Challengers say Cedar Rapids School Board needs new leadership

UPDATE Oct. 24, 2025: Cedar Rapids Community School District spokeswoman Heather Butterfield said there are no set plans in place for the Taylor and Grant elementary buildings, should those students be combined at the Wilson Middle School building. “A plan will be developed following the bond vote, should it pass,” Butterfield said. “In the case of Madison, while Harrison is under construction over the next two years, we will take that time to thoughtfully determine the best path forward for the Madison building.“

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Seven candidates for the Cedar Rapids Community School District Board of Education squared off during a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Linn County.

Regardless of who wins on Nov. 4, the School Board will have at least one new face, as longtime member Nancy Humbles chose not to run for re-election after serving 16 years, including one term as president.

Humbles, who sat among the audience at the forum, said she will focus her attention on other volunteer efforts, including her role with the local NAACP.

About 40 people attended the Oct. 21, 2025, school board forum at Beems Auditorium in the Cedar Rapids Public Library.

Members of the audience submitted questions posed to each of the candidates during the hour-long session.

Current School Board Vice President Marcy Roundtree faces a challenge for the at-large seat from newcomer Laura Zimmerman, who previously taught at Roosevelt Middle School for 11 years.

District 3 incumbent Jennifer Borcherding also faces a challenge, from Ashley Burns, who attended Cedar Rapids Catholic schools and described herself as a political and community organizer and past surgical technician.

The open District 2 seat being vacated by Humbles has three candidates: social justice activist Mimi Daoud, who works for Kirkwood Community College and noted she would be the first Muslim elected to the School Board; Scott Drzycimski, director of public affairs for ITC Midwest, who spearheaded the previous school bond referendum that failed in 2023; and David Chung, a longtime school volunteer who has also been a substitute teacher, whose eight children have at various times been home schooled, and attended both private and public schools.

Chung differentiated himself as the only candidate opposed to the district’s $117 million bond referendum, which will also be on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Related: Voters asked to back $117 million bond referendum

Surveys for an earlier $211 million bond proposal that included a new $104 million middle school showed the measure would likely fail. The new middle school, on land outside of city limits that the School Board voted to purchase for $7.5 million, was subsequently removed from the proposal.

“The district used $7.5 million to buy land for a school we said we definitely didn’t want,” Chung said. “As much as I support our schools this (bond approval) would send the wrong message to the board.”

Other candidates said they support the bond measure, including Borcherding, who voted with the rest of the board to purchase the land, but said she would like updated enrollment projections “to see if it’s worth developing” for a new middle school.

The bond referendum on the November ballot does not include a new middle school, but includes the following:

McKinley Middle School: $45 million renovation; Wilson Middle School: $35 million renovation to accommodate elementary students from Grant and Taylor, known as Cedar River Academy; Roosevelt Middle School: $25 million renovation to accommodate students from Wilson; Kennedy High School: $12 million renovation to add a Freshman Academy and expand commons and kitchen areas.

The district has not said what will happen to the Grant and Taylor school buildings once the students are combined into Wilson.

Burns, Zimmerman, Roundtree and Drzycimski all said they adamantly support the bond referendum. Daoud also supports the bond measure, but noted the past bond failed to gain community buy-in and said transparency is needed for the board to regain the community’s trust.

That message was echoed by other candidates, who said more transparency is needed, along with new board leadership.

Drzycimski said he would bring back the district’s oversight committee, which the current district leadership disbanded last year without warning to the volunteers who served on it.

Despite touting a need for transparency, the School Board dissolved the Master Facility Plan Oversight Committee in the spring of 2024, which reviewed uses of PPEL funding and other matters related to spending on facilities.

All of the candidates agreed that teacher morale needed improvement, with Chung citing staff morale as even more important than the school buildings.

Incumbents Borcherding and Roundtree said they are aware of the issue of low teacher morale, with Borcherding saying as a member of the board that she does not have direct contact with staff, but Roundtree noting that she does communicate with teachers, including her husband, who teaches in the district.

While most of the candidates said they support the district’s new College & Career Pathways program, many agreed the program had a dismal rollout, placing part of the blame on a lack of transparency.

In closing statements, Borcherding said “we need clear accountability,” while Roundtree cited overcoming adversities of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 derecho and death of superintendent Noreen Bush in 2022 in her time on the board.

“I’ve stayed strong, steady and committed,” Roundtree said.

Burns said in her closing statement that the time has come for new board leadership, while Zimmerman echoed that in noting she would be a voice for the teacher perspective. Daoud and Drzycimski both touted better communication and transparency, while Chung noted he was “saying the quiet part out loud” in citing what he described as secrecy surrounding the selection of current superintendent Tawana Grover.

“Trust in the district and trust in the board doesn’t happen under secrecy,” Chung said.