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ITEM NO.2 DISCUSSION AND PUBLIC INPUT IOWA CITY COMMUNITY
SCHOOL REDISTRICTING PLAN.
Hayek: Welcome everyone! Um, just as an initial matter, um, Council Member, uh, Ross
Wilburn will not be participating in this evening's meeting and Council Member
Terry Dickens, uh, has another obligation. He will be here by 8:00 (mumbled)
case you're wondering why he's not here now. He will be here by...by 8:00.
Um, item no. 2 is discussing...discussion and public input regarding the Iowa
City Community School District redistricting plan. Um, late last week the, uh,
Members of the Council sitting here, uh, decided to schedule a meeting for this
evening, uh, so that we could examine the status, uh, of the School District's
redistricting process, uh, hear from City staff who have been involved in that
process thus far, uh, solicit input from the community, and then discuss as an
elected body, um, whether to, uh, communicate anything to the School District
concerning, uh, this body's position to the extent there is one, and we're going to
have a discussion about that later. Um, so I'm...I'm pleased to see, uh, so many
people from the public here on short notice. Uh, I appreciate the attendance of
our School District...School Board Members and...and staff, um, the way we're
going to proceed tonight, um, is as follows. Um, initially we will hear from City
staff who will provide a report to the Council, uh, about their involvement to date,
um, then we're going to open up the discussion, uh, for input from the community
to the extent there are comments people wish to make to the City Council. Um, in
regards to that, uh, some of you may not have been to a City Council meeting
before. The way we operate is that we ask you to, uh, if you're able, grab a little
sticker in...in the back, uh, if you want to speak, uh, that's the easiest way and the
most efficient way to do it. If you don't want to do that, you don't have to, but
either way when you get to the podium, uh, you...you need to either sign in there
or place your sticker on the book and then please give us your name and the
reason is that we have to keep minutes and we like to keep track of...of who
spoke and when. Um, and the way we'll operate is that, uh, we'll just form a
queue down the aisle, um, for those wishing to speak when...when that time
comes, and we're going to ask everyone to limit their comments to three minutes
or less, uh, that's a tighter time constraint, but it's the only way to get through a
large number of comments to the extent we...we get that, and we'll proceed for a
while, uh, I don't anticipate, uh, allowing for public comments beyond 9:00, uh,
because this was a hastily called meeting and the Council will need to
discuss...have some time to discuss, uh, what it wants to do, um, following those
comments. So, um, I would also encourage you to...when you get up to the
podium, try not to repeat what has been said by other people. It's always best for
us to hear new things so that we can get the full breadth of the opinions and
perspectives, uh, in the community. That will help us greatly. So, and then
we'll...we'll follow that with...with Council discussion. So, initially I would like
Jeff Davidson, uh, the Community Planning Director to...to address the Council,
uh, the Planning Department has...has spearheaded the City's involvement in...in
the process thus far. Mr. Davidson.
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City Council meeting of May 3, 2010.
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Davidson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and Members of the City Council. Uh, we appreciate the
opportunity to be here this evening, and give a report on the redistricting, uh,
committee activities, uh, for which we have been participating. We very much
appreciate the School District in extending the offer for us to participate, uh, on
the committee. They have a very difficult decision, and we appreciate the
opportunity to be a part of all the committee meetings. When, uh, Dale received
the invitation, he and I talked extensively about who the appropriate person would
be to...to sit on the committee. Uh, we did agree that someone from the Planning
staff would be, uh, the appropriate person. We needed somebody who had
knowledge of our Iowa City neighborhoods, we have an extensive neighborhood,
uh, association as you know, as well as someone who was knowledgeable about
the future growth patterns of Iowa City, um, Karen Howard, Associate Planner
Karen Howard from your Planning Division was able to also commit to the
meeting schedule. Uh, it was also great that Karen had access to, uh, the traffic
section of the Planning Department as well as the Housing section of the Planning
Department, in addition to the knowledge she has herself, uh, extensive
knowledge about future growth patterns in the city and the district planning
process that we had used, uh, for our comprehensive planning, uh, efforts. Uh,
what we hope to do tonight, Karen is going to make a brief presentation of the
committee's activities. Uh, we want to make sure that between myself and Karen
you have all of your questions, uh, answered, uh, so that you can following the
public comment period, uh, make a decision as to whether or not you wish to
formally provide input to the, uh, School Board for the very difficult decision that
they have ahead of them. So, with no, uh, further due, uh, Karen Howard,
Associate Planner from the Urban Planning Division.
Hayek: Thank you, Jeff.
Howard: Hi, I'm Karen Howard, um, thank you for, um, holding a meeting tonight, uh, I
want to, uh, second what Jeff said about, um, being appreciative to be, honored to
be on the committee, um, it was a big task and I think all the committee members
took it very seriously. I was really impressed with, um, the people that were on
the committee, how hard everybody worked, um, and also uh, the School Board,
how difficult a decision it is that they have to make. Um, with that said, I want to
just run through a little bit about what, how this whole process laid forth for the
committee and the Board. The Board gave a charge, um, and formed a committee
to consider, uh, redistricting some areas and they also hired a consulting firm to,
um, generate some enrollment projections for the next five years in the school
district. The committee, um, held eight committee meetings. That was expanded
from the original, I believe five that were originally scheduled, um, but as the
committee worked we realized what a big task it was, and we asked for more time
to consider all the ramifications of the enrollment projections and getting our
heads around, uh, all the difficult issues that...that the School District faces. Uh,
they also took a telephone survey of parents, an on-line survey for the community,
and uh, they held several public forums, which were very well attended, um, and
uh, again, I was impressed by the turnout at those public forums, both at Parkview
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Church and downtown Iowa City, um, and also there was a number of schools.
There was also a forum at Grant Wood Elementary School and I know that PTAs
were holding meetings and people were very engaged in this process, um, which
represented to me that this is just a really important issue. Um, the committee
was asked to consider four boundary criteria, and this is how we were to judge,
um, the scenarios that were brought forth to us from the consultant. The
committee, I want to make clear, didn't create the scenarios...that we were asked
to respond to scenarios that were created by the consultant, based on their
enrollment projections, and these four, uh, boundary criteria that the Board, uh,
set forth. Uh, number one was fiscal considerations, uh, the Board wanted to
make sure that the boundaries are planned to maximize their district resources, in
a fiscally responsible manner, uh, remain revenue neutral to the extent possible, to
accommodate the increases in enrollment. Uh, the projected enrollment and
building utilization, the boundary should anticipate the projected enrollment and
the capacity of the buildings that we have, um, and make sure that we use our
buildings efficiently, um, in an attempt to maximize student populations at each
school, make sure that we use all the space that we have, so shifting both, you
know, looking at both elementary, junior high, and high school enrollments and
making sure we're utilizing the buildings, um, efficiently, that we have now,
before we make decisions to...to add on to buildings or build new buildings. Uh,
neighborhood schools and neighborhoods intact, this criteria was for where
possible a neighborhood should not be split between two schools and they had a
definition of a neighborhood being, um, something that, uh, followed natural
boundaries, um, was considered a fairly...a small element of planning. Uh, and
then demographic considerations, and this is one that, um, I think we all struggled
with, was to minimize overloading any one or a few schools with students that
may require significant resources. And the measure that the School District used
was, um, the percentage of free and reduced lunch, uh, numbers at each school.
The charge to the committee was to, uh, send to the Board two or three
redistricting scenarios for them to consider. Um, develop recommendations for
managing the high school enrollment that addressed both short-term and long-
term projections, and use the four criteria that they established, and that they
cautioned that it would...would impact all grade levels. I think when...when we
went into this, a lot of people thought it was just...was a high school boundary
change, shift, but it was pretty clear that there was a lot of capacity issues at the
elementary school level, and a lot of issues, um, at junior high and high school.
And then finally they asked the committee to make sure that we thought globally
and consider the whole community, and the whole district, over our self interests.
And I...I hope these show up well enough. They're not real high-quality images
here, um...but one thing I wanted to point out is that, um, I think there's this
perception that...we are a growing district, and um, that is something that's
positive, um, for the School District, but also presents some challenges, and I
think, uh, what illustrates here is that we're not...we're growing in different parts
of the community. Um, in the north corridor there's been more growth in the
recent last ten years...the growth has been faster, but we're still growing in all
parts of the district, not in just one area or...or another. The...the committee
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forwarded, um, in the end after much...much debate and all the public forums and
see, uh, a number of different scenarios, um, we really struggled with the
elementary school boundary scenarios in trying to balance demographics. And,
um, realized that is was a difficult problem to solve in five years, that, um, it was
a struggle to figure out ways to...when...when we were thinking about
elementary schools in particular as being neighborhood schools, that shifting
pockets of poverty around, uh, and busing kids around, maybe was a difficult
decision to make and in the end a lot of public input came in that we...was more
important to keep our neighborhoods intact, um, so I think a lot of the committee
members struggled with what was the best solution for the elementary schools,
but this was the scenario that was forwarded to the Board. This is the same
scenario in all four D, E, and F. So the elementary school boundaries are...are the
same in all those scenarios. Uh, for the junior high, also the scenarios are exactly
the same. All four...all number four scenarios, um, the...the committee
forwarded just one scenario for junior high boundaries. Uh, for the high school
scenarios, this is where four, there was two...the Board wanted one...scenario
with three high schools, and one scenario with two high schools. Um, the
committee did not vote...for, or two high schools versus three high schools
against each other. Uh, what we were asked to vote on was we were given, uh,
two different three-high-school scenarios, and we were asked which three high
school scenario was better than the other one, which would we recommend over
the other one, 4.D. was the scenario that was forwarded to the Board. And, uh,
we did the same thing for two-high-school scenarios, uh, we voted, uh, and 4.F.
received the, uh, 66% of the committee vote as being the preferable two-high-
school scenario. Um...with these two high school scenarios, the difference is
basically, um, what this scenario...they're calling it athree-high-school scenario,
uh, but what it is really is...is two high schools and aninth-grade center. So in
the fifth year, aninth-grade center would be proposed to be built, uh, and then
after that, um, as enrollment allows it could be extended into a third high school.
