Roosevelt Middle School receives new grass field

Grass, green green grass. Okay, but what’s the big deal? What would prompt San Diego’s mayor and the City Council president, along with local sports legend Bill Walton and officials of the City School District, to join the cheerleaders in celebration?

“Come on, we are the best of all the rest! We’re R – M – S!” Shouted the Roosevelt Middle School cheerleaders to the outside assembly.

Ever since one of San Diego’s oldest schools opened in 1922, the students at Theodore Roosevelt Middle School in the Balboa Park area have been playing on decomposing granite. The more than two acre site is now the new grass field. If the students wanted a safer surface, they used to have to go to the park.

“The school was built in 1922 and named for Roosevelt, and I’ve never seen renderings of grass fields, so this is a wonderful opportunity for the students and the community as well,” said Arturo Cabello, Principal of Roosevelt Middle School. 

“It’s going to be really nice,” said seventh grader Graham Cooke. “We’ll be able to do more games that we couldn’t because of the hard court or dangerous surface; it will be really nice to use this new environment.”

“I remember it was more than 10 years ago that we were talking about projects just like this and indeed this one,” said Mayor Kevin Faulconer.

Projects that involve joint use – the school and the surrounding neighborhood – to maximize the money and the land. After school and on weekends, Balboa Park area residents can enjoy the nearly $1.2 million filed – $600,000 of which from Prop S, $590,000 from the City Development Impact Fee funds.

Speaking of transformations, the San Diego Tennis Council, which includes well-known tennis coach Ben Press, contributed $60,000 to refurbish the school’s tennis courts. And when Bill Walton heard about the cause, he volunteered his expertise in redoing the outdoor basketball area. Grass, at last, at Roosevelt Middle School.