Public offers input on next Cedar Rapids superintendent

Ensuring the success of underprivileged students, differentiating instruction and breaking out of the status quo should be among the top priorities for the next Cedar Rapids schools superintendent, community members said Wednesday at a public forum.

The event, the first of two such sessions scheduled this week, sought community input on the Cedar Rapids Community School District's search for a new superintendent. About 20 people attended.

Current superintendent David Benson announced his retirement, effective June 30, last month. The Cedar Rapids school board hopes to have a successor in place by July 1.

Community members - who ranged from retired educators to business people and interested parents - expressed frustration with what they called too much focus on Advanced Placement courses and four-year college attendance, and not enough thought for students who are minorities or who struggle academically.

'We are approaching a class system in our schools,” said Ruth White, a retired Washington High School teacher and advocate for minority students. 'We have those who achieve and those who don't.”

Richard Bradford, a former school board member, said Cedar Rapids schools should spend more time on the latter category.

'The district does a good job of teaching kids who learn easily,” he said. Students who have more difficulty, he said, are 'quietly underserved.”

White said she hoped the next superintendent would focus on making sure district and community goals were actually implemented, adding that she isn't sure if they are now. She said having a superintendent in Cedar Rapids 'for the long haul” would help.

Benson is in his sixth year. Previous superintendent David Markward served for five years.

One way to assist underprivileged students, several of those in attendance said, is to counsel students more on the range of options available to them after high school, including community college and job training.

'It's not either go to four-year college or fail,” said Lisa Dlouhy, the president of the district's parent-teacher association.

Molly Donahue, a special-education teacher at Harding Middle School, agreed. AP classes are good, she said, but the district has promoted them at the expense of hands-on courses that help reach students who might not otherwise succeed.

'We don't look at the whole child anymore,” Donahue said. 'We look at numbers and we look at data.”

Bernard Clayton, a past NAACP president, said the district also needed to work on improving what he called an 'adversarial relationship” with people of color. Community members praised the district for its Iowa BIG project-based high school, saying non-traditional programs like that should continue.

Bill Attea, a consultant with the Chicago-based firm HYA Executive Search, led the discussion. Attea will report back to board members on Feb. 9, when the board will decide on the criteria it is looking for in a candidate.

Attea also met Wednesday with high school students and Cedar Rapids Education Association leaders. Meetings with other groups were scheduled for Thursday.

A second forum is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the African American Museum of Iowa, 55 12th Ave. SE.