Points of Pride: Delwood Community School District

Delwood Staff

The Mission Statement for Delwood School is:  "Delwood Community School District strives to meet the individual needs of children in a family atmosphere, promoting positive and creative learning."  A visit to Delwood School in Delmar, Iowa, allows a visitor to see this mission statement come to life.  One of the strengths of Delwood is the family atmosphere for the students but also for the collegial relationships between staff.

DISTRICT DEMOGRAPHICS
Enrollment:  172 (including preschool)
Free and Reduced Lunch:  38%
Teaching Staff:  15

When asked what their Points of Pride for Delwood School are, the staff agrees on the following qualities:

• Ability to give individual attention to students because they have multiple teachers to help;
• Flexible grouping allows for students to move across grade level based upon their learning needs;
• Instruction is fluid from class to class.

The major overall strength of Delwood is the culture of collaboration.  There is a good mix of age groups on the staff which allows for wide-range sharing of talents and expertise.   When meeting in their groups, learning teams bring in formative assessments and conversations are focused on student  achievement.  Every teacher sees all Delwood students as his or her "kids" and strives to meet the learning needs of all students.


Technology is a plus with each grade K-6 possessing at least 10 iPads, 5-6 desktop units, and a Smartboard.   The sixth grade has one-to-one Chromebooks and utilize discovery learning concepts.

The Delwood community is proud of their school.  This year the Delmar Lions Club has donated $500 to spend on the students.  The Lions Club also sponsors a vision screening program that helps students who need them receive glasses.

The supportive School Board does whatever it can to provide for the needs of the school and staff.

Delwood has a strong preschool program and with the implementation of Visual Phonics they are seeing great growth in letter recognition.  Delwood  also provides a wrap around child care program with child care provided before and after school from 7:00 A.M. until 5:30 P.M.  The price to parents is set by a sliding scale. 

Many former students return to Delwood through a high school service learning program.  They are proud to return to their district and want to give back just as they were given to during their time in the district.  A family atmosphere promoting positive  and creative learning - that's Delwood School.