Students, alumni and staff of Jefferson High School gathered last Saturday to celebrate the official opening of their remodeled school.
     After several years of construction – during which students were taught in portable buildings – the public was invited to tour the school that has been spruced up to the tune of $7.5 million so far, with $2.4 million left to go.
     As the oldest high school in the district, Jefferson was desperate for some improvements, said Jefferson Union High School District Superintendent Mike Crilly.
“This is the first major improvement at Jefferson since the old mission-style school building was torn down after the earthquake of 1957,” he said. “This is a significant milestone in the history of Jefferson High School.”
     Class of ’42 graduate, Bunny Gillespie, currently the Daly City Historian, said that she is thrilled to see the improvements to her alma mater.
“But I have to miss the old mission style,” she said, standing next to the brand new administration offices. “I remember being in the cafeteria and eating their wonderful spaghetti, and cheese on hard rolls.”
     But Crilly says that not all of the older school buildings are gone forever – the actual classrooms that have been remodeled as the improved wood and auto shop date back to the ‘30s. He said that there is a place in the school where a classroom must be entered by walking up two stairs, because the new structure was built on top of the old cafeteria building, specifically on a solid block of concrete that served as the stage.
“It seems really strange that you have to enter that classroom by walking up the stairs when all the other classrooms are on the same level as the hallway, until you learn what used to be there,” Crilly said.
     Phase II of the improvements at Jefferson High School, which includes bringing facilities around the gymnasium up-to-date, will soon be underway, Crilly was quick to point out that the gymnasium itself will remain the same “classic pit” style, a promise that brought cheers from the audience.
“We’re going to clean it up wit some fresh paint, new locker rooms in the back, and we’ll clean up the skylight in the gym that has been closed for a long time,” he said. “In the end, the community will have invested almost $10 million in renewing this school.”
     Although in 1994, a preliminary assessment of necessary repairs in the district totaled $45 million, voters came out in force in November 1995 to support a $30 million bond to improve the district’s schools, Crilly said. About $2.4 million in additional funding for the project came from the passage of Proposition 1A.
“We are ever so grateful the voters in he community gave us their blessing,” he said.
     Besides the renewed facilities celebrated at the ribbon cutting ceremony, Crilly said that he has watched the student body’s pride in their school grow over time.
“The Jefferson student body watched the renewal going on for two years of construction – I think when you gradually see changes, and the money invested in your school it says that you must be important, it builds confidence, and that plays out in school spirit.”
     Crilly said that the afternoon after the ribbon cutting, he watched Jefferson overtake St. Ignatious high School on the football field, 21-14, a “pride just oozed from the bleachers.”
“It capped a perfect day for Jefferson,” he said. “I think the people who came out to the ribbon cutting got a glimpse of what a real student body is like – these are fine young men and women, and they are probably no different than the kids who went there in the ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. They have the same aspirations, they are the same hard workers, and they all love their school.”
     Terra Nova High School in Pacifica celebrated similar renovations the same day, Crilly said, having been refurbished over the past two years. Currently Westmoor High School is also undergoing renovations.