August 2007

Welcome to the 2007-08 school year. I am proud to begin my second year as Superintendent of the Davenport Community Schools. Let me share with you the efforts of our staff and students to continue to improve the quality of our education system.

All of our elementary schools have met the Adequate Yearly Progress as defined by the Iowa State Education Department. Our middle schools have been making expanded literacy efforts in all schools with Read 180, Jamestown Reading and Fast ForWord Reading programs. They, along with the high schools, continue to improve through Making Middle Grades Work and High Schools That Work efforts and staff development. We are once again implementing district-wide one-hour early dismissal every Wednesday during the school year. This early dismissal serves several productive purposes. Collaborative time by teachers and building leadership focuses on effective teaching strategies impacting individual student progress. It provides time to create positive relationships and learning environments, resulting in meaningful progress toward our goal of affecting student achievement. We are also planning the implementation of a Parent Portal at the high school level that will allow online access to the child’s grades and attendance information.

Finally, our community has been engaged in a public discussion of developing a Davenport Promise that has the potential to provide a strong community development economic force to help rebuild our community. This would also provide our graduates with financial assistance to pursue post-secondary options. We hope to continue to assist with this development.

I encourage you to visit our schools and our web sites to get information about our schools, programs and special events.



Sincerely,

Julio Almanza
Superintendent