UPDATE: We are getting more clarity about which schools would be demolished and rebuilt in the Cedar Rapids School District. The district has clustered the schools into three “tiers.” Tier one schools are Arthur, Cleveland, Coolidge, Erskine, Jackson and Wright. These schools would be the first to be demolished and rebuilt on their current lots, although not necessarily in the exact same spot as the current school.

The district already told KCRG-TV9 that Coolidge Elementary, which is 50 years old, would likely be the first to get replaced. The earliest the new Coolidge would open is 2022. The plan would be to build the new Coolidge next to the current school so student wouldn’t have to move for construction. Students would finish the school year and then return in August to the new school. Then the old Coolidge could be demolished for use as a parking lot, playground, green space, or other use.

Tier 2 schools, which would be rebuilt after Tier 1 schools, are Harrison, Johnson and Pierce Elementary Schools. Since it could take 18-24 months to build each schools, it’s unlikely any Tier 2 schools would open until 2030. The district says this is a long-term plan and has enough flexibility for adaptations and changes based on enrollment needs down the road. These timelines are not solid as the plan is still under construction as community members give feedback.

Finally, Tier 3 schools are Hiawatha, Hoover, Grant and Viola Gibson. In Tier 3 only Hoover is likely to be demolished and rebuilt into a 600-student school. Hiawatha and Grant Elementary Schools have had expensive updates in the past few years, including geothermal heating and cooling systems. These schools are projected to receive renovations, but not outright demolitions and rebuilds. Viola Gibson is the district’s newest school and opened in 2002.

Middle and High Schools

A middle school and high school are also likely to undergo significant changes. Wilson Middle School is labeled “repurpose” on a district facility information graph listing all district buildings. Cedar Rapids district materials that it distributed at a public meeting Monday also described that Wilson could be used to hold students while their elementary schools are rebuilt. And Metro High School, the alternative high school in Cedar Rapids, is marked for closure, along with the eight elementary schools. Metro was built in 1955 and sits on a 3.3 acre lot. The district estimates it would cost $13.7-Million to update Metro.

While the committee of 80 people has focused its attention on the elementary schools in Cedar Rapids School District, a committee to evaluate middle schools and high schools is expected to convene next. The district has said publically it’s unlikely to demolish and rebuild its three main high schools: Kennedy, Washington and Jefferson because of the millions in renovations over the years, including geothermal energy conversion and new cafeterias.

With the elementary rebuilding plan some elementary schools would shift which high schools they feed into. Currently Grant students attend Jefferson High School. But after its rebuilt students would attend Washington High School. And right now students at Harrison mostly go to Jefferson, but another portion attends Kennedy High School. Under the proposed plan that the district is supporting has all Harrison elementary school feed into Jefferson High School.

Closed Schools

The district does not have a plan for the properties left behind after closure. Eight schools marked for possible closure in the proposed plan. Dr. Brad Buck says the cost estimate for the plan does not include demolition costs or maintenance costs for shuttered schools, nor does it include any windfall from the district selling the schools or land. Critics of the proposed plan worry that closed schools will become neighborhood eyesores and hurt property values.

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STORY FROM NOVEMBER 6:

More Expensive

New cost estimates show building ten new schools and closing eight others will not save the district money on buildings.

At the first public input meeting the Cedar Rapids School District showed it would cost $224,234,064 to close eight schools permanently and rebuild ten schools on their current lots, plus update the remaining three schools. This is a reversal of previous estimates that showed the plan could cost as little as $212-Million. The cost to keep the schools open and updating them would cost $223,227,774, according to updated numbers from the district Monday.

The Cedar Rapids School District Superintendent, Dr. Brad Buck, said they wanted the most authentic estimate possible so they met with an architecture engineering firm to run the numbers more recently.

“We sat down with Shive-Hattery a week or two ago and wanted to revise the numbers so we had the most current numbers that when that occurred that created a bump in the estimated cost.”

Superintendent Buck said the increase in cost is not because the new schools are more expensive, but because renovations to schools that are staying intact, like Viola Gibson and Hiawatha, were higher in cost.

