Volume 1 Issue 2
Winter 2000
1999-2000
Davenport Schools
Foundation
Board of Directors
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Lisa B. Arbisser, M.D.
Chairman of the Board
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Larry Minard
President
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Thom Hart
Vice President
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Beth Dietz
Secretary
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Everett Sortor
Treasurer
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Carol Ashbacher
Lola Fike
Don Fisher
Betty Fogle
Jim Fox
Susan Kardel
Linda Miller
Linda Orr
Charles Pittman
Chris Pieper
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John Holladay
Dale Paustian
Directors Emeritus
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Mission Statement
The Davenport Schools Foundation, a not-for-profit organization, seeks to provide
otherwise unavailable resources to enhance the District's educational environment to help
students pursue full potential.
Excellence for the FutureIn the final year of funding from the Davenport Schools Foundation, the Schools of Excellence program began the school year with a new look. Last spring Superintendent Dr. Jim Blanche announced that 14 administrators and coordinators would join the existing four Schools of Excellence facilitators to provide every school in the district with an “in house” facilitator. All teams formed in the spring of 1999 would have a facilitator as well as funding from the Foundation.
In a report to the Foundation board in January, Dr. Jane Grady told trustees of a wide variety of projects now underway. Madison is working to improve school climate, Harrison is focusing on brain research, Jackson, Johnson, Lincoln and Eisenhower have technology teams, Fillmore is looking at the effect of poverty on students and McKinley is working on the district goal to focus teaching solutions on the strengths of students.
Four schools were selected for Classrooms for the Future in the spring of 1999. Those schools are now studying building and student needs in preparation for their technology classroom. The team at Eisenhower has requested an extension of time for their project in anticipation of a remodeled media center.
The Davenport West Business Academy is in the second year of offering an alternative high school experience to West students. The Academy is the project of a Schools of Excellence teacher team. Because of this request, several members of the Foundation board met in mid-January with school district personnel involved in technology, instruction and buildings. The local option tax passed in Scott County last spring is making a dramatic impact on many buildings in the district, including several which have yet to receive a Classroom for the Future. Schools targeted for additions are considering a media/computer center located at the main entrance to the school to allow wider access to the community. A new building is planned to serve Buffalo and Perry and will lend itself to advanced technology. Other buildings have some technology with Title I federal funding. Each of these sites will have varying needs and time tables to implement a Classroom for the Future.
The members of the Foundation board present at this meeting urged the school district to have facilitators begin building technology teams to work with and advise those working on the additions and new buildings. Thanks to the $46,600 grant from ALCOA for technology, the Foundation now has the funds to make Classroom for the Future a reality at every school in the district.Thanks also to our many generous donors and to school staffs who have given hours of study and effort to make this happen for district students.
Foundation Scholarships
Assist Graduating Seniors$18,000 Awarded from
Scholarship Funds in 1999
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Molly Mayfield, Central High 1999 |
The Davenport Schools Foundation serves as trustee for eight scholarship funds that provide educational assistance for seniors graduating from the Davenport Community High Schools.
The Davenport Schools Foundation Scholarship was started in December 1992 with a gift from Elizabeth Schaller, a former guidance counselor at West High School. All funds not directed to a specific scholarship are deposited in this fund. A scholarship of $1000 was awarded in 1999.
The Foundation accepted its first trusteeship in 1990 when the Davenport Community School District administration requested that the Foundation take responsibility for the Helen G. Poling Trust Fund, established by Ilsa Buckner in memory of her mother. Since the spring of 1991, three scholarships have been awarded annually to graduating seniors, with one recipient from each of the district high schools. The awards were $1200 each in 1999.
The husband and children of Joan Kolberg Lowen established the Joan Kolberg Lowen Scholarship Fund in 1995 in order to provide a continuing annual scholarship in her memory. This fund provides an annual scholarship of at least $3000 ($4000 in 1999). This award is made on need and scholastic achievement. Joan lived in Davenport for 12 years and received her early education in Davenport Schools.
The Class of ‘59 Scholarship Fund is composed of donations from members of that class. One scholarship of $500 was awarded in 1999. The class fund drive at a recent reunion generated funds that will enable two scholarships to be awarded in 2000.
