CorpusRecord 41606

Cedar Falls Board of Education Meeting, March 9, 2026

A searchable transcript preserved as part of the Discourse Corpus. Passage numbers provide stable references within this record; verify quotations against the original recording when available.

Source
YouTube / Cedar Falls Community School District
Date
2026-03-10
Location
Black Hawk County, IA
Material
Transcript
Extent
6,002 words · about 34 min
Collected
2026-06-09

Transcript

Verbatim source text

001Heat. Heat. Good evening. and welcome to tonight's Cedar Fall School Board meeting. Today is Monday, March 9th, 2026. The board leads and supports the district mission, educating each student to be lifelong learners and a caring, responsible citizen. Our bold our board goals um as well as agenda are available on the website. Um, our first item uh this evening is a public hearing for the 2026 27 school year calendar. And I have a um I have in my possession an affidavit of publication showing that the notice of time and place of the hearing for 2026 27 school calendar. This notice was published in the Waterly Cedar Falls Courier on March 3rd, 2026. The board will now hold a hearing. Um, does anybody have um would like to offer a comment? Seeing none, this hearing is closed.

002Next is a public hearing on the 26 summer roofing projects. I have in my possession an affidavit of publication showing that the notice of time and place of a hearing for the 2026 roofing projects. This notice was published in the Waterl Cedar Falls Courier on February 24th, 2026. The board will now have a hearing. Does anybody offer a comment? Seeing none, this hearing is closed. We will now move to the consent agenda which includes the approval of the agenda. Uh past minutes, accounts payable, open enrollment, our HR report, the AEA cooperative purchasing agreement and the custodial supplies uh proprietary bid. I will take a motion. >> So moved. Second. >> Second. Any discussion or questions hearing? None. All those would in favor would say I. >> I. >> And oppose the same. Motion carried. Thank

003you. This evening we do not have any public comment. And so we will move into our communications with I believe student board representatives Ella Gardner and James Ping. Welcome. >> So, uh, hi. How y'all doing tonight? Um, got some updates for you since last. Uh, we, I mentioned last time we did the dance marathon event, um, and raised, uh, over $1,000 for a check. So, that we sent to the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. Um, I brought uh Ella Gardner, our student communication our student senate communications officer to uh tell you a little about a little bit about our next event uh the Windhaven uh casino night that we volunteered at. >> Yeah. So, in the fall we decided to do both Valentine's I guess and Thanksgiving cards to Win Haven and we were then

004last week able to go and participate in their casino night. We were just helping out with some games and stuff, but it was really great to make those connections. Um, we're now planning on also doing, I believe, like a car wash, but for their walkers and such. So, that will be really fun and I'm really looking forward to that. >> I love it. >> Yeah, that's all the updates we have um in terms of plans with Wind Haven. Um, we're also, you know, with March Madness coming up, we've got uh our big uh 3B3 basketball tournament coming up. So really excited to get that going after spring break and uh after our uh you know um state basketball's over for our high school as well. >> Great. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you. >>

005Thanks so much guys. >> Okay. And now Mrs. Stars >> up next. Yes. We'll have the presentation come up real quick. That is a big highlight we are going to talk about um today. That is our um boys basketball team. They made it to state and they are playing in not too long. So they're be playing Urbandale at 7:15 down in De Moine at the Casey Center. You can actually watch it live online. You go to the Iowa High School Athletic Association.org website and also listen with Cruisin KCFI 1250 and 105.1. and they are great partners of the district, the radio station there that goes down and covers the um all the state sports for us. So, cheer them on. Go watch online, follow on uh the radio as soon as the board meeting is

006over. Encourage everyone to do that and follow along um the rest of the week because we're going to win tonight. Uh also wanted to just mention a couple other upcoming things. Uh save the date. This is going to be Thursday, April 16th up at the high school. our um mental health uh kind of there's like a subcommittee that's developed these events the past couple years going to be working with Len Lines again. This is maybe her third or fourth time that she's going to be working with the district. They're going to be doing a virtual keynote with her starting at 5:30. It's going to be shown live in um the keynote is going to be live streamed in the auditorium and then there's going to be inerson breakout sessions focused on mental health and resources.

