055_Pleasant Hill School

055_Pleasant Hill School

This is a page from the collection "Bicentennial Reflections: History of Des Moines Public Schools, 1876-1976" by Dr. Robert R. Denny, published by the Des Moines Public Schools in Des Moines, Iowa in 1976.

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53 On March 4, 1975, the Board of Eduation awarded a contract to the Lovejoy Construction Company for the addition of a physical education facility. The total cost for this addition was $103,000. The Pleasant Hill School Program Principals who have served there are: 1909 - 1910 Miss Warren 1910- 1914 Katherine Dent 1914- 1918 Emma Bradley 1919-1920 M. J. Wilcox 1920- 1937 J. Ella Baker 1937-1957 Ruth Pritchard 1957 - 1965 Kenneth E. Rouse 1965 - Richard Rose PLEASANT HILL SCHOOL 4801 East Oakwood Drive 50317 Grades K-6 The Pleasant Hill Independent School District operated the school until 1961, at this time the Southeast Polk School district was formed by a number of schools in the eastern part of Polk County. The Polk County Board of Education arbitrarily assigned the present Pleasant Hill attendance area to the Des Moines Public Schools. The Des Moines District kept the Pleasant Hill building open for one year, and then started transporting the pupils to Willard School. The school building is now the Town Hall. As the population of the Town of Pleasant Hill grew it became necessary to house some of the pupils at Longfellow School. Once more it was time for a change. The citizens of the Des Moines Independent Community School District voted bonds again and in 1972 built a fine new fireproof building. This new school is an open space building, designed to accommodate 420 pupils, with thirteen teaching stations, four in each of three large open learning centers, and one room for the five year olds. In addition to these learning centers we have a music room, an art room, a media center and a combination gym and cafeteria. Our building was designed by architects McKlveen and Carney. The general contractor was Vawter and Walter Inc. The cost was approximately $660,000. The three open learning centers provide for three Units in a Multi-Unit School organization. The 5-6-7 year olds are in Unit A, the 8-9-10's in Unit B and the 10-11-12's in Unit C. At this point in our development we include the five year olds very little in the daily routine with the older pupils in Unit A. This is mainly due to the half day sessions for five year olds (kindergarten). The teachers in each Unit work as a teaching team. One of the team members is employed as the Team Leader and receives a small monetary remuneration for this position. The Unit Leaders and the Principal serve as the Instructional Improvement Committee (LLC.) for the school. One of the main functions of this group is to coordinate the activities of the three Units. While there are a good many different organizational plans being used to meet the challenge of individualized learning, the concept is becoming widely accepted throughout the country. Our organization pattern is a product of the Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Cognitive Learning. We are glad to have a part in developing this concept of Individually Guided Education (I.G.E.p. The idea of I.G.E. is well stated in the expression, "One at a time together", which suggests that "individual does not necessarily mean "separate". We accept the philosophy of teaching by objectives with continuous assessments of progress. We believe that learning takes place best when attention is given to the particular needs, abilities and interests of the individual learner. Attention must also be given to differences in learning modes and styles. Phillips (Photograph) Pleasant Hill (Photograph) Rice (Photograph) Samuelson (Photograph)