Presidio and Roosevelt Schools Celebrate 75th

By Adam Brody

After serving the community for the better part of a century, the Presidio and Roosevelt middle schools will be celebrating their 75th anniversary in November. "We're calling it 'Presidio's alive at 75,'" said Presidio Principal Alvin Dea.

Dea said the school's anniversary celebration will have a retro theme.

"We're reprinting issues of the 'Presidian' from the '30s," he said. Presidio's Nov. 16 event will culminate with school-wide assemblies at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., where winners of the PTSA student writing contest will read their essays.

Roosevelt Middle School will celebrate its anniversary and dedication Wednesday, Nov. 9.

"We will have an acknowledgement celebration," said Roosevelt Principal Diane Panagotacos. "I'm just not sure exactly what it will entail; probably a school-wide assembly I did look up Johnny Mathis' Web site, because he graduated from Roosevelt, to see if there was anyway we could convince him to come back."

Unfortunately, Mathis is scheduled to be traveling in New Jersey and Michigan at the time.

"I am encouraging any alumni or anyone with memorabilia, as well as anyone who would like to help plan or participate in the celebration to contact me," Panagotacos said. "I want it to be something that people want to get involved in."

Panagotacos plans to invite the superintendent of education in Sacramento, whom she met at a conference in May, when the school won the Title 1 Academic Achievement Award.

Roosevelt Middle School is a descendant of the Lobos Avenue Primary School, which opened its doors to 165 students on Sept. 3, 1877. By 1888, it was known as the Richmond Primary School and then the Roosevelt School (after President Teddy Roosevelt). In 1912, the school moved to its present location at Geary and Arguello boulevards. The current building was erected in 1930.

Both middle schools now serve students in grades six through eight. Although the two schools were dedicated just days apart, the aesthetics of the school buildings are stark opposites.

Taking up an entire city block, bordered by 29th and 30th avenues and Clement Street and Geary Boulevard, Presidio's large buildings are painted in pastels of blue and peach and green and yellow, with grand columns, circular windows and arches adorned with figureheads. Two concrete lions guard either side of the brick steps leading into the auditorium. The large outside yard is split into upper and lower levels divided by a long chain-link fence, with kids dressed in black and silver gym uniforms running back and forth during gym period.

Twenty-eight blocks east of Presidio, running along the 400 block of Arguello Boulevard, Roosevelt's almost entirely red brick building and imposing tower is reminiscent of America's east coast. The interior has an old-world feel; stretches of wood paneling lead through a hallway to a foyer decorated with various school banners. A yard with 10 basketball hoops and a baseball backstop bumps up against Palm Avenue, while two bungalows, labeled B1 and B2, sit in the southeastern corner. Now, as the two schools reach their mid 70s and look ahead, a passage from the Roosevelt Middle School hymn echoes in the background: "All hail to the gold and blue! We'll sing out the story, and we'll fight for her glory, her fame we will renew."

For more information about Roosevelt events, contact Panagotacos at (415) 750-8446 or e-mail dpanago@muse.sfusd.k12.ca.us.