And I think that's where some confusion, I think with the public, comes about as
what the cost difference is between atwo-high-school and athree-high-school
versus two-high-school and aninth-grade center. With the...4.F., the two high
schools basically shifts Wickham Elementary School, uh, area and Lincoln
Elementary School area to City High, and the Twain area to West, and what that
shows is that, um, it really, uh, utilizes the space at both high schools. I think the
reason, now I can't...I can't speak for all the committee, but I think what I heard
from many of the committee members was the reason they voted for 4.F. over the
other two high school scenario was that it...that it balanced the free and reduced
lunch. It balanced the enrollment better between the two high schools, um, and
it... it seemed to utilize the space the best of the... of the other high school
scenarios. With regard to the cost, we were asked to sort of, uh, judge also, um,
fiscal responsibility and financial considerations. Um, just a comparison of the
two...two different high school scenarios, 4.F., with two high schools serving
4,000 students with additions. This would be permanent additions to City and
West, um, would cause increase in operating budget, estimated by the School
District of $977,000 per year, operating budget. With 4.D., and I've extrapolated
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this to a...to three high schools with complete four-year high schools serving
4,000 students, so you can see, uh, an apples to apples comparison here. Um, the
difference there would be $1.74 million to operate three high schools serving
4,000 students. With regard to the enrollment, um, the consultant used the mid-
range projection, uh, average yearly increase in high school enrollment over the
next five years is about 108 students per year, as the consultants estimated.
There's a concern that with...with the three-high-school scenario it shows aninth-
grade center, but does not illustrate what will happen to the enrollment at West
High in years six through ten of the scenario...if a complete four-year school's
built, and the committee discussed this and asked the consultant about it at a
meeting, and the consultants answered this question for the committee at one of
our last meetings, and they did say that West High's enrollment would drop to
1,200 to 1,300 if every year that ninth-grade center was expanded to one more
grade. So, ninth-grade center then, 9, 10; 9, 10, 11; 9, 10, 11, 12. And then, uh,
the School District... School Board is also, uh, there was a concern that some
people would not chose to go to a smaller high school. I know there's a lot of
people in North Liberty and we heard at their forum that a lot of people would
like a smaller high school, um, but there is a concern that if people see that the
resources are different between a large high school and what can be offered at a
large high school versus a small high school, some people may still want to go to
the larger high school for those offerings. And so there is some...there was some
discussion about efforts to promote that smaller high school by making it a
magnet school or having it specialized in math and science, or have some other
special programming that would make it, uh, more attractive to...to students. Uh,
the consultants were asked about this...this kind of effort and at one of the
committee meetings, um, they said that this...that has been used in other school
districts making certain schools magnet schools, but they also cautioned that it's
been more successful at really large districts, where you don't end up skimming
off the cream of the crop and then, um, having fewer resources at your
other...other schools. I just want to put...put on my planner hat for a minute here
and this is...this is my opinion, um, as a member of the committee, and some of
the concerns that I've heard, um, and things that I've heard the consultant say,
um, and knowing what's happened with building permits in the last five years.
2006, um, was kind of the peak building permits in the whole region, and since
then we've...we've gradually dropped considerably and I think last year we only
had 200 new houses built in the entire area. So I think...that...since the
recession, things have slowed down considerably, gives me pause, um, that
enrollment projections are just projections, and we need to be careful about how
fast our district is growing. Um, it does seem to be steady, but slow, 2 to 3% has
been our typical pattern of growth. And, there is a concern that if, um, a third
high school is built, that there'll be pressure to make that ninth-grade center into a
four-year high school, um, because people will want their kids to have the same
experience that all the other kids have at high school and have it be a
comprehensive high school. Um, and what that will do to the high...the other two
high schools that we have, um, also there's concern about the demographic
imbalance, both at the elementary school level and junior high and the high school
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level. And, with the three-high-school scenario, they're showing a significant
difference in free and reduced lunch at City High is much higher than the other
two high schools are showing in the scenario. There is a concern that...that the
district has, um, a budget crunch right now and with reduced resources for all
children at all levels, um, if operating budget remains stagnate and how the
School Board will address that if there's pressure, um, to operate additional
schools, will that reduce resources at our existing schools, not only at the high
school but our elementary school...schools as well. Um, I also would just like to
finish. I...I hand... gave you sort of a... a summary pages of the district report that
was submitted by the consultant. It's more comprehensive than this. I gave you
sort of summary pages. The entire report's about 64 pages long. It is on the
School District's web site. I encourage you to look at it in more detail. They also
have the maps. There's quite a few more maps than...than what I presented
tonight, and also there was a concern expressed about safety and shifting high
school boundaries, and traffic safety, and the School Board asked, um, JCCOG to
do a traffic analysis, and I have handed you a copy of that report so if you have
questions about that I'd be happy to answer them. Any questions?
Hayek: Anybody have questions for Karen? Thanks, Karen, I appreciate that! Okay.
Um, why don't we open this up for public discussion at this time, uh, I'll remind
you that... first of all, if you guys can be careful with the, uh, the sidewalk so to
speak to the door, to keep it as open as possible in case people need to come or go
for, uh, safety reasons, that would be great. Next, uh, go ahead and form a queue
which I see is already occurring, uh, and then as you get to the podium, uh, either
put a sticky note with your name on it, or write your name, uh, on the book, and
then introduce yourself, and then again, three minutes or less, please.
Hemingway: Sure. Um, I'm sorry, I'm hard of hearing, Mayor. Did you say that Mr. Wilburn
was not going to be at the meeting tonight for, because of a conflict, or he just
didn't come?
Hayek: He's not going to be participating in the meeting.
Hemingway: Okay, so our 100,000 a year equity director, when we're discussing school equity,
isn't at the meeting?
Hayek: Well, he's not going to be participating, and...and, uh...
Hemingway: Which calls into question what we're paying (both talking)
Hayek: Sir...sir...can you hear me? We're going to need to hear your name...
Hemingway: Yes! I signed in at 6:30, excuse me. My name is Phil Hemingway. I live at 415
Elmridge Avenue, Iowa City. Um, many in our community think City High is
unsafe at any speed. John Lundell's article in the Press-Citizen of
Apri1...10...cites safety concerns with scenario 4.F. It appears to many that the
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only way to get to City High goes through I-80, and that I-80 is a death trap
waiting to take its next victim. School Board Member Mike Cooper spoke at a
recent meeting about the Crist Street incident in conjunction with discussions of I-
80, leaving out the fact that this accident occurred on Highway 1, a small detail I
know. I argue that I-80 is not the preferred route to get to City High, and if there
are concerns...with the future construction on Dubuque Street narrowing down to
one lane, I suggest that those who would make, take this route go to bed early so
they can get up in time to make it to school. Self-professed safety expert John
Lundell said nothing in his article concerning Hills students using the Avenue of
the Saints to get to West High at 65 miles an hour. It's obvious it's not a concern
to Mr. Lundell that teen drivers from Hills would be driving at high rates of speed
to get to West High. Let's not forget that students living in the far north of I-80
might be tempted to use 380 south to get to Melrose to go to West High. They
too would be potentially driving at high rates of speed. This doesn't worry Mr.
Lundell either! The truth...the true fear is that any student north of I-80 would
travel and attend City High. After...after Mr. Lun, or as Mr. Lundell's
pessimistic view on parenting in his article, it's a sad day when an elected official
tells us not to expect our children to listen to their parents. And I'm afraid that
safety is becoming a code word for something else in this discussion. City High
is an excellent school, uh, and when my daughter, who was a sophomore going
from Southeast, and at the time there were some...some disciplinary, or I should
say they were having...there were reports in the paper about fights and things like
that at City High, we had safety concerns. But it didn't take, uh, one trimester at
City High for those concerns to be laid to rest. Thank you very much.
Hayek: Thank you, sir.
Clark: Hi, I'm Janet Clark. I live at 1111 Friendly Avenue. I've been an Iowa City
resident since 1984 and Iowa City's now the home of my family and children. I
would like to limit my comments mostly to my concerns over, um, last Tuesday
night's work session by the Board, which I attended, in order to not be redundant.