007uh really want our parents to come out, of course students as well, but we really want our parents to be there and be able to ask questions, find out um different things that their students may be going through and how they can support them. And really want to thank all the staff that are part of making this possible. So that's Thursday, April 16th. And the CAPS innovation celebration coming up in April, that'll be April 22nd starting at 5:30 out at the Diamond Event Center. um you can see all of the districts that will be participating and also our elementary schools and the seventh grade exploring CAPS programs as well. So we really encourage everyone to come out and check that out. It's really um really fun and amazing to see all of the projects especially

008those the younger kids that are getting involved in that authentic learning now as well. And then uh the class of 2039 is now registering for for school. Uh these will be our um incoming kindergarteners for next year. We're encouraging parents that have students that will be starting kindergarten next fall. Reach out to those buildings that are listed there with those phone numbers and they will help you get the rest of the information you need. Parent meetings will be coming up, I believe, at the end of March and then the visit day will be in May. So, we encourage everyone to get planning ahead for those students that'll be starting kindergarten next fall. Um then we have some congratulations we're going to talk through real quick. This was our large group all state nominations. So our

009students went to districts and then state and at state the judges then choose a very kind of select number of students that are uh are um groups that are performing that are then considered all state. So this is basically like the highest level you can achieve in Iowa for the um speech competition. And we had our improv and short film and musical theater. So all three of those groups were given all state nominations. So you can see all of those students names there. I think one of the funnest things that you will notice is for improv those two coaches are alums. And then when you look down at musical theater there are um two alums there as well that are Drew Ludman and Skyler Zimmerman. Those are alums that participated in speech two or three

010years out and are now coming back and volunteering their time to help with the students. So it's really great and congratulations to all of those students. Big congrats to our math count students. These are nine students from Pete Holmes and Hansen that advanced to state. You can see those top individual finishers there. Our top teams from Holmes and Pete. And a big thanks to the coaches Blair Hudson and Karen Nukem from for Holmes and Jake Bates at Pete. And also fifth grader Elijah Nukem competed. Um he's not old enough to actually um be scored along with the students. Next year he'll be able to do that, but he was would have scored in the top 10 and would have tied with the state qualifier. So, congratulations to all of those students on those achievements. Wanted

011to congratulate Jackie Foyce. Uh, she was named the 2026 Iowa Travelers Award for Teaching Excellence through the NEA Foundation. So, congratulations to Jackie on that award. And then this is got to be a highlight for me um on social media. This is North Cedar Elementary. These are their kindergarten students and they received a grant from the Cedar Falls Schools Foundation through the excellence grant program and they um funded rain/mud suits and boots for all of these little adorable kindergarteners and they were able to go and try them out last week. It is the most adorable pictures >> ever. So, please, I encourage everyone go find Norse Cedars Facebook page and they will also be getting soon a mud kitchen. So, those um raincoats and boots are going to get an extra um workout right away

012when they got those. So, what a really unique and fun project they were able to get funded through the foundation. Also wanted to highlight a few other elementarymentaries. This is a Cedar Heights Elementary. They've been collaborating with partners to create some stop motion movies. So, they came up with their own storyline artwork and then um used a digital an app and then were able to record it digitally. You can see a lot of those on Cedar Heights Facebook page, the actual stopotion videos. And then this is Southdale Elementary and this was just a really great event. Um James mentioned the high school did dance marathon as well, but Southdale Elementary did their own in support of the University of Iowa Family Children's Hospital and they raised over $3,000. James isn't here anymore, but I would

013have been like, "James, you only did a thousand and these elementary kids did over 3,000." They had a lot of events and different things and participated in their own own dance marathon um there at Southdale. I think Aldrich might have done it as well. Maybe some other buildings that participated in this as well. So, it was really great um great activity and way to to raise awareness and funds for a very important cause. And then I tell you what, our buildings are just knocking out of the park lately. I mean, the fun things they're doing is just amazing. So, these are our preschool students at Hansen Elementary and they were doing a study on clothing and community helpers. So, um they did a fashion show as community helpers. So, this was them on the red

