Iowa City Community Schools staff told the district operations committee on April 14, 2025, that participation in secondary athletics and fine arts has rebounded since the COVID years but that the district lacks complete demographic and economic data needed to assess equity and retention.

The presentation was led by Executive Director Lucas Ptacek and District Activities Director Tanisha; Superintendent Degner and Director Lingo also participated. Tanisha said the district aims to increase participation and retention, calling better data collection “essential.” She said, “I am a data geek,” and that improved entries in Infinite Campus will let administrators “replicate” successful programs more quickly.

The discussion matters because participation is tied to attendance, student engagement and mental-health supports, district presenters said. The presenters reported 3,011 athletics occurrences and 3,092 fine-arts occurrences in high schools for the most recent school year, but they emphasized that those figures count activity occurrences rather than unique students and therefore cannot be read as a percent of total enrollment.

Presenters repeatedly called out a specific data gap: free-and-reduced-price-lunch (FRL) status was not available in the dataset shown. Executive Director Ptacek explained that FRL information is treated as confidential at the building level and was not shared with coaches and activity directors for this report; the presenters said they will improve documentation in Infinite Campus so future reports can include FRL and other student-level demographics.

Staff also described how the district currently collects participation counts. Much of this year’s data came from coaches and activity directors rather than from automated student-information-system reports; presenters said that has produced inconsistencies between buildings and could undercount students. Director Lingo clarified a point in the presentation by noting, “Actually, these are unique head counts and not duplicative,” and later staff said many slides reported total activity occurrences, not unique individuals.

Several board members and public commenters raised equity and access concerns. A parent, Charlie, described how an orchestra director had encouraged his son to remain involved by giving him a defined role; he cited that as an example of retaining students who are not top performers. Board member Mitch questioned the effect of club and travel teams in the community; presenters agreed that club sports and private lessons create competition for participants and that some students are priced out of extracurriculars.

Presenters listed current and potential supports to reduce barriers: district and booster-club subsidies for fees and camps, ad hoc coach and parent carpools for transportation, and the district foundation helping fill gaps when families request assistance. Tanisha said the district wants to help principals and activity directors “retain our students” through professional development for coaches and clearer parent communications.

Staff also flagged program-level details the committee requested to track going forward: attrition between grades (seventh-to-eighth and eighth-to-ninth), participation broken down by building and by race/ethnicity, gender breakdowns and inventory of instruments and equipment. They noted that Chapter 12 requirements mandate music participation for sixth graders, and that those sixth-grade activities are treated differently in counts.

No formal policy changes or votes on extracurricular programming were taken at the meeting. Presenters framed the next steps as operational: (1) require activity entries in Infinite Campus so future reports include FRL and unique-student counts, (2) work with the foundation and booster clubs to clarify financial aid for camp and fees, and (3) track attrition and retention metrics to inform program supports. Staff also linked participation goals to facilities work in Facility Master Plan 2.3 (FMP 2.3), saying upgraded facilities should expand program capacity.

The committee discussion ranged from program design (for example, expanding nontraditional offerings such as digital music) to logistics (after-school transportation remains largely parent- or coach-dependent). A district staff member said pilot shuttle services had not significantly changed participation in prior work because other barriers (childcare, family schedules, cost) were often decisive. That exchange underscored committee comments that transportation is one of several barriers, but not always the primary one.

Presenters and board members expressed a shared priority of expanding and diversifying activities so more students can be part of school programs. Tanisha said the district’s aspirational target—“70 to 80%”—is “a hefty goal,” but added that better data and a wider range of activities should make steady gains possible. The discussion closed without a vote; staff will return with improved data and recommendations once collection in Infinite Campus is completed.