This scholarship is the first to be awarded by any graduating class from any Davenport high school. The Class of ‘59 has challenged other classes to create scholarships to honor their graduates.
The first Lisa B. Arbisser Scholarship will be awarded in 2000. This fund was created by the Foundation Board of Trustees to thank Dr. Joyce Brothers (Dr. Arbisser’s mother) for her part in the “Over the Top” ceremony, and to honor Dr. Lisa Arbisser, outgoing president of the Davenport Schools Foundation Board. This fund will provide a $500 scholarship annually.
The Davenport High School/Central High School Hall of Honor Scholarship Fund grew out of the Hall of Honor Program at Central High, which recognizes significant achievements of its graduates. Four $1000 scholarships are awarded annually: one to the top academic minority student, one to the student who demonstrates the greatest financial need, and two scholarships to students at large. All students receiving these scholarships must meet the Hall of Honor Scholarship criteria.
Donations to a memorial fund for noted sports writer Jerry Jurgens resulted in the Jerry Jurgens Athletic/Scholastic Scholarship Fund. Two awards of $500 each were given in 1999—one to a male and one to a female student athlete graduating from Central High. The head coaches of all CHS athletic teams along with the CHS athletic director select the recipients. These scholarships will increase to $1000 each in 2000.
When Davenport science teacher Joan McShane was honored as Iowa’s Teacher of the Year in 1994 she accepted several monetary awards with which she chose to create a scholarship to be given to minority students interested in pursuing a career in education. In May 2000 Joan will complete her scholarship fund by awarding two $1000 scholarship to graduating seniors in the Davenport district who have been active in the Minority Students in Education Program.
The Davenport Schools Foundation scholarship committee selects recipients for these awards except where noted. Application forms are available in the Guidance Office of each district high school after February 15.
Contributions from individuals and groups make these scholarships possible for Davenport students. For more information about contributing to a scholarship fund or to create one, please contact Scholarship Chair Lola Fike at 391-2807 or Foundation Development Director Laura Cleaveland at the address or phone number listed on the back of this brochure.
was created by Jane’s family and friends following her unexpected death in 1993. Jane was an elementary teacher in the Davenport district for a number of years and had often provided support and financial assistance to her own students who showed talent in the arts and sciences. This scholarship continues to support gifted students by awarding up to nine scholarships per year to 2nd through 5th graders with financial need at Madison, Jefferson and Adams Elementary Schools. Jane taught at all three of these schools.Elementary Students Benefit
from Jane DeVries
Memorial Scholarship FundThe Jane DeVries Memorial Scholarship Fund
The scholarship pays tuition and other expenses to a variety of summer school classes for students who enjoy enhanced experiences at places such as the Davenport Museum of Art, the Putnam Museum and Junior Theatre, as well as various programs offered by the Davenport Community School District.
Teachers at Madison, Jefferson and Adams are asked to nominate exceptional students. Approval for the nominees is given by a board composed of Jane’s friends and family members as well as a representative from each school and the foundation board. Scholarships are awarded in May and winners are recognized at the June School Board meeting.
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Coats for Kids Fund Honors
Dr. David E. Lane
The Davenport Schools Foundation began administering the Coats for Kids memorial fund named in honor of the late Dr. David E. Lane during the summer of 1999. A total of $20,166.88 has been raised for this fund over the past six months. The money is used to pay for the cleaning of donated coats and equipment costs. To date, 1,679 coats have been cleaned and given to students in need in the Davenport Community School District.
Coats for Kids was one of the many projects that Dr. Lane championed. The success of this campaign gives proper honor to a man so dedicated to the Davenport Community Schools and its students.
Keith Jurgens
Honors
His Alma MatersIn 1999 the Keith Jurgens Endowment Fund was established with a gift of $152,000 from Keith Jurgens. The endowment will benefit Grant Elementary School and JB Young Middle School, which Mr. Jurgens attended as a student.
The interest generated from this gift will be used to provide students with opportunities that otherwise would not be possible within the school district budget.