Davenport Community School District
| Davenport Community School District | |
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Davenport, Iowa East Central Iowa United States |
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| District information | |
| Type | Public |
| Grades | K-12 |
| Established | 1858 |
| Superintendent | Dr. Art Tate |
| Schools | 32 |
| Budget | $200,000,000 (2011-2012) |
| Students and staff | |
| Students | 15,305 (2011-2012) |
| Teachers | 1,286 (2011-2012) |
| Athletic conference | Mississippi Athletic Conference |
| Other information | |
| Website | www.davenport.k12.ia.us |
The Davenport Community School District Is a public school district in Scott County, Iowa. The school district covers 109 square miles (280 km2) that includes the city of Davenport, where it is based, and the western Scott County communities of Blue Grass, Buffalo and Walcott. Founded in 1858 it established one of the first publicly funded high schools in the United States, the third teachers’ training school and hired the first female superintendent in the country. It serves nearly 16,000 students in 31 school buildings.
The first schools in Davenport were subscription schools where students paid a fee to attend. They were held in crude surplus buildings or in private homes. Marianne Hall opened the first school in 1838 followed by the school started by the Rev. Michael Hummer the same year. The following year Moses Parmele opened a school as did the Rev. J.A.M. Pelamourges who opened a school at St. Anthony’s Church that remained open until 1968. Similar schools opened in the 1840s. As the population increased in the 1850s there was a desire to establish public supported schools. Six schools were built during the decade. Five were built around the town’s commercial and industrial core and one was built in the Village of East Davenport, which had recently been annexed to Davenport. A school was also founded for African American children at the same time. It lasted for only a short time as there were too few children to justify the expense. Davenport schools were integrated at that time. After a new state constitution and school legislation passed in Iowa the Davenport Independent School District was formed in 1858.
City founder Antoine LeClaire loaned the new district $500 to get started. Abraham S. Kissell was named the first superintendent for the district as well as the state of Iowa. He had previously been a teacher in Davenport. He supported graded schools and equal pay for female teachers. The district also educated students 14 to 17 from its very beginning in what was called an “intermediate” school. They decided to not call it a high school because a majority of taxpayers did not support funding a high school, which was seen as a way of subsidizing the education of the children from wealthy families. In 1861 Kissell was elected the president of the Iowa State Teachers Association and in 1864 he became the Iowa State Superintendent of Schools.
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