John Glenn Elementary

We are a rural/suburban school set at the edge of a small town.

Donahue, IA

Certified teacher for art, music, physical education. Full-time media specialist, primary reading specialist, special education teacher, and guidance counselor. Talented & gifted, on-site play therapist from local mental health agency, nurse and many paraprofessionals. Speech, occupational and physical therapy services as needed. Peer mentors, "lunch buddies" through BigBrothers/BigSisters, a "Tribes" programWe are especially proud of our therapy dog, Sprite, who attends school each and every day with her handler, our guidance counselor.

We have a 28 station Mac lab; a 26 station Mac laptop cart (getting another this year); every classroom has at least three Mac's or more. There are specifically designated computers for the Talented & Gifted program as well as for special reading labs and the special education program. We have begun a building initiative to install interactive white-boards in each room from grades 2-6. We currently have them in grades 4, 5 & 6 as well as one in the media center for general use. We also have a classroom set of iPods for teacher to check-out and use with classes for distance/interactive lessons.

John Glenn Elementary is a NATIONAL BLUE RIBBON SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE. The National Blue Ribbon Award is the highest award given by the US Department of Education. John Glenn became a Blue Ribbon School in November 2007.

* Tribes
* Guitar Club
* Lunchroom Helpers
* School Store
* Student Council
* Safety Patrol
* Library Helpers
* Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H clubs all available/meet at the school

yes

no uniforms

ALL Students Learning....Whatever it Takes!

A HISTORY OF JOHN GLENN ELEMENTARY

In the early 1950's, the State of Iowa passed new school legislation requiring that all land and townships be a part of a high school district and requesting that existing high school districts look at consolidation as part of a school re-organizational plan resulting in one school district per county. Prior to that time, only one-room country schools served the students in northern Scott County, in K-8 class settings. Student from our local area attended high schools in neighboring districts of Calamus, Bennet, Durant, Grand Mound, and Dewitt with most choosing to go to Davenport Central.

A group of people in northern Scott County got together to decide which existing school district they wanted to join but instead made the decision to form their own high school district and choosing North Scott as its name. A vote was taken that agreed on a high school-junior high single building combination to be built in Eldridge. The school was opened in the fall of 1957. K-6 students would continue to attend nearly 50 one-room schools dotting the countryside around us.

A great debate took place to decide where and how many elementary buildings would be built. Proposals ranged from one big one (the school population would have been about a third what it is now) to proposals for many different numbers and locations. Several votes were taken and the plan that would place buildings in Donahue, Long Grove, Eldridge and Princeton finally won.

Deciding where to build elementary buildings was not the only debate to be decided however. As the attendance centers were being built, the issue of naming the new schools was considered. Most schools in the US at that time were traditionally named after presidents or other local heroes. However, President Kennedy began his presidency in 1960 proclaiming that Americans would enter the race to conquer outer space and land a man on the moon during the decade. It was in these early 60's that our astronauts became our national heroes. While the Russians beat us in sending the first rockets into outer space, John Glenn became the first man to go beyond the atmosphere's gravitational pull and circle 3 times around the Earth, returning safely to land as our first national hero of outer space! The School Board got caught up in this new national pride and proclaimed that we were building schools that would produce students for the Space Age. Therefore our schools would be named after the astronauts--John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Virgil Grissom, and Edward White. Board member Harlen Rohlk of Donahue drew the name of John Glenn from a hat for the Donahue building.

The first construction of the school in Donahue began in the mid 60's. It included what is now the front entrance, the small room to the left which would serve as a temporary office space, and only four classrooms meant for only primary aged students. This new school opened its doors in 1967 as a K-2 building with Mr. Dennis Albertson as its new half-time principal (Mr. Albertson also led the new Virgil Grissom school in Princeton). However, the students no sooner arrived and a second addition of three more rooms was added. And then again, immediately thereafter, the School Board decided that all the existing elementary buildings would become complete K-6 buildings featuring a full complement of staff and facilities including an office complex, media center, art and music room, and gym. Construction of this third addition would take place in 1969 just two years after John Glenn first opened its doors! For this single year, Dale Proctor became Glenn's principal, sharing with Alan Shepard in Long Grove because Mr. Albertson had been assigned full-time to Virgil Grissom in Princeton. A fourth addition in 1980 added the current art/music room and the fifth addition took place in 1998 in which the west end of the building was enlarged by adding a hall, three classrooms and a counselor's area.

In the five to six years that it took to transition from 50 one-room school houses through primary only to the full K-6 buildings we have today, it became a nightmare to figure out how to get students to and from home to all the various sights (in various stages of development) across the district.First buses would drive through their route picking up all students K-12; then they would converge at a relay station and change buses destined for specific attendance centers based on grade levels (remember John Glenn only had K-2 to begin with). At one point, as many as twelve to fifteen buses pulled into the John Glenn driveway to 'relay' students on the western end of the district from one bus to another to be shuttled off to their various schools.

Because there were so many buses at the location, students were easily confused about which bus was theirs. Superintendent Mel Heiler, who planned the routes, came up with the unique idea of naming the buses after cartoon characters--Donald Duck, Goofy, Elephant, Mickey Mouse, etc. Our buses carried these big colorful decals of the characters across North Scott's apx. 250 square miles and became our trademark statewide.

