New Catholic school, church building ‘Arc’ to Bettendorf’s future

From growing up in the Diocese of Davenport, Andy Craig was aware of the parochial rivalry between Bettendorf’s two Catholic churches, Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint John Vianney. So the president of Scott County Catholic Schools (SCCS) admits having serious doubts in July 2020 when heading into the first committee meeting about a new […]

From growing up in the Diocese of Davenport, Andy Craig was aware of the parochial rivalry between Bettendorf’s two Catholic churches, Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint John Vianney. So the president of Scott County Catholic Schools (SCCS) admits having serious doubts in July 2020 when heading into the first committee meeting about a new school to replace the aging facilities at Lourdes — and perhaps someday merge the two parishes into a single new church in northeast Bettendorf. “But I got chills after that first meeting because there were people there putting aside any of the us vs. them thinking,” said Mr. Craig, the spokesperson for the 10-member executive committee behind the new Saint Joan of Arc School. “I remember telling somebody ‘I feel so different than I have at any of my previous meetings between Lourdes and Vianney.’ There was a ‘we’ feeling with everybody believing this was a good thing that we needed to work together to make happen,” he told the QCBJ.

Spring start possible

A little more than three years later, dirt moving on the site began Wednesday, Oct. 18, to prepare for the start of construction in the Spring 2024. The official ground-breaking ceremony has yet to be determined. The 65-acre plot at the corner of Bettendorf’s Hopewell Avenue and Criswell Street was purchased last January. The Davenport-based Russell is managing the project, which Mr. Craig said is expected to cost between $40 million to $45 million depending on the school’s final design and the cost of construction materials. Mr. Craig added that cooperative weather is needed to realize a “very ambitious goal” to have the school completed in time to begin the 2025-26 academic year that fall. The new school, named St. Joan of Arc, will expand the preschool to eighth-grade offerings currently at Lourdes, as well as consolidate the infant-to-3-year-old daycares at both Bettendorf parishes. It also will add early childhood instruction.

Daycare at a premium

“Daycare is so big because it’s at a premium in the area — and it’s super expensive,” Mr. Craig said. “So the more we can provide, the better — and it’s also an initial entry into our school system.” Behind-the-scenes fundraising for the project began in early 2023, he said, adding that the public portion of the campaign officially kicked off in early December. According to a Saturday, Dec. 9, post on the “One Faith, One Family, One Future” project website, three days after that kickoff the project had more than $650,000 in new gifts and pledges helping it surpass a celebration goal of $15 million.

“The response has been awesome so far and we’re still working hard moving forward,” Mr. Craig said. The next goals being $25 million and $35 million. “Our campaign chairs have been amazing. They're finding people that might not even be Lourdes parishioners. They're just supportive of the expansion of Catholic schools and Catholic churches in that area.” For those interested in donating, visit the website here. The site includes nearly five full pages recognizing the current donor list of nearly 900 businesses, organizations, families and individuals. “The new building to me isn't as exciting as those things that are going into making it happen,” Mr. Craig said, crediting the spirit of teamwork to the two pastors — The Rev. Jason Crossen (Lourdes) and The Rev. Rich Adam (Vianney). “If it was one parish trying to do this? It wouldn't happen. So, to see the guard dropped between Lourdes and Vianney and instead watch a partnership develop between those two has been incredible to witness,” Mr. Craig said. “They’re both unbelievably excellent, forward-thinking men who have helped direct both of their congregations to say ‘This is for the best of all of us. Let's put the past aside. It’s different now and let's make it happen.’”

Enrollment is growing

A maximum of 450 students in K-8 are expected at Joan of Arc — or nearly 200 more than the current enrollment of 253 at Lourdes, Mr. Craig said. With the kindergarten class doubling from last year, he added, Lourdes realized a nearly 25% growth overall this term. The new building also is projected to house 140 preschoolers and 40 more for child-care, with Lourdes (80 students) and Vianney (40) nearly combining for those numbers this term. “I truly believe when we open the school, we’ll be full on Day One,” he said, with projections including two classes of 25 students apiece across each of the nine grades. “Expansion already has come up in lots of conversations. It's a question that goes to the architects, and they’re doing some work on this with us getting them any data we can. “So, let's say we wanted to expand, what would that look like and how would we do that? Which is a weird conversation to have because we haven't even built the place. Are you talking about making it bigger now or expanding to make it bigger later? All of that is a good problem to have.”