But also as a resident, I am here to request that the City Council supports, um,
Iowa City residents in an endeavor to maintain where there is current vibrant
health at City High and in our east. side community, and further and most
importantly, I am concerned about the health of our entire school district and our
entire community. The west and north side included. I believe that our Board
was lucky to embark on this whole redistricting process ripe with input, um, from
community and teacher sur... surveys with the redistricting committee, uh, which
was Board commissioned, and paid consultants, to which...to date we have paid
$106,000. Last Tuesday night, uh, I attended the Board's work session and I felt
like defying all logic and responsible and appropriate consideration of input and
data, it seemed clear to me that the majority of the Board was considering a
decision to reject the redistricting committee's endorsement of 4.F., a scenario
which I believe best fulfilled the Board's own criteria that it charged the
committee to consider. The reasons to me were varied and unclear, but as a
whole appeared to me a logical and unsupported by data. It does seem to me, and
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I believe to most, that our community will very likely at some point require a third
high school in order to appropriately meet the needs of all of our students. But
(mumbled) of the City Council and the members of the community to, um,
consider that that time is not now, that time's not yet. Currently there are no
enrollment trends to support this, and we have even learned very recently this
week that enrollment projections for both high schools and for Southeast and
Northwest are down significantly from previous projections. Outside of the fact
that there's no adequate money existing for operational costs of a third high
school at this point. I felt Tuesday night the Board was using its own consensus
of the school of the future to (mumbled) real attention to the issues of balancing
enrollment and demographics at our schools, but particularly our two high
schools, which undercuts City High and our community at large. A request to the
Board Thursday night to utilize scenario 4.F., the scenario that was preferred by
the RDC, and which best meets the Board's criteria of fiscal responsibility and
utilizing existing buildings, balancing demographics while keeping
neighborhoods intact, uh, had been completely tabled in that discussion. This was
despite the fact that if you look at the data, and you look at enrollment, 4.F. won't
even require the additions to the high schools that initially seemed to be needed. I
believe that until a third high school is required, the Board must fulfill its
commitment to the community as a whole and espouse for F. until that time. I
also believe that the City Council of Iowa City must recognize how crucial this
decision that the Board will make is to the well-being of our entire community.
So I'm here tonight to request that the City Council communicates very directly
with the Board regarding what seems to me to be a clear path to fiscal
responsibility and how to best meet the needs of all of our beloved students.
Hayek: Thank you.
Berg: Hi, my name is Dan Berg, and I live at 2775 Hickory Trail in Iowa City and I'm
here to go on...urge the Council to go on record to oppose the addition of the
third high school scenario that is being discussed by the School District. It's not
the job of the Council to draw lines on a school map to figure out boundaries for a
school, but it is the job of the Council to represent the interests of the residents of
this city and to intervene when plans are being made that would be detrimental to
our schools, to our city, and detrimental to our children. You're all familiar with
the process, a big committee working really hard for months, spending a lot of
time, getting a tremendous amount of input, working with consultants that were
very professional, and have lots of experience. And coming up with a scenario,
4.F., that actually met the criteria that fiscal consideration, building utilization,
demographics -all those criteria that were laid out by the Board and read at every
meeting of the redistricting committee. They came up with this scenario, and I
was pleasantly surprised. I was a bit skeptical at first, but I thought, wow, the
process really worked! But unfortunately the Board seems to be favoring a
scenario that adds aninth-grade center that is bad on so many levels. I don't
know where to start. First, dem... first numbers. Our enrollment of the high
school level has been stagnant for now 11 years. Using those actual numbers, no
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one in their right mind would say, gee, our numbers are flat. Let's build a new
building. It's fiscally irresponsible. It builds a building that will be underutilized
and result in underutilization of... of the existing buildings, and it will decrease
the quality of programming at the two high schools that we already have. We
have fiscal constraints. The only way you can do this is move teachers and
resources from other schools. We don't have extra money! It's no secret that for
quite a number of years there are many people have...that have moved from Iowa
City to the west side for the schools, and the same is true for people moving into
the area. I work at UIHC. I see this all the time. People are directed to the west
side because perceived differences in the school. As a result, if we let this process
continue, we will have a continued decline in our school. We will have, uh, a
stream of people who are leaving for better schools turn into potentially a larger
stream, and the results of that will be decreased property values, decreased
revenues, decreased city services, decreased quality of life, and what we're
looking at is the development of Iowa City as a place where you work, at the
University, ACT, the Hospital, but not where you live and raise a family and send
your kids to school. That's a pretty grim picture! But it's not set in stone,
because final decisions have not been made. There, and it's important that we act
now. I'd ask you to seriously listen to all the data that's been given. I'm sure
you're all aware of it, and I ask you to act, and I urge you to go on record
opposing this third high school scenario. Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you.
Buatti: Howdy. I'm John Buatti, and, uh, I've lived in Iowa City for 11 years. I live at
2891 Saddle Club Road, and I'm like going to also support 4.F. Um, I would like
to reiterate a number of things that Dr. Berg just mentioned as well. I also worked
at UIHC. What I want to tell you really is a tale of two cities. Okay? I moved
here 11 years ago. I can tell you that I was told you can live anywhere in Iowa
City. It really doesn't matter. The schools are all good, and what is creeping in is
that you're getting people not thinking both schools are good. Okay? Particularly
in light of high schools. This is critical to this city and the community. You
should go across the country and go to Gainesville and ask who lives on the east
side of town? Okay? And it is clearly what this Council and what the Board will
decide is going to influence that, it's going to creep in, and people will start
selectively moving to different areas of the community, by not having equality.
Equality is good. It is an American value. It is something that should be in every
single person's here utmost consideration in terms of developing high schools. If
we can't have two outstanding high schools, like we do now, you will create a
two-sided community. Economically, educationally, and otherwise. So this is
really a very deep-seeded responsibility this Council needs to communicate and I
think that no one should even think about tolerating anything but that. Okay? I
don't like to come to political meetings. I don't do it. Okay? I'm here and...and
now you've got the word. So do what's right! Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you.
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Beasley: Hi, my name is Beth Beasley, and I live at 217 Green Mountain Drive in Iowa
City. And, um, I just wanted to come tonight and say to all of you that the
redistricting process is an Iowa City issue. What happens with this process will
affect all of our communities, and anything the Council can do to raise awareness
among its constituents is appreciated and necessary. At the Iowa City
Community School District Board meeting on Tuesday, April 27th, our Board of
Education did not seem interested in discussing both scenarios presented to them
by RSP Consulting and the redistricting committee. I would like to present this
discussion of scenario 4.F. the two high school scenario to you and them. First, at
the high school level, 4.F. meets all the criteria set by the Board. I would suggest
that they consider 4.F. without additions at this time (noise on mic) lack of
enrollment, climbing enrollment. Um, and also to let you know that in 1999, City
High student population was 1,600. That was before their 16-room classroom
addition built in 2004. So, there is actually seemingly more capacity perhaps than
what is written down. Second, the junior high scenarios were not adjusted when
they did 4.F. and I would like to suggest that we use the space that we have right
now at Northwest. I'm suggesting that Wickham, Lincoln, and Twain students
come to Northwest for their junior high school time. Then the Lincoln and
Wickham students proceed to City High, and the Twain students to West, which
is what the high school scenario for 4.F. shows. This would fully utilize the space
at Northwest and eliminate the need to add on to North Central, saving the
District money. It would also reduce overcrowding at Southeast. I believe that
the two changes would better address the first two criteria set by the Board of
Education, the fiscal responsibility... fiscal and operational consideration, and the
enrollment and capacity consideration. Finally, the scenario 4.F. balances
demographics at the high school level which was the final criteria by the Board of
Education. As a stakeholder in our community school district, I implore our
Board of Education to discuss both scenarios thoroughly and fairly, follow the
criteria that they set, and to think global, the community over self, which is a
charge that they gave the redistricting committee. Thank you for a chance to
speak.
Hayek: Thank you.
Dilkes: Mr. Mayor, I just want to, I've been thinking about the...the first gentleman who
spoke comment about Mr. Wilburn's absence, and I just wanted to clarify that I
did talk to Mr. Wilburn late last week about the conflict of interest issue, um, once
this meeting was set and although he did not discuss with me how he would like
that communicated to you all and to...and to the audience members, I think he
would want it communicated that he and I determined that his duty of loyalty, uh,
to the School, uh, District in light of the fact that he's an administrator there and
his duty of loyalty to the City Council would be in conflict and that it would be
best for him not to participate.
Hayek: Thanks for clarifying!
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~7
Jiang: Okay, hi, my name is Lan. I live on X242 Ireland Drive. Um, first of all I'd like
to appreciate the City Council for holding such meeting to have public inputs and
to listen to parents' concerns, and here I'm speaking to address the parents'
concerns of the new (mumbled) elementary school which will be open on
Kennedy Parkway. My son is a first grader and he will be among all the kids in
our neighborhood who will go the New Crossings Elementary after the
redistricting, starting 2012. We had a neighborhood meeting yesterday. Many of
us parents are very concerned of the high free reduced lunch percentage in the
new school, which is 40.6%. That is 10% over the school district average. We
feel that it is a very high free reduced lunch percentage to open a new school. At
a time of the opening everything will be new. The teachers, the staff, and the
kids. Everyone will need attention, need adjustment. It'll be chaos for quite a
while, with such a high free reduced lunch percentage and with so many kids
requiring significant resources, it'll be very hard for the new school to establish
herself in the very beginning, thus, inhibit the new school to grow. We are also
very concerned to see the strong correlation between the high free reduced lunch
percentage and the lower academic scores. The newspapers see the (mumbled)
school scores for 2009. From the scores, we see a pattern that if a school's free
reduced lunch percentage is less than district average, which was 29.6%, the
school performance is good. The average (mumbled) for such schoo12009
(mumbled) is 85 percentile. But when the school's free reduced lunch percentage
more than district average, over 10%, which is the case for (noise on mic) I'm
sorry! For the New Crossing School. The school performance would drop
significantly and the average percentage...percentile for such school is 16
percentile.
