About Roxboro Elementary
History of Roxboro Elementary School
The 1901-02 school year was the first for Cleveland Heights’ Roxboro Elementary students, attending in a small, two-room frame building on Fairmount Road near Cedar Avenue. By 1905, our students had a new home on the property where new construction cost $11,266.94. By 1916, Roxboro had gone from its original two teachers to five teachers and a principal for 1st through 8th grades. With the student body growing annually, the building had to be added on to and finally re-built on its current location in 1921. In 1923, the Junior High building was erected and 7th and 8th grades moved away from Roxboro Elementary. In the 1940’s, the school’s enrollment rose to over 500 and then shrank to about 250, as area residents wrestled with the Great Depression, pulling their students from expensive, private schools and then returning them as economic times improved. After WWII, Roxboro grew to over 600 as baby-boomers started school. During the late 1980’s, the district created magnet schools which specialized in particular areas; communication, language, etc. Roxboro was the “Arts” magnetic school. As a result, even after the magnet school concept was dropped, we continue to have a very strong arts program, feeding many talented students to Roxboro Middle School and CHHS.
Roxboro Elementary’s PTA
The first Parent-Teacher Association for our school formed in late fall of 1921. The organization’s emphasis has changed over the years, based on our students’ needs. Focus has included underweight children in the 20’s; free supplies, clothing and lunches for needy students during the Great Depression; improvement to playground equipment and civil defense in the ‘50’s; elegant morning coffees to encourage parent involvement which years later changed to Sunday dinners in neighborhood homes. One of the most beneficial organizations to come out of our PTA was in 1981 with REAP (Roxboro Enrichment Arts Program), now RoxArts. This is a non-profit, 501-C3 organization that uses its fundraising capital to promote artistic experiences for Roxboro Elementary and Middle Schools. RoxArts continues today, nearly 30 years later, to fund artist-in-residence programs, field trips, assemblies and arts projects for Roxboro’s K-8 grade students. It’s a very special program and unique to Roxboro schools
The Village
Our PTA re-assessed its programs in 2003-04 and is now focused on three primary goals. Community Building is a continuation of the parent involvement programs of the original 1921 PTA. These volunteers sponsor social and recreational events and educational and discussion programs. The 2nd set of goals are centered around School Growth and Public Relations, providing preschool events, parent coffees and outreach to local realtors and others who will assist in maintaining a balanced and diversified student body at Roxboro. The 3rd and most ambitious program is “The Village”. Inspired by the success of Gov. Robert Taft’s “Ohio Reads” program of 2000-2004, Village volunteers are recruited from PTA to work in the classrooms and hallways one-on-one with students on the verge of success but needing a little extra attention. Three to ten volunteers work daily for an hour helping students at all grade levels improve in reading, math and learning in general. The program was enlarged in 2006 to include student volunteers from John Carroll University visiting our school every Monday and Wednesday to tutor our students.
Report Card Rating
The continued success of these programs, this equipment, our excellent staff and our many parent volunteers are evidenced annually by our “Effective” rating from the Ohio Department of Education. We feel our goal of rating “Excellent” in the very near future is well in hand. We hope our community will continue to support us in achieving success – Every Student, Every Day!
Students will be going to the school computer lab to complete this survey.
