Cedar Rapids' big bets

 

Approximate location of proposed new middle school

The Cedar Rapids Community School Board has approved the purchase of land in unincorporated Linn County, which they intend to be the site of a new middle school. As reported by Cindy Hadish in Homegrown Iowan, construction of the school is dependent upon the outcome of a bond referendum in November 2025, and is part of contracting the district's six middle schools down to four. The district argues contraction is necessary because of declining enrollments.

The school district operates under two mandates: to educate K-12 students, and to manage that in the most cost-effective way possible. As with the elementary school shuffle, they have argued that new construction offers the opportunity to keep up with technological developments in education, and that it is less costly to build than to repair. The choice of location is at first blush bizarre, but perhaps the district would argue that they need a lot of land that is relatively inexpensive. It seems relatively inaccessible, too, walkable from hardly anywhere other than the large-lot subdivision to its west. Even biking will be difficult for most students, despite the development of a trail alongside Highway 100. So we're in for a lot of private cars and school buses, with the latter costing district taxpayers maybe more than they're saving on the remote location. (For more on the complicated economics of school closings, see Roza and Dhammani 2024.)

While the district will retain middle schools in Wellington Heights (McKinley) and the near northwest side (Roosevelt), this also continues a trend of moving schools outward. The traditional neighborhoods near the center of town will become less attractive, which is for many reasons not in the city's long-term interest. That may not be one of the school district's mandates, but whose job is it?

Mayor Tiffany O'Donnell speaks at Bridge of Lions dedication,
July 2022

Maybe it's the job of the city government, although in a fragmented system they have no pull with the school district. However, the city is busy pursuing its own risky would-be game-changers: a casino across the river from downtown, and not one but two data centers south of town (one is Google, one is "bigger than Google"). About the casino, I've argued that, arguments about morality and cost distribution notwithstanding, my biggest objection is that it's a terribly unproductive use of primo land. With a less splashy, more incremental approach, we could build a neighborhood that could be an ongoing supply of human energy to core businesses.

The political hype around bagging the data centers makes me suspicious, without a whole lot of personal knowledge of how they operate. Strong Towns lists data centers along with corporate headquarters and big-box stores as the 21st century equivalent of smokestack chasing: a self-defeating contest among localities, "betting big on bad hands" in the words of Strong Towns' John Pattison, in which both the winner and the also-rans wind up sad. (See also Mattera, Tarczynska, and LeRoy 2014.) 

• Are we being overly optimistic about the economic impact of the firms' investments? 
• How much tax revenue is the city foregoing to lure them? 
• How much infrastructure investment and maintenance will be required to prepare the ground for their arrival? 
• How much of our economy is going to be dependent on corporate decisions made far away? 
• Realistically, how many and what type of jobs are these behemoths going to sustain? 
• What about data centers' reputation for sucking up power and water, competing with local residents and existing businesses? 

We shouldn't get carried away with happy talk.

(Free clip art from getdrawings.com)

All of us, including those who currently serve as city or school officials, have a stake in a city that is prosperous, equitable, and sustainable. I'd even include those who are in a position to profit from these investments.

A baseball slugger who constantly swings for the fences may be exciting to watch, particularly when he connects and belt one 500 feet. But the long string of strikeouts between blasts isn't fatal to him or his team. They'll live to play another day. If they decide Biff strikes out too much, they can find a new bopper. But a city that swings for the fences is playing a riskier game. Better to make consistent solid contact, and leave the excitement to the private sector. As such, I'd rather the new middle school be located on the proposed casino site, or some other in-town location; if we must have a casino, it go somewhere on the edge of town; and that we forego data centers altogether unless their impacts are paid for.

