Dodge Elementary School

Dodge Elementary School - A National School of Excellence

Olive J. Dodge Elementary School was recently recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. Located in the suburban Cottage Hill area of Mobile, Dodge School serves as a shining example of the best that our public schools have to offer. Possessing a reputation as an award winning school in the area of parent and community involvement, Dodge has grown in size and population since it opened with facilities for 670 students in 1967. During the fall of 1997, through a collaborative effort of our staff, students, parents, and school board representatives, a multipurpose building, which is used for physical education classes, school programs, and community activities, was built. Half of our students were able to move from twenty-one portable classrooms into two new classroom additions. The 2000 – 2001 school year saw our student population of 934 students in kindergarten through fifth grade band together as we met the unique challenges that occurred when our original building was completely renovated and additional classrooms were added.The mission of Dodge School is to provide all students with a quality education, which will allow them to become productive citizens. Our socio-economic population is indicative of the neighborhood surrounding our school, and this mission helps to guide us as we endeavor to meet the needs of all our students.We at Dodge consider ourselves champions of the environment and our school is characterized by a concern for the world around us as our students strive to become environmental stewards. Parents and teachers have been awarded grants that have helped us implement an aluminum can recycling program, plant a vegetable garden which benefits our local food bank’s “Plant a Row for the Hungry” project, and build an outdoor classroom to provide teachers the opportunity to extend instruction outdoors and engage students in many hands-on activities relating to the environment.Dodge Elementary is one of a limited number of elementary schools in Mobile County to offer weekly hands-on inquiry based investigations in its curriculum for fourth and fifth grades through our model science lab staffed by a full-time science teacher. We see evidence of this daily as student meteorologists collect data from our Dodge Weather Station and give daily weather reports during morning announcements. Because of its renown in the area of science education, Dodge was selected as a demonstration site for the National Building a Presence for Sciences movement, sponsored by major corporations throughout the country.Our faculty and staff are committed to preparing our students for a highly technical society. All of our classrooms are wired for the Internet and are equipped with at least one computer, and a computer lab is located in our media center. Besides being available for class instruction, these computers are utilized with the Accelerated Reader program and the STAR computerized assessment plan, which were established to enhance our reading program.Recognizing the importance of having parents feel that they are an integral part of their children’s school experience, we encourage our parents to become involved in all aspects of Dodge School. Our success is evidenced by our Eagle’s Nest Community Playground that was built in the fall of 1999 by parents and community volunteers. Our parents have helped to build a recycling center, create a butterfly garden, and establish a wetland area, as well as serve as volunteers in individual classrooms, the health room, the computer lab, and the library. Because of our parental involvement, the Dodge PTA has received the Mobile County Council PTA Outstanding Unit Award each year since 1995.The faculty of Dodge School regularly assesses student progress to identify strengths and weaknesses and to make plans for improvement through the Effective Schools program. The excellence of our school’s educational program can be evidenced by student scores on the Stanford Achievement Test as Dodge ranks in the top 9% of all elementary schools in Mobile County. We continue to grow professionally as a faculty under the guidance and leadership of our principal. Recognized for her exceptional leadership, and due to the willingness and confidence of our faculty to accept a challenge, Olive J. Dodge Elementary School feels honored to have been selected by the Mobile County School Board as one of eight schools to pilot a Site-Based Management program.Our school motto, “Soaring High for Excellence”, offers a worthy challenge for the entire Dodge community. As we embrace the challenge of educating our youth, the faculty and staff of Dodge School are committed to making our school the best it can be.in the assessment materials of the adopted reading and math programs. The results of these assessments are listed in Table 8 and Table 9. Teachers use a variety of diagnostic tools to help evaluate our educational program, teachers’ effectiveness, and students’ performance.Olive J. Dodge Elementary School currently serves a student population of 1048 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Our enrollment has steadily