Both incumbents running for reelection to the Cedar Rapids City Council won in the combined city-school election on Tuesday, and union leader and small-business owner Patrick Loeffler won an open at-large seat on the council. But it was a different story for the school board. A challenger beat the only incumbent running for reelection by 13 percentage points.
Cedar Rapids Community School District
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Cedar Rapids school board election: Q&A with Dexter Merschbrock
Dexter Merschbrock, a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, and his wife, Michelle, bought their current home so their two sons would be able to walk to school. Merschbrock’s older son is in fourth grade at Grant Wood Elementary, and his younger son will start kindergarten there next year.
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Cedar Rapids school board election: Q&A with Rafael Jacobo
Rafael Jacobo, a business analyst at Verizon, is running for a second term representing District 4 of the Cedar Rapids Community School District. He has lived in Cedar Rapids with his family for more than 15 years. Jacobo has a number of personal connections to the school district. He has two kids currently attending its schools, and his oldest son recently graduated from Washington High.
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Cedar Rapids school board election: Q&A with Maurice Davis
Maurice Davis is a program coordinator and business coach for Jane Boyd, a Cedar Rapids nonprofit working to enhance the academic, emotional and social wellbeing of children and families. He’s lived in Cedar Rapids for seven years. While Davis doesn’t have kids or family part of the CRCSD, he is invested in the future of the schools.
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Cedar Rapids school board election: Q&A with Jen Neumann
Jen Neumann is the CEO of de Novo Marketing in Cedar Rapids. Neumann and her husband have lived in Cedar Rapids for 25 years, and their two daughters are part of the CRCSD.
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Cedar Rapids school board election: Q&A with Cindy Garlock
Cindy Garlock was a teacher in the CRCSD for 33 years. Garlock taught at Wilson Junior High, Taft Junior High and Kennedy High. Her daughter graduated from Jefferson High, and Garlock’s husband was also a career teacher in Cedar Rapids. “I have retired from teaching but have continued to be a strong advocate for public education,” Garlock said.
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Cedar Rapids school board election: Q&A with Joseph Miller
Joseph Miller, an attorney at Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, has six children. Five are currently in the CRSCD and one will be a future student. Because of his children, Miller said he is “very close to the teachers and staff and heavily invested in the schools.” Miller and his family have lived in Cedar Rapids for almost five years.
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First phase of Cedar Rapids’ school closure plan moves forward with planning of new Coolidge Elementary
As its Facilities Master Plan moves forward, the Cedar Rapids Community School District (CRCSD) is trying to get “as much input as possible,” interim superintendent Noreen Bush told Little Village. Critics of the plan have repeatedly charged the district with a lack of transparency during the three years since the planning process began.
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School bus tour will showcase historic Cedar Rapids elementary schools scheduled for demolition
A tour hosted by the nonprofit group CR Heritage will highlight the historic qualities of Cedar Rapids Community School District (CRCSD) elementary schools — 10 of which will be demolished and replaced. Cedar Rapids historian Mark Stoffer Hunter will be leading the tour on Friday, Oct. 11.
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Plan to replace neighborhood schools will play a large part in this year’s Cedar Rapids school board election
Voters in the November election will decide between five candidates for two open at-large seats on the Cedar Rapids Community School District (CRCSD) Board. The seat in District 4 will also be on the ballot. Three of the people running for the at-large seats, and the candidate challenging the incumbent in District 4, cited the school district’s
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‘Slow down’: Forum urges Cedar Rapids school board to heed concerns on facilities master plan decision
During a community forum on Tuesday night, there was one resounding message to the Cedar Rapids school board about its plans to close or replace most of its elementary schools: “Slow down.”
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Community forum will focus on the impact of proposed Cedar Rapids school closures on neighborhoods
A forum on the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s (CRCSD) plan to close eight elementary schools, and the potential impact of those closing on the city and its neighborhoods, will be held in the Cedar Rapids Public Library’s Whipple Auditorium on Tuesday. “We’re concerned that there are so many people who don’t really know about the plan,” Cindy Hadish of Save CR Heritage told Little Village. “That’s why we’re having this public forum — to raise awareness, and hopefully to get the school board to pay attention.”