SEE ALSO: The latest Strong Towns video, produced by Ben Durham, is "Will a Factory Make This Small Town Rich?" (11 January 2025, 23:06):

CRCSD plan

Public input forum at Washington High School, 11/9/2017

The Cedar Rapids Community School District is floating a bold plan to remake our city's elementary schools by 2034. Nearly all (18 of 21) existing schools would be closed under the plan, which is to be officially presented to the school board in December and voted on in January. New, larger schools would be built on ten existing school sites, the three remaining schools (Grant, Hiawatha and Viola Gibson) would be renovated, and the other eight schools would be closed and re-purposed, sold, or something.

The district's rationale mixes necessity and pragmatism. They cite the need for a total of $241 million dollars of building updates in our current elementaries, while the new schools could be built for pretty much the same amount ($260 million) and could save money on staffing and operating costs. The Physical Plant and Equipment Levy Fund (PPEL) is inadequate to fund needed repairs, and by 2024 the cumulative efforts to patch aging facilities will have exhausted the fund's reserves. Because SAVE money will be available from the State of Iowa beginning in 2020 to supplement the PPEL funds, the district can execute this plan without either a tax increase or a bond issue. Given the district's previous experience closing Polk School, there's also probably something to be said for getting all the pain out of the way at once.

District chart showing PPEL fund's inability to keep up with maintenance needs

I confess to difficulty analyzing the plan, the audacity of which is breathtaking. It is immediately redolent of the "orderly but dumb" top-down comprehensive planning that Strong Towns is always criticizing. In part we are responding to a situation that is created by decades of suburban development with a comprehensive reaction that will probably reinforce that pattern. Five years ago, there were five elementary schools located in the city's core neighborhoods (two in Mound View); after this process is through there will remain two (none in Mound View).

But react we must, probably. I'm going with the district's numbers on this, because I don't have my own. From 35 years in colleges and universities, I can tell you it's impossible to win an argument with an administration who says financial necessity requires us to do something unpleasant. Where opposing perspectives and alternative plans would emerge is during election campaigns, but remarkably, we've just this fall had elections for the school board and city council in which this city-altering proposal was not discussed.

So we're left trusting (or not) that school officials are acting in good faith and with good judgment. Long-term planning is inevitably risky, because they're based on forecasts that by definition amount to guesswork with varying degrees of certainty. Among the arguable assumptions of the plan or its advocates:

• Building new facilities (the "learning environment") is the most effective use of available money to improve student learning.
• The improved facilities and professional staffing (like full-time librarians) that come with newer schools cannot be achieved in any other way.
• Maintenance needs of schools at the back end of the plan (due for reconstruction or destruction in 2030-2034) will not in the meantime affect the overall cost calculus
• State funding will not appreciably increase anytime soon--OK, that's not really arguable--but we can rely on them maintaining current programs and funding levels.
• The population of Cedar Rapids will continue to sprawl. While young professionals or empty-nesters might be attracted to residences in the city center, we won't see similar shifts among school-age children.
• The assessment of infrastructure needs is accurate, and represents needs that must be immediately addressed. These figures are in no way inflated a la the American Society of Civil Engineers' annual report that the U.S. must spend trillions of dollars to bring its roads and bridges into shape (see Marohn 2011).
• Construction of the new facilities will be of high quality that will last... like some of our oldest schools that have lasted more than 100 years, and not like some of the shoddier stuff that was thrown up in the 1950s and 60s.
• Transportation costs to the district under the plan can be managed, because not many more students will require busing--many parents are already driving their children to school--and energy costs will remain relatively low.
• Less than 25 percent of students currently walk to school, so the impact of larger attendance areas will be small. There is no hope of increasing the percentage of students walking anyway.
• Of the 1200+ students currently choosing to home school or attend out of district, many will be lured back by new facilities with up-to-date features. "People have said to me they chose not to move to Cedar Rapids because they drove up and looked at our schools," Superintendent Brad Buck told the Gazette (Duffy, cited below). [By way of contrast, today's Gazette includes a quote from Coolidge School parent Janelle Lund who argues parents aren't fleeing bad schools, they're fleeing bad test scores: It has nothing to do with how (the schools) look bad on the outside. It's because the proficiency levels are too low. Of course, test scores are driven neither by buildings nor by the quality of the instruction, they're driven by the socio-economic status of the student body. So basically they're fleeing poor people, and they're not the first to do that.]
• Impacts on neighborhood property values are unavoidable if not negligible. Overall impact on assessed value in the city will be negligible.
• Something positive will occur on the sites of the closed schools. Certainly, said one person Thursday night, "we don't want [the properties] to become derelict." We should be encouraged that previously-closed Monroe School, on a block with a large number of cheap apartments in poor condition far from existing schools or employment opportunities, is going to become even more affordable housing.