The 2-section, fully staffed John Glenn Elementary that we know today opened its doors in the fall of 1970 with a complete staff of teachers, nurse, secretary, custodians, teacher assistants, and new full-time principal, Mr. Joe Ragona. It served over 300 students in grades K-6. Mr. Ragona proudly held the position of principal until his retirement at the end of the 1999-2000 school year. Our current principal, Mrs. CJ Albertson, was a former music teacher for 18 years in the North Scott district--many right here at John Glenn. She was a principal in Davenport in the five years between teaching and happily returning to John Glenn in 2000 as only its 4th principal in over 40 years!

John Glenn Elementary has a great history as a school where teachers and students like to be--a place where they share many great learning adventures with tremendous parent and public support. John Glenn can boast of many 'firsts':

* First North Scott school to receive the Iowa Governor's "First in the Nation in Education" - FINE

school award.

* First to start an outdoor education program - "Ecology Day" - a program now followed by other

schools in the same form

* First student council to be organized in the North Scott district

* With the impetus and assistance of the student council, our PTO and Dr. Gildea, first to bring

skim milk and low-fat chocolate milk to our schools

* Introduced "Grandparents & Senior Citizens Day" to the district

* Mr. Ragona was named Iowa's Principal of the Year in 1991 and was recognized as one of 50

"National Distinguished Principals" by President Bush & Secretary of Education, Lamar

Alexander; Mrs. Albertson was first to be designated "Principal of the Year" by St. Ambrose College in 2005.

* First to bring a specially trained "therapy dog" to the district.

* November 2006 -- First North Scott School to be nominated as a No Child Left Behind "Blue

Ribbon School".

* October 2007 - Named a NATIONAL "Blue Ribbon School" in recognition of the extra lengths that

JG goes to help students succeed academically. This award went to only 4 other Iowa schools, 288 other public and private school across the nation from a pool of over 133,000 eligible putting John Glenn in an elite top .2% in the country!....a distinguished achievement for the students, staff and families of John Glenn School.

* However, John Glenn's greatest accomplishment is the personal achievements of the students who have passed through its doors….citizens in every walk of life imaginable…many coming back to enroll their own children in the school. You have only to ask one and they will be happy to share their fond memories with you as well.

Mr. Joe Ragona & Mrs. CJ Albertson

JOHN GLENN ELEMENTARY, "Home of the Patriots", is one of five elementaries (all named for astronauts) scattered across rural Scott County, Iowa. Along with a 7-8 junior high and a 9-12 high school, these five elementaries comprise the 3000 student North Scott Community School District lying in the 250 sq. miles just outside a large metropolitan area called the Quad-Cities (Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa; Rock Island and Moline, Illinois). The fact that John Glenn lies in the tiny rural town of Donahue, Iowa, with it's small-town closeness and community support but within 15 miles of this metropolitan area of 350,000 people and vast opportunities, provides our students excellent perspectives and experiences. Additionally, Scott County is located along the Mississippi River and encompasses some of the best farmland available in our country from which many of the John Glenn students hail. Again, this bucolic atmosphere contrasts with our large school district and its vast energy and offerings.

John Glenn has the third highest free & reduced rate in our district. Our student population once hailed predominantly from economically stable 2-parent farm homes with extended family members nearby. Times have changed in rural America and, as more and more small farms are sold into conglomerates, older farm houses become rental properties and have therefore begun to provide a more itinerant population than John Glenn had once been accustomed to. A large percentage of our families have both parents working outside the home, often in multiple jobs, and yet many remain in the category of "working poor". Even with these hardships, John Glenn parent-teacher conferences have a consistent attendance rate of 97% or more, activities are highly attended, and our needs are supported with vigor!

The mission of John Glenn Elementary is summarized in our motto, "All Students Learning….Whatever It Takes". We believe strongly in finding and making available all resources necessary to provide students what they need - as individuals - in order to facilitate their successful educational experience and their growth as persons of good character in our world. This two-fold emphasis is supported in a plethora of ways. From the academic standpoint, our district supports us with good financial resources, class sizes of less than 25 students at each grade level and a full complement of educational specialists including special teachers for art, music, physical education, talented and gifted, special education, Reading Recovery, Title I reading/math, and media/technology. The staff works hard to get to know, not only their students, but their students' families, creating the critical connection between home and school. The staff truly embraces the "whatever it takes" attitude and can regularly be found working late hours and weekends, making themselves available to meet with parents at their convenience, and preparing differentiated lessons targeting the special learning styles and abilities of their students. Character development, our building's second area of emphasis, is again strongly supported on the district level by its commitment to providing a full-time counselor for our 258 students. While the guidance program is comprised of classroom curriculum/instruction on problem-solving and bullying prevention, it also provides support for the efforts of all staff members in removing obstacles to the academic learning for which we are specifically responsible. Among MANY initiatives, we provide peer counseling, 'lunch buddies' through Big Brothers/Big Sisters, a 1stgr-6thgr mentoring program, a partnership with a local mental health agency to provide an on-site therapist, and - probably most 'famous' in our local area - "Sprite", our educational therapy dog. Maple can be found lying patiently while otherwise reluctant readers read aloud to the non-threatening furry head on their knee; found with her head on the cot in the nurse's room while a child with a broken arm waits for mom to come; found with her paw on the knee of a raging child as she provides the patience and safety needed for them to calm more quickly from their distress. Maple never misses work and is "one of the family" here at John Glenn school.

The morning message each day ends with these words: "Be kind, be responsible and be the best you can be. The choice is yours." John Glenn Elementary--a patriotic, service-oriented and nurturing environment where every child learns and practices the value of a firm handshake--is first and foremost committed to the academic success of its students by providing rigorous curriculum, exemplary instruction and "whatever it takes" to support each student in their quest to be "the best they can be".