Wonderful! Way to go McGrath Auto!

Muchas Gracias, McGrath!!!!

Well, it's a Jeep and from McGrath so they will get plenty of experience fixing things.

Wow! 🤩

i heard teacher were getting laid off or moving schools is that true?

This Administration has consistently made bad financial decisions, so I cannot trust them with $210M. Here are just 10 reasons: 1. They sold Garfield for $350k which was way undervalued in a last minute back room deal with little transparency. 2 They spent $7.5M on 50 acres when middle schools typically use 16-18 acres. Why? 3. The proposed middle school is in a horrible location. Drive up and down Blairs Ferry and Ushers Ferry and report back whether kids should be walking to school to save on buses. 4. The thought of just tearing down Harding and planting grass seed is horrible. I will offer the same amount that Garfield sold for. 5. Wanting us to raise taxes because other districts around us have higher taxes is like hanging a chandelier in an outhouse, it just does not make sense. 6. Why was the land not purchased CONTINGENT on the bond issue passing. Reckless deal that will take $7.5M away from things that we can use. 7. Who will be paying for all of the infrastructure for the new school such as sidewalks, widening and lighted intersection at Blairs Ferry, etc. I am betting that is not budgeted for. 8. Front line educators are challenged with the transparency and trust of the administration leading to teachers wanting to leave the district. 9. Since the new board building, everything that CRCSD has built has been "over the top" and it seems like the money spent has not really been a factor. 10. The "survey" was not neutral. It was a propaganda piece with leading questions. With this, I will be voting ABSOLUTELY NO. If they took away the middle school, I may be able to be convinced, but wit that in there, there is no freaking way!

I would be far more likely to support a $500M bond issue if I really felt that the expenditures were going to give taxpayers a return. The data that I see shows that the education given by the CRCSD is well below average in the state (based on real data), the discipline in our schools is horrendous (anecdotal evidence), and there appears to be a challenge as far as respect from the Administration to the front line educators, and the other way around (based on a CRCSD survey). I would also support a much smaller bond issue this time around as I do believe that some of the facets of it would help with the challenges in front of us. Out of all of the projects in the current proposal, let’s choose $50M to $75M with the highest impact and vote it in. This will allow taxpayers a better return, and it will allow the CRCSD to better manage the projects while not taking their eyes off of what is most important, the education of our kids. The $120M middle school (once land costs are added in) that may cost another $15M in infrastructure (miles of sidewalks, traffic lights, sewer, water) just puts this proposal so far over the top that it would be reckless to support it. Even many of those that support this bond issue, as proposed, do not get totally behind this new middle school. As a side note, it still challenges me that they want to construct this school in the most affluent and academically successful district in Cedar Rapids. I am betting that there are plenty of needs in more challenged areas that could use more financial support. please feel free to copy and paste these ideas if you agree!

Just remember the 3% raise that was given to the superintendent without a single comment. Now they want more taxes. AND let's not forget the 6 million in staffing cuts. 314,150$ plus benefits. 95k higher then any other district… I would expect better education for what we are paying. More support for staff and students would go along way.

To be accurate, it appears that the Superintendents contract is $314,000 per year for 261 days (basically 5 days per week/52 weeks. 33 days (almost 7 weeks!!!) of paid time off (Equals about $40,000). 16 days (approx $20,000/yr)of additional “family leave” that can be carried over and accrued up to 260 days (basically 1 year). $500k term life. Contribution of 12% (a raise of 2% over last year) of the base salary plus travel allowance (I have not found the travel allowance) into an annuity which equates into approximately $40,000/year. $600/mo ($7200/yr) car allowance- at 50 cents a mile that is equal to 1200 miles per month. $200/mo ($2,400/yr) for participation in civic organizations. There is also a $565/mo ($6780/yr). It looks to me that the value of the contract is closer to $430k per year with all of the added benefits. This contract is up to negotiation every year (I assume by the same folks that negotiated the deal to sell Garfield for $350k, or to buy the land for a proposed school for $7.5M) Please reply back if any of this is incorrect.

I have looked at the social media accounts of all of our Board members and there is no doubt that there is a liberal bias on the Board, leading to decisions that seem to lean to the "left". It is great that we have a volunteer Board, BUT, we need diversity on the Board in order to have better checks and balances. I have not looked back, but just based on anecdotal evidence, it seems that most votes are unanimous with little dissention. On a healthy Board, there should be difference in opinion in order to resolve issues on more of a middle ground. We just need to be more fiscally responsible.

I took part in a facilities task study for the CRCSD about 20 years ago. We spent hours touring facilities and determining needs. We also look at enrollment changes in order to make a determination IF we needed any new schools. Well, before we came to resolution, they purchased the land that Viola Gibson is on. They gave us the same "song and dance" that they wanted to buy the land, but they wanted to wait for our decisions before determining if there needed to be a school there. I quit the group as I did not want to be used as a "puppet" for the CRCSD to do whatever they wanted anyway. Yes, I am still a bit salty about it, and I realize that this is a different Board, BUT, it is the same thing that is happening with that proposed middle school.

And how much $ SHOULD a superintendent be making? The pay raise was a bad look which makes this vote an uphill battle.