Cedar Rapids district outlines proposed bond to realign feeder patterns, renovate aging schools

On the CRCSD Homeroom podcast, Cedar Rapids Community School District Director of Operations Chad Schumacher and bond task force member Yvette Creighton outlined a proposed bond package that would fund building renovations, a new North Side middle school and changes to feeder patterns across the district.

The proposal, as described on the podcast, would: convert Wilson Middle School into an elementary school and relocate two elementary programs into that building; renovate McKinley (including a small classroom addition) to serve as an updated middle school and move Franklin's students into McKinley; repurpose the Franklin building for other programming including the district's Metro program and services for students who remain in district programming to age 21; and build a new middle school on the North Side to better align middle- and high-school feeder patterns.

The plan is rooted in a district facilities assessment led by architectural consultants (reported on the podcast as Shive-Hattery and MA+), which Schumacher said involved walking every school, collecting infrastructure and operating-cost data, and presenting…