HOOVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

HOOVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. Hoover, an elementary school located on St. Anne Drive, was named in honor of Herbert Hoover, first President of the United States born west of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER (West Branch, Iowa). At its dedication ceremony on November 17, 1968, a set of books and a bust of Herbert Hoover were donated to the school by the Hoover family; Hoover Foundation on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University; and the Hoover Foundation in West Branch, Iowa.

The school was noted at the time for its innovative design. Classrooms were located in two octagonal-shaped clusters around learning centers. There were no doors between the learning center and the rooms. Few permanent walls separated the individual classrooms at either the primary or intermediate levels.

In 1968 Hoover School became Iowa's first elementary school to use the innovative Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) program published by Rand McNally and eventually the basis of the district's science program. In 1973 the building was the first in the DUBUQUE COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT to pilot a program for the talented and gifted. The school's unique physical design and its programming led it to be featured in articles appearing in educational magazines. (1) In 2013 Hoover and EISENHOWER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL piloted the use of standalone air conditioning units in classrooms. Designed for, but constructed without air conditioning in the 1960s, the buildings not for years relied on open doors to the playground and fans for cooling. (2)

For being one of the smaller buildings in the district, Hoover provided a disproportionate number of presidents of the DUBUQUE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION including Barbara K. SMELTZER, Randolph W. LYON, Susan McCord, and Peggy Becker.

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Source:

1. Lyon, Randolph W., Teacher in fourth, fifth and sixth grades at Hoover for a total of thirty-eight years

2. Becker, Stacey, "Local Schools Find Tools to Stay Cool," Telegraph Herald, August 27 2013, p. 1A