Davenport Schools | Growing Excellence

Freshman Class Orientation Videos

Central High School

North High School

West High School

Student Dance Video Sends a Message of Hope for the Future

IA/IL QUAD CITIES – Dance students with Sudlow Junior High School and the Creative Arts Academy (CAA) of the Quad Cities recently completed an inspiring video for the Time Capsule of Hope project. “Their dances in the video express their hopes for a better future for the Quad Cities,” said Kimberly Woods, MsEd, K-12 Talented and Gifted Facilitator, Sudlow Junior High School and the CAA. The Talented & Gifted Program serves students who demonstrate outstanding abilities and intellectual/creative potential.

The video will receive its world premiere at 3 p.m. Mon., January 11 on Paula Sands Live, KWQC. Kimberly Woods will be a guest on the show, along with Bridget Jessen, Dance Specialist at CAA, who edited the video.

After the video appears on Paula Sands Live, it can still be viewed on the website of the Davenport Community School District, http://www.davenportschools.org.

There are eight student dancers in the video, which is between three and four minutes long. Their dance is performed to the song “Together” by the duet group, For King & Country, with featured performers, Kirk Franklin and Tori Kelly.

The students who danced in the video are, in order of appearance: Ashley Laake, Kayla Brenauer, Melina Reinhardt, Elena Yassin, Hailey Korver, Keith Wright, Benny Jacobsmeier, and Emma Gullickson. The students danced in different locations – some at home, some at Sudlow’s dance studio, and some outdoors.

The Time Capsule of Hope The Time Capsule of Hope is a Quad-Cities event that was launched in October 2020 by the City of Davenport, in partnership with Davenport Community Schools. The Covid-19 pandemic made 2020 a challenging year but hope still remains in America’s communities. This event is meant to highlight the hopes that Quad-Citians have for the future.

As part of the project, the community was asked to submit their hopes in the variety of creative ways. Those hopes are being collected by the Davenport Public Library and placed within a Time Capsule which will be archived in spring. The time capsule will be opened in 2036 as part of a celebration of the city of Davenport’s 200th birthday.

About the Schools Sudlow Junior High School is located at 1414 E. Locust Street Davenport, IA. The school instructs approximately 840 students. Opened in Fall 2014, the CAA is housed in community arts facilities throughout downtown Davenport. The academy instructs in five creative disciplines – communications and media arts, dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts.

To learn more about the Davenport Community School District, please visit http://www.davenportschools.org/.

Read More

Communication to K-8 Families – Changing Learning Model

DCSD Families of K-8 Students,

As we near the end of the second quarter/first semester, students and families have the ability to again switch learning models effective February 15, 2021, should you choose. Please follow the directions below for how to change your student's learning model and the deadlines for change.

Our K-8 100% online students will be transitioning away from Edgenuity. Beginning February 15, Kindergarten and grade 1 will utilize SeeSaw, and grades 2 through 8 will utilize Google Classroom.

All K - 6 families choosing to change their student(s) learning platforms, either from Hybrid to 100% Online OR 100% Online to Hybrid, should request this change between Monday, January 11 and Friday, January 15, 2021 at 3:30PM. During this week, no appeal process is required to change your student's learning model. Please contact your student's school during that week to make this request. The change would be effective at the beginning of 3^rd quarter, February 15, 2021.

All 7-8 families choosing to change their student(s) learning platforms, either from Hybrid to 100% Online OR 100% Online to Hybrid, should request this change between Tuesday, January 19 and Friday, January 22, 2021 at 3:30PM. During this week, no appeal process is required to change your student's learning model. Please contact your student's school during that week to make this request. The change would be effective at the beginning of 3^rd quarter, February 15, 2021.

Information for our high school students will be sent at a later date.

Respectfully, TJ Schneckloth Interim Superintendent

Introducing QC Tutor Connection: Uniting students with tutors for educational success

To help Quad Cities families in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, United Way Quad Cities has teamed up with local colleges to provide the QC Tutor Connection, tutoring services for area K-12 students. Located online at QCTutorConnection.org, the QC Tutor Connection is a web-based platform, designed to connect families seeking tutoring services with interested tutors. The platform allows parents to review profiles and find an available tutor. Families and tutors negotiate all details, such as hourly rates and the location and scheduling of sessions.

For more information, go to: www.unitedwayqc.org/introducing-qctutorconnection

Hybrid Learning to Resume Monday, December 14

The Davenport Community School District has made the decision to return to the Hybrid Learning Model on Monday, December 14.

For the week of December 14, Group A will attend in-person learning on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; Group B will attend Thursday and Friday.

This decision has been made after closely monitoring the current positivity rates in Scott County, as well as the quarantine rates of our students and staff. The District has received full support from local health officials to return to our Hybrid, in-person learning on Monday, December 14. It has always been the District’s priority to return to the Hybrid learning model with students and teachers engaging in in-person instruction at the earliest, and safest, date possible.