Hayek: Take your time; you're doing fine!
Jiang: I'm sorry, I'm not used to this! We hence recall all the district's recently opened
schools were opened with much lower free reduced lunch percentage. Wickham
is 2.2%. Then Allen is 25.3%, and Gardner is 30.3%. In addition, the results of
the most recent opening, Gardner Elementary, was a balanced solution for Penn,
then Allen and Gardner, and the planning stage the free reduced lunch percentage
was discussed and the result is the free reduced lunch percentage among that three
schools were balanced. Therefore, when we look at close-by schools we notice
that after the redistricting plan, Weber Elementary will have 18.8% free reduced
lunch percentage, and the whole elementary we have 28.6%. Compare to Weber,
the New Crossings will have over 22% higher than...percentage than the New
Crossing School. It doesn't seem very fair for our kids, going to a new school
like this, just starting their study. In summary, we'd like to see for the attention
by the, from the public, the City Council, and the School, and the Board
Members, District School Board Members to balance the free reduced lunch for
us, at least among the three neighborhood schools, which is Weber, Horn, and
The Crossings. We also like to see the School District is treating the same to all
of the (mumbled) schools. Thank you.
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Hayek: Thank you.
Bennett: Good evening, I'm Lee Bennett at uh, 53 Alder Court. Again, thank you for the
opportunity to speak this evening and again, uh, Mayor and ladies and gentlemen,
thank you for holding this special forum this evening. Uh, and again, I'm going
to be speaking about a topic dealing with elementary schools. A lot that's been
going on at many of the public forums and many of the public scenarios has been
talking about high school situations, but again, this evening I'd like to talk about a
school that can't represent itself yet. It has no PTA. It has no way to organize
itself because it doesn't exist yet, which is The Crossings, and uh, looking at the
goals that are to be set out, in other words, keeping the neighborhood intact, uh,
try to balance out free and reduced lunch, and not increase transportation,
unfortunately in all the scenarios when you look at The Crossing, and again, it has
not had a chance to speak up for itself, sure people that will eventually live in the
area where The Crossings has been to the forum, but it's more difficult to become
organized when you don't have, you know, a school where you're seeing each
other on a daily basis. We're scattered to more different schools, and when you
look at each of the scenarios, it again remains in almost all of them, say for one, at
over 40%, uh, of free and reduced lunch, which again has been pointed out earlier
in data from the State of Iowa, and also reported by the Gazette, at least below the
national average in school performance, there's just a direct correlation. The
numbers are big enough that it's statistically relevant. And, this, uh, these
numbers are kept high actually by breaking some of these rules. Number one, the
neighborhoods are not kept intact, uh, currently children that walk to Weber
School would be bused to The Crossing, and these are children that are, uh, part
of the free and reduced lunch program. And then children that are bused, uh, to
Weber, uh, currently could be bused at roughly the same distance to the new
school in an area where there is not a very high percentage of free and reduced
lunch. These two neighborhoods could be easily switched. They're almost next
to one another. Talking about the free and reduced area that's by, uh, Fareway
and back behind the Casey's, in that area, which...the area where they walk to
Weber would have to be bused to a much further area to The Crossings. So that
would also increase transportation. So, again, as...we all are here because we
realize that one of the goals of government is to protect and support those that
can't protect and support themselves, which is this new school, which will be
opening with an exceedingly high free lunch based on any other new schools that
have opened in this region. And so I ask that you would seriously consider doing
some, a little bit of... even if it takes it micro-suggestions on how to improve that
and balance out this area so that we don't have abrand-new school that in three or
four years is already a school in need of assistance under the No Child Left
Behind program, which would not look good. Thank you for your time, and I
appreciate your consideration.
Hayek: Thank you, sir.
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Page 13
Klemme: Um, is there a sticker? There aren't any stickers.
Hayek: You know what? You can just write your name on there. They're back there. I'd
just sign up if I were you.
Klemme: Okay. My name is Laurie Klemme and I live at 244 Amhurst Street in Iowa City.
I have, uh, lived in Iowa City since 1985. I have raised two kids here who are just
graduating, one from City High and one from Tate. Twins. Um, I came tonight
because I...I'm sort of, uh, well, I'm recommitting to School District politics after
a ten year...break. I took a ten-year break because it was such a bitter experience
ten years ago. When I was advocating for third grade students at Lucas
Elementary, where the class sizes were grossly uneven between Lucas and other
schools in the district. It was apart-time job. It was just horrendous! And 66
families were engaged in that effort, so there were certainly no shortage of people
engaging with their children's education. It yielded almost nothing for us. What
it did result in is at the end of the year, the ITBS scores showed, they were
significantly lower. You can see, I think it's 2000, like 20 points lower than other
schools. This is really important because at the end of that year, my daughter who
was in her regular class level mathematics, uh, was a full year behind the other
kids in the same level class mathematics at Hoover, just one school over, because
of class size. These were bright kids, I mean, they started, they were 99 percentile
on the ITBS when we started in the Iowa City School District. So...and there
have been consequences from this sort of, uh, socio-economic tracking that's
gone on. I had to take my kids out to Heritage, uh, the next year to catch up. I
drove them out there every day, and they worked for a year and my daughter
caught up. That was my experience! So, uh, ten years later I tune back in and I
see that, uh, Lucas is, you know, on the Schools in Need of Assistance list.
Nothing has changed! And um, the same thing that we were told ten years ago is
happening now. We were told that the reason why there was this inequity in class
sizes was because they had been anticipating growth on the west side. So that's
why on the west side they had classes with, you know, uh, 22 and we had 29.
Many with undiagnosed behavior disorders or you know whatever. So, it seems
to me it's very parallel, again, we're hearing about this anticipated growth on the
west side, though there isn't really data to support it, and what I see, uh, that's
coming very soon is a reduction in the, you know, the span, the range of offerings
at a school like City. As I understood it, much of the push behind this was trying
to bring parity between the high schools so that a kid like my son, who was in AP
English, could also be on the newspaper. Well, you can't do that at City High,
because if you take AP English it conflicts with newspaper, and that's just how it
is, and there are all kinds of classes like that where the kids who take these similar
kinds of classes can't take that, because there aren't enough kids there...for that.
So, I don't know what will happen to those kinds of offerings. So, you know, it
just seems that...that there has been this campaign over the years that I've lived in
Iowa City to create an affluent west side and, uh, you know, some social project
on the east side. And, um, as somebody who has succeeded from that social
project, I think it's...it's, uh, it's not equitable. So, anyway, just uh, felt like I
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Page 14
needed to come and say that. Thank you for listening. Thank you for having the
meeting.
Hayek: Thank you.
Eisele: My name is Julie Eisele. I live at 5 Woodland Drive N.E. When redistricting
discussions began, certain people in our school district were opposed to attending
City High for various reasons. According to proclamations at public forums, it
was a `jock' school. It was unsafe. It was seen as weakening. This, despite ACT
scores that are consistently among the top in the state. We have a world class fine
arts program. Sorry, I'm nervous! And, sports programs that speak for
themselves. Not to mention standardized test scores that according to a recent
report in the Gazette, put our school at number three in eastern Iowa and they
were the top scores locally. Now some of these same people are saying that City
is a great school, but it's just too far or it's too dangerous to drive there. The
argument evolves, but my suspicion is that the cry for boundary changes and the
cry for a new school in an isolated part of our school district is partly motivated
by fear of diversity and overblown concerns about safety. There are safety
concerns at any high school that size, and I am confident that both of our high
schools have similar challenges. If this is enforced, and the call for a new high
school in an isolated part of our district, one that could potentially draw resources
from all of our existing schools, I think it's an issue that all taxpayers need to be
aware of, and I hope that the City Council will raise that awareness. Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you.
Richardson: Good evening. My name is Sarah Richardson. I live at 519 S. Summit Street.
I'm a 1980 graduate of West High School, daughter-in-law of the first West High
principal, Ed Barker, and a very happy City High parent, mother of a sophomore.
And I'm here to talk about how important it is to maintain two strong high
schools Iowa City. Iowa City can easily be called the premiere school district in
the state. And to maintain that title, we need to maintain two strong, balanced
high schools. I applaud the City Council for their efforts to...to, uh, revitalize
Towncrest and other parts of the east side, and to bring business and other entities
to Iowa City, in the same proactive way that other parts of our community have
brought business and, uh, organizations to revitalize their parts of the community
in Coralville and North Liberty. But the only way to invite new families to be
happy to live in Iowa City, and send their kids to school, as Dr. Buatti and Dr.
Berg said, is to make sure that we have vital, healthy schools in Iowa City, and in
particular on the east side. So I'm grateful for the City Council to take the time
this evening to listen to all we have to say, to recognize the importance of knitting
our city together to assure two strong, balanced high schools, with equal
opportunity for children at all ends of the spectrum, at City High and West.
Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you.
