August 29, 2012, Fort Dodge, IA- Students in Fort Dodge Community School elementary buildings were welcomed back to school this fall with upgraded computer labs. Cooper, Duncombe, and Feelhaver Elementary Schools as well as Riverside Early Learning Center all received new computers through a generous donation from the Fort Dodge Community School Foundation.
According to Jeremy Pearson, Information Technology Supervisor, many of the computers in these schools were outdated and not able to support the software needed. Feelhaver’s computers were over ten years old and Cooper Elementary was using a mix of computers “leftover” from other locations. The upgrade makes computers in all the elementary buildings about the same age and able to run the software needed to support an entire classroom at the same time.
Dr. Sue Wood, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment for the district, stated, “We’ve implemented a computer “exploratory” class at each of the elementary schools. In this class, students are not only learning how to keyboard but to do other applications like Power Point. Having up to date computers is absolutely vital to this learning opportunity.”
The funding for this project came from the late Maxine Hillesland, who named the Fort Dodge Community School Foundation as one of the annual beneficiaries of her private foundation. Hillesland, a long time Fort Dodge resident, was a strong supporter of the public school system and had a passion for helping children.
“This project is important to the Community School Foundation to help ensure that every student has access to technology every period of every day,” said Ashley O’Brion, President of the Fort Dodge Community Schools Foundation. “We know this is a goal of the district and we are proud to be able to fund this upgrade that takes the schools one step closer to this goal.”
Fifty one new computers were purchased with this generous donation, bringing the total number of computers in the district to 1600.
The mission of the Fort Dodge Community School District is to encourage and assist each individual to achieve his/her level of educational excellence. For more information about the Fort Dodge Community Schools visit www.fdschools.org or call 515.576.1161. Our Schools. Our Community.
