Our School

  • A Distinguished History

    As Spokane grew at the end of the 1800s, population spread up the South Hill. There soon was a need for a new neighborhood school and a tradition of excellence began. The original Roosevelt School was housed in a four room frame building located at S. 1415 Bernard. Constructed in 1906, the new school was named for popular Theodore Roosevelt, who was the current president of the United States. 

    Strict Disciplinarian

    The following year in 1907 a new brick building containing eight classrooms was built at 14th and Bernard. Mrs. A. L. Davis was principal that first year. 1908 saw the beginning of the 32-year tenure of Miss Lena Witt as principal. During those years Roosevelt grew from the eight-room building to one with 17 classrooms. Miss Witt guided the school in its numerous activities. She was also the orchestra conductress. Marian Featherstone, who taught art at Roosevelt in 1925, remembers Miss Witt as a strict disciplinarian who had a following of many loyal students and staff. In 1910 five classrooms were added on the rear of the building. 

    Nobel Prize

    One exceptional student who had his roots at Roosevelt during this time was Walter H. Brattain. Mr. Brattain went on to distinguish himself in science, sharing the 1956 Nobel Prize in physics for discovering the transistor. The first class of eight students graduated from the eighth grade in 1912. Miss Witt began a record book of all graduates which was kept until 1956 when 53 eighth graders were promoted. Also recorded in the book are the gifts presented by each class. As each class left Roosevelt, its gift represented an addition to the building. Numerous paintings, light fixtures, library cases, books, and equipment demonstrated the students' desire to pass on excellence. Cub Scout Pack 4 started at Roosevelt in 1916 and still carries on the tradition of scouting as Pack 304 at Roosevelt today. 1917 saw the addition of the eastern wing of the building. Minutes of the Roosevelt PTA note that the new wing was opened with a reception held by the PTA and faculty. "Several hundred patrons attended, inspecting the new wing which has a well-equipped domestic science department, new classrooms, and an auditorium."
old roosevelt elementary building

  • Platoon System

    In 1925-1926 when Miss Featherstone taught at Roosevelt, she said that Grades 4 through 8 were set up on the "platoon system"; i.e., students moved from teacher to teacher after a homeroom period. A class met with her for art on a daily basis. She also remembers that the school was very elegant and that plays were staged frequently. She guided students in the painting of stage curtains. One such curtain was displayed at the J. W. Graham store. About 1925 Miss Witt started "The Cafeteria," an annual affair sponsored by the PTA for the children who liked to bring a picnic to school. Children usually went home for the hour lunch break according to Miss Featherstone. When Mabel Farnsworth came to Roosevelt as principal in 1940, she suggested that it might be a fine money raiser if all of the relatives and friends of the children and members of the PTA came also. It soon became a "gala day."

    Hot Lunch, 25 Cents

    So year after year into the 1950s, loyal PTA mothers sent a hot dish, sandwiches, Jell-O, or cake, and then paid for the fun of everyone to have a party at school. Children paid 25 cents and adults 50 cents. Proceeds from the annual affair were for children’s needs at school. Pauline Drake became principal in 1942 when Roosevelt's student population was 345. A 1944 photo in school files shows young students in costumes for a spring festival pageant. When Mrs. Drake retired in 1948, Everett L. Henderson came to Roosevelt for eight years. PTA minutes of those years indicate that Mr. Henderson, parents, and teachers worked extremely hard to provide the best education for Roosevelt students. 

    Student Presentations

    A variety of student presentations were a part of almost every PTA meeting. Fifth grade students reported on geography, history and culture of Russia followed by a short play and dances. Eighth grade drama classes presented plays. Poems, recitations, singing, tumbling demonstration, band and orchestra presentations were all included. Demonstrations of new audiovisual equipment (tape recorders and film projectors) were also held. During the 50s the PTA Safety Committee made continual attempts to get traffic lights installed at 14th and Lincoln and 14th Grand for the safety of students walking to and from school. The PTA also began work to improve the playground. The school structure remained same until the 1954 addition of the brick multipurpose unit on the south side of the school. On October 18th, 1954, 263 students were served the first hot lunch in the new cafeteria. The PTA bought tables for the new room. 