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Page 15
Lynch: Good evening, excuse me. My name's Chris Lynch. I live at 755 Forest Edge in
Coralville. I work in Iowa City. And I have, uh, two kids in the school, one at
Wickham, one at uh, North Central. Um, I've been talking on behalf of a number
of Wickham parents. Just want to convey, and I'll keep this relatively, you know,
relative to Iowa City in these comments. Um, want to talk about what we feel
strongly about (mumbled) first is we...we feel real strong about neighborhood
schools, those should be local, strong neighborhood schools with (mumbled)
assistance, and I think we heard that throughout tonight. We heard it throughout,
uh, the redistricting process. That was the input by parents, was one of the
priorities by the Board, was one of the `ah-ha' moments as the redistricting
committee reviewed their (mumbled) with the Board, that people love their
neighborhood schools. We need to maintain our neighborhood schools. That's
the first thing we feel strongly about. The second thing we feel strongly about,
we do feel strongly about safety. Um, we feel that this needs to be evaluated in
the final scenarios. I won't go on at depth here. We could all talk various stats,
but um, neighborhood schools meet our needs on safety. Minimize the instance,
minimize the traffic, keep the kids close to their school, it meets the needs on
safety. Now we are greatly concerned about putting our kids on (mumbled),
okay, we feel that's a higher risk due to the speed of the traffic, the semis, all the
exciting stuff like windmill veins coming down the road. You know, half houses
coming down the road, we just think it's a higher risk. That's all we're saying.
Now in evaluation of safety risk, you need to look at likelihood, and you also
need to look at the potential (coughing) and I think some of the traffic data shared
to date looks at likelihood and that's all good, but we need to look at severity, and
we think the risk is too high. I do think as an Iowa City Councilor you should
look at the traffic data because some of the scenarios, like 4.D., I think support
neighborhood schools, it minimizes traffic. I think some of the scenarios, like
4.F., maximize traffic. If you look at the urban traffic data, the more traffic the
more accidents, the more risk to pedestrians, bikers, cars on the road. And, as we
increase traffic, we increase risk to the people in Iowa City, and again, 4.F. for
taking basically Wickham and people north of 80, we're trying to get them to the
east side. So you know irregardless of your route, maybe you take 80, maybe you
take First Street, you know, maybe you take Dubuque. Traffic's going to increase
on all those, um, we do know the construction's coming, uh, the flood traffic was
certainly a challenge. With the construction going on that's going to be a
challenge. It's going to increase the traffic pinch points, uh, it's going to be
difficult to basically travel north to east. Now the next thing I haven't heard
anybody talk Twain tonight, but you know, I work in southeast Iowa City, and
I've had the opportunity to go to track meets at both West and City, um, which
has been great, by the way! Great job by both the schools. Um, it's...it's very
easy for me to get to City. I jump on First, two miles, south, or north sorry! I'm
at City very simple. Try cutting across Iowa City at about 3:45 from Twain to
West. I don't know, are you going to take 6? I think we saw the traffic data said
lots of accidents on 6, lots of lights. How long does it take...to get across 6, and
you can go across Benton, you know, there's lots of pinch points there. If you hit
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Page 16
the U traffic, forget it! Um, so you know, I'd just like to say, hey, on behalf of
Twain, I think it's going to be a challenge to get there. I have to do that drive
basically from where I work. So all we're asking is a common sense risk
assessment on safety. Now on the third high school I'm just going to read straight
from the redistricting committee's notes about the benefits of a third high school,
uh, least amount of busing; more what's currently considered neighborhood
school; feeder system is complete; addresses capacity in general; utilizes City
capacity; more opportunities for third high school...we'll have three bands, three
football teams, three of everything, more opportunity in the committee, or in the
community. Now there's been lots of talk tonight about enrollment...
Hayek: You're going to have to wrap up. You're already over.
Lynch: Yep. Lots of talk about enrollment, um, I do agree with trigger points. I think
that's the way to go. Um, but I would say when you're looking for the kids,
they're already in the elementary system. K to three today there's 3,900 kids in K
to three. Every four year block from kindergarten to grade 10 is basically over
3,400 kids, so the kids are in the system, and they're coming. Are we going to be
ready for `em? Now the good news, I think there's good news...
Hayek: You're really going to have (both talking) you're at five minutes at this point, sir.
Lynch: Okay, sorry. The good news here, I think every single scenario increased
enrollment at City. I think that's a good thing. We talked about programming.
4.D., E., and F. all increase enrollment at City. All three scenarios also improve
free and reduced lunch, and that, by saying improved, it reduces it. I think that's a
great thing. 4.D. reduces it by 5%. Um...last thing I'll just say, you know, I
think that's it. Thank you very much for your time.
Hayek: Thank you.
Dorman: (mumbled) Hello. I'm Jane Dorman and I live at 1403 Hollywood Boulevard
here in Iowa City, and thanks for this opportunity to speak to you. I was actually
on the redistricting committee, um, I work at the University, I'm the mother of
three children, one...actually two have now graduated from City High. One is at
Southeast. I see that there are really two big issues with the redistricting as we
looked at it. One was the disparity with the free and reduced lunch issue,
especially at the elementary school, and there is a range of 2.2% to 66%, and I
just think that's just wrong. Um, and it's a really a result of a...of a long-
standing, not-in-my-backyard mentality here, and I trust that the City Council can
help address that, and I think the School Board can help address that, but you
know, we have to be brave about that. And, you know mostly though I'm here to
talk about the high school issue. Um, you know, my concern with the School
Board, how it appears that they are leaning, is that it's such an incredible waste of
resources and valuable resources, you know, the human resources, the committee
members -each of us spent easily more than 50 hours volunteering on this
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City Council meeting of May 3, 2010.
Page 17
committee, um, the consultants, that $106,000, um, the time over six months, and
this whole process I feel has become very divisive to our community. The
perception appears to be that if you have really loud voices and you have a lot of
money in our community, then you can have whatever you want happen. Um,
and I just really worry that why does the School Board disregard the work that
was done by so many people in this amount of time that was spent. The
assumption also, um, the committee was asked are you in favor of two high
schools or three high schools, because we were asked to submit a third high
school scenario and we questioned did we really need to do that if we felt that
wasn't the right thing. Um, and so we took a little, like just like hand vote and 8
of the committee members were in favor of three high schools and all the rest
were not in favor of that. Um, we had 3 5 voting committee members. I don't
know that everyone was there that night, but still the majority of people said we
really think two high schools is the way to go. The assumption is that all
kindergartners in our district will eventually become 12`" graders in our district.
And I think that that might not be true, because we have a very transient district
here. More people, students, residents move in with young children and then they
move on and then are replaced by other students and residents with young
children, so I wonder if it really is an issue more with our elementary student
population. I think three high schools are not needed and I am going to bring up a
point that was brought up before, how long before people in North Liberty at that
third high school, you know, if it's a 600-person high school, are they really going
to be satisfied with not having the same resources with classes and with music
programs and with athletics, as the other two existing high schools. I wonder is
this something that could be put to a public vote. Um, that's all I have to say!
Thanks.
Hayek: Thank you. Is there anyone who wishes to speak?
Philpot: My name is Alyse Philpot. I live at 1111 Downy Drive in Iowa City and my
daughter is a sophomore at City High. She's my only child. Um, I am an
advocate for the 4.F. plan for various reasons. I think it's disingenuous to not do
this plan because of fears about transportation. There has been studies done that
show statistically that that concern really is...is not...is not on the table here.
Um, I do have strong concerns about the waste of resources, both those that have
been spent in the past on determining the best plan for the city, and those going
forward. Um, there...is wasted space right now in the high schools, but beyond
that, we're also squandering an opportunity...right now by just continuing to push
things into a segregated, socioeconomic situation north of the highway that's
wasting human resources, among children whose legacy means that they need to
be integrated with other children in this town and for people like me whose
daughter needs the opportunity to have integrated classrooms with children who
come from a different background than she's come from, and to start to realize
that overcoming some of the problems, the poverty, the challenges that other
children do is a strengthening thing and can be a shared strength among our
children, but to do this we've got to stop segregating our poor geographically.
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City Council meeting of May 3, 2010.
Page 18
Ya'll are not the School Board. I realize that you can't decide about something
like redistricting directly, but what I would like to ask you to do is to start looking
very, very closely at the housing developments that come before your board that
offer aloes-income option that starts at $225,000. That's ridiculous. That's not a
low-income option, not when families are trying to get by on $10 an hour. I've
had times in my life where I was trying to get by on $10 an hour, and $225,000
housing seemed like something a millionaire only could afford. So anyway, I
appreciate the chance to speak tonight. I really hadn't prepared a particular
statement, but these thoughts are in my mind all the time as a resident of Iowa
City, and I just appreciate the chance to speak with you. Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you.
(Dickens arrived at 8:10 P.M.)
