Roosevelt class learns about pool, school history

Chloe Dunn had news - Roosevelt Middle School has a swimming pool.

Her mother, Becca English, laughed.

“I heard the same rumor when I was in school,” English said.

Chloe wouldn't let it go. The Jackson Elementary School student, who will attend Roosevelt next year, insisted she was right.

English didn't want her daughter spreading a rumor. She called Roosevelt and spoke with the school's media specialist, Stephan Frischkorn.

It's true, he said.

“I couldn't believe it,” English said. “I heard that story growing up. My husband heard it. We thought it was an urban legend.”

Frischkorn has Roosevelt's original building plans. They include a swimming pool, but funding ran out before it could be finished.

The concrete shell of a four-lane pool is located underneath Roosevelt's cafeteria floor. Accessible by a trap door, the pool is covered in dirt and dust.

It's one piece of history Frischkorn and his colleague, physical education instructor Eric Oliver, share with students in the archives class.

“When you think of history, you think it happened to someone else,” Frischkorn said. “In this class, students learn it happened to people like them - people who lived in their town, their neighborhood, and went to their school.”

The course, offered to select students, uncovers the stories that make Roosevelt unique. Students catalog items given to the school by alumni, examine decades of history through yearbooks and student handbooks, band uniforms and photographs. They give tours of the school, pointing out the differences between the original building and the extension added in 1934.

And, yes, they visit the pool.

“My favorite part is when we have alums interact with the students,” Oliver said. “The stories that come from that are just amazing.”

Kassandra Rocarek was in Roosevelt's first archive class. The Jefferson High School senior still remembers her project - the wall behind the auditorium stage.

“It's covered with signatures of students involved in Roosevelt drama and choir performances,” Rocarek, 17, said. “It shows how many people were involved in Roosevelt's fine arts program.”

Roosevelt, like Franklin, McKinley and Wilson, started as a junior high, then operated as a seventh through 12th grade high school. When Jefferson opened, Roosevelt returned to junior high status. It became a sixth through eighth grade middle school in the 1980s.

“A lot of these kids are second, third generation Roosevelt students,” Oliver said. “They'll find pictures of their grandparents or great-grandparents in a yearbook. Seeing photos of a family member at 16 sparks a project.”

Frischkorn and Oliver haven't taught the archive class in several years because of scheduling conflicts. They hope to offer it in the spring.

The lapse hasn't stopped others' interest in the school's history.

The school recently received an old football helmet that was discovered in a flood-damaged home.

A 1936-37 student handbook also was uncovered by the 2008 flood. Images of the book's pages are available in at Roosevelt's Web site.