Theodore Roosevelt High School (Washington, D.C.)

Theodore Roosevelt High School is a public high school operated by the District of Columbia Public Schools in the Petworth neighborhood of Ward 4 neighborhood of Northwest Washington, D.C. Roosevelt enrolls 698 students (2017–2018) in ninth through 12th grade.[4] Additionally, the high school is also home to Roosevelt S.T.A.Y. program, an alternative academic and career/technical program that leads to a high school diploma or vocational certificate.

Theodore Roosevelt High School
listed in the NRHP as "Roosevelt Senior High School"
Address
4301 13th Street Northwest[1] District of Columbia , DC 20011 United States
Coordinates	38°56′36″N 77°1′41″W
Information
School type	Public high school
Established	1932
School district	District of Columbia Public Schools Ward 4
Faculty	66.0 (on FTE basis)[2]
Grades	9 to 12
Enrollment	600 (as of 2016–17)[3]
Student to teacher ratio	10.36[2]
Campus type	Urban
Color(s)	Orange   Blue
Mascot	Rough Riders
Website	theodorerooseveltdc.org

The high school, located at 13th and Upshur Streets NW was built in 1932 to accommodate 1,200 students. Just prior to the 2016–2017 academic year, it completed a $121 million, two-year facility modernization.[5] During the renovation period, classes were conducted at the MacFarland Middle School campus nearby at 4400 Iowa Avenue, NW.[6] The school campus has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

Business High School classroom circa 1899.

Plans for the school began in 1920, and it opened in 1932. The 64-room school was designed to hold 1,551 students.[7] Alongside a regular college entrance curriculum, the school included business-oriented classes to accommodate the interests of white students who had previously been served by the Business High School at Ninth Street and Rhode Island Avenue Northwest.[7] The business focus was in contrast to the technical focus of McKinley Technical High School and Armstrong Technical High School.[7] The school was integrated in 1953, one of the first schools in the District of Columbia to do so.[7]

Uncovered New Deal artwork

In 1934, art students under the guidance of the Baltimore-born artist Nelson Rosenberg[8] created a mural in the cafeteria. Titled An American Panorama, the mural was created as part of the New Deal-era Public Works of Art Project. It was later accompanied by other murals, added by later students, around the school.[7] An American Panorama was uncovered during renovation work in the cafeteria in fall 2013.[9] The fresco is currently being restored and will be incorporated into the final renovation.

Notable alumni

• Lennard Freeman (b. 1995), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
• Charlene Drew Jarvis (b. 1941), educator and former scientific researcher and politician[10]
• Shirley Ann Jackson (1964), a physicist, and the eighteenth president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is the first African-American woman to have earned a PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[11]
• Bowie Kuhn, Baseball Commissioner[12]
• Phil Perlo, American football player[13]
• Abe Pollin, Owner Washington Bullets, Washington Capitals[14]
• Sharon Pratt (Sharon Pratt Kelly, Sharon Pratt Dixon), 1961 – DC politician (Mayor of DC, 1991 to 1995)[15]
• Diane Rehm, 1954, American public radio talk show host[16]
• Bill Smith, former MLB player (St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies)[17]
• Kate Smith (1907–86), singer, attended Business High School—likely class of 1924.[18]
• Irvin Yalom, 1931 psychiatrist, author.[19]

References

1. GNIS entry for Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School; USGS; December 31, 1981.
2. National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 6, 2011.
3. "Roosevelt High School". Retrieved 13 January 2015.
4. "School Profiles Home". profiles.dcps.dc.gov. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
5. "Roosevelt High School Project". DC Department of General Services. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
6. "Roosevelt High School @ MacFarland". Retrieved 13 January 2015.
7. Bireda, Saba (September 2003). "Theodore Roosevelt High School". DC North.
8. "Nelson Rosenberg". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
9. Wiener, Aaron. "Rough Ride: Can a new building, redrawn boundaries, and a changing neighborhood transform D.C.'s struggling Roosevelt High School?". Washington City Paper. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
10. Milloy, Courtland (8 September 1982). "Jarvis Pushes D. C. Heritage In Her Race For Mayor". The Washington Post.
11. "NRC: Honorable Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, Commissioner". Nuclear Regulatory Commission. December 1998.
12. "Bowie Kent Kuhn". Major League Baseball. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
13. "Phil Perlo -". Pro Football Archives. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
14. Williams, Juan (17 February 1991). "Holding Back the Shadows". The Washington Post.
15. Perl, Peter (31 January 1993). "The Mayor's Mystique". The Washington Post.
16. Austermuhle, Martin (August 22, 2016). "Diane Rehm And Isabel Wilkerson Remember Roosevelt High Over The Years". WAMU.
17. "Bill Smith Baseball Stats". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
18. Ware, Susan. Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century. Harvard University Press. p. 596. ISBN 978-0-674-01488-6.
19. "Yalom Q&A". GW Magazine Archives. The George Washington University. Retrieved 19 August 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Roosevelt High School Modernization Project, District of Columbia Department of General Services
• Roosevelt High School Profile, District of Columbia Public Schools