    Student Activities

    Students were involved in many activities. They received awards in the Scholastic Art Exhibit, shared at a school hobby show, and participated in a Family Fun Night (a fund raiser for PTA). In the mid-50s, boys from Roosevelt made up a grade school dance band called the Starlighters. Arthur B. Dunning came to Roosevelt as principal in 1956. Student enrollment steadily increased to a high of 676 boys and girls in 1959. Frame construction had been added to the east of the brick building in 1955 aid 1958 to provide six additional classrooms. In 1960, when seventh and eighth grades were moved to junior high, UK student population at Roosevelt dropped to 466. Former student and current teacher, Joan Polzin, first arrived at Roosevelt in 1956 as a second grader. She has many fond memories of the "old" Roosevelt. She remembers in particular that Mrs. Mauro would watch the World Series and then use statistics for math lesson. 

    Principal Elected Senator

    In September 1962 Gerald L. Saling became Roosevelt's seventh principal. Saling, who is now Senator from Spokane's Fifth Legislative district, remembers "a fine group of students and parents and an excellent faculty." It was in 1964, while Saling was principal of Roosevelt, that the Roosevelt community helped him win his first election to the Washington State Legislature. He served until 1971 and then went to the Senate in 1984. Nina Bogart served as principal beginning in 1967 and Howard Martinson came to Roosevelt in September 1972. South Hill students attended school in 23 classrooms until the new Roosevelt building was built in 1980. Roosevelt was the last of the 13 schools to be built in the Spokane Public Schools building program. Bruce Duncan, third grade teacher, remembers that during construction he and his students were bused to Emerson School for class. 

    Wonderful Playground

    Roosevelt was one of three schools to be the recipient of the Junior League Creative Playgrounds pilot project in 1976. "Hundreds of hours were expended by volunteers at each school and a true community effort was put forth to complete these structures by the fall of 1976," wrote Kathy Watt, project chair. The benefits were innumerable: pride in a community effort, fewer fights and injuries once children were actually playing on the structures, and more opportunities for muscle development and enhanced coordination and motor skills. The new building was completed in April 1981. After the move Gene Wooley became principal September 1981. Roosevelt athletic teams were known as The Raiders and students adopted the new "Roosevelt Raider" symbol at this time. This identification ties Roosevelt students to our namesake, Theodore Roosevelt and his rough Riders. 

    Teddy Bear

    Another outgrowth of Theodore Roosevelt is the Teddy Bear, and Roosevelt School has adopted a "We Bears Care" theme to symbolize the caring that happens among the students, faculty, and parents. Roosevelt now serves 550 students in grades K-6. With the help of its still-involved PTG, Roosevelt entered the computer age with a computer in each classroom and computer clubs for primary and intermediate students. Students also learn video techniques to be used on Roosevelt's own TV network, KRES. Of course there are still the plays, the spelling bees, and the singing and musical presentations. 

    In 1988 Roosevelt was one of ten Washington schools chosen by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Frank Brouillett for the U. S. Department of Education’s Exceptional Elementary Schools Program. Roosevelt's attention to detail and dedication to students were among the factors leading to its selection. Students at Roosevelt receive an excellent education. The extensive application was completed by Joan Polzin who returned to Roosevelt in 1980 to teach second grade. Mrs. Polzin reflects, “Roosevelt Elementary School can be proud of its service to the Spokane community. This is reflected by the many fine citizens who at one time attended Roosevelt. Some of these same people have chosen to return to the Roosevelt school attendance area in order to send their children to this school." Roosevelt has a tradition of excellent education and continues to be one of the most progressive schools in the state of Washington.