Parents, residents rally to keep Polk Elementary open

CEDAR RAPIDS - The fight to save Polk Elementary School is not over, parents and community members say.

Several dozen people gathered Thursday night at the Mound View Neighborhood Association meeting to discuss what they can do to keep it open.

Cedar Rapids Superintendent Dave Benson has recommended ending classes at Polk, 1500 B Ave. NE, and re-purposing it to house other district programs. The school board will vote March 12 on his proposal, which also would close Monroe Elementary.

Before that vote, some Polk parents and their neighbors said, there's much to be done.

“They can and they should contact the school board,” said Sue Nading, the mother of a Polk student. “This is not over.”

According to Nading and other attendees, much of their frustration with the district's recommendations comes from a lack of clear information.

“I understand it's a difficult decision,” Nading said. “But as parents, what we're looking for is more transparency and a greater ability to be a part of the process.”

District officials said closing and re-purposing Polk would create a savings of $562,014. Moving off-site programming there that's now housed in leased space would save another $119,932.

But parents and residents said last night that they believe the savings could come from somewhere else - somewhere that wouldn't hurt quite so much as closing Polk.

Nading said closing the school and relocating students to different elementaries would task numerous single-parent families with securing transportation for students who can now walk to Polk.

“Single-parent families, it consumes them to just keep their heads above water, and now they're displacing their children,” Nading said.

Several speakers said board members should consider the school's success at raising achievement standards, given its high percentage of low-income students.

“In the last four years, you would be amazed with the turnaround,” Polk parent Jennifer Hill said. “It's a staggering improvement. Why would you want to stop that momentum?”

Clark Rieke, who is involved with the neighborhood association, said Polk has set a standard that more Cedar Rapids schools should achieve.

“The savings on the building should be dedicated to raising the achievement level of all low-income schools and raising it to Polk's standards,” he said.

Several parents said Polk teachers foster the idea of attending college for the children.

“It's amazing to see so many kids excited about their future,” Nading said. “That's something we need to maintain.”

Numerous people talked about their love for the “amazing culture” of community at Polk, including Doreen Meier, whose seven sons all attended the school.

Meier, who came to Cedar Rapids from England in the 1960s, said the school's community “embraced” her family. She recalled seeing the principal walk children out to the bus hand-in-hand and seeing families receive clothing donations from the school.

“I love the school - it means everything to me,” she said. “To lose it is just like to lose a jewel from a crown.”