Save CR Heritage hosted tours of Harrison Elementary School on Friday and Saturday to increase awareness of the school’s history and generate support for preserving the almost century-old building. Harrison is slated for demolition in the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s current Facilities Master Plan. The building received a temporary reprieve earlier this year, when […]
CRCSD
Posted inCommunity/News
About 60% of CRCSD students returned to class Tuesday as social media threats remain under investigation
Classes resumed at public schools in Cedar Rapids Tuesday after being canceled on Monday due to threats made on social media over the weekend. Students were not allowed to bring bags into the schools, except for clear backpacks, and the number of entrances to buildings left unlocked were restricted. During a news conference on Tuesday […]
Posted inEastern Iowa Community/News
Noreen Bush, ‘an incredible leader’ in the Cedar Rapids Community School District, dies at age 51
Noreen Bush, superintendent of the Cedar Rapids Community School District, died on Sunday. She was 51 years old. Bush was on medical leave and had submitted her resignation to the CRCSD Board of Directors last month, as her health declined due to the cancer she was first diagnosed with two and a half years ago. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Cedar Rapids schools will stop using seclusion rooms after district reached settlement with Justice Department over disciplinary practices
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday it had reached a settlement agreement with the Cedar Rapids Community School District regarding what it determined to be the school district’s “discriminatory use of seclusion and restraint against students with disabilities.” The Civil Rights Division began its review of whether […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Appeals court limits scope of preliminary injunction against Iowa’s school mask ban
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that a preliminary injunction stopping the Reynolds administration from enforcing a ban on face masks in Iowa schools is too broad, and should only apply to the 10 school districts named in the lawsuit. The Iowa Department of Education (IDOE) will now be able to enforce […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Cedar Rapids schools will allow volunteers and visitors in buildings during class hours again, starting in January
Volunteers will once again be allowed in the buildings of the Cedar Rapids Community School District during school hours starting on Monday, Jan. 3, the district announced on Friday. Volunteers and most visitors had been banned from the school buildings while classes were in session, as part of the district’s COVID-19 mitigation efforts. The prohibition […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Cedar Rapids schools will require face masks starting Wednesday
The Cedar Rapids School District will “reinstate a mask mandate for all staff, students, and visitors during compulsory education hours (school day) as well as our daycare environments,” Superintendent Noreen Bush said in an email to district families and staff on Tuesday. The mandate goes into effect on Wednesday. CRCSD, like other large school districts […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds signs bill making it illegal for schools to require face masks, further eroding authority of local governments
It is now illegal for schools in Iowa to require students or staff to wear face masks, even though the CDC recommends mask use in schools, because of a bill signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds on Thursday morning. HF 847 also strips cities and counties of their authority to create mask mandates that […]
Posted inCommunity/News
CRCSD shares preliminary plans for 2021-22 school year, including continued use of face masks
The Cedar Rapids Community School District (CRCSD) will offer two options to families in the next academic year. For the 2021-22 school year, students will be able to choose between in-person learning or online learning through the Cedar Rapids Virtual Academy (CRVA), Superintendent Noreen Bush said during the Board of Education’s Monday meeting. The CRVA […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘You can only play Candy Land so many times’: The pandemic from the perspective of local parents
“I will Venmo you to keep my kids an hour longer.” “I became the only socialization. You can only play Candy Land so many times.” Speaking with local parents about their experiences over the last year, a few themes resonated: resilience, struggle, anxiety and an intense desire for some kind of return to normalcy. Also […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Five Linn County school superintendents ask Gov. Reynolds to prioritize vaccinating school staff
Five Linn County school superintendents sent a joint letter to Gov. Kim Reynolds on Monday asking for additional COVID-19 vaccine doses to be allocated to the state’s priority populations in light of the Feb. 15 deadline for school districts to provide all in-person instruction. The superintendents ask state officials to reallocate 64,000 doses of vaccine […]
Posted inCommunity/News, COVID-19
Cedar Rapids families have until Wednesday to decide on in-person or virtual instruction for upcoming school year
Cedar Rapids families have until Wednesday to decide whether their students will start the upcoming school year online or in person. Families were sent the final version of the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s (CRCSD) Return to Learn plan on Friday. The plan includes information about the options for students in elementary, middle and high […]