The first public meeting was held at Jefferson High School Monday night and about 50 community members joined about 25 district staff, RSP consulting members and people who served on the committee that is making the facilities recommendation.

Opposition Group

Jeffrey O’Brein is an architect specializing in historic properties and a member of the group, Save Cedar Rapids Schools. He’s urging the school district to spare some of the district’s oldest and most architecturally unique structures: Harrison Elementary, Garfield Elementary and Arthur Elementary.

“It's an Egyptian revival building there's none other like it anywhere,” said O’Brien. He brought blueprints to the public meeting showing his vision to maintain the front sections of Harrison and Garfield while essentially building new schools behind them, and connecting the two pieces. He didn’t know how expensive his plan is, but said the idea is just a concept he hopes the district will consider.

‘It’s just the meatiest most significant architecture buildings that I’m concerned about. The 100 year old buildings have stood the test of time,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien isn’t advocating for saving all eight schools marked for possible closure. He thinks Coolidge should be rebuilt, for example. But he worries structurally strong schools that could stand for centuries more are being lumped into the same list as those who weren’t built well originally.

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STORY FROM NOVEMBER 2:

If you drop a pencil in the library of Coolidge Elementary School on the northwest side of Cedar Rapids, it will roll in a predictable fashion. That's because the room is sinking.

"I've noticed the floor coming away from the wall over there. The bookshelves, you can see them slanting, and I can see my desk sits at an angle," said Annette Messina, the media secretary who works in the library.

Coolidge is 50 years old -- not the oldest school in the district, but the most expensive to update. It's likely to be the first school to get a new building if things proceed as the district hopes. It would cost $15 million dollars to update Coolidge, and $16 million to build a new school. So the district's committee that's been studying what to do with aging infrastructure says replacing the school is a no-brainer.

The district's 21 elementary schools are at 81% capacity, and the average school age is 61 years. The cost to maintain these schools will outpace current funding, according to Superintendent Brad Buck. He points to the cost to fix up all the schools to a level district and school staff support would cost $241 Million. The cost to build ten new schools and demolish eight others, would cost $212 Million, and voters don't have to pass a bond issue. The current Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) and the state's Secure an Advance Vision for Education (SAVE) penny sales tax will cover the cost, so long as lawmakers extend SAVE for an additional 20 years, so it expires in 2049.

The plan that's getting the most support and will likely be put in front of the school board for review in December includes closing eight schools, rebuilding ten, and doing updates to the remaining three. The eight schools that would close outright are Garfield, Grant Wood, Kenwood, Madison, Nixon, Taylor, Truman and Van Buren. Another ten schools would be demolished and rebuilt on their existing lots: Arthur, Cleveland, Coolidge, Erskine, Harrison, Hoover, Johnson, Pierce, Wright and Jackson. These schools would likely be built to accommodate 600 students, with the exception of Johnson. Johnson's lot is only 2.5 acres so a new school would probably have a capacity of 450 students.

This entire process of demolishing and rebuilding schools would start at the earliest in 2021 and take up to 20 years to complete. Boundary lines would shift to accommodate a district going from 21 schools at the elementary level, to 13. District leaders and classroom teachers can list dozens of reasons why new schools make sense in addition to the long term cost savings:

These benefits classroom teachers and district leaders tout include:

Balancing class sizes: Right now a single class of students with a high or low population can cause class sizes to fluctuate beyond the district's goals. But with four teachers at each grade level in a 600 student school, it's easier to keep class sizes consistent and within the ideal. This would also eliminate the need for combining multiple grades in a single classroom, which is common in Cedar Rapids.

Keeping "specials" teachers under one roof: Music, physical education and art teachers often split their time between two schools. With 600 student buildings these three teachers would work full time at one school and become more entrenched in the school culture and develop stronger relationships with students.

Better serving children with disabilities: Only one elementary school in the Cedar Rapids district was built after the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Due to staffing and building limitations, many disabled students cannot attend their neighborhood school and are bussed to special programming at a handful of schools. Superintendent Brad Buck says larger schools built with all students in mind will allow students with disabilities to attend a school nearest their homes.