014carpet um showing off their community helpers um fashion. So, how um they were of course very careful because they were walking um on a runway with that red carpet. But how adorable is that? Um and these kids just look like they had a fabulous time. So, um and I could not end uh this board update without shouting out to the amazing performers, musicians, backstage technical staff of doing layiz up at the high school last um three nights Thursday through Saturday. Um, I was lucky enough to go. I hope all of you got to go as well, or if you didn't, you heard about it probably on social media because it felt like it was everywhere. And um, they actually are having it adjudicated for the Iowa High School Musical Theater Awards, which is presented um,

015by the Iowa High School Music Theater Association. So, I believe it's in the summer they maybe um, give these awards out, but it's I don't think they've done or I'm sorry, it's in the award showcases in May. Um I don't think we've um had something adjudicated for us on the musical side um that I've been aware of since I've been here. So this was I think the perfect one to take that kind of next leap. But I wish I could list everybody that was a part of it. But I will give a special congratulations to the staff that were part of it. Michelle Rafy was the director, Molly McIll, the assistant director, Elliot Crayons music director, and Gerald Ramsey the orchestra director. It was top to bottom, top-notch. It was just just phenomenal. So, congratulations

016to all those students um and the staff as well. Can't imagine the amount of time and effort that they put into that and it really showed. It was awesome. Follow along. We've got all of our spring sports. I think we've got some track meets starting tonight and lots of things um already kicking off for spring sport. So, follow along there. Uh you can scan that QR code and get on our district e newswsletter. A lot of the things you hear um in the board update are included in there as well along with some other news and announcements and that's where everything is that you can follow along. Any questions? Not a question, but I would just plug the Lin Lions event. I've tried to go every time she's come and I could not recommend that

017more to any parent in the district um when it comes to parenting your children and working through some of the issues of our days. Yeah, she's been a great partner for us um and really brings current things that are happening right now for us with our kids in our district. So, and we'll definitely be um sending out more information so people get that on their calendars. >> Do they record those sessions? >> Um she via her contract, she doesn't allow us to record it. >> Yeah. Sweet. But don't have to be in person. You can watch it from your phone. >> Yeah. Last time it was live and then I think the recording stayed up for >> Yes, we did have >> a few hours or a day or something. >> Yeah. Yeah. I thought

018I remembered something like that. >> That is true. The last time it was, but it was a real short period, so I don't think we're allowed to do that this time around. >> Thanks. >> I want to offer my congratulations to the music department and theater department for that production. That was amazing. >> Yes. Yes. Can't quite um >> can't put there's not really words. >> Wish it could have been recorded. >> It's that good. >> Yeah. There's not really words. those who were able to experience it whether here or in our community, they saw a special thing that night, those three nights. >> No question. It was amazing. >> It's absolutely wonderful to have that facility, right? The facility and the technical aspects of it which bring it to a whole different level. So,

019>> yeah, it was like without a hitch when I saw it Thursday night, like technology-wise, mics, lights, all of that. It was um another thing to sit there and think like, "Oh, wow. This is an amazing auditorium and facility that they're able to do all this at." >> I was hearing from a jealous music teacher today production and he said the acoustics in there are just fantastic. >> Yeah. Once again, I'll feel lucky. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Okay. So, we are to item G, which is the approved plans and specs and uh form of contract for the 2026 summer roofing projects. >> Yeah, we Yeah, this is just the the second movement of of the summer roofing projects. Last meeting, we had Garrett here who uh provided

020a report of what was anticipated to do. We obviously had the public hearing just a few minutes ago. Um but if we could pull up the report or the the presentation just a quick reminder of what um we are moving forward with or anticipate to move forward with uh when we take a look at that there are plans for the uh Hansen Elementary as well as North Cedar Elementary based on the sections based on the recommendation. Again just as a reminder this is within our 10-year PEL plan um our roof replacements and tuck pointing associated to that. And so this is an annual review that we do based on the needs of those particular buildings as we rotate through them. And then again, this is just the specs associated to that um those particular designs

021for North Cedar and Hansen Elementary with then the budget associated to that. We budget uh dollars associated to that each particular year. Those dollars are then identified and provided to um our our um architect or um and uh advised. this is what we have to work with and and he's decided that Hansen and Norse Cedar are those dollars in which we can utilize based on the needs. So we have a budget of about $315,000 for this year. Um again the timeline associated to that we had the public hearing this evening as well as then uh the pre-bid meeting did occur which from what I've understood we had um several contractors interested in in the um bidding process. So, we do anticipate those bid openings here this week on March 12th with then uh pre-construction meeting

