The Cedar Rapids Community School District announced a revised, phased timeline for its college and career Pathways program that delays full rollout by one year and pairs the academic plan with targeted facility upgrades.

District hosts said the changes follow parent and staff advisory input. For the 2025–26 school year the program will be in a “preparing to launch” phase, with a freshman seminar offered as an elective only. In 2026–27 the district plans to launch a Freshman Academy requiring freshman seminars in designated spaces. The district expects to expand the Upper Academy across all high schools, including CityView and Metro, in 2027–28.

The district also announced capital investments at Jefferson and Washington high schools tied to the Pathways work. Construction funded by SAVE funds and PEPL funds is scheduled to begin in 2025 with completion targeted by August 2026. District communications said Jefferson and Washington will receive specialized freshman academy spaces tailored to program needs. No immediate construction was announced for Kennedy High School; the district said designated spaces in that building will support the program until further upgrades are possible and that future work at Kennedy depends on the November 2025 bond vote.

District hosts noted that 71 parents and community members attended a second parent advisory meeting on Jan. 21 and that nearly 90% of high school staff and 95% of the parent advisory team support the revised launch timeline. The district is holding a community informational meeting on Jan. 30 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Jefferson, Washington and Kennedy high schools to present construction updates, freshman academy plans and overall Pathways details and to allow local students, staff and parents to engage with program leaders and principals.

The announcement included no new policy votes or formal board actions; it described timeline changes, planned construction, community engagement dates and the November 2025 bond dependency for additional upgrades at Kennedy.