Goodfellow: Hello, my name is Bob Goodfellow. I live at 2629 Princeton Road, and you know
we've heard some really compelling arguments tonight, for um, for the two strong
high schools, you know, and the one...thing that I think I would like to add to
this, um, discussion tonight as a member of the boundary committee I do want to
make a note of, um, of recognizing the incredibly difficult decision that our Board
has been asked to make. Having undergone this process for the last five months, I
don't envy them this decision. It was extremely difficult. We heard many, many
times no matter what we talked about doing, we found someone who wasn't
happy with it. So it's an incredibly difficult, uh, decision that they're trying to
make here and um, and I think that they need our encouragement to try to make
the right decision, and I...and I for one want to make it very clear to our Board
that, you know, that if I disagree with some of the... some of the decisions they're
making, I still want to work with them for it, but he point that I want to make to
the Council is that one of the things that I believe I learned in the five months that
we worked on this...relative to the free and reduced lunch issue or what has been,
uh, come to be known as the free and reduced lunch issue, and that is that we've
discovered a disparity in this community that wasn't created by the schools, and
yet we attempted to have the schools solve the problem, and that was a mistake, I
believe. So the one thing that I would like to ask the Council tonight that I think
that you can do is to try to take ownership of that issue. However you manage to
do it. Form committees, whatever you decide to do, but take that issue out of the
schools because it's...it didn't work when we attempted to try to solve that
disparity. So, it is definitely something that needs to be worked on. I hope that I
have an opportunity to continue to work on. I hope I have an opportunity to
continue to work with more members of this, uh, of this committee that I worked
on. One of the best groups that I've ever worked on, and I've worked on a lot of
different things in this community. I hope I have another opportunity to work
with our Board again. But I'm asking the Council to take ownership of this issue,
this free and reduced lunch issue, or whatever we want to call it, because I think
that you can...you can make a difference in this issue in ways that we were not
able to in the schools. And beyond that, I would really very much encourage you,
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Page 19
uh, I would reiterate some of the points that were made here this evening about
encouraging that development on the east side. That will make sure that it
remains vital and...and so that we don't have this perception that all the
development seems to be going west and north. Thank you.
Swisher: I'm not speaking for the Board, and I'm actually not even speaking about, um,
high school boundaries, but Mr. Goodfellow brought up a good point. My name's
Sarah Swisher. I serve on the School Board and I know that Connie Champion
and Susan Mims have worn these sandals before, so I appreciate the work that
you did before I got on, and how really tough it is. But, um, just briefly about the
elementary schools and the really enormous disparities we have in our elementary
programs. This is a place where we really are stymied. There are things we can
do with boundaries that mitigate, um, smaller, um, but very...but significant, um,
equity issues when it comes to poverty rates in our schools, but our ability to
intervene in the elementary schools where there are very high poverty rates, such
as Mark Twain, um, Grant Wood where we're up around 70% and where we have
what could be associated, uh, proficiency problems down into the teens even for
some of our grade school kids. These are things that need to be fixed in a hurry,
but what a great opportunity for the City and the School Board to work together
on this, because we are...we are stymied. We have this business, this No
Child Left Behind, and part of a being a school is that you can opt out of
the school. So boundaries are very fluid with these elementary schools, and if we
try to change `em and say, okay, we' 11 put some kids here, we' 11 put some kids
here, neighborhood schools aside, busing aside, what we know would happen then
is then people would move right on out of...of the buildings, um, and would
be protected by the law and we'd be providing transportation for them. So that's
our limitation, but it does seem to me as a community with...with, uh, with the
Council and the Board and all of our constituents working together we could find
a way to get over the top of that handicap that we have that really sort of
keeps us stuck where we are now. So, um, you know, I have been public in my
support, up to this point, of E, F and I want you to know that, um, but that's just
me. Obviously that's not the...the rest of the Board, um, and there's still another
forum, so I'm, you know, open to hearing what everybody in the community has
to say tomorrow night, but I wanted to plant that seed of creativity with you all,
especially a couple people who have vast experience working with the schools
about what we can do with, um, these really highly impoverished, uh, schools,
and thank you so much for hearing everybody tonight. I was very much against it
when, um, Coralville intervened and then there were some really good messages
coming out o£.of that forum, and I was really glad to hear when Iowa City
decided to set up and, um, step up and hear from your constituents as well, so
thank you so much.
Hayek: Thank you.
Channon: Hi, my name's Maura Channon and I'm a junior at City High, and I'm just
wanting to convey a message on behalf of the City High students who haven't
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said much yet in this whole ordeal, but um, what has been said about our school is
both like offensive and appalling, and it's just in a lot of ways very untrue and
that people are worried about sending their kids to school with a lot of, um, free
and reduced...a high free and reduced population, but um, I think it's very
benefitting to students to go to a different school, and I don't...I think it's kind of
not quite right that people want to let one school fall by keeping certain kids out
and certain kids in, and yeah, that's I've got to say. Thank you!
Hayek: Thank you.
Freerks: Hi, my name is Ann Freerks and I live on South Governor Street. And...I'm on
the Planning and Zoning Commission here for the City of Iowa City, and I wanted
to clear it with all of you that I'm not speaking for the Planning and Zoning
Commission in any way, but just um, my own opinions here. Um, I think...I say
that because I've learned a lot in the past few years, um, being part of that
committee, Planning and Zoning Commission, um, it's taken, uh, quite some time
for the development patterns to occur that have occurred and um, I think an
important point here is that we have a number of communities that are
responsible, uh, we have North Liberty, we have Coralville, we have Johnson
County, and we have the City of Iowa City. So, um, I don't think it's something
that you alone can work on, and I don't think it's something that the School
District alone can work on. I actually think that there needs to be more
conversation among all of the groups, um, that, uh, make choices. I know that if
there are different codes and um, for all of the communities, and I know that that
complicates things sometimes, so um, I do have to say in the past few years I've
been a little disappointed with the lack of communication that, uh, the
commission has been able to have sometimes with, uh, the School Board, um,
when it comes to developments, and I know that we've kind of been told, or it's
understood, that it's not really, um, something that we should be concerned about,
I think, and I do feel that over time it is something that we should be concerned
about, and I just wanted to make that clear. I...I personally am in favor of two
strong schools. I think that, um, when it comes to elementary schools, it's a little
more difficult because you have a...many smaller areas. You have neighborhood
schools being one of the first of the four criteria that were considered, but when it
comes to high schools, you have two buildings right now. Um, I just think this
should be totally achievable to make two very strong balanced high schools, and
um, I think that we need to take a close look at that. I don't expect you to make,
um, very technical tweaks and to submit that to the School Board. I think that
would be inappropriate, but I do think that there needs to be more conversation.
We can all have...take a deep breath here and say that maybe we need to take
another look at what the, um, redistricting committee has, um, taken a lot of time
to put together. I know there was a lot of work on their part that went into that,
so...that's all I have to say. Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you. Would anyone else like to address the Council? (mumbled) hesitate
at this point because somebody always pops up and (laughter) but maybe not!
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Going once! Going twice! Yes! (person away from mic) That's fine! Yeah,
bring it to the Clerk, please.
Karr: Could I have a motion to accept all correspondence if you'd like at this time?
Champion: Move to accept all correspondence.
Bailey: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Champion, seconded by Bailey. Discussion? All those in favor say
aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries. Okay. As I'm not hearing, uh, or seeing
anyone, I'm going to, uh, end the public portion of this discussion and uh, at this
time we can turn to the City Council for discussion.
Mims: Well, I'll start. Um, some of last comments that were made, uh, were made
regarding housing, and just to...to let you know, I don't have all my dates, but a
couple meetings ago at one of our work sessions we were talking about whether
or not to start looking at inclusionary zoning, with this whole issue of having a lot
oflow-income housing in, congregated in certain areas and talking about the
impact that that has on the schools, and I can personally say, I mean, I was on the
School Board from 96 to 99, and I remember as a School Board member being
unhappy with the City Council (laughter) for the fact that we were getting, uh, a
lot of housing concentrated in certain areas way back then, and so as was said,
this is something that has gone on, uh, for a long time. Also as was mentioned it's
not just Iowa City, and so at our meeting one of the things that we, uh, basically
directed staff was to take this to JCCOG, which is the Johnson County Council of
Governments for discussion with Coralville, North Liberty, University Heights,
and unincorporated Johnson County to see if there was any way of coming to any
kind of, um, agreement because the concern being that we have developers that
work all around Johnson County and trying to come up with some kind of a
consistent plan, if at all possible, that might affect how they do development and
the requirements in terms of including affordable housing and how that might be
done. So that process has been started, uh, I can't tell you anything other than
that, that it has been started. Um, in terms of the rest of our discussion, um, you
know, having been on the School Board, let me, uh, reiterate what some of you
have said tonight, and I think what all of us have said as we discussed this last
week, uh, this is unquestionably a decision for the School Board, okay? In no
way by holding this meeting, uh, is it our intent to try and, uh, undermine or
pressure, whatever, the School Board. It is the School Board's decision and...and
we had a discussion early on of whether we, you know, should do something like
this when Coralville first did theirs and we thought, you know, we didn't really
want to do it, but as things kept going and we started hearing from a lot of our
own constituents, we felt we had a responsibility to respond to those people who
were asking for us to basically look at this and hold a public forum and hear from
people in our community, and so that was our decision to do that. My personal
concerns, um... are a couple in particular, um, the fiscal situation, the financial
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situation, we as a City Council, um, are facing a lot of financial issues in trying to
balance our budget as we look at this...that this fall and this early spring, and I
certainly know that that is a concern for the School Board, um, and certainly the
School Board has a whole different set of constraints and if you've never looked
at School Board finance that's a real long exercise in complexity, based on state
regulations. Um, but that's...that's abig concern, and that's where one of my
concerns comes in, going to a third high school too soon. Um, I think...I hope
everybody would realize at some point we are going to need a third high school. I
cannot imagine that this district is not going to continue to grow enough to the
point that we will have to have a third high school, at some point. My concern,
my hope would be that we don't go to it so soon that we tear apart our two good
high schools, and excellent alternative high school, uh, that we already have in the
district. Is there any perfect time to do it? No there's not, because either you
have temporary buildings for a number of years because you're already over
capacity at City and West before you open that new school, or you build extra
capacity and then you empty it out. So it's going to be a challenge. I just hope
that we don't rush into it, um, particularly as we're looking at a million to $1.7
million in additional operating costs for a new high school, um, that money has to
come from somewhere. It's going to impact the programming...Ityould have to
believe at all levels of our district. As the School Board looks at this, I...I would
hope that they would do everything that they can to stick with the criteria that
they gave to the committee to begin with, and I hope that the free and reduced
lunch balancing to whatever extent they can do that still looking at fiscal
constraints, busing, neighborhood schools...I realize you have conflicting things
that you're trying to put together, but I think that free and reduced lunch, um, is a
big issue and maybe...maybe more at the elementary level than the high school.
