Jefferson Elementary Centennial Celebration on May 28, 2014

Posted by Andy Hinds

History of Jefferson Elementary

As San Diego gears up to celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of Balboa Park next year, a smaller celebration is being planned for nearby Jefferson Elementary, which is marking its 100^th year serving families in North Park and beyond.

According to Donald P. Covington’s North Park: A San Diego Urban Village, “…in June 1912, the Board of Education announced that an entire block in West End had been purchased for $12,000 for the purpose of building a new elementary school ‘to relieve the congested condition now existing in the northeast district.’” That school would be Jefferson Elementary. The original plans, drawn by T.C. Kistner, called for a “sixteen-room building of ‘fireproof’ hollow tile and stucco construction in the decorative Spanish Revival Style of the Exposition current under construction in Balboa Park.”

I called the San Diego Historical Society to see if I could find out more about how and when the old Spanish Style school was demolished and replaced with the modern version. The archivist there found some old newspaper articles explaining that there had been a vote in 1959 to tear down the old school because parts of it were unsafe and it needed to be updated and enlarged. The construction of the new Jefferson Elementary was completed in 1961, and included a “modernistic screen wall” on the east side of the “patio play yard” made out of tiles from the old building’s roof.

The school has obviously undergone dramatic changes since then; but it plays the same role as educator and community hub in our neighborhood.

(We couldn't justify the cost of paying to use these photos here, but there are some great pictures on the San Diego History Center website of Jefferson Elementary and other schools back in the day.)

Tentative Schedule for Centennial Celebration

On May 28, 2014, Jefferson will host an event to celebrate its Centennial. A tentative schedule is below:

• 4:30-5:30 Alumni Reunion at the Literacy Garden and school library
• Alumni mixer: meet alumni young and less young
• Show and Tell! Alumni encouraged to bring in yearbooks, pictures and other Jefferson artifacts to share
• 5:30-6:30 Centennial Celebration at Bookworm Playground and Joint Use Field
• Tentative guest speaker agenda: Mayor Faulconer, City Coucil President Todd Gloria, Superintendent Cindy Marten, student speakers (2-3), Principal Morga, and at least one alumni speaker
• 6:30-7:30 International Baccalaureate (IB) Open House and 5th Grade IB Exhibition
• All classrooms will be open to showcase IB work done this year
• Student-guided tours of the classrooms and IB work
• 5th grade students will present IB Exhibition projects in the auditorium

      

If you are a Jefferson alumnus, please contact us!

Plans are ongoing, and we hope to recruit more alumni to attend and perhaps speak. Unfortunately, data on students who attended more than a few decades ago is very sparse, so we are asking alumni to call the school at (619) 344-3300 and leave your information so that we can send them invitations. Or you can email Friends of Jefferson at friendsofjeffersonnp@gmail.com .  If you are an alumnus, or you know anybody who is, please pass on the information!

A Rainy Gardening Day in Preparation for the Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

Posted by Andy Hinds

In preparation for the March 3, 2014 ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the new front entrance of Jefferson Elementary, some Friends of Jefferson members and other volunteers spent several hours on Sunday morning tidying up the “Literacy Garden” outside the library. An, Rebecca, Tera, Shamli, Jordi, and I represented FOJ, and Principal Francisco Morga was out there picking up trash and hauling mulch with us. Jeremy who works for environmental services for the school district kindly joined us, as did Ami, a community member who lives nearby.

As luck would have it, the week before the ribbon-cutting ceremony coincided with the only big rainstorm we have had all winter! The conditions were not perfect for gardening, but ever the bright-siders, we agreed that it was a lot of fun to actually go out and do stuff in the pouring rain rather than cowering in fear, as we Southern Californians tend to. While we couldn’t plant everything we had hoped due to the soil conditions, we got it spruced up and had a number of happy little plants ready to greet the visitors at the ceremony.

I asked FOJ member Tera Vessels, one of the hardcore gardeners in the group, to explain the history, vision, and hopes for the future of the Literacy Garden:

The garden was started as a true labor of love my Toni Burnett. Toni is a teacher and several years ago she removed a bunch of bird of paradise and created a garden space. She got donations of the planter boxes and she got North Park Nursery to donate the citrus tree. Toni purchased plants and seeds with her own money and the garden was born. Toni has used it to help several years of students learn about plants and how things grow.

