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School to close by fall 2024, and student population to be combined with Arthur Elementary in newly built school

May. 17, 2022 6:00 am, Updated: May. 17, 2022 1:47 pm

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Cedar Rapids school board heard from families, educators and community members about Garfield Elementary School — which is scheduled to close by fall 2024 — in a special school board meeting Monday to discuss the district’s facilities master plan.

The plan will consolidate the student population at Garfield Elementary, 1201 Maplewood Dr. NE, with Arthur Elementary School. Starting in fall 2024, those students will attend a new school built on the annex of Arthur Elementary, 2630 B Ave. NE.

Thirteen people spoke about the plan Monday during the public comment section of the board meeting, with about half the speakers opposed to closing Garfield and half in support.

Those who spoke in opposition to closing Garfield voiced concerns about families being unaware their school could close, the historic building being torn down or abandoned, students no longer being able to walk to a school in their neighborhood and students getting lost in the shuffle of a larger school.

Arthur and Garfield, which both opened in 1915, are among the oldest buildings in the district. While the buildings will not be demolished, there are no plans for how they will be repurposed.

Others spoke in favor of the plan, citing the difficulty of maintaining an aging facility and the benefits of having more sections of students in each grade.

“I understand that closing the school is emotional for those who have fond memories of attending school there or live in the neighborhoods surrounding the building, and there’s trepidation about what will be next for that building,” Garfield Elementary Principal Joy Long said. “It’s bittersweet for me to leave the only building I’ve ever had the privilege of being principal.”

The school, however, is difficult to maintain, Long said. There is a “glaring” difference in the ability to heat the oldest part of the school and the addition built in the 1950s, she said.

“The amount of energy wasted has to be tremendous,” she said.

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Garfield also has “combination classrooms” with a combined second- and third-grade class. “Teachers have to know two curriculum at one time. We do a good job of figuring that out, but it still is a strain,” Long said.

School officials have had “active and ongoing communication” with Garfield families about the facilities master plan, Long said. Updates are being provided to families through weekly newsletters and phone calls inviting families to a meeting at Garfield in March.

Tania Johnson, who has over 30 years of experience as a teacher, said larger buildings will benefit teachers by providing more opportunities for collaboration and professional development.

Johnson, who said she was not speaking in her role as president of the Cedar Rapids Education Association, said teachers benefit the most when they have a group of two or more teachers in the same grade level they can collaborate with.

“Closing a building is never easy,” Johnson said. “It’s hard for the parents who have learned to love that building and teachers. It’s difficult for community members who live by that building and get to see children walking to school every day, hear the students on the playground, see the line of cars lined up for pickup.”

Elizabeth Snyder, a music teacher at Garfield, also spoke in favor of the plan. Snyder is a shared teacher between Garfield and another school, which means she misses out on things such as building stronger relationships with her students and attending important staff meetings, she said.

About 220 students attend Garfield Elementary. The new building would serve up to 600 students, meaning a teacher like Snyder could work for one school instead of two, she said.

The music classroom at Garfield also is not soundproof, and there is not enough space in the classroom or for storage, Snyder said.

“Parents, teachers and community members love to see big productions where students get to wear costumes and be different characters, but there is no storage for those costumes. Most teachers give up on trying to make these productions happen,” Snyder said.

Maura Pilcher, a community member, spoke in opposition to the plan. Pilcher said she is fortunate to be able to take time off work, leave her children with a child care provider and attend meetings regarding the facilities plan. District communication, however, doesn’t reach the diverse population at Garfield, Pilcher said.

According to U.S. News and World Report, 36 percent of students at Garfield are Black, almost 15 percent are two or more races, and 82 percent are economically disadvantaged.

For the district “to say the facility master plan process is transparent or that the goal is equity is disingenuous when you fail to engage the most disenfranchised in our community,” Pilcher said. “Equity is not achieved by telling people what they will get, but rather by asking them what they need.”

“Unless you engage families in their neighborhood with child care provided, you will not hear from them,” Pilcher said.

Monday’s meeting was a unique one for the Cedar Rapids district, as it was the first where the public altered the agenda following the passage of a new Iowa law that allows an item to be placed on a school board agenda with a minimum of 500 signatures.

Save CR Heritage, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving historic properties, and school supporters started the petition drive earlier this month and collected 597 signatures.

School board President David Tominsky thanked the public for their comments Monday and said the board will consider the questions and concerns shared and find ways to address them.

“When we received this petition, it was clear the voice of the community needed to be heard and wanted to be heard,” he said.

School board member Dexter Merschbrock urged the board to let the community vote on the next steps in the facilities master plan for elementary schools.

The Cedar Rapids Community School District is considering going to voters in March 2023 to approve a general obligation bond referendum to finance up to $323 million in secondary school building projects.

“If they’re going to vote on part of the plan, they should be allowed to vote on the whole plan,” Merschbrock said.

In a school board meeting last week, Merschbrock voted against a proposal from OPN Architects for design, bid process and construction oversight of the new elementary school to be built on the annex of Arthur Elementary.

The vote still passed with the majority of school board members voting in favor of the proposal.

“We received a petition regarding closing Garfield Elementary, which is the other half of the facility on this plan,” Merschbrock said last week. “We are signaling that meeting isn’t meaningful to us as a board, and I think it is the wrong message to send.”

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com

K-12 education reporter, The Gazette

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