022and then as well as uh awarding those contracts here at the next meeting on April 13th. So, um with then uh con uh construction complete then August 3rd, so before school starts. So, any questions in regards to um moving forward with the summer projects? We'll go ahead and take a motion on this. I move that the Cedar Falls Community School District Board of Education approve the proposed plans, specifications, proposed form of contract for the 2026 summer roofing/tuckpointing projects. >> And we'll take a second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any um additional conversation or questions? I I would maybe just make a comment uh for the community. Um Cedar Falls and your local school board is very proactive in staying ahead of building maintenance before they become crises that become more expensive. And this is, I

023think, a perfect example of that. looking out 10 years in advance, anticipating the maintenance that's coming and making sure we're staying on top to keep our buildings watertight. >> Absolutely. >> Yep. >> Okay. Um we'll look for approval on that. Um those in favor would say I. >> I. I. >> Opposed would be the same. Motion carried. Thank you. Okay. Uh we're now going to set a public hearing for the proposed tax notice and back to you. >> Yeah, absolutely. So, this really is just the start of our certified budget process. Um this is just the first part of it and so uh it is the property tax notice that we'll briefly review tonight. We'll really have an in-depth conversation at our next meeting um at the April 13th meeting, I believe. Um but this

024is just an overview of what that is and what we do anticipate to come. And so in May of 2023, the legislation made some changes in regards to the budget process. Some of those changes included the certification date. Uh it previously was April 15th. And with these changes, they now um have we have until April 30th to make those changes and certified the budget accordingly. In addition, schools, cities, and counties are required to file a proposed tax notice to the county auditors by March 5th. And what that proposed tax notice is is really it just sets the maximum property tax in dollars that the district can levy. Um as well as then what happens to that or what can we do with that? The county auditors then are required to send this budget statement or

025property tax notice to all property owners no later than March 15th. This year it's uh on a Sunday so it'll be March 16th that potentially uh you'll be receiving or they have to mail it by. Again, that document then dictates or indicates what those maximum property tax dollars are that we can levy based on assumptions that are made. And what uh in addition then we have additional public hearing. Previously, there was just one public hearing with this property tax notice. An additional hearing is required and tonight it is uh recommended to move forward with setting that public hearing reason for the presentation. So, what does that property tax statement example look like? Again, this is just an example of the document. It's not a specific property in the in the Cedar Falls Community School District.

026In fact, it says anywhere in Iowa, any Iowa City or any Iowa community member. But this document does provide the district school district. It does provide the county and it does provide the cities um current tax rate, current dollars that are levied associated to that an effective tax rate as well as a proposed levy as well as then a proposed tax rate. Lot of information. So it has the 2026 uh dollars that are levied as well as the tax rate. The effective tax rate is the rate produced holding current taxation constant while using next fiscal year's taxable values. I had to read that because that is just overall it's everything stays the same except the valuations. So the assessed valuations with the exception is there is a mandatory 10% uh assessed valuation increase on the

027statement. So not every district or not every homeowner or property owner will have a 10% increase but the document is standard and it in complet uh includes a 10% mandatory all across the board assessed valuation. So the numbers might fluctuate a little bit and they might look a little bit different. The other thing to remember and we'll get into this with these next slides is the second page of that document provides the current tax distribution. So again, it provides the city, the county, and the district's current uh dollars levied. But then the hypothetical property comparison, which is on this next page or this next slide, shows what that 10% may look like. Um again, this is not tailored to a specific property. You're not getting your property tax document. you are getting a standard text

028document that generalizes particular things but it does uh include that mandatory 10% valuation. So it might look a little bit different. So how does that look? So what assumptions are made? So those assumptions that we know based on what we have as of today um to be able to uh produce this document, we know that the taxable valuations from the prior year increased about 2.29%. 29% based on excluding TIFF. We know that. We also know that SSA um was signed and it's 2%. We do know that there is a expected delays um and that's because of an administrative lag. They weren't able to update the system accordingly with the 2% because of the timing of when the signatures occurred and when we had to produce this document. So there might be a little bit of

