Hoover Elementary School is shown in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in July 2024. President Hoover attended the groundbreaking in 1954 for the school, which the Cedar Rapids School Board voted again to demolish. (photo/Cindy Hadish)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The Cedar Rapids School Board voted a second time on their decision to demolish Hoover and Van Buren Elementary Schools to build two new schools on those sites.

School Board President Cindy Garlock noted at the beginning of the Oct. 14, 2024, meeting that the board had already approved the new schools during a special meeting on Aug. 12.

“After the Aug. 12 meeting, it came to our attention that a question had been raised regarding the notice that the resolution would be considered at that special meeting,” Garlock said. “As a matter of clarification, therefore, we’re once again considering this resolution and any public input on it.”

Related: School District proposes two new schools

Although Garlock said the board would consider public input, no public hearing was scheduled during the Oct. 14 meeting, and the board had no discussion before unanimously voting again to build two new schools. Board members David Tominsky and Jennifer Neumann were absent.

Only one person addressed the School Board regarding the resolution during the general public comment period.

Kevin Wymore, a retired public health analyst, said he made a formal open meetings law complaint to the Iowa Public Information Board regarding the meeting notice for the Aug. 12 special board meeting.

The bell from the original Van Buren School can be seen in front of the current Van Buren Elementary. (photo/Cindy Hadish)

Wymore outlined the sequence of events that led him to file the complaint and tried to offer recommendations on how the board might proceed, though he was cut off before he could finish, due to the board’s time limitation on speakers.

“I hope you recognize the positive nature of my suggestion,” he said. “I do believe they
will help you deal with the level of mistrust your own survey says you have earned.”

Wymore said he saw before the special meeting on Aug. 12 there was no tentative agenda posted outside of the board room, 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.

Wymore noted that, according to the Iowa Public Information Board, “the first sentence of Chapter 21 says explicitly that the goal of the law is to guarantee, through open meetings of governmental bodies, ‘that the basis and rationale of government decisions, as well as those decisions themselves, are easily accessible to the people.’ Section 21.4 says governmental bodies are required to give adequate notice of the time, date and place of a meeting, and post a tentative agenda (Ch. 21.4).”

“Neither the ‘easily accessible’ goal, nor the posting of adequate notice, were achieved before the August 12 special meeting,” Wymore told the school board.

He filed a formal complaint with the Iowa Public Information Board, which considered the item at its Sept. 19 meeting. Wymore said the state board proposed that the vote be reconsidered, and that the school board follow the open meeting notice requirements this time.

At stake is more than $50 million to build the two new schools, he said, using taxpayer money.

More recently, school district officials have said each new elementary school will cost approximately $32 million, so the cost will likely be closer to $64 million.

“Let me underscore the large sum of money at stake with the board’s Aug. 12 action,” Wymore said.
“The two schools were not included in the bond vote that was soundly defeated last November. Without public notice, you’re left to guess how elected officials are spending your money.”

At the Aug. 12 meeting, there was scant public input or board discussion about building the two new schools, he added, with the meeting over in about 45 minutes.

School district officials have praised the decision, saying that staff had asked for new buildings because both schools — Van Buren at 2525 29th St. SW, and Hoover at 4141 Johnson Ave. NW — are overcrowded.

No alternative suggestions, such as a building addition to either school, were raised.

The school district is working on another multi-million-dollar bond referendum for November 2025, after its $220 million bond vote was overwhelmingly defeated last year. That funding would be through an increase in property taxes.

Though he was cut off, Wymore later said he wanted the school board to schedule well-advertised hearings, or a hearing, to get full public input.

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