Theodore Roosevelt High School (New York City)

For other schools of a similar name, see Roosevelt High School (disambiguation).

Theodore Roosevelt Educational Campus

Theodore Roosevelt High School is a public high school located in The Bronx, New York City, United States. It was first organized November 14, 1918. When Theodore Roosevelt died on January 6, 1919, the Board of Education decided to give the school his name. The school's sports teams are known as Rough Riders, in honor of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, the unit organized by Colonel (later President) Roosevelt. The school mascot is the teddy bear.

First opened in 1919, the school served for several years as a vocational school and academic courses in the mid-1920s. As the South Bronx suffered from decay in the 1970s, Roosevelt saw an increase in truancy and disorder and a decrease in academic achievement.

During the 1990s, the school briefly enjoyed a renaissance under the leadership of Principal Thelma Baxter, who made efforts to get Roosevelt students to stay in school. In 1996, the school was removed from the state's list of failing schools, and the New York Daily News proclaimed, "Roosevelt HS turns corner."

In 1999, Baxter was promoted to superintendent in Harlem's District 5, and in 2000, Roosevelt returned to the list of failing schools, with a four-year graduation rate of only 33 percent and a reputation for violence. The school was added to the city's list of Impact Schools violent schools to which the mayor assigned more police in 2004 after a riot at the suspension center housed in the building.

The school was closed in accordance with directives from the NYS Education Department and the New York City Department of Education on June 30, 2006, after graduating its last class. For the 2005/2006 school year, the school had the lowest graduation rate in New York City - 3%. The building remains open as the "Theodore Roosevelt Educational Campus", composed of six autonomous small schools: Belmont Preparatory High School, West Bronx Academy for the Future, Fordham Leadership Academy for Business and Technology, Fordham High School for the Arts, KAPPA International High School and the Bronx High School for Law and Community Service.

The building's address is 500 East Fordham Road, directly across the street from the Rose Hill campus of Fordham University.

References

Notes

External links

• Theodore Roosevelt High School website