029fluctuation. We also know that the district um in continues with the instructional support um income sir tax rate of 1%. We know that this year we anticipate to levy a little over $2 million for a management fund and that is because we do anticipate anywhere from a 15 to 20% increase in our premiums. Um, we also have a wind 1% wind hail deductible based on building values which if you take a look at as an example the high school loan an $89 million value it's $890,000 deductible for wind and hail as well as then uh we have additional uh facilities this year uh we'll be finishing up hopefully knock on wood um the Shields Tiger Performance Center. So um so there's additional costs associated to that and again the management fund just to remind you

030is for our liability our casualty and property insurance as well as work comp. We also then have our regular and voted PPE um just spoke about the PPE the 10-year PPE plan what we utilize that for that includes our roof and our tuck pointing as well as then um our fleet um equipment um facility repairs and and um just facility maintenance. uh the dollars associated to that and then our debt service of a little over $7.4 million and that's associated for payment of principal and interest um for our general obligation bonds um to make those payments accordingly and those were for the um construction of the high school um Aldridge Elementary and the remodel of North Cedar and um Orchard Hill. So with those assumptions we take a look at what was produced by the

031district. this proposed tax notice. Again, as I mentioned earlier, it's the maximum tax dollars that can be levied in the year. We know for fiscal 26, those maximum tax dollars uh were a little over $35.9 million associated to uh Cedar Falls Community Schools. If everything stayed the same and we levied the exact same amount, which we know it didn't because we've already had a 2% increase for SSA, so they've made some changes with the legislation. uh the dollars are reflected, but our proposed property tax levy uh for fiscal 27 is a little over $36 million. So, an increase of about $81,000 from the prior year. What does that look like with the tax notice or the tax rate? The tax rate for fiscal 26 was $14.52. uh you'll see um then for fiscal 27 we

032anticipate that tax rate to be $14.11 a decrease of almost 42 42 cents this year again there are assumptions made based on the assumptions that the district have made but again this document also does produce that I I want to be clear is that 10% increase in property valuation is a standard the document you receive is a standard and so what does those comparisons look like those comparison on the left hand side are based on the property tax uh notice. So as I had mentioned an assessed valuation for fiscal 26 of $100,000 with the roll back um based on uh set by the department of management as well as then the tax rate of $14.52. It's an estimated tax due of a little over $689. with those same things except for that u maximum mandatory

03310% so a valuation of 10% increase at $110,000 with that roll back change the roll back does change for fiscal 27 with a tax rate of a little over $14.11 you have about a third of a percent of an increase on the example but when we take a look on the right hand side of an actual property owner in the Cedar Falls school district based on the the valuations that did occur. You'll see an assessed valuation of a little over $257,000 with that roll back and that tax valuation credits aren't determined in this. So, there's homestead credits that do occur as well as military credits. Those aren't calculated in in this example, but you'll see that tax rate of $14.52 for a tax due of $1,777 with the actual valuation changes based on 2027, not

034that 10% increase that was mandatory based on that property tax notice. This property did uh increase to $270,950. You'll see that roll back, that same roll back of 44%. With the new tax rate of $14.11, you'll see a decrease of approximately 4.2% for fiscal 27 or $74 for this particular property owner. So, it's really dependent upon the assessed valuation that did occur for the property. But again, the property's tax notice that you received is specific to the mandatories and minimums that they are required to place on the document. It's not specific to your property. So, when we take a look at it tonight, we're taking a look at the property tax notice or what that all means, setting that public hearing for that uh April 13th meeting with then a full budget presentation um on

035April 13th. So, that will be a longer presentation. I'll just warn you tonight. um with then on April 27 2nd that uh second budget hearing approving the fiscal 27 budget with then filing that budget um no later than April 30th of 2026. But I think the thing to remember is one the document provides the maximum dollars that can be levied. Two um an estimated tax rate decrease of about 42% or 42 cents this year and it's not a specific to the individual property. It's an overall review of what the district has. Um, and again, that document that they will receive or the property owners will receive um are um the district, the city, and the county. So, yeah. Any questions? >> So, first of all, what what's going to go out is the standard >>

036um 10%. But the one that you're showing here with the 141 Is that the median home in Cedar Falls or is that just an example home or what is the 5.1% property value increase based on? >> Yeah. No, it was just a a home in which I chose. It was not the median of Cedar Falls Community um school district. Um it was just a property. So um some may have less, some may have more. Um but at this particular this is an example of how that $14.11 will impact that particular homeowner. um based on um the roll back and the new tax rate. >> Is there a way for homeowners to look up their specific calculation? >> Yeah. So um not quite. Um they can do the calculation based on my example. Um you can

