CR Schools and Department of Justice finalize agreement on seclusion and restraint
The Cedar Rapids Community School District (CRCSD) concluded its review with the U.S. Department of Justice and a final agreement relating to seclusion and physical restraint policies, procedures, and practices has been reached.
The Department of Justice stated that “[t]hroughout the investigation, the District fully cooperated with, and worked in good faith to respond to, all of the Department’s requests for information.”
“I’m proud of the hard work our staff have already done before and throughout this investigation,” said Superintendent Noreen Bush. “CRCSD welcomes the opportunity to continue to improve our practice to support our students.”
The DOJ has not identified to CRCSD any specific incident, complaint, child, or school as being the source of the ongoing review that began in October 2020. The review encompassed a collection of over 10,000 documents, numerous interviews of District and building-level administrators and staff, and site visits to several District schools.
As a result of this agreement, the District will be discontinuing the use of seclusion in all buildings and programs, effective 30 days from the date of the agreement. The District will also be making significant changes to limit the use of physical restraint and to rethink how student behavior is analyzed and responded to, District-wide. “Over the next 30 days, the District will be in communication with staff, parents, students, and other stakeholders about the changes on the horizon,” said Superintendent Bush. “This is hard, important work, and we are excited to be a leader in creating positive change for our students.”
In 2017, in response to concerns raised at the state level, the District embarked on systemic improvements in its response to student crisis behaviors. CRCSD believes this agreement with the Department of Justice will lead to further improvements that will benefit all students.
Legal Documents
Crisis Prevention
What is Crisis Prevention?
Crisis Prevention is the process to provide district employees with prevention and de-escalating strategies to address student behaviors. Understanding the underlying causes of our students’ behavior is a cornerstone of the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s process for Crisis Prevention. As a result, our ultimate goal is to find individual, student-centered, positive interventions that can replace challenging behavior.
What is the Role of Crisis Prevention in CRCSD Schools?
Our adoption of the Safety Care Crisis Prevention model ensures that district employees implement approaches to student behavior that are evidence-based, positive, and the least restrictive means of responding to each student. As a result, our efforts provide a heavy emphasis on prevention and de-escalation strategies such as truly knowing and understanding the reason for individual student behaviors, giving a student choices, listening to a student, and encouraging/collaborating with the student to find solutions.
The Cedar Rapids Community School District provides district-wide training designed to focus on prevention and de-escalation techniques and other alternatives to restraint and seclusion, as well as:
- Evaluating risk of harm.
- Monitoring for signs of distress.
- Documenting incidents.
- Safe, less-restrictive physical interventions to be used only as a last resort.
Our training equips district staff in utilizing decision-making skills to match the level of the response to the risk of the crisis, focusing on the least-restrictive response to ensure the safety and care of all learners. This includes recognizing the stages of an escalating crisis and learning evidence-based techniques to appropriately de-escalate.
Safety Teams at each school
Crisis Prevention is led by Safety Teams at all buildings and levels across the district. Safety Team members at each building are identified below:
Bertram off-site
Kiley Bohlken
Katie Hutchins
Angela Smith
Phillip Wing
Cedar River Academy at Taylor
Kendall Gent, Principal
Brett Calcara
Tony Chapman
Kaleb Donels
Sydney Eisenmann
Kara Schaefer
Julie Scheer
Leicha Scranton
Danielle Stubbs
Chris Stumpff
Lizzie Thatcher
City View Community High School
Dennis Becker
Marie Kasner
Jessica Carter
Trevor Templeman
Cleveland Elementary School
Condra Allred, Principal
Hector Cuebas
Colin Heeren
Piper Kesselring
Leanne Ruley
Brittany Scott