But, I...I hope that that will certainly be at the forefront from...as you look at
those. Um, from there I' 11 quit and let somebody else.
Champion: Um, I guess I could go next. Um, I know I can't make the decision for the School
Board, but this is a very important decision for me. Um, I think the City Council
has every right to ask you to listen to us. This is a matter of neighborhood
preservation in Iowa City. You've already closed one grade school, Roosevelt,
which I know...I'm not faulting you for that, but when we pass the sales tax it
was to rejuvenate some of these old schools, I'm not sure when the last time a
new school was built on the east side, and we have overcrowding here too. Now
you're talking about building a high school before you have the kids to fill it. I've
never heard of building a school till you had kids to fill it. I wish when I was on
the School Board that we could build a school wherever we wanted to. We added
on to every school; many, many temporaries before we ever got a grade school
built. At West High was at one time small...how many years was it before West
High got an auditorium and a football field? It doesn't happen overnight, and that
school was built when there were kids to put in there. So I'm very much against
the political pressures you're getting for a third high school at this point. I'm not
saying we're never going to need it. But how do you know, I mean, projections
are not always right, but this is...this is an important decision that you're going to
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make that's going to affect this community a lot. And it's important to me that
you consider that. You're not just an isolated governmental body. You're very
much a part of what Iowa City is...is about. And so I just wanted you to consider
those things. I for one have voiced support for no more low-income housing on
the east side of town, period! Uh, the east side of town has several schools in
trouble, uh, Mark Twain, Grant Wood, Lucas...is it Lucas? Uh, City High's got
some problems, and every low-income house that's built in Iowa City will
eventually go to those east side schools. So this is the problem that the City
Council does have to deal with, and we'll need community support to deal with it,
but I'm asking the School Board tonight, I think I voted for almost all of you
(laughter) to consider what your decision is going to do to Iowa City, and...and
thank you very much for coming tonight and thank all of you for coming. It's
good to hear from the public.
Hayek: (laughter and talking) We can skip over you!
Wright: That's okay, I can talk now. I've got some voice left. Uh, first of all I do want to
express thanks to everybody that came out tonight. It's been quite a while since
we've seen the place packed, uh, quite this much.
Champion: How bout the 21 issue?
Wright: I don't think it was (laughter) it wasn't this full for the 21 issue, I mean, schools
are more important than drinking. That's a good thing! (laughter) Uh, and you
know, I mean, I can only agree with both Connie and Susan. This is a
tremendously complicated issue, uh, and uh, the School Board...thanks to the
School Board...that any time people ask me if City Council is tough, I always say
it's not as tough as being on the School Board. It's a very, very difficult position
to be in, but there's an awful lot of, uh, pressure on all sides I'm sure. At the
same time, what we've heard tonight is a tremendous amount of support for two
strong high schools in Iowa City. We have two strong high schools right now.
I'm concerned if we do have a third high school built in the very near future,
we're going to have some real serious equity problems. Equity both in terms of
education, both...equity in terms of...of who gets to attend the new high school,
um, I would much rather see us put the scarce resources into building up the
two...the two fine institutions that we have, and I speak as somebody who lives
just on the east side of town, just a few blocks from City Hall. Um...the, the
other issues when we start getting into the free and reduced lunches with the grade
school do get much more complicated. It does get into, uh, policies that the City
has had, both written and unwritten over the years in terms of our zoning and in
terms of just practice, but uh, and...and at this point in time I'm not prepared to
address those issues. That's extremely complicated. But looking at the high
schools, I...I certainly would like to encourage the Board to consider the, uh, the
two strong schools, going forward, um... and. as Connie very aptly pointed out, it
doesn't make a lot of sense to start building for a school when you don't quite
have the enrollment to fill it. So let's...I'd really like to see us keep our resources
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in the two, uh, existing buildings and if I'm babbling a little bit, I'm just flying
real high on antihistamines tonight (laughter). Thank you.
Hayek: We'll keep the order here. Um, the City's responsibility is to promote the welfare
of the entire community, and the actions that the City of Iowa City takes, uh,
whether it's programming or... or infrastructure, uh, or funding, uh, should be
taken with that goal in mind. Um, and that's one reason I'm pleased, this has
been mentioned before, uh, that we are going to be taking a closer look at some
very difficult issues regarding housing and poverty this year yet. That has been a
very tough set of issues to tackle for the City. Uh, the School District faces those
issues as well, um, but the City is, uh, looking at those issues. There are no
easy...no easy answers, but...but that is happening, and by the way, um, the
housing issues as they relate to the City, um, are something that the City has
discussed for some period of time, in fact before I became a Member of the City
Council I served on a task force, uh, to, uh, look at housing issues as they relate
to, uh, school populations. Um, now that was, uh, a situation in which the School
District, in approximately 2004, asked the City to look at some of those issues
because of the impacts perceived and actual on the School District, and...and the
City, uh, formed a committee. I was asked to be a part of it, uh, we did a lot of
work. We reported findings back to the City, um, and...and that sort of thing, and
I think it was a good example of...of one elected body being responsive to
another's request for...for assistance on an issue, and that's I think the only way
that we as an entire community are going to solve the...some of the challenges
that...that face us, despite living in a wonderful place that by all measures, uh, is
the envy of the Midwest, and indeed the nation, we do have issues, and this
opportunity for collaboration between local elected bodies and their staffs is...is
critical, uh, for these issues. Um, I also respect the difficulty the School Board's,
uh, set of decisions on these redistricting issues. Uh, I can't imagine the political
pressure you find yourselves under. We face some pretty heavy duty things up
here, uh, at the City Council, but they are varied, they change and the constituents
change and the issues change and uh, we get a steady barrage, but...but I don't
know that it's necessarily takes on the intensity and focus that School District
issues do because they're in a lot of ways a narrower set of issues than the City
has to deal with. So my hats off to you for...for the work you've done, uh, thus
far. Having said that, uh, I am convinced as an individual that the apparent
direction that the District's taking on these redistricting issues is not in the entire
community's interests. Um, and primarily that is because I do not believe that
this direction maintains, uh, equal high schools. Um, you can ask the question,
why should the City care? And here's my answer to that. When a new business
or a new family comes into the community, in my opinion there should be no
hesitation whatsoever that the high schools on either side of town offer equal
opportunities and equal quality. Um, I think that we will have a situation if we
pursue the apparent direction, um, where the opportunities and the quality will not
be equal between the high schools. Um, I think this will be...the case in both
actual terms and I think it will worsen the existing and pernicious perception that
it is not the case. Um, this is dangerous for the entire community, um, I also think
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it's avoidable. And, uh, that's...and my job is to worry about the entire
community, um, that's why I take an interest in this, um, and...and I...I...well,
I'll stop talking at this point, but...but uh, I feel very strongly about this and uh,
and hope my colleagues up here do too.
Bailey: Um, I once again want to express my appreciation for the work that the School
Board has in front of it. It is very, very difficult as we have all said, um, but I
want to note that our entities have complimentary tasks in front of them, and as
the Mayor said, when a business comes to town, I would say among the first
things they look at is the school district, and I can assure you when a business
comes to town, one of the things that they want to do is cross a town off their list
because they have so many options, and any kind of inequity throughout a
community insofar as their schools would cross us off a list. I know this for a
fact, because if there...if their workers, if their staff cannot locate anywhere in
this community that they chose...where they find a residence that appeals to
them, that it's not going to be an appealing place for them to locate, and in the
long run, this will impact the School District, this will impact the City, this will
impact the County, this will impact the other municipalities in the County, so this
is something that we have to be concerned about, um, altogether. I mean,
obviously it's not just about economic development, but that's a lense, um, by,
through which I look at things quite frequently, and that concerns me greatly, um,
I'm a proud graduate of West High School, when we didn't have a theater and we
didn't have a football field, well, we didn't really have a football team when I
graduated (laughter) um, but I grew up on the east side and this talk of feeder
schools is...is interesting to me because I was delighted to be a sixth grader at
Grant Wood, go to Southeast Junior High, and scramble over to the west side to
make a new life for myself as a high schooler at West High with people I didn't
know, and I think it's, um, I don't think we should shy away from that. I think...I
taught in rural Iowa where kids are saying, oh my gosh! I've gone to school with
these kids forever. There's nobody to take to prom because we were in
kindergarten together and I knew she ate paste so why would I want to date her
and take her to prom or something like that so I think the opportunity in our
district to...to go with, um, some creative solutions to address and make sure that
we have two strong high schools. We have a lot of opportunity in front of us, and
there are two ways to address issues. We can try to shore up the gaps and the
weaknesses that we have, or we can address and strengthen our assets, and in
difficult economic times the smartest thing to do is to pour your energy into the
strengths that you have, and what we have here are two strong high schools. And
I would hope, and I would hope that the Council, um, would communicate this
formally in a letter to the District that we support, um, strengthening the assets
that we have at our two strong high schools, and looking at a scenario that, um,
can continue to have this community be this magnet for the rest of the state, where
people really want to live, they have no hesitation of living anywhere in the
district, and they want to work, live, play, raise a family here, and it's something
that, you know, graduates of this district, we can be really proud, I mean, no
matter what high school we went to.