037utilize Beacon as an example. Individuals can look up their own property valuations, assessed valuations through that. um this is a pretty simple um calculation that they can utilize based on the screen or based on the uh example I provided um but yeah they can do that themselves. Yeah, but there's not an actual um website that they can go to. >> Okay. Yeah, good question. Danell, just one thing as we go into budget review. Um I think the last two years we've taken enormous increases on our property and casualty insurance premiums. >> Mhm. >> And now we see >> we're going to get hit with it again. >> Yeah. Could could you maybe drill down a couple years back to look at what the management fund has done over the past several years? Because I think

038at a high level, I feel like that's about the only thing driving property tax increases. And I think it's important for the community to understand >> that look, this is just a a pass through of cost increases that we've had to take >> because of property casualty insurance. >> Yeah, we we uh review that on an annual basis and we actually meet with our local representatives. Um we've actually bid as well um in in regards to looking at different um needs for our district as well as just overall um cost associated to the district. Um I think the one thing to remember with this is it's not a reflection of Cedar Falls schools unfortunately. It's it's a reflection of the natural disasters that do ac uh occur across the country and the impact of the

039insurance industry. And unfortunately it is passed on to um the community because of the need first of all but also because of the insurance industry is passing it on then to the community itself. So we do continue to review that and reflect on that and ensure that we are meeting the needs of the district and and our facilities but we do monitor that very closely. >> Thank you. And I would say a couple important uh items from from that presentation is a we have a decrease in our levy rate by 42 cents. Uh b the form that we have to send out assumes a 10% increase in property valuations. We know in our community that is less than that. Uh so we anticipate residential uh will be a decrease for the majority of residential owners

040across Cedar Falls unless you had significant improvements or something that was done to your home within the last year. So, I think that's uh really positive. >> Okay. Anything else? >> I think we have a um set a public hearing here. I move that the Cedar Falls Community School District Board of Education set April 13, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. at the City of Cedar Falls Council Chambers, 220 Clay Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa, as the date and time to hold a public hearing for the 2026 2027 proposed tax notice. >> And we'll take a second. Second >> second with Nate we'll say um any additional conversation all those in favor would say I >> I >> oppose would be the same and motion carried we will move into um conversation on the phase two of the

041Shields Tiger Performance Center. >> Yes, very exciting opportunity. Um, as most people know, we had have built a new high school. Uh, part of the design development with the new high school was asking parents, students, uh, community members as as well as staff, dream big. What, uh, what could be at this facility at this site. Uh, something that was not included in the bond referendum was something that came from that dream big, and that was a Tiger Performance Center. Um, when we started to construct the building, we allowed for the Shields Tiger Performance Center to be able to be built into the future as we uh had a fundraising committee that came together and and this couldn't have been done without the the members of that fundraising committee as well as many many community donors

042and the naming rights by Shields to be able to to move forward with this. Uh the we have phase one that's completed. Uh that is the shell of the building. uh that is the roof structure that is the interior of the of the building besides any of the uh coomonants any of the additional components within the building. Uh and that is phase two. Um we were fortunate enough uh through a lot of hard work by Denell the business office and and her crew to be able to apply for what came out of the 2021 I believe uh federal legislation and inflation reduction act. Uh and we just received here within the last three or four months 3 point a little over $3.1 million of federal inflation reduction acts to be able to complete move forward

043with phase two of the Tiger Performance Center. Phase two uh includes what you see here. Uh it's uh some field turf, some some indoor courts, uh some running services and track. Uh this is looking from the south to the north. You can see the glass windows look into the niatorum uh which is again uh completed and done uh through a lot of joint projects and a lot of work by uh school community businesses. Um phase two will include uh all the things that you see here and we hope a lot of the uh equipment and other components uh that will go into this building with the inflation reduction act dollars. some of the dollars that we received for our rebates uh through the the building structure. Those dollars go back into the site and would