Ashley Sytsma
Stacy Wolf
Erskine Elementary School
Alexis Pieper, Principal
Margaret Anderman
Zoey McDonald
Carly Riley
Brooke Tauber
Jessica Vaughn
Franklin Middle School
Borck Addyson
Jennifer Beck
Meric Gabrielson
Maddie Richards
Naomi Sengiyumva
Patrick Stanek
Maegan Tanner
Todd White
Chad Szabo
Grant Elementary School
Stephanie Van Hemert, Principal
Franceen Graham
Bailey Kull
Aimee Lamker
Annie Fettkether
Lakyn Pyle
Cassidy Russell
Lauren Willson
Grant Wood Elementary
Cindy Stock, Principal
Stephanie Griffin
Tiffani Kinney
Krista Meier
Natalie Newhard
Denise Rohlena
Kayla Townsend
Chelsea Takes
Morgan Webster
Harding Middle School
Jessica Johnson, Principal
Ryan Chabal
Ben Ethier
Emily Hannes
Adam Hanrahan
Haley Wilson
Harrison Elementary School
Trista Manternach, Principal
Stacia Barnard
Alivia Clark
Jeff Dial
Andrea Grabe
Andrew Walton
Hiawatha Elementary School
Stephen Probert, Principal
Angel Baker
Carmen Banwart
Emily Gage
Susan Hawkins
Joe Kramer
Bret Proskovec
Angela Rowland
Katelyn Schrader
Hoover Community School
Clint Stone, Principal
Angela Evans
Jada Grubbs
Ali Heying
Kaylee Hynek
Lauren Konchar
Payton McCallister
Ellen Mittenburg
Beth Sellner
Jefferson High School
Jess Luna, Interim Principal
Eric Butikofer
Caleb Claus
Derek Dixon
Lori Dombroski
Cedric Educardo-Thomas
Jason Edwards
Charlie Goetzinger
Sam Hostetler
Robert Jackson
Mike Kuba
Sabrina Lacorix
Mycala MacTaggert
Noah Menken
Kelly Snyder
Sara Young
Johnson STEAM Academy
Jennykaye Hampton, Principal
Jada Grubbs
John Harris
Amanda Maher
Sarah Moore
Katie Olivarez
Leah Schropp
Carol Stone
Sydney Ulch
Kennedy High School
Jason Kline, Principal
Marcus Colbert
Robert Johnson
Jason Klosterman
Mike LeMieux
Kimberly Pladna
Sarah Remerowski
Syndy Richey
Shawan Thomsen
Kenwood Leadership Academy
Jessica Westercamp, Principal
Elizabeth Ball
Scott Becker
Emily Bierbaum
Mindy Heller
Erin Kasper
Annie Welsh
McKenna Feldmann
Madison Elementary School
Trista Manternach, Principal
Jeanette Locke
Sarah Mossman
Jessica Naylor
Monica Smith
Andrew Walton
Denise Wedel
Maple Grove Elementary
Jeni Goebel, Principal
Ashley Bissell
Brian Meyer
Dylon Pappas
Desarae Shaw
Jessica Simon
McKinley Middle School
Joslin Hanna, Principal
Jessica Gosch
Abigail OGreen
Willie Guy
Matthew Jenkins
Ashley Monnahan
Gabriella Wright
Metro High School
Mark Groteluschen, Principal
Dawn Bouzek
Mary Cruise
Matt Heaton
Paula Pino
Dan Walsh
Tim Wright
Nixon Elementary School
Kayla Nelson, Principal
Laura Butschi
Kiara Harris
Cammy Huffman
Brittany Koch
Zach Johansen
Jen Long
Kat Pratchett
Eric Schultz
Pierce Elementary School
Kathleen Ziegler, Principal
Makayla Glovik
Allyson Haulk
Lisa Hepker
Jennifer Singleton
Teresa Wilkes
Polk Alternative Education Center
Michelle Lukavsky, Principal
Payton Addock
Connor Bartosh
Jacoby Beard
Kelli Elliott
Jason Feight
Karin Ford
Ally Green
Maria Green
Kelsey Harland
Courtni Knudtson
Adam Krieger
Molly Lamb-Hughes
James Mariah
Marcie Michaelsen
Riley Milbrandt
Myles Monnahan
Kaylee Ryan
Hannah Schaefer
Brad Thiel
Melissa Traver
Jamie Tucker
Roosevelt Creative Corridor Business Academy
Jason Martinez, Principal
Tavian Cook
Morgan Meese
Michael Panoch
Campbell Quilynda
Taft Middle School
Gary Hatfield, Principal
Jessiah Gilchrist
Baylea Hinrichs
Clark Monique
Sam Nowland
Erin Seely
Trailside Elementary School
Jennifer Nurre, Principal
Kamber Boeckmann
Sadie Fah
Ann Giron
Trudy Hill
Charley Martin
Liz McMann
Lauren Rockwell
Truman Early Learning Center
Monica Frey, Principal
Abbie Petsche
Katie Tritle
David Wertz
Van Buren Elementary School
Amy Evans, Principal
Jean Everhart
Amy Gaines
Lauren Galas
Ann Hoefer
Bailey Murphy
Zach Shoulders
Kimberlee Stoner
Viola Gibson Elementary School
Tammi Kuba, Principal
Amber Burgett
Rachel Faust
Sam Gotto
Kallie Green
Dennis Kann
Beth Knipfer
Roberta Kolthoff
Gina Pins
Nicole Rieck
Shannon Zwack
Washington High School
Ian LeMaster, Principal
Eric Addy
Julie Cain
Dan DeVore
Shannon Gillespie
Rich Jackson
Megan Lewis
Jennifer Miller
Jesse Ozbun
Ryan Piper
Amy Rouse
Ron Sims
Jai Swayze
Morgan Troendle
Kaylee Weems
Davondrian Wright
West Willow Elementary School
Greg O’Connell, Principal
Ashley Boatwright
Paige Carter
Becky Erger
Amy Katcher
Makayla Kuehl
Wilson Middle School
Mike Waters, Principal
Daverbalus Clark
Alicia Haan
Colleen Fangman
Ryan Hocking
Jordan Moore
Wright Elementary School
Brian Krob, Principal
Shelby Dearman
Ellen Nicholson
Laura Savage
Caroline White