Wife and I (she's in the profile pic), are looking to move to the CR area by spring of 2025. We are curious to know how the open enrollment for school works. Do we need a specific reason to request it, or can we simply put in our request?
Cedar Rapdis school open enrollment question
- Thread starter andrewrayhons
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You need a specific reason for some schools, depending on which school you’re moving from and into. We permit in from just outside the district, so we basically get our pick.
Also, with my job and job history, I know most of the schools and the strengths and weaknesses, if you want to ask about certain schools. There’s a lot of BS information about “good” and “bad” schools online.
Also, with my job and job history, I know most of the schools and the strengths and weaknesses, if you want to ask about certain schools. There’s a lot of BS information about “good” and “bad” schools online.
Prairie or Kennedy district is where you want to look for a house. Washington is OK, I'd skip Jefferson (OK HS, not great schools getting to that point). Xavier is private, so live anywhere.
I'd pick Prairie but I'm biased
Kennedy, yes. Prairie, no. For many reasons. You are right about Wash and Jeff being both decent, and yes that each have some rough feeder schools, but it’s false that there aren’t great feeder schools for both.
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Skip that and go to North Liberty. Brand new schools. Same athletic conference. Really young town that has shot up.
If you love cookie cutter houses, cookie cutter people, no diversity, and mediocre academics, then this. 😉
I feel like the QC version of this thread would be edgier and it would have pics.
Your family isn’t helping you.
Kennedy, Washington, Jefferson, Prairie, Linn Mar, Xavier in that order. When I worked at a college, it was obvious grade inflation was an issue at Xavier and many did not transition well to college life. They also have a massive bullying issue, as does Linn Mar. If your kid has an IEP go to Prairie or Linn Mar. If they are high achieving, the three CR schools (Kennedy, Jefferson, or Washington) are great. I’d be fine with any one of them, just selective at the elementary and middle school level.
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You're clearly biased.
Grade inflation is not a thing at Linn Mar or Xavier. Their students have a very high success rate in college contrary to what you've been told.
Any proof of this statement?
You ever been in Jefferson? Bullying may be a thing at some schools. Fighting and violence are real at Jefferson.
You have zero idea what you are talking about. Exactly the type of secondhand misinformation I warned the OP about. I’ve been in all the schools. I am regularly at all the area high schools for my job. Jefferson is exactly the same level of fighting as the other high schools. I have family all go through Wash, Linn Mar, Kennedy, and Prairie in the last decade. I’ve had my own kids go through both Jeff and Kennedy. Very, very similar experiences. They’re all doing well in different ways, but the one who is excelling the most at college went to Jefferson.
And grade inflation and lack of prep is absolutely a thing at Xavier. I’ve seen it with their students that came to college. Ask yourself this: If your rankings were so brilliant, why does the Dean of Admissions at Mount Mercy send their kids to Jefferson and not Xavier? Pretty interesting for a Catholic university, eh? Like I said, this is one area you might call me an expert in.
I'd agree with this in general...Wash and Kennedy are the two districts I'd look into, Wash has fallen a bit, but still has an awesome AP program. Feeder schools are a crap shoot at any of them, my daughter recently went through McKinnley and she thrived, because she is a good kid and has a good friend group. If you kids are new get them involved in sports or the arts, that is where you will find the kids with the most involved parents.
Having said all of that, if we had a clean slate with no strings to friends etc. and were looking to move, I would look into somthing not in the metro area if it makes sense commute wise etc., the CRCSD isn't what it used to be academically, Linn-Mar and Prairie have their own issues...I'd look into some of the 2-3A schools close by. But that is my take.
Fighting, bullying and violence is a real thing at all of them.
Holy shit, this is so spot on. I went to Regis High, then transferred my junior to Washington. Best decision I ever made. My Wash classmates are way more successful than my Regis classmates by a wide margin.
Most of what you say is spot on (though it is “McKinley”). I wouldn’t go to a smaller area school for academics. The best are still found at CR schools or Linn Mar, but I know that schools like CPU and Central City have a great community atmosphere.
Thank you for verifying! My oldest sister went through Regis and my parents (both highly educated professionals) quickly realized what a rip off it was. My sister that went through the Catholic system had to go on academic probation at Iowa. She bounced back well to finish high in her class at law school, but HS didn’t prepare her. Those of us that went to McKinley and Washington qualified for honors at Iowa straight away. We all finished on the Dean’s List, and my sister that went to Washington is filthy rich doing web programming out west.
F’king facts. Washington was way more academically rigorous than Regis.
I know you're messing with me but we have the #5 high school in the state and you forgot no crime.
Cookie cutter stuff is true because everything is built at the same time to keep up with demand.
Well they have to keep people paying to go there. It is a business after all!
In all reality, not many school scratch the surface of rigor that we all had anymore.
I am messing with you a bit. But Liberty isn’t the best HS for academics in their own district. That would be IC West.
Moving to Cedar Rapids would be a mistake, when you’re that close to Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, Solon, and Tiffin.