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Dickens: First I'd like to apologize for being late. I was out of town and then had to close
up our store tonight, but uh, I'm...in favor, like Regenia said, that two schools,
making those both very strong is very important. I went to Mark Twain,
Southeast before I went to Regenia and...where I, after I graduated I did serve on
their school board there, but different issues. Um, like Susan also said, the
housing, uh, I've talked to the Homebuilders, I know they've got some
information that they're passing along because they're the people that are going to
be building these new neighborhoods, so we have to work with them as well as
the Planning and Zoning. And, uh, I do have a daughter that teaches out at
Kirkwood Elementary. She's a fourth grade teacher. I hear some wonderful
stories, and I hear some horror stories, but uh, overall the kids are great, and if
anybody wants to come see my rock talk, I give a jewelry talk, it'll be next Friday
at 12:00 (laughter) out at Kirkwood Elementary.
Hayek: Okay, well, we've all expressed our individual feelings, uh, what direction do we
want to take, if any, uh, as a... as an elected body?
Wright: I'd like to see us make a formal (mumbed) I'd like to see us make a formal
communication to the School Board.
Bailey: I agree.
Champion: I would too.
Mims: I would just say, you know, as we've kind of talked down the line here and people
have talked about, you know, really focusing on the two school, two high schools,
from that perspective, um, in any official communication that we do send, I would
like us to certainly acknowledge the fact that we realize some day, you know, we
will need a third high school. We're not...I would hope as an elected body, we're
not saying that we don't think we'll ever need a third high school. I guess my
position, as stated earlier, is that acknowledging that we'll need one, but let's
move slowly and judicially on that, to make sure that, um, we can do it in the
manner, or the District can do it in a manner that is, um, has the least amount of
detrimental effect to our existing, uh, two comprehensive high schools and our
alternative high school, uh, again, as people have said, the...there's projections
out there, but you never know what's really going to happen, and um, not wanting
to rush into a commitment, um, I... if I were on the School Board, and I've been
there, I would rather be a year or two too late with a high school and be busting at
the seams, rather than three or four years too early and taking all those resources
away from all the other kids in the district. So I would not want any official
communication that we send to make it seem like we're just saying, oh, two high
schools forever. I would also like to encourage them to, um, look really strongly
at their own criteria, which included a free and reduced lunch.
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Wright: Yeah, I don't think any of us...think that a new high school won't be needed
some day.
Champion: (mumbled) (laughter)
Wright: But you always try to be crankier! (laughter) Um, sooner later we want the
district to continue to grow, and to continue to prosper to the point that we do, that
we will need a new high school one of these days. But...you know, it's, you can
apply the same criteria to a car. I'm going to need a new car one of these days,
but I hope it's not now. We'll save and we'll...uh, know that the day's going to
come, and when it comes we'll recognize and be ready for it.
Bailey: I would also note that what we do now affects...if we will need a third high
school because the district has to remain strong to remain an attractor, and if it
doesn't do that, um, that third high school, its distance moves, away from us.
Mims: I don't know if this letter is the...the appropriate time or place to do this, but
comments have been made both up here tonight and by the audience that while we
may not want to acknowledge it, um, unfortunately there is by some people in this
community the perception that City High is a second-class school. Okay? Um, I
have had a number of realtors tell me that by the time they even get to talk to a
new professional who's coming into town, be it a doctor at the Hospital, a new
coach at the University, whatever it might be, by the time they even get to talk to
them they have already been convinced make sure you live so you go to west side
schools. You know, they don't even want to look at housing on the east side. So
whether we want to acknowledge it or not, that perception does exist in this
community, and whether you agree or...on this or not, let me know, but I guess I
would like to encourage the School District and the School Board to do what they
can in, you know, public communications, whatever, to help, um, dispel that
incorrect perception, uh, in this community so as new people come they don't
automatically get slated to one side of town. I think you said, Matt, you know,
just...I know when we built our house 27 years ago, I never even thought about
what schools my kids would be going to, cause I wasn't worried about it! Never
even thought about it. Cause .every elementary school in this town was good.
Every junior high, every high school, I didn't...I was so confident in this
district...that Idid not even look at the schools. That had nothing to do with our
decision as to where we moved, and I would like that to be the case again in this
community.
Champion: That's a really good point, Susan. That's absolutely true. We moved a lot cause
our family kept growing, the house kept getting smaller, but...I never, my criteria
wasn't the school. It was can my kids walk to...walk to the school, walk to the
junior high and walk to the high school. So, that would determine where I lived,
but that's a really good point, cause that's not true right now.
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Hayek: I...I agree. I'm...in full disclosure I'm a City High School graduate. My
grandfather was a 19...I don't know what, uh, graduate of City High when it was
in a different building, um, and I would...I see my old football coach over there.
I was one of his more mediocre players, uh, in..in the 80s. Um, but...but that is
something that is absolutely ridiculous. The notion that City High is somehow a
second class school. It is not the case objectively, uh, and...and it shouldn't be
the case on any other level, and I want to applaud while I have the opportunity the
School Board's hiring of John Bacon. I see him in the crowd (applause) and I
think it was a wonderful selection, and uh, and I'm excited for Mr. Bacon's tenure
at City High. I would add, uh, Susan to your comments, and for the Council's
consideration, that...that whatever communication, and let's say it's a letter, um,
reference some of the issues on which the District and City have collaborated,
could collaborate. We've talked...as we talk about these housing and other
issues, we...interspersed in our conversation has been this, you know, repeated
suggestion that we, uh, use this as an opportunity to work with the School District
in terms of future planning, whether it's zoning, uh, development issues, you
name it, um, and...and I think that would be an appropriate part of a message.
Mims: I would agree. When I met with Steve Rackis from the City Housing Department,
Housing Authority a week or so ago, the City has put together a new map that
shows a lot of the low income housing where Section 8 vouchers are, etc., etc.,
and I was talking to him about the fact of being able to include from the District's
database, uh, locations of free and reduced lunch students, and he said I think they
already have that, and have already overlaid it on that map, and he didn't have it
in the office that day, but I think when we get to that point to, you know, try and
schedule, you know, maybe a joint meeting or subcommittee of the Council and
the School Board to kind of look at that together and look at what we could do
from a zoning perspective and how that would impact their boundaries so that
hopefully that they can get some boundaries...not that this will...not that we'll get
to that point before they do redistricting. I don't mean that, but that we can look
at things then from a longer term perspective that hopefully will help them in the
longer term in terms of those boundaries.
Bailey: I would hope however that the letter really focuses on the decision at hand,
expressing our interest in collaboration and... and noting the, uh, collaborations
that we've had in the past, it is a really focused letter, and I would also suggest
sending that letter to the Iowa City Press-Citizen for those, for the benefit of
those who were not able to attend, or don't access the Council packets or direct
correspondence, so they can understand, um, exactly why the Council met
tonight, um, what the discussion was, the participation and um, that we do not
believe that this is our decision, but um, we are supportive and naturally our work,
um, intersects with the work of the School District.
Hayek: Unless there are other specific, uh, recommendations for this letter, what I would
suggest is that, uh, I work with staff to come up with,uh, at least a draft and um, I
suppose Eleanor, can I...run that by individuals?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the special formal Iowa City
City Council meeting of May 3, 2010.
Page 29
Dilkes: You can have individuals look at it.
Hayek: Yeah, maybe...in lieu of bringing us all back and trying to schedule (several
talking) I' 11 do my best... best at taking a first stab at a letter, and then uh, run it by
you individually for... for edits and approval.
Champion: And, um, I would...well, might be a good idea (mumbled) Regenia could write it
or you and somebody else or...
Hayek: Yeah, I'd be happy, I have no pride of authorship (several talking) yeah.
Dilkes: Why don't we do a motion?
Bailey: I would make that motion that we, uh, send a letter and also make it available to
the newspaper.
Mims: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Bailey, seconded by Mims. Discussion? All those in favor say aye.
Opposed say nay. Motion carries unanimously.
Dilkes: And the understanding is that it'll be under the Mayor's signature, without a
subsequent Council meeting (several responding)
Hayek: Okay. Okay, anything else within the Council on this issue? If not we need a
motion to adjourn.
Bailey: So moved.
Dickens: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Bailey, seconded by Dickens. Discussion? All those in favor say aye.
Opposed say nay. We are adjourned.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the special formal Iowa City
City Council meeting of May 3, 2010.