When the construction started the garden was off limits because of liability so it became neglected. Finally construction finished and the ribbon ceremony was coming so we all decided to revamp the garden with the hopes of making it an even bigger, better part of the school and program.

Toni and I met on a Wednesday afternoon and with the help of her son who attends Jefferson we cleaned out weeds, groomed plants and moved 2 blueberry bushes to a shady location (I brought peat moss!). I added some thornless boysenberry plants, and there were strawberries so we now have a “berry” nice garden.

On the recent rainy Sunday, we gathered to plant different veggies (provided by Jeremy)--very tiny tomatoes, lettuce, artichoke, broccoli, peas and a few other starts were planted to fill in the beds so that the garden would look nice for the ceremony.  All of the volunteers were soaked but stoked.

The big plan is to claim the space by the fence, which we covered with mulch on Sunday. We would like to move the mulch to the side, get a load of compost and work it into the soil and then add cheerful pollinator attracting plants.  We see the Ascelepias (attracts monarch butterflies) hollyhocks (I have some to donate) sunflowers (easy for kids to plant, I have seeds), salvia, gurea (I have some starts) lavendula, achillia yarrow, passion vine, fennel, cosmos and the like to build a colorful happy border

It was way too wet that weekend so working the dirt would have destroyed it. We are working with the district to gain permission to keep the space as fun plants not landscape. I believe Principle Morga is helping us gain permission. We would need another adult day to get the compost, remove grass and work the dirt so that it can be planted. We could actually have kids help plant. They like it.

Moving forward we have lots of plans: do stepping stones with the kids, maybe in the after school program? Wall mosaics, tables and chairs for an outdoor classroom...the wish list goes on.

Thank you, Tera, and everyone else involved, for helping get some momentum going on what will hopefully be a meaningful aspect of our kids education!

A Sweet Ceremony for Winners of the North Park Festival of the Arts Poster Contest

The eighteenth annual North Park Festival of the Arts is right around the corner (May 17, 2014), and it promises to be the biggest and best ever. There will be scores of local artists, musicians, dancers, activities, food, and naturally, this being North Park, an epic craft beer garden.

In the lead-up to the Festival, the organizers held a poster contest where local artists competed to have their work featured on promotional materials for the big event.  This year, there was also a kids’ division, in which students at Jefferson Elementary created art based on the theme of alternative transportation.

Friends of Jefferson member Donna Posin, who was already involved in planning for the festival, came up with the idea of including Jefferson students in the contest. She, North Park Mainstreet Executive Director Angela Landsberg, Jefferson Principal Francisco Morga, 4^th grade teacher Lisa Martin, and IB coordinator Erin Knight, all worked together to plan the contest, which took place during the school day on February 21^st.

Display of student art on the fence in the garden at Art Produce

At a recent Friends of Jefferson meeting, Principal Francisco Morga explained that five local artists came to the Jefferson that day and spent several hours working with students and helping them translate their thoughts about the them into a piece of visual art. Francisco said that the 4^th and 5^th graders were very focused, and the artist-facilitators were impressed with their talent and dedication to the task.

On Thursday, March 13, 2014, Art Produce hosted an award ceremony for both winners from both the adult and kid divisions. It was a lovely event held in the garden behind the building, with food provided by URBN pizza, drinks supplied by Café Calabria, and the grand prize for winning kid—a rad bike and helmet—generously donated by North Park Bikes! 

Angela Landsberg of North Park Mainstreet addresses the artists and guests

The winner of the kids’ contest was Omar Capuchino, and the runners up were Luis Ruiz and Tiffany Park.

Ed of North Park Bikes presents the grand prize to Omar

The artwork from the winners of both the kids’ and adults’ divisions will be used in flyers, banners and other materials, and we are working on ideas for reproducing and selling some of the children’s art to benefit our foundation. Look for our booth at the North Park Festival of the Arts!

Photos by Donna Posin