to not lose what we have because what we have is really special and um you know the most impactful thing in a student's career is the person in the front of the room teaching them right the the the teacher the staff that are in the building every day um that are building those relationships with our students and we have so many incredible teachers um so I just as everybody in this room there are teachers here if you could just take a moment today tomorrow maybe a
060few times a day or every week and just like thank teachers for their service we need to be doing that um more than ever um it's a really hard time to be in public education as we had a brilliant and caring student join us today and talk about things that matter um we had another Community member who was Ted ing on some um really important issues but when we're talking about things like uh vouchers and charter schools and decreasing SSA year after year you know we need to remind ourselves that the fight is not with each other uh we all are here because we care about public education um so thank you again to everybody that has um been a part of this process I know the staff has uh spent hours and hours um
061and it was really great to see just the districts uh School leaders and CA um imesh in this process and working together to make this um make this happen and move through this as a team so just know that our board our superintendent all the leaders that I've mentioned um we're aligning our needs with who we are um and where we're going so thank you could I say one more thing too sure go ahead uh and and when I talked about the various work groups I don't think each one I think we have to look at each one differently and I I hope there is a process in place that is has been put in place I'd also like to comment on that I feel like I'm going to be echoing a lot of what
062was already said um but I do think as a board it is important to remember that our job is oversight of process to ensure that transparency and Equity of stakeholder input is being considered um and along that matter I would like to encourage staff to continue to provide feedback uh while it is a process it is a process of people please know that I understand there is a difference between Theory and application so I understand what looks good on paper and what looks good in numbers maybe doesn't translate to the classroom so what you're telling us and what we need to consider moving forward is really vital for us to understand so that we can be sure that we're enabling students and staff to be the most successful thank you do we have any other
063comments or discussion yeah director n sorry um I wanted to thank our speakers tonight um this is as director buer said um such an incredible process and having been on um the end of this process before in corporate settings versus the public education setting um I I have been really impressed with how hard they have worked to um make this impact be felt the the least in the classroom um that doesn't mean it's not hard that doesn't mean that you don't feel uncertainty um and and I do want us as a district to address things like timelines for when you will find out about seventh grade adance advance advaned math and the teachers like that's really important we are just in the midst of making a lot of decisions right now but we hear you
064and and I do ask that we provide a timeline for that sooner rather than later um but at the same time I do want to thank our our staff overall for their patience for their diligence in finding every way that we can that we can keep our classrooms and our schools whole and um focused on every every learner being Future Ready I would just say it is a hard process it's trying times right now across the board for so many different reasons and I do second that teachers we do hear you and that we do care um and just know that there is work going on behind the scenes that is not set up to be against you but to help us as a whole as a district but never feel like your voices don't
065matter what you feel absolutely matters and thank you for being open and sharing that with us so that we can know um what is happening among you that's appreciated so thank you I certainly don't want to be left out on such an important topic I um nobody's asking for less resources I think that's loud and clear uh from everybody that we talk to so I don't know if there's a building that any of us visited that said no we have too many people um it's certainly not the case um the other thing that I do want to comment on um because I know this when when this board knew that decisions like this were coming um and how difficult they were I've definitely heard a lot from the community that um the El the folks
066at the elsc folks that aren't necessarily in the classroom U making sure that those are also being looked at so Dr Grover I appreciate you commenting that uh that percentage currently is at 11% at the LSC 6% across the district and I'm sure that there's plenty of people continuing to look for other ways um to make the that we need so that we can balance our budget and not impacting our kids um any more than we possibly have to um I think we've heard it before there's lots of people up here that are big on legislative advocacy uh there are more people than just the folks in this room uh that we can be talking to so I would certainly encourage us to do that uh certainly in this state um and at the federal
067level so um I don't think a lot of people understand why education is so expensive um and I think most of us absolutely do um there's lots of things that are schools that are do are doing that our district is responsible for that our teachers are doing for our community so um I definitely want to Echo what I've heard from others say that uh you are seen um and this is probably one of the more difficult decisions that uh this board has had to make thank you for all those comments um I I would just add I appreciate the cooperation that I've seen between HR and CA I think in a time like this it really serves all of us well to know that we are working together as a team to get through this
068difficult time I will reiterate what's already been said there are many situations that we find ourselves in as a district that really were of no cause of our own uh the budget situation that we're in some of the other um things that are coming down we heard about Dei tonight um these are things that are put upon it and we are doing the very best that we can um staying within the law and making sure that we stay within our budget as well so I I appreciate all of the comments that have been made tonight I encourage you all to call your state legislator call your Congress person ask them to advocate for public schools so any other comments or questions I would like it to be known that um on the consent agenda I
069will be recusing myself on item uh Roman numeral 32 do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda as written so moved is there a second second all those in favor say I I I all those oppose same sign I just want to um that should have been a roll call vote make a note that I have recused myself again on um item Roman numeral number 32 so I have eyes on everything except Roman numeral 32 which is an exstension thank you we have one item under Administration tonight uh the only item is for approval of the inspection waiver for building demolition any discussion I just want to comment this is in regard to just maybe a clarification of I think there's a question here this is in regard to the Taki property so
070what what what exactly is this beyond what we've already approved I think in our last meeting yeah Liz can you speak to that yes can you come to the podium please thank you for those of you who don't know me my name is Liz Jacobi I am the compliance officer for the district and have been um uh part of making sure that this contract is um in compliance with all applicable laws the item on tonight's agenda is a document that had to be signed in order to effectuate or carry out um terms of the agreement that has already been approved so there's no new um action or consideration but it is a a document that says that we will not allow anyone to live in the residence that's on the property and so it's something
071that um requires signature and approval by um District officials and we want to bring it to the attention of the board okay any questions yeah any additional questions it doesn't it's part of the terms of the original agreement I guess is the way to put it and it's just a ministerial act to carry out those terms okay so there is no we are not making any forward progress on a bond issue we are simply honoring the contractual agreements to take care of the property that's correct one of the terms being um that we have to we will eventually have to take down the structure um but in the meantime we can't allow anyone to live in it that's a DNR requirement okay thank you for that clarification all all those in favor of approving the
072approval of the inspection waiver for building demolition please respond by saying I I those oppose same sign we have several items under board governance tonight the first item item is approval of a proposed settlement agreement do we have a motion to approve the agreement so moved do we have a second second those supporting the motion to approve please respond by saying I I I those oppose same sign up next is a motion for a Clos session to evaluate professional competency as provided by Iowa Code section 21.51 I do we have a motion to move into close session Some Mo is there second second this is a roll call vote director Bing I director bers I director humbles I director Newman I director timinsky hi vice president rry I president Garlock I the board will now
073move into Clos session and the time is 6:31 thank [Music] you e e e