Plans currently call for nearly 80,000 square feet of space in a two-story building along with a 50,000-square-foot playground and an 8,000-square-foot outdoor learning area. Among the features is a separate wing with its own entrance for child-care and pre-kindergarten classrooms. Joan of Arc also includes a 60-seat chapel for Masses, religious instruction and sacramental preparation. Along with fully equipped science and STEM labs, the new school will offer dedicated rooms for art and music, with the latter including a performance stage. A full-service kitchen also will serve the school and other large events, with a commons area doubling as the cafeteria — which will open up to a high-school-size gymnasium with locker rooms and bleachers to accommodate everything from physical education to athletic games, plus school and parish events. “Our committee conversations are different than I am having with my counterparts across the country and in Iowa,” Mr. Craig said. “Instead of talking about closing, like they are elsewhere, we’re talking about building and expanding for the future — and that’s exciting.”

Identifying growth area 

Joan of Arc will be the first new Catholic School in Scott County since Davenport’s John F. Kennedy Catholic opened in 1964. Also part of the SCCS system are Davenport elementary counterparts All Saints and St. Paul’s, plus Assumption High School. Lourdes school was founded in 1919 but moved into a new building in 1953 at the present downtown Bettendorf location on Mississippi Boulevard and 14th Street. Sparked by changes resulting from nearby construction of the new Interstate 74 Bridge, Mr. Craig said, the Lourdes parish launched a facility review in 2016 and found among the current problems were costly structural issues and an aging boiler that both needed fixing. That led to the consideration of building new instead — and also growing with a community rapidly expanding to the northeast, with the TBK Bank Sports Complex spurring housing and commercial developments in the area of the new school.

Diocese, Bettendorf grow

Mr. Craig said the Diocese projects 2,000 more Catholics alone residing in Bettendorf by 2035, with the city’s overall population expected to grow by 23%. “It makes sense — go where the people are. It's a tremendous opportunity for us to grow,” said Mr. Craig. The 1995 Assumption High School grad was a former dean, principal and president at his alma mater before SCCS officially formed in June 2021 to unite the area’s Catholic schools. The Pleasant Valley Community School District also is planning to expand again in the same area, too. PV’s school board approved on Monday, Oct. 9, the purchase of land at the corner of Wells Ferry Road & Forest Grove Drive for the district’s seventh elementary school. The new school will be the third PV has built in the area since 2011 when Hopewell Elementary opened a mile west of Middle Road near the corner of Devils Glen Road & Hopewell Avenue. Forest Grove Elementary opened in 2021 – a mile east of the TBK Bank Sports Complex and the intersection of Middle Road & Forest Grove Drive. PV’s new school is a mere mile east of Forest Grove Elementary on the same road. South of those two institutions, Hopewell and Joan of Arc schools are 2.4 miles apart on the same street. Joan of Arc and the new PV school are less than a mile from each other. “It may be wild to think of all those schools in such a short vicinity, but that'll tell you how big that area is blowing up,” Mr. Craig said. “I have heard several times now from my colleagues in education that PV will be the largest district in Iowa before too long. So, we’re definitely expanding in the right place.” According to PV, the district’s enrollment is projected to surpass 7,000 students by the 2029-30 school year. Forest Grove Elementary and PV Junior High are already adding expansions for the 2024-25 term. PV High School also has a project beginning in March 2024 to add space for 700 more students – to an already 1,700 student building – by the 2025-26 academic year.

New church possible

While the current focus is on building the new Catholic school, site plans reserve a 30-acre area east of the school to add a new Catholic church. “But how big or what that church will include still is up in the air,” Mr. Craig said. “The big question will be to decide what to do with Lourdes and Vianney. Do they combine into the new church? Or does it replace just Lourdes for instance?” “The conversation is going in the direction of what a combined church would look like. But I don't think that decision has been finalized yet. Those are all decisions a little above my pay grade. We have to wait for the next Bishop to make the final call.” The Diocese of Davenport is awaiting a new Bishop after Pope Francis appointed the Most Rev. Thomas Zinkula to be the next Archbishop of Dubuque over the summer. Lourdes and Vianney are three miles or a 10-minute drive from each other. Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church was founded downtown at the corner of 14th Street and Mississippi Boulevard in 1903 — and moved across the street to its present location in 1908 — with a new church building opening in 1963, according to the church website. St. John Vianney Catholic Church was founded in 1965 downhill and a half-mile away from the site of a new Bettendorf High School on 18th Street when the bedroom community first began expanding to the north. According to the July 2020 meeting notes, among the future problems facing Vianney is the site offers limited facility expansion unless property is acquired from the surrounding neighborhood just north of Tanglefoot Lane. To read the full notes from that first meeting, visit this website.