IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – There is an investigation after reports of a car following other vehicles on interstate 380 with flashing lights, but it’s not a law officer.

The Johnson County sheriff said the most important thing to do is verify if you’re dealing with an undercover police officer. In this case, the sheriff says it wasn’t an undercover officer.

The driver in the car allegedly following others reached out to the Johnson County Sheriff, who is now investigating.

“I was driving home from Cedar Rapids and I passed that car, and when I did they got behind me and turned on red and blue lights,” said Kaylee Picek, who was followed by the suspicious car.

She said when she was on her way home the car started flashing what appeared to be police lights. But she didn’t pull over, because something didn’t seem right.

“Then he got behind me and followed me for a while and I called 911 because I was like ‘there’s no way this Red Buick is a police car, there’s no way,’” Picek said.

The 911 operator reassured her the Buick was not part of a police department or sheriff’s office. The car eventually stopped following her.

Sheriff Kunkle said she did the right thing in a confusing moment.

“Especially if it’s an officer from a local agency, they can verify directly over the radio that that is in fact a law enforcement officer,” said Sheriff Brad Kunkle.

Iowa has laws about which vehicles are allowed to use flashing lights, especially if they’re blue. But Sheriff Kunkle wouldn’t say if the driver of this car will face charges… only that the situation is under investigation.

For Picek, she’s just grateful her drive home ended the way it did.

“If you have any doubts about it, calling 911, calling the police, if it is a police officer, it’s not gonna be a big deal, they’ll just tell you to pull over. And if it isn’t a police officer you might have saved your own life,” Picek said.

Picek said while she doesn’t think her particular situation was likely to become violent, she’s worried it would have become dangerous if she had pulled over.

“I think maybe it might have been some road rage thing. Or more so a power trip thing, he got passed, he didn’t like it. And he wanted to control how other people drove without doing it the proper way.”

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Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress results for spring 2024 show that the state has reached or surpassed pre-pandemic proficiency levels in English language arts and mathematics, according to the Iowa Department of Education.

The department released results Friday from the spring 2024 assessment that determined whether students in 3rd through 11th grade were meeting proficiency standards in the two subjects, in compliance with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.

In the release on spring results, education department officials wrote that overall results showed some long-term progress for most grades, while results “do not show meaningful progress in most grade levels” for mathematics by remaining steady in comparison to previous years.

For English language arts (ELA), proficiency rates improved or remained steady in all assessed grades, with the exception of 3rd grade, in comparison to the previous year. Proficiencies increased across five grades — 4th through 8th.

When looking at long-term results, the department found the largest increases in ELA scores for grades for 6th through 8th grade students’ proficiency in comparison to 2019 scores, rising between 8 and 9 percentage points. However, proficiency rates have decreased since 2019 for third grade students, as well as those in 9-11th grade.

In mathematics, proficiency increased in comparison to 2019 results for grades 3, 5, 6 and 8, with the highest improvement coming for 3rd grade students with a 5 percentage point increase. Results for 7th and 11th grade students remained at the same rate, while students in 9th grade saw the biggest drop of 7% fewer students proficient in 2024 compared to 2019. Grades 4 and 10 saw proficiency rates drop by a percentage point over the five-year period.

Overall, most mathematics proficiency rates show “relatively little to no growth across most grades when compared to last year,” according to the department news release, with grades only increasing or decreasing by 1 or 2 percentage points.

The results also showed that significant proficiency gaps remain among students with disabilities and students who are English language learners in both of the assessment areas. English language learners had an average proficiency difference across all assessed grade levels of 53% in English language arts and 45 percentage points in comparison to the overall student results, while students with disabilities saw differences of 45% in English language arts and 41% in mathematics.

“We celebrate the successes of our learners, and we continue to work in partnership with families and educators to provide all students what they need to meet high expectations and realize their incredible potential,” said Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow. “Informed by our student achievement data, we reaffirm our commitment to strengthening early literacy and narrowing and closing achievement gaps experienced by students with disabilities and students who are English language learners.”

During the 2024 legislative session, test results were cited as a motivation to pass the law proposed by Gov. Kim Reynolds making significant changes to Iowa’s Area Education Agencies system providing support for children with special needs in Iowa schools.  A report released by the Guidehouse consulting firm said the state spent more per-pupil on special education funding than the national average, but that students with disabilities performed below the national average on assessments. However, AEA supporters and education advocates argued the report cited misleading information.

In addition to efforts to change special education provisions in Iowa schools, the Iowa Department of Education said in the Friday news release the state is working to improve proficiency rates by adopting new academic standards for both of the tested subjects, approved by the Iowa State Board of Education. The department also provided professional learning opportunities for implementing the new standards over the summer for nearly 2,000 mathematics educators and more than 1,300 English language arts educators, according to the release.

A substantial makeover is underway for Iowa State University’s 66-year-old LeBaron Hall.

Demolition started Thursday, Sept. 5 to make way for the new home of Iowa State’s College of Human Sciences.

Bundled with additional renovations of McKay Hall and the Human Nutritional Science Building, the estimated $51.5 million project will replace LeBaron Hall, complete with a three-story building with classrooms, a multipurpose courtyard and renovated lobbies.

LeBaron Hall’s demolition and replacement will cost $39 million. The entire project was made possible through private donations, including a $15.5 million lead gift, and university funds.

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A groundbreaking moment

The groundbreaking for LeBaron Hall’s makeover took place on April 18.

Iowa State College of Human Sciences Dean Laura Dunn Jolly said the university is excited to see the project get underway.

“This has been something we’ve been working on for several years, and it’s really exciting to see it come to life,” Jolly said. “Students are just thrilled; they’ve been walking by, taking videos of the building coming down. There’s a lot of buzz about this new building coming to fruition.”

Construction is expected to be finished by the fall of 2026.

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A new, modern LeBaron Hall

The new LeBaron Hall will be located on the northwest corner of the Iowa State campus at 626 Morrill Road. The original building, built in 1958, will be expanded to 30,000 square feet, complete with two additional above-ground floors.

The new facility will include a 100-seat university classroom, studios for the college’s nationally ranked apparel program, experiential learning space for the event management program, and a historic textiles and clothing lab.

“(There will be) a lot of what I would call multi-purpose, experiential learning space,” Jolly said. “That’s been our goal, this welcoming and student-centric space that serves as a hub for student engagement.”

McKay Hall will eventually be connected to LeBaron Hall, LeBaron Auditorium and the Human Nutrition and Science Building. Once complete, Jolly said it will be a “very integrated complex” with improved wayfinding.

“We expect other renovations to follow pretty quickly after the initial building renovation,” Jolly said. “That will set the stage for moving forward with the other projects.”

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Where will classes be held during construction?

Classes and laboratories that are typically held at LeBaron Hall have been moved to the Student Innovation Center, McKay Hall and Bessey Hall.

Jolly said Iowa State is considering what the future use of those spaces will be when classes return to LeBaron Hall.

Since the new facility will have no faculty offices, LeBaron Hall’s faculty has been relocated to other permanent locations.

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Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at CBrocker@gannett.com.