All students and staff are expected to follow the mitigation strategies that are in place to continue to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our schools and our community. Those strategies include practicing social distancing, properly wearing a mask when around others, washing hands frequently, and staying home when sick or after exposure to someone with COVID-19.

Should parents have questions, they are asked to contact their individual school buildings.

Meal Pick-Up

Davenport Learning Center will once again be the only pick-up location for students who have chosen to participate in our free meal program on days when they are not engaged in in-person learning. Meals will be disbursed from the Davenport Learning Center on Tuesdays from 10 AM to 1 PM for weekly meal pick-up. Additional information for free meals can be found here.

Hybrid Model vs. 100% Online Model

Below is a comparison between our Hybrid Model & 100% Online Model, for reference:

Update on Return to In-Person Learning

Current local health department transmission rate data supports the decision for Davenport Schools to stay in a 100% online platform. Our current waiver allows us to provide online learning through December 15, 2020. We continually monitor data with our health officials and will keep you apprised of any changes.

Thank you and be well.

Davenport School Board Elects School Board Officers to Serve Until November 2021

Davenport Community School Board held their 2020 Annual Meeting to elect a President and Vice-President, in the Jim Hester Board Room, Monday night, at 8 p.m. Dan Gosa was elected as President, and Linda Hayes was elected as Vice-President. The Davenport Community School District’s school board is comprised of seven members, including Daniel Gosa, President; Linda Hayes, Vice-President; Dr. Allison Beck; Karen Kline-Jerome; Kent Paustian; Bruce Potts; and Jamie Snyder.

About the Davenport Community School District: The Davenport Community School District is a District of Distinction. The district believes in education for all, and meeting students where they are in order to teach each individual student. Using differentialized instruction, students are assessed in areas of knowledge, readiness, language, preferences in learning, and interests in order to customize teaching. With 30 school buildings, serving the communities of Blue Grass, Buffalo, Davenport, and Walcott, our district is resource-rich, blending student and family support programs with a wide range of curricular offerings to create a customized learning environment for all students. To learn more, please visit http://www.davenportschools.org/

Read More

District-Wide 100% Online-Only Learning – Extended Through December 15, 2020

Due to the rising case counts of COVID-19 and high positivity rate of COVID-19 tests in Scott County, Davenport Community School District requested a waiver to allow remote learning to continue through December 15, 2020. That waiver was approved by the Department of Education on Tuesday, November 24.

Today, the District is informing students, families, staff, and the community, that all students from PK – 12 will continue fully-remote learning until December 15, or until notified. It is the District’s priority to return to the Hybrid learning model with students and teachers engaging in in-person instruction at the earliest possible date.

On December 3, the District will distribute plans for the week of December 7 – 11. On December 10, the District will distribute plans for the week of December 14 – 18. As information becomes available, we will continue to post on the District website, send out communications to families in email and phone, post in the Parent Portal, publish on social media, send out updates through our media partners, and even mail packets out to our families.

While the waiver grants the District permission to provide 100% Online Only learning through December 15, it does not require the District to continue remote learning for the entire duration. Should case numbers return to a safe and manageable state in our area, the District could resume with the initial Hybrid learning model earlier than December 16. DCSD will continue to monitor the positivity rates in Scott County as well as positivity and quarantine rates of our students and staff so that everyone may return to an in-person learning environment as soon as it is safe to do so.

Staff availability to provide instruction, student positivity rates, and community spread in the 14 days following the Thanksgiving holiday break, are all factors DCSD will consider in determining when the District returns to in-school, face-to-face instruction.

During this extended period of 100% Online Only Learning, all in-person activities and practices will continue to be suspended.

Meal Pick-Up

DCSD will continue to provide daily meal pick up to the Hybrid students that are now 100% Online Learning. Meals are available to pick-up Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 1 PM at the following locations during school closures due to COVID-19: Sudlow Intermediate, Smart Intermediate, Williams Intermediate, Wood Intermediate, and Buffalo Elementary School. All meal pick-ups include one (1) breakfast and one (1) lunch, per day, per student.

Davenport Learning Center will also continue to disburse meals from 10 AM to 1 PM on Tuesdays only for weekly meal pick-up.

All meal pick-up locations will be closed for school calendar holidays. Please contact the Food Nutrition Services office at 563.336.7430 for further questions.

Mental Health & Health Services

All DCSD staff is committed to helping students succeed during this phase. We are working with our school-based therapists to provide telehealth services to students on their caseloads. Additionally, we’re working with other community providers to offer virtual support services to students based upon need. Needs have been identified by a student needs assessment and counselors will reach out to students and families to provide the necessary support. Our school nurses will continue to provide nursing services virtually related to health counseling, immunization requirements, completion of state immunization audit, etc.

Please do your part to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus, so we may return to in-person learning as soon as possible: practice social distancing, properly wear a mask when around others, wash hands, and stay home when sick.

We know that this is a challenging time for many of our families and community members, and we appreciate your understanding and patience as we make the tough decisions to do what is right for our students, teachers, staff, and community.