By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
Administrators of the private and public schools in Davenport have reached a compromise regarding school start and end times as well as busing for nonpublic schools.
Andy Craig, president of Assumption High School, said the agreed-upon plan “preserves the time needed by the faith-based schools to fulfill religious and academic missions while also allowing students to receive bus transportation.”
The drop-off and pick-up times for All Saints Catholic, Assumption, John F. Kennedy Catholic and Trinity Lutheran will be 7:50 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively. St. Paul the Apostle Catholic will have an 8:15 a.m. drop-off and 3:25 p.m. pick-up time.
“The faith-based school administrators would like to thank all of our families for their patience, input and support throughout this process. We also appreciate Dr. Art Tate (superintendent of Davenport Community School District) and his staff for working toward an acceptable solution,” said Craig as spokesperson for the nonpublic schools.
John F. Kennedy Principal Chad Steimle said, “The solution we’ve arrived at allows all of the faith-based schools to have bus transportation in both the morning and afternoon, and provides the needed time and schedule to maintain our religious instruction, including Masses, and our academic rigor. Working through this situation together has been a good example of the cooperation that exists within Davenport to maintain successful Catholic and Lutheran school education.”
Jeanne VonFeldt, principal of All Saints, said, “It was a pleasure to work with such a committed and faith-filled group of administrators. I especially would like to thank Andy Craig, the president of Assumption, who was a wonderful spokesperson for all of the faith-based schools. I also want to extend my gratitude to Bridget Murphy, the Assumption principal, and Chad
Steimle, principal of JFK, as they really put in so much effort into composing the surveys that went out to all of the families of All Saints, Assumption, JFK, St. Paul’s and Trinity Lutheran.”
Julie Delaney, principal at St. Paul the Apostle, said, “We always had an 8:30 a.m. parish Mass that the school children attended. That time will not need to change. The Dave-nport Community Schools Administration, (and) in particular Dr. Tate, were wonderful to work with. They kept the needs of our students and families in mind as well as their own.”
