School updates and features

Truman Early Learning Center: Fulfilling a Need

Last Tuesday was a momentous day for 280 preschool students who had big smiles, small apprehensions, and mega-filled backpacks as they walked up to the newly-created Truman Early Learning Center. Opening day brought open arms to welcome CRCSD’s littlest learners.

Truman Early Learning Center emerged from a growing need for preschool and daycare options in the Cedar Rapids community. The one-level building was previously an elementary school and is a safe, easy environment to house preschoolers. Principal Monica Frey and her staff have done a great job of creating a learning and loving space for 4 year-old students.

Read more here

70 Years of Kingston Stadium

It all started with community support from a bond vote

If you drive down 1st Avenue on a fall Friday night, you’ll see the lights and hear the cheers, which lets you know that it’s Friday Night Football at Kingston Stadium. Kingston has been a landmark in the Cedar Rapids community for 70 years, as it hits its anniversary on September 12th. The first football game played at Kingston Stadium was in September 1952.

Kingston was originally part of a bond vote in the late 1948 when it was called Cedar Rapids Sports Stadium. The bond vote was packaged up with three elementary schools. The goal for Kingston was to have a central stadium that could be shared between all Cedar Rapids high schools. The site of Kingston was chosen due to its proximity to the baseball stadium (the original Veterans Memorial Stadium) that had recently been built.

Read the full article here

FMP Community Open Houses

CRCSD has held four Facilities Master Plan (FMP) Open Houses, and all were well attended. We encourage you to join us for our last upcoming open house to learn more about middle school and high school renovation, additions, new build, and repurposing. Please note that this will be an open house style event, where you can arrive any time in the two-hour timeframe to visit informative stations.

Virtual Open House: Wednesday, September 21st

5:00 – 7:00pm

Please sign up here by 5:00pm Tuesday, September 20th, and a link will be emailed to you the morning of September 21st to join.

We've put together a list of FAQ's based on our previous open house sessions. Please click the link below to review them.

Frequently asked questions

CRCSD High School Coach Spotlight

Chad Derlein

Kennedy Women's Swimming Coach

Chad Derlein swam at and graduated from Jefferson High School, graduating in 1998. He jumped right into coaching, starting with Linn-Mar from 1998- 2003, then Xavier from 2004- 2007, back at Linn-Mar from 2008- 2017, and he's been at Kennedy since 2019. Count those years up, and you'll see that Chad is now in his 25th year of coaching!

Cheer on the Kennedy Swim Team at their next meet Saturday, 9/10 at 9am at Clinton HS.

Sarah Hilby

Jefferson Women's Cross Country Coach

Sarah Hilby is both a Jefferson and Wartburg alum, where she ran at both schools. She's going into her 10th year of coaching cross country and track & field, and her 5th year as Head Coach!

Sarah is excited to see her team grow and work hard together, while having a great season!

The Jefferson Cross Country team has their next meet next Thursday, 9/15, at 4:40pm & 5:40pm in Cedar Falls.

Every Learner. Future Ready.

Crandic Invitational Golf tournament

On Tuesday of this week, CRCSD's three high schools took part in the metro area's Crandic Invitational Boys Golf tournament.

The Kennedy's Golf team took first place for the second consecutive year with a collective score of 310. Jefferson's team earned a 6th place finish by shooting 320 and Washington's team scored 328 for 8th place.

Congratulations to all the golfers!

Check out images.

Cedar Rapids Invitational

Cross Country meet

On Thursday, the boys and girls CRCSD cross country teams headed to Seminole Valley Park for a meet.

Sixteen teams from across Iowa competed. Kennedy Varsity boys took 1st, Washington placed 11th, and Jefferson finished 13th. On the varsity girls side, Kennedy took 7th, Washington 10th, and Jefferson 16th.

Great job runners and best of luck the rest of the season.

Check out images from the meet.

Important Reminders