The Facilities Master Plan may need to be comprehensive, but implementation should be considered incremental. In other words, as we learn more about how these closings and consolidations are affecting students as well as the city at large, we should modify or scrap the remaining part. We can only hope that neither the contracts nor the officials themselves are so rigid as to stick to the script when adverse consequences emerge.

A word to the wise: The district's information circulated at the public input discussions noted that future investments in middle and high schools will require going to the voters (p. 27). How the matter of the elementary schools is handled will have a significant impact on the public's receptivity to the future middle-high referendum.

SEE ALSO:
Molly Duffy, "C.R. Makes Bold Pitch for Schools to Parents," Cedar Rapids Gazette, 13 November 2017, 17A, 20A
"Public Deserves More Time to Weigh C.R. Schools' Facilities Plan," Cedar Rapids Gazette, 5 November 2013
"Starting a Conversation about Education," Holy Mountain, 16 August 2015

Garfield School celebrates 100 years

Garfield School

Two Cedar Rapids schools celebrated 100 years of existence today. Arthur School, 2630 B Av NE, and Garfield School, 1201 Maplewood Dr NE, both were built in 1914 and began classes in the 1915-16 school year. I celebrated with Garfield, where my boys went to school, and where I've been able to continue my relationship as a classroom volunteer. Both schools continue to anchor residential neighborhoods, although their attendance areas--particularly Arthur's--are quite large.

Principal Joy Long did the morning announcements outside,
as the entire student body assembled

Flag raising by the 5th grade Girl Scout troop,
followed by the Pledge of Allegiance

Nancy Raue (left) attended Garfield and has taught there since 1989.
That's her VW. Based on the sign, she must have been Honorary Principal for the day.

Even President Garfield was celebrating!

Main festivities were scheduled after school

...including a hot dog supper...

...and a brief, well-attended program in the gym.

Principal Joy Long kicks off the program

A number of students present and past returned for the event, including one fellow who'd attended Garfield in 1936. At the evening program, former principal Rick Netolicky [right in picture above] emceed, paying tribute to his valuable secretary Chris Gochenour, as well as inviting past and present teachers and staff to stand and be recognized. Mayor Ron Corbett [center left] proclaimed today to be Garfield School Day in Cedar Rapids; of course, he also proclaimed it to be 2017, so take that how you will. Historian Mark Stoffer-Hunter [far left] recalled the origins of the school, pointing out the unique Egyptian columns at the main entryway. Current principal Joy Long dedicated a reading cart in memory of former secretary Kris Cessna, who died in 2013.

Hardwood features of the classrooms (here, room 106) give them an old-fashioned vibe

Buildings like Garfield, the stories they have to tell, and the good service they still do, are testimony to worthiness of historic structures in cities like Cedar Rapids.

SEE ALSO:
Cedar Rapids Community School District, "Arthur and Garfield Celebrate Centennial Birthdays," http://www.cr.k12.ia.us/arthur-and-garfield-celebrate-centennial-birthdays/
Cindy Hadish, "Garfield and Arthur Schools to Celebrate 100th Anniversaries," Save CR Heritage, http://savecrheritage.org/garfield-and-arthur-schools-to-celebrate-100th-anniversaries/

Garfield's playground was re-constructed in, I think, 2003