044complete phase two of this. Again, a huge amount of thank you to our um group, our community group that helped fundra for this. They were extremely active, went out for a lot of naming opportunities and fundraising. A huge thank you for Shields and and for them naming this uh structure. uh this could not have been done without them and and we believe as we set this public hearing we'll have our design group come at the April 13th meeting to describe in more detail uh but the hope would be that this could be open and ready for use by the end of November uh middle of December >> very exciting >> questions this is simply to set the public hearing just comment that I had a chance to tour this last week and very impressed with

045the progress that we've made on this and and uh doing well with the budget and we're actually ahead of schedule on our timeline right now. Is that correct? >> We are. We thought we'd have to go with a phase two and a phase three uh but with the inflation reduction acts dollars uh as well as some of the other rebate dollars. We we feel that we are uh in a position to move forward with with just one phase phase two after phase one. Uh again, couldn't have done this without our community and and the the involvement of what they've accomplished. Okay, we'll go ahead and set a public hearing then. >> I move that the Cedar Falls Community School District Board of Education set April 13, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. at the City of Cedar

046Falls Council Chambers 220 Clay Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa as the date and time to hold a public hearing for phase 2 of the Shields Tiger Performance Center. >> And we'll take a second. Second. >> Um, any additional conversation? >> All those in favor would say I. >> I. >> Opposed would be the same and motion carried. Thank you so much. Um, now we're going to um look for the approval of the 2627 school year calendar. >> Don't have much besides what we talked about last meeting. Uh a couple things that we think are probably going to stay somewhat similar as we look to the future with calendars. We know that uh Thanksgiving we do not have school that Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of that week. That seems to be something that uh is important for

047our community, our families as well as our our staff. Uh this year as well, we're proposing that we have two full weeks off over uh uh winter break, Christmas. Um uh and staff actually not returning till after January as well. um or January 4th. So, we think it's a a good calendar knowing all the different constraints that we have in place um and the fact that uh um just some of the legislative uh decisions that are made for us. Uh this is very similar to this year's calendar with a lot of corresponding dates. >> Excellent. Um, I would give a shout out for the times that were put in for both the uh secondary and the elementary that were added on the content. It's great to have those. We get a lot of questions. We

048um get used to certain things and we forget somebody some is often new. So, >> um we'll go ahead and um take a motion to approve this calendar. I move that the Cedar Falls Community School District Board of Education approve the 2026 2027 school year calendar as presented. >> And we'll take a second. >> I second. >> Okay. Um any additional conversation? All those in favor would say I. >> I. >> Opposed would be the same. And motion carried. Moving to the superintendent report. Well, we have a two-hour work session after this, so this will be really short. Our next board meeting is April 13th. Uh uh we do have spring break uh coming up next week and no school this Friday for parent teacher conferences which are occurring uh during this week. So uh

049other than that, a lot of exciting things happening across the district with many many great things that are happening. So thanks for all your work. >> Excellent. Um we will be moving into our board work session with the Iowa Association of School Boards. Um no action will be taken during this. Um so we will be going off the air. We will be u moving to a conference room. Um we will come together at the end for an adjournment. Um but um any other um board questions or concerns before we u make a a move to our work session? Also to keep it really brief to keep things moving, but uh President Hines and I will be uh representing the board at the CFA uh bargaining negotiations kickoff starting March 25th. >> Yes. >> Anything else?

050>> Just want to thank Denell for all the work that you did on the presentation stuff. Appreciate that. and Janelle for pulling all those cute pictures together. That's the best part of the job, right? Best part of the job. Okay. Um so, u we will be going off air and moving into work session. Thank you so much. Martins goes up and you know that people are there, your teammates are there to clean things up. Number two in the state, class 4A in rebounding and two big offensive rebounds so far for the Maroons. converted on both of those. >> Speaking of number two in class 4A field goal percentage, that's Debuke senior. They're used to shooting 51.6%. >> There's a shot right there. Porter knocks it in as Cooper Porter on the season. He shoots 46%

051and from three-point land, Joanna, he shoots 45%. He has 74 made threes on the year. >> Applying the defensive pressure on Jenkins. Martins goes to work to dump off. Crane rising up and throwing it down. A great job getting the attention of the defenders to leave Crane alone in the short corner baseline area. Deuke senior Porter with two three-pointers. That has been the offense thus far. Porter now goes down to the block, dumps it off across the lane. Nice dish underneath. Yes, good cut to the basket for an open look. >> Colin McCulla on the finish. Number 31, just a freshman at 65. >> Colton McCulla, a junior at 61. Nice move. The shot no good for Martins. And Porter with the rebound and gets fouled. The reach in is called on Jenkins with a

