Category Archives: Schools

K-20

Roosevelt Elementary, under 300 students

 Tacoma Public School has announced that it may close schools in order to save money. Foss is the high school they are considering and elementary schools with less than 300 students are also possibilities. These elementary schools are Franklin, Lyon, Roosevelt, Stanley, McKinley, Wainwright and Geiger. Geiger has had a program change and has been taken off the table. I thought over the next week or so, I’d take photographs of the mentioned schools and use them as my new places of the day.

Read more about possible school closures at : http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/19/1509242/foss-students-fret-over-possible.html#ixzz1Bn2OnEp6

Today’s school is Roosevelt Elementary School at 3550 E. Roosevelt Ave in Tacoma’s Eastside. Their school mascot is the Ram. Information provided by the Tacoma Public Library says the original school building was constructed in 1904 and later sold and moved to make way for the “new” building named in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt. The 1921 date can be seen clearly on the two columns on either side of the entrance. The building had major renovation, in fact looks like an entirely different building with the exception of the columns. Here is a photograph of the 1921 building

http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=4&o=4&n=24285&i=4828#text

McKinley School, under 300 students

Tacoma Public School has announced that it may close schools in order to save money. Foss is the high school they are considering and elementary schools with less than 300 students are also possibilities. These elementary schools are Franklin, Lyon, Roosevelt, Stanley, McKinley, Wainwright and Geiger. Geiger has had a program change and has been taken off the table. I thought over the next week or so, I’d take photographs of the mentioned schools and use them as my new places of the day.

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/19/1509242/foss-students-fret-over-possible.html#ixzz1Bn2OnEp6

The first is McKinley Elementary School at 3702 McKinley Avenue in Tacoma’s Eastside. Their school mascot is the Roadrunner. The original building was constructed in 1908 with additions in 1910 and 1954. It was designed by Frederick Heath, architect and named after the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley. Fredrick Heath was a busy architect! He also designed

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2012 Oakland School

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=1961 Urban Grace

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=1335 Titlow Lodge

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2370 Tacoma Public School’s CAB

McKinley School is considered a high priority to be placed on the historic register. http://www.tacomadailyindex.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=88&cat=23&id=1889351&more=0

To see a darling photograph of McKinley first graders from 1927 go to

http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/images/dt6n.asp?un=2&pg=1&krequest=McKinley&stemming=On&phonic=&fuzzy=&maxfiles=5000

Note that there are 30 desks in that classroom!

For more historic photos, check out this page from Tacoma Public Library.

http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/images/dt6n.asp?krequest=subjects+contains+McKinley%20School%20and%20Tacoma

Tacoma Public Schools, CAB


Tacoma Public Schools, CAB

Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

Tacoma Public School houses most of its administrative functions out of building at 601 S. 8th St. The original part of this building was constructed in1912 and in December 2010 it was placed on Tacoma’s historic register. For more information see http://www.tacomadailyindex.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=88&cat=23&id=1889351&more=0

The architect was Frederick Heath who also designed:

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2012 Oakland School

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=1961 Urban Grace

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=1335 Titlow Lodge

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2370 Tacoma Public School’s CAB

The architectural style of the building is Collegiate Gothic.  The 8 story building was originally known as the Central School and it functioned as Tacoma’s first high school.

To see how the building looked in 1919, go here

http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=7&o=12&n=1307&i=4785#text 

For Students that need an alternative, Oakland School

I was driving around today, taking advantage of a little daylight and a break in the rain when I spotted this building up on the hill. I hadn’t noticed it before, but it looked interesting so I figured out how to get there. Oh! It is Oakland School! I wondered where that was. It is a 8th – 12th grade alternative school for Tacoma students.

Oakland School (3319 S. Adams Street) was built in 1912 by Heath and Gove and qualifies for, but is not yet on, the local register of historic places. The architect was F. H. Heath, who was also the architect for Stadium High School, Lincoln High School, Pythian Temple (all in Tacoma) and Paradise Inn at Mt. Rainier. The architectural style is Jacobean Gothic.

Per Wikipedia, the school served elementary students until 1988, at which time it became an alternative school for high school students. During 2009-10, approximately 250 students attended Oakland. OHS also added a middle school component in the 2009-10 school year.

According to the Washington State Report Card, the school has 235 students, with more boys (58%) than girls. The annual drop out rate is 43%, which is dramatically higher than the 7% figure for the district as a whole. The program at Oakland is designed to meet the needs of students struggling with traditional high school, through an alternative schedule and small school environment.

http://www.tacoma.k12.wa.us/Schools/hs/Pages/Oakland.aspx

Knowledge is here

 

Tonight we went to see an amazing dance performance at Stewart Middle School. Tacoma City Council voted Dec. 7 to approve a resolution placing Stewart Middle School (5010 Pacific Ave.) which was built in 1925 on the local register of historic places. Five other schools were placed on the register at the same time.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/02/23/1083223/tacoma-district-plans-middle-school.html

The school opened as James P. Stewart Intermediate School in honor of Tacoma’s first school teacher who served from 1869 to 1870. He was also the first mayor of Puyallup.  Two other Washington State schools are also named after him.  Roland Borhek was the school’s architect. He also designed the Rialto Theater in Tacoma. To see a photo of the school from 1926, go here http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=4&o=4&n=22468&i=3762#text

According to the historic nomination form the building was constructed in the Neo-Classical Beaux Art style.

Amazing Americano at Metro Coffee

I had heard good things about Metro Coffee, so I stopped in this evening when I had an meeting on the University of Washington, Tacoma campus. It has a small space in one of the historic brick building and an approprately funky coffee shop feel, but mostly I’m impressed with the coffee. It was very, very good. And the service was great too!

1901 Jefferson Ave # B
Tacoma, WA 98402-1611
(253) 627-8152

http://www.tacoma.uw.edu/features/campus-culture/favorite-places-metro-coffee

Here is a fun review of Tacoma coffee shops based on the foam of their tall cappuccino. 
http://i.feedtacoma.com/Erik/blackwater-satellite-coffee-showdown-tacoma/#comments

 

Bird on the feeder

 

I didn’t get anywhere for my new place of the day today because the weather was so incredibly awful! But I did take this photo out my work window. The feeder was empty this morning, but I trudged out in the snow and filled it up. About an hour later there were a dozen starlings fighting over the food. And then a lovely flicker appeared and chanced all the starlings away and happily ate alone.

Wilson High School Home of the Rams


Wilson High School is one of the five, large traditional high schools in the Tacoma School District. Per the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public instruction, the school’s ratio of boys to girls is about 50/50 and the student population is 1,345 students. Wilson has a free and reduced lunch rate of 34.1%, which is lower than the district’s rate as a whole of 57%.

1202 North Orchard St
Tacoma, WA 98406

http://www.tacoma.k12.wa.us/sites/schools/wilson/Pages/Default.aspx

The Furniture Series

Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

Today’s new place of the day was the School of the Art’s Theater in the Ted Brown Building. We saw the Furniture Series and it was excellent. I have to confess that I just didn’t get a good photo while I was there and it was in appropriate to photograph the performance, so I took a photo of the program cover afterward.

School of the Arts (SOTA)

Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

This evening found us at the School of the Arts. In actuality SOTA is in several building in downtown Tacoma and the students get around via public transit.

http://www.tacoma.k12.wa.us/sites/schools/tsota/Pages/Default.aspx

SOTA info on Wikipedia is located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_School_of_the_Arts