Iowa City Community School District work session, Sep 24, 2026
2 h 13 min · 0 public speakers
This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 2 h 13 min.
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What happened
What happened at this meeting
Iowa City board reviews facility planning process targeting $13.8 million in savings 15:51
- The Iowa City Community School District board held a work session in which the CEO of RSP, a firm hired for enrollment analysis and boundary committee work, outlined the planning process. 0:10
- Board members discussed which budget strategies, covering facilities, programs and staffing, a boundary committee may consider to reach a savings target that a guiding principle put at $13.8 million. 24:49
- The consultant revised the scope principle so the process may look at elementary, middle and high school and non-student-serving buildings, with a focus on elementary and non-student-serving buildings, and then reported a 6-0 result on approving the guiding principles. 1:47:10
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Item by item (8)
- Call to order and introduction 0:10
- Consultant overview and enrollment data 3:45
- The RSP CEO said the presentation would cover data, guideposts, boundary criteria and next steps, and described using county, city, census and state datasets to forecast enrollment. 3:45
- Charlie Eastham asked whether $8 million was the budget goal, and a speaker said 13.8 was what the board discussed on the 15th of September. 12:37
- Charlie Eastham asked whether the models account for rising Black and brown student enrollment, and the consultant said projections would not be broken out by subgroup but the trends are factored into the analysis. 13:06
- Process timeline and consensus 15:51
- The consultant said the boundary committee would meet 3 times before 3 public input sessions scheduled on the 19th, the 20th and the 21st, with a recommendation coming to the board on February 23rd. 18:18
- The consultant said consensus to move forward would require at least 4 of 7 board members, and Molly Abraham said 2 board members were participating by phone. 20:09
- Budget strategy buckets and scope 24:49
- One board member said the purpose was to find cost reductions within elementary schools, and another board member said the board should consider a broader scope, including whether to sell the CFI and whether the district is a 3-high-school town. 30:02
- One board member said the $13.8 million number was non-negotiable and noted Waukee has 11 elementary schools compared with 20 in the district. 36:49
- Mitch Lingo asked for further board discussion of a bigger upfront cut, and a staff member said a 1% SSA assumption is conservative and 2% or more would improve FY28 and FY29. 39:34
- Items for committee consideration 45:59
- One board member said they were open to selling the CFI only if it saves the district money. 52:19
- A staff member said athletics and activities cost $3.6 million last year and changes there were probably not likely to be significant toward the overall goal. 1:02:49
- One board member said staffing reductions should start with positions furthest from a child's daily instruction. 1:10:20
- Guiding principles 1:16:16
- One board member said they were not comfortable with considering middle or high schools, while another board member said the board has to consider high schools and middle schools. 1:26:40
- One board member said community input meetings often lack Black and brown parent participation and that the district must work deliberately to obtain it. 1:39:32
- The consultant said the scope would allow review of elementary, middle and high school and non-student-serving buildings, with the focus on non-student-serving buildings and elementary. 1:46:15
- The consultant reported a 6-0 result on approving the guiding principles as presented. 1:47:10
- Boundary criteria 1:50:09
- The consultant presented 10 boundary criteria, including feeder system, neighborhoods intact, projected enrollment and transportation. 1:50:09
- Mitch Lingo listed operational costs, projected enrollment and feeder patterns as top criteria, and Lisa Williams listed the same 3. 1:58:34
- One board member asked about the importance of the feeder system, and another board member described it as building a sense of community from kindergarten through 12th grade. 2:04:17
- Next steps and adjournment 2:11:23
Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.
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Video: posted by the district as “Board Work Session - 9/24/2026”