Cohenour enters Cedar Rapids school board race

CEDAR RAPIDS - Todd Cohenour, a Cedar Rapids resident and customer service associate whose wife works in the Cedar Rapids Community School District, is running for the district's school board, he said Friday.

Cohenour, 51, said he does not have children, but his wife, Janice, works as a paraeducator in the district. He said he would approach being a board member 'with an open mind.”

The school board could use 'some new blood,” Cohenour said, and it should engage the public more at board meetings.

'I've been to a school board meeting, and to me the current school board is just a big rubber stamp for the (superintendent),” Cohenour said.

'It seems like a lot of that stuff is decided in the background,” he added. 'I'm not going to be a rubber stamp for the superintendent. I'm going to question things.”

Cedar Rapids students should learn basic skills such as writing letters and balancing a checkbook, Cohenour said. And the district should examine the effectiveness of the assessments teachers are required to give.

'In talking to teachers, it seems like they're so overburdened with these assessments, they're not really getting a chance to teach,” he said.

Cohenour is running for an at-large seat on the board, he said. Current at-large board members John Laverty and Ann Rosenthal have expiring terms this year.

Board president Mary Meisterling (district 1) and vice president Allen Witt (district 4) also have expiring terms.

Cohenour does not have any fundraising goals, he said, and he has made his own campaign flyers and signs. He said he works in a call center as a customer service representative for TransAmerica.

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