Secure front entrances: Modern schools are built with an entrance that prevents unwanted guests from accessing students. While all elementary schools in the district have an intercom and lock system to enter schools, this would add an additional piece of security.

Enticing students to stay in the district instead of open enrolling to Linn-Mar or College Community: More than 1,280 students in the Cedar Rapids School District boundaries open enroll to a public school outside of the district. The number open enrolling into the district for fiscal year 2017 was 69 students, for a net loss of 914 students. While 488 of these students are choosing the Marion district, with most opting into its popular Home School program, others might be seeking out the more modern facilities available at Linn-Mar and Prairie, which are growing districts. In contrast. Cedar Rapids district's attendance has been in decline. Linn-Mar welcomed 349 Cedar Rapids school district students, while College Community had 433 last school year.

Flexible classrooms: Teaching styles and technology use have changed over the years. Modern schools can accommodate classrooms that have multiple groups and rotations working on different projects at different paces, all linked with a computer or tablet.

Student and Staff Comfort: Many elementary schools in Cedar Rapids don't have central air conditioning, which makes some school days and summer programming uncomfortable. In the winter, some of the oldest schools still have radiators for heat, which can become so hot that they're a burn risk for students.

But the Superintendent says some people doubt the district's math and don't think a district with a declining enrollment should start building new facilities. And many point to schools like Harrison Elementary, which was built during 1929 and 1930. It's a grand building that has unique architecture and historic elements.

"Anytime we think about Harrison the historical value that it holds, any piece we can save, to repurpose would be wonderful," said Harrison principal, Trista Manternach.

Manternach hopes the new Harrison school would have the mural that an apprentice of Grant Wood painted in 1934. The William Henning original, called "Transportation" welcomes visitors to Harrison on the first floor of the 87 year old school.

But she's quick to point out that there's no room for preschool students, so they attend classes in converted mobile homes, which are called portables. Those four year olds who stay for a full day program walk outside each day to go to lunch. And there isn't room for a music classroom, so the teacher splits the gym in half for lessons.

Reducing the number of schools will also mean cost savings due to fewer staff members and utility costs. According to district documents the jobs that are likely to see reductions in their ranks include principals, principal secretaries, crossing guards, custodial engineers, health secretaries, media secretaries, nurses, art, music and physical education teachers. The district said it would re-invest the estimated $2.9 Million in annual operational savings into more staff to support classroom learning. The district said most of these job changes would happen through retirements and attrition since the facilities plan would take decades to implement.

Unlike other discussions of school closures, organized opposition has been either under the radar or non-existent. The principal at Coolidge said some parents had questions at a PTA meeting, but any concerns were allayed once they learned the changes wouldn't happen immediately. The soonest a new Coolidge Elementary would open is in 2021. The principal at Harrison hasn't fielded a single question about the possible future of her school, which would include demolishing it and building a newer, bigger building.

Without needing the public's support for a bond vote, and with the likely plan spanning so many years, the anger and advocacy that marked the closing of Polk Elementary in 2012 is a stark contrast to now.

The media secretary at Coolidge, who attended that school herself as a girl, and who sent her child to Coolidge, reflected on the changes under consideration. Annette Messina said, "I think there are some sentimental feelings there because I went here, my son went here. But I'm all for making things look better, modern, facilities, whatever's best for the kids I think is great."

The school district emphasizes that there is no firm plan yet. The district welcomes community feedback at three meetings in November. Then the school board will hear the final recommendation at the December 11th meeting and won't vote until January.

The public input meetings are all from 6:00 - 8:00PM:

November 6, Jefferson High School band room, 1243 20th Street SW

November 8, Kennedy High School band room, 4545 Wenig Road NE

November 9, Washington High School cafeteria, 2205 Forest Drive SE

For a list of what the plan is for each individual school, the number of students attending last school year, the percent to building capacity, and the year it was built, see the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet in the right column.