052minute 38 to play here in the opening quarter. Getting up and down the floor. Good start for Dalling. Started with that 70 lead and since then it seems like the Rams have settled in. >> Well, they've gotten their shot off. You know, those are big tough blocks. Not only are they our block, they're an opportunity to not get a shot off, not even get a look offensively. >> Crane goes to the bench for a breather. And now the first shot from Schultz from the outside. >> 126 to play here in the first quarter. Off a screen goes Martins. >> Coley out for a screen now. A kick out to the right corner. Three-point shot is no good. Offensive put back. >> Evan Mitchell. How did he get in there? Missed the putback, but Crafty slashed

053to grab that rebound. >> Yeah, he crashed the board so well. should have taken a little more time to gather himself and score. >> There's a kick to the left corner. Three-pointer for Rainer. No offensive rebound. The putback is there for Schulz. >> How about his positioning? So strong around the basket. Undersized in this matchup against Kohley. Uses his body so well for the Oboard. >> First team all conference. up the right side now. >> No Martins kick to the corner up to the wing. Open shooter and that is Nathan Jenkins knocking it in from the outside. When Martins gets the paint, which is almost every time he draws so much attention, the defense collapsed and that extra pass makes it, you know, a great offense from the Bruins. >> Porter at the horn off

054the iron. A six-point lead for Dalling Catholic over Deuke Senior. We will be back with more IHSA hoops here on the HY Championship Network. A new day means so many things. Possibility and potential. New opportunities and challenges. And when you're building something that matters, you need a partner who truly understands. Iowa banks get this. Their customer relationships are built on shared values and earned trust. From homeowners to small businesses, Iowa banks know what it means to invest in the future. Iowa Banks, your partner through it all. >> Why am I seeing yield differences in only two of my fields? >> Great question, Evan. I've taken some soil samples and looks like you might have some fertility issues, especially in that northern field. Take a look. >> Nothing gets past you, Rick. Hey, how long you

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056smile in every aisle. >> Welcome back to the IHSAA state basketball tournament presented by Iowa Farm Bureau here in De Moine. Alongside Joanna Settles, I am Brad Wells. And first quarter is in the books. Brought to you by Iowa Farm Bureau. Proud title sponsor of the IHSAA. Championing youth through sports and education. This is Cooper Porter looking to the left side. Rainer fires the three. No good. Debuke two of seven in that first quarter from three and a foul on the drive by Martins. Head coaches in this one for Dowling Catholic Justin Einerson in year number three. And for Debuke senior Wendell Iimers in year number 33, 24 years at Debuke Senior after nine years at West Sue Hayward Martin's at the line. >> Good on the second attempt. A seven-point lead for Dalling. Spin

057move, shot up, rattled home. Tevin Schultz has looked more aggressive since the halfway point of that first quarter. >> He has. That's an easier matchup for him defensively, but a nice ball fake, drop step, and an easy two. >> There's Charlie Crane going to work. >> Crane puts it up, unable to get it to fall. And Porter races it to the Rams end now. Looking for some help. Kicks it over to Tucker. Tucker on the drive. A nice take from the wing. Got a high percentage shot. >> Great take. >> See such balance and trust on both of these teams. Joanna early on >> trusting their teammates to take different shots as another strong move by Martins. >> Martin so strong scoring and how about his three assists in the first quarter. The team had

058five big assists in quarter number one and they outrebounded Debuke Senior 8 to four. >> Top of the key. Tucker now swings it left side. And shuffling the feet inside is Rainer. And that's a turnover. Well, as sole title sponsor of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, Iowa Farm Bureau provides millions of dollars in awards, recognition programs, grants, and scholarships, helping to support student achievement on the field and in the classroom. 550 to play here in the second quarter. >> The four versus five seed. >> Ding the four seed and continuing to be effective on the offensive end. This is Maddox Capola, the senior. He's headed to Wartberg next year. Was a starter on the state champion football team. Also ran at state in track and field. is good answer by Porter

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