CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — When Joe Brokaw bought his new home with a view six months ago in northwest Cedar Rapids, he was unaware of plans to construct a larger school close to his property on the same grounds as Hoover Elementary.
“They are literally putting that school in my backyard,” Brokaw told the City Planning Commission at their meeting earlier this month.
He and other neighbors of the school, at 4141 Johnson Ave. NW, asked the commission to deny the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s application to rezone the Hoover site from S-RL1, Suburban Residential Low Single Unit, to P-IN, Public Institutional.
They cited dumpsters close to their homes; the smell of diesel buses with the proposed reconfiguration of the school grounds, light pollution and other concerns, in addition to the $42 million cost of the new school, the latter of which the commission did not consider.
Brokaw told the commission that the view from his deck, which attracted him to buy the home, will now be completely obscured by the larger school.
Despite the concerns of Brokaw and several of his neighbors, the commission voted to recommend the City Council approve the rezoning, with commission member Fred Timko opposed.
The neighbors have since been gathering signatures to present to the Cedar Rapids City Council before its June 24, 2025, meeting at 4 p.m. in Council Chambers, third floor of City Hall, 101 First St. SE.
Enough signatures submitted from residents in close proximity to the school will require a super majority vote of the City Council members on the rezoning measure, rather than a simple majority.
Brokaw said he believes that threshold has been met, and while neighbors have been encouraged to attend Tuesday’s meeting, a notice from the city erroneously stated the meeting would be on Thursday.
“Everyone we have spoken to thought the meeting was on a Thursday, not a Tuesday,” Brokaw said, questioning how the mistake occurred.
The Cedar Rapids School Board voted during a special meeting in August 2024 to demolish both Hoover and Van Buren Elementary, at 2525 29th St. SW. After a resident filed a complaint to the Iowa Public Information Board, citing improper notification of the special meeting, the board voted a second time in October to demolish both schools.
More: School Board votes again on two schools after open meetings complaint
Van Buren Elementary also will be demolished and replaced with a larger school under the Cedar Rapids School District’s plans. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Kevin Wymore, a retired public health analyst, said he filed the complaint after he saw there was no tentative agenda posted outside of the board room before the special meeting, as required by law.
He asked the receptionist for a copy of the agenda several hours before the meeting began, and she said she did not have a copy. Under the law, agendas must be made available to the public 24 hours in advance.
Replacing Van Buren Elementary will cost nearly $43 million, based on estimates made before Trump’s tariffs on steel and other construction materials were implemented.
No deficiencies of either school have been cited, other than their size is too small for current enrollment. Potential cost savings of building additions were not discussed at school board meetings.
Residents were not allowed to vote on replacing the elementary schools, due to the funding stream the district is using, known as SAVE, but they will be able to vote on the proposed $117 million school bond referendum this fall.
Related: Voters asked to back $117 million bond referendum
Why are there so many local government missteps, or apparent missteps, when it comes to the laws meant to safeguard open government? It seems to come down to a question of public integrity.
Here is my question: if the CRCSD school district can’t do simple things like open meeting notices and public records requests, how can we trust them to vote for more than $100 million in new building expense? Especially as enrollment trends downward?
I’m voting NO in November.
[…] Related: Cedar Rapids neighbors petition against mega-school […]
It’s not accurate to say “no deficiencies of either school have been cited.” There have been numerous comments at board (and task force) meetings about problems at Van Buren. Tom Barton wrote an article for The Gazette in August 2024 detailing issues at Van Buren: leaks, roaches, severe overcrowding, etc. There have been public input sessions; I note a 2017 session, so the problems aren’t recent. A 2018 plan called for closing Van Buren. Enrollment trends indicate that even more students will enroll in Van Buren in the next few years, further increasing overcrowding if the building isn’t replaced.
Overcrowding is not a deficiency of the building. And you need to demolish a building that has roaches? Better care can be taken of our current buildings and additions can be constructed, because why entrust $42 million or more per new school to an entity that seemingly isn’t taking proper care of existing buildings?