IC bond issue supports students and teachers

By Brian Kirschling / Guest Editorial

The opening of Liberty High on Aug. 12 is an exciting time for our community.  The 10-year Facility Master Plan has started transforming our schools into healthy, equitable learning spaces that we can be proud to send all of our children to.

The plan’s commitment to our historic older schools and neighborhoods while addressing explosive, historic growth is a carefully balanced ballet of pressing needs, project management, and funding. We have committed to art and music while adding air conditioning and ADA accessibility. We have added classrooms, while increasing energy efficiency and decreasing our carbon footprint. All projects have been completed on time and under budget, but there is still much to do.

Looking back over the past four years, there has also been a transformation occurring inside the classroom.  The achievement gap affecting our most vulnerable students has existed for far too long in our schools.

We, as a community, can not afford to give up on any student and should remain focused on helping every one of them achieve their greatest potential.  Here’s how we’ve begun chipping away at that gap:

  • The Strategic Plan targets raising reading and math scores while specifically decreasing the achievement gap and improving culture and climate for all students. This is now the compass for all district initiatives and professional development for our teachers.
  • Creating a comprehensive District Equity Plan.
  • Disaggregating student data in order to truly understand where to focus additional resources and programs to improve student achievement.
  • Implementing Weighted Resource Allocation to provide smaller class sizes and more supports in our schools with the largest opportunity gaps. This program is working so well that additional classroom space is now needed at some of our schools in order to keep each individual class size smaller.
  • Our commitment to our Healthy Kids School Based Health and Wellness Clinics provides free medical care to the children of Johnson County.
  • Solving transportation issues for neighborhoods and families lacking the means to get to school. Kids who aren’t in school aren’t learning.
  • Preschool program expansion because kids never get a second chance at a good start.
  • Support for English Language Learners. Our non-English speaking population has increased 400 percent over the past four years.
  • More instructional time per day in our elementary schools in order to increase proficiency in reading and math.
  • 1:1 computer to student ratio at the high school level to help all students become technology and computer proficient.
  • Little Hawk and Trojan Time at City and West provide additional instructional time during the day for students needing additional help.
  • Advocating for affordable housing and responsible growth across our multiple municipal partners.
  • Implicit bias training for staff as requested by our own incredible student population so that they can feel safe and supported at school.
  • Programs like iJag and AVID have been extremely successful at providing support for at-risk students in our secondary and elementary schools respectively.
  • Codifying in Board Policy our commitment to all students with the Board Equity Statement and a careful review of all district policies to ensure alignment.

In 2013, I proposed that our schools were a barometer for the health of our community and that we were at a critical crossroads. By supporting the bond this September, we can take that final step toward a healthier future together as one community that supports public education in a time when there is vast uncertainty in our state and nation.  We can do this and we owe it to our students to double down on their future.

I may be ending my term on the board, but I’m still fired up about our commitment to education. Let’s get to work, folks. It starts with your vote.

Brian Kirschling is a member of the Iowa City Community School Board.  This column represents his personal opinion and not necessarily that of the Board.