President Theodore Roosevelt High School is a public, co-educational college preparatory high school in Honolulu, Hawai'i. It is operated by the Hawaii State Department of Education and serves grades nine through 12. Roosevelt High School is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Roosevelt was ranked as the top high school in Hawaii in 2019 by U.S. News & World Report (see State and National Ranking, below).
History
250px|right|thumb|President Theodore Roosevelt High School
President Theodore Roosevelt High School is one of the oldest public secondary schools in the state of Hawaii. It was one of the first schools in the state to have compulsory Reserve Officer Training Corps education, a standard from 1934 to 1966.
The school avoided destruction when on March 4, 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy attempted to bomb Pearl Harbor a second time. Weather caused one of the two floatplane bombers to drop its bombs 980 feet from the school, shattering some windows.
Roosevelt High School is most famous for its buildings and landmark domed bell tower constructed in Spanish mission architectural style, currently being restored through grants of the Hawaii State Legislature. Its buildings were used as backdrops in several movie and television productions. Adjacent to the historic bell-towered building is the 2001 Hawaiian basalt sculpture "Hookahi" (To Make as One), by Mark Watson.
Shooting
In January 2014, a police officer shot a knife-wielding runaway teen who was being detained for trespassing and became disruptive at the school.
Campus and location
Roosevelt High School is located in urban Honolulu, Hawaii. It is situated in Makiki's Kalāwahine Valley adjacent to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific overlooking downtown Honolulu and Ala Moana.
Demographics
There were 1427 students attending Roosevelt High School in the 2012-2013 school year. As of then, the racial composition was as follows:
- Chad Owens, Canadian Football League player
- Larry Price (1963), radio talk show host
- William S. Richardson, 16th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii and 2nd Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii
- James Shigeta (1947), actor
- John Simerson, American football player
- Sammy Steamboat, professional wrestler
- Dietrich Varez, artist, printmaker
- Byran Koji Uyesugi (1977), mass murderer
State and National Ranking
Roosevelt received a "Best High School" ranking in 2019 from U.S. News & World Report with a score of 97.91, making it the top high school in Hawaii and ranking #360 nationally out of 17,245 ranked schools.