increased over the past four years due to new residential development within the school’s district. The diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds of our students are reflective of the community in which we are located. The ethnic composition of our school is 63% White, 32% Black, 2% Asian/Pacific Islander, 2% Hispanic, and 1% Other, and has proportionally remained the same over the past five years. As a result of redistricting and the economic status of new families moving into the community, the number of students receiving free breakfast and lunch has decreased 9% with the number of reduced lunches increasing 3% since the 1997-1998 school year. Although records prior to 1998 are unavailable, the gender composition of Dodge from 1998 to the present remains relatively the same. The number of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students attending Dodge has steadily decreased from 3% during the 1998-1999 school year to currently 1%. Our school attendance rate has remarkably increased from 96% to 98% over the past three years.Dodge offers a wide variety of programs and services for those students who require a modified curriculum or specialized instruction. Exceptionalities include Gifted and Talented (PACE), Specific Learning Disability (SLD), Speech and Language Impaired (SLI), Mental Retardation (MR), Other Health Impaired (OHI), Emotionally Disturbed (ED), Autistic (AUT), Visually Impaired (VI), and Developmentally Delayed (DD). Surrounded by the suburban neighborhood it serves, Olive J. Dodge Elementary School was constructed in 1967 in the heart of west Mobile, Alabama. Originally built to house 670 students, Dodge Elementary School has experienced many changes as its population has grown over the years. A milestone was reached in the fall of 1997 when half of our students moved from twenty-one portable classrooms into two new classroom additions. Through a collaborative effort of our parents and our physical education department and working with our school board representative, a multipurpose building was also erected to meet the needs of our students and the surrounding community. In the fall of 1999, teachers, parents, and community members worked together to build the Eagle’s Nest Playground on the school campus. During the 2000 – 2001 and 2001-2002 school years, the main building was completely renovated and six new classrooms were built. The construction of the two new classroom buildings, the renovation of the main building with the addition of six new classrooms, the addition of a multipurpose building, and the construction of a student designed playground all reflect significant changes in our school over the last few years. Other significant changes in our school are the improved student daily attendance rate, which increased from ninety-six percent (96%) in 1998 to ninety-eight percent (98%) in 2000, and has increased with the steady increase in enrollment, One unique characteristic that sets Dodge apart from comparable schools is the very successful collaboration between the administration, teachers, parents, and community to provide a quality educational program for the students. One shining example of this collaboration between stakeholders is the award-winning environmental education program that was recently developed at Dodge. Further collaboration is evidenced by the numerous awards received by the administration, teachers, parents, and students over the last few years. Dodge School offers a large variety of cocurricular activities in addition to the academic curriculum. These cocurricular activities allow the students to grow physically, emotionally, and socially as well as academically. Some of these opportunities include Student Council, 4-H, Pull-Tabs for Ronald McDonald House, St. Jude’s Math-a-Thon, Bay Area Food Bank, Plant a Row for the Hungry, Thanksgiving and Christmas gift baskets, caroling at local nursing homes, providing Christmas ornaments to Providence Cancer Unit and St. Mary’s Home, collecting clothing for the needy, contributing to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Jump Rope for Heart, Delchamps Charity Run, Red Cross Fun Run, and the Azalea Trail Run. Additional cocurricular activities include, Bay Bear Monster Reading Program, Math Team, Young Author’s Conference, Eagle Sound Chorus, Fourth and Fifth Grade Dance and Drill Team, National PTA Reflections Cultural Arts Contest, Greater Gulf State Fair Art Contest, Buckle-Up Alabama Poster Contest, Donna Lowe Writing Contest, Martin Luther King, Jr. Poster Contest, Springhill Memorial Hospital's Color By Kids Contest, Safety Patrol, Flag Patrol, Green Patrol, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and CiCi’s Pizza Family Night. Because of the large variety of cocurricular activities offered at Dodge, there is a high participation rate among the students.Dodge School is fortunate to have several Partners in Education that assist and support the programs at our school. Dodge’s Partners in Education are CiCi’s Pizza, Target, Alpha Gamma Delta, Chick-Fil-A, Kingswood United Methodist Church, and Ultratanz (USA).These Partners in Education are a valuable asset to the educational program at Dodge.