OP, you will notice @Pinehawk does the laughing emojis because he’s deep in the Catholic cult. Sent his to IC Regina, I believe. What he means is that at 80 percent Caucasian, Cedar Rapids just isn’t white and elitist enough for him. 😉
Also, just came out this weekend…
www.kcrg.com
Also, just came out this weekend…
Cedar Rapids, Iowa City named among best places to live in Midwest
Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are among the Top 25 Best Places to Live in the Midwest for 2024, according to Livability.com.
Well, yeah! That's where all the doctors, professors and lawyers kids go! They are ranked #1.
West is 1
We are 5
City is 10
Our whole district is pretty strong on academics.
There’s some truth to that, but based on their demographics, Liberty should be higher than they are. And their Iowa School Performance Profile doesn’t put Liberty at #5.
I’m not all that catholic. I just appreciate quality schooling and high standards and expectations.OP, you will notice @Pinehawk does the laughing emojis because he’s deep in the Catholic cult. Sent his to IC Regina, I believe. What he means is that at 80 percent Caucasian, Cedar Rapids just isn’t white and elitist enough for him. 😉
Also, just came out this weekend…
Cedar Rapids, Iowa City named among best places to live in Midwest
Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are among the Top 25 Best Places to Live in the Midwest for 2024, according to Livability.com.
It consistently graduates kids that go on to be extremely successful. Not just some of them, almost all of them. I’ve seen it over and over.
But, let’s not derail this thread with that topic. Back to which CR school is the best to choose, if that’s where OP wants to live.
I struggle to understand why you continue to bring up Regis...it's been a middle school for over twenty years.
My wife is an educator at Linn Mar, and while grade inflation may be a thing, over eighty-percent of AP tests passed in '24. It's not nearly as white as you continually rail on, either.
Wife attended Kennedy and was happy with her experience. Jefferson, not so much. Her family currently lives on the west side of town, so we have been looking in that area, but prefer not to attend the Jefferson school.
We had heard good things about Prairie, and North Liberty would be close enough to family for us. We aren't really looking for places like Tiffin, Ely, Solon etc.
We had heard good things about Prairie, and North Liberty would be close enough to family for us. We aren't really looking for places like Tiffin, Ely, Solon etc.
I brought it up in relation to his experience. Again , having worked at a college recently, Xavier is highly overrated. They should prepare that socioeconomic level of student better than they do.
Your wife went to both? Or is she still going off outdated reputation? We had one girl at Kennedy, and open enrolled our two boys into Jefferson from College Community (Prairie). They both graduated recently and had a great experience. One went through the autism program and one the college prep track. Our younger boy that went to Jefferson is Dean’s List at college and getting job offers with aviation companies across the Midwest after graduation this coming Spring. His friends from soccer are going through aeronautical engineering and civil engineering in college. I had a decent experience with the one at Kennedy, but I’ve got family with an upper level student there now not happy because it’s so hard to find time with administration due to overcrowding, and their kid’s schedule has been a mess. I highly suggest you do what we did when we moved 6 years ago and visit Jefferson, Kennedy, and Prairie. It will dispel a lot of myths for you. The vice principals: Mr. G at Jefferson, and Mrs. R at Kennedy are both great people and would love to give you a tour.
EDIT: If they are younger and on the west side, the elementary schools you want are Hoover, Maple Grove, or West Willow, and Taft Middle School.
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This is what I mean by highly outdated information. This used to be true under the old male principal that was there for years. It got better with the next, and now the rigor is much higher with the newer female principal. Again, I know this information first hand from all the area schools.
Xavier continually has kids struggle to adapt when going into college prep classes at Wash, or Kennedy, or Jefferson. The upper third do fine, just like they would at public school, but the rest of the 2/3 are getting a disservice at Xavier, where they spend more time on things like anti-abortion activism than on rigorous science or Language Arts.
don't you just pick the school farthest from the burnt cereal smell?
Tiffin- Clear Creek Amana HS. A mini–North Liberty
Ely- Small town in the CR Prairie SD
Solon- Solon HS. Smallish but cliqueish town
I'm curious about the original question- What are the rules for open enrollment? Buy a house here, go to school anywhere? I don't have your answer.
I think he's talking about living in the Cedar Rapids Community School District, in the Jefferson area on the west side, but open enrolling into Kennedy or perhaps Washington? Going from Jefferson into Kennedy is probably not going to happen with Kennedy's crowding issue. They'll probably have to redraw the lines again at some point, and make the river the divider. I will say the principals at all the CRCSD high schools were all hired within the last five years. Washington and Jefferson's principals are excellent to work with, and Kennedy's is okay.
Don't listen to them, bro! These woke PsOS trying to steer you into Washington HS, aren't telling you that's where the hoodrats go. This @Menace Sockeyes is involved in convincing kids they are "trans," so use due caution! I don't believe Wash has ever graduated 80% of a class and math proficiency is always less than 50% of grade level. They shit on Prairie because they hate rural folks! Shocking to see old Menace to Kids Everywhere, would think his own are too good to go to their neighborhood school!!
Our resident private school grifter keeps laughing at these pro-public education posts. Interesting.
And if your kids excel is kickball and might be up for a free ride, contact Kickball Tom here ^ Greatest kickball coach in all of Iowa!
@Here_4_a_Day is an example of a rural Iowan inbred.
Wash grad here....I KNEW it...we were always smarter than the Regis kids.
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