The hard-won milestones of Cathedral’s early days have become commonplace.
Hall. That year the first basketball game was played in the Crypt gym. In 1973, the School introduced Spanish language instruction for the first time. That same year the Ladies’ Auxiliary was the driving force behind an effort to purchase a school bus with Blue Chip Stamps * . By 1977 there were 194 students enrolled at Cathedral. On March 30, 1979, Cathedral hosted its first Grandparents’ Day. With the arrival of the early 1980s, the School began to formalize more of its practices. The School’s administra- tion grew in size, and the first formal long-range plan was adopted, addressing important issues such as increased faculty compensation and the necessity of an endowment. In 1982, the Ladies’ Auxiliary formally changed its name to Parents Association of Cathedral School for Boys. In 1983, the Board * According to Wikipedia, Blue Chip Stamps were part of a loyalty program offered by grocery and gas stations, given to customers in proportion to the amount of money spent. The books would be issued to customers by machines next to the cash register. Customers would paste the stamps into books and redeem them at special stores for big ticket items such as lawn furniture, dining room tables, and more. That the Parent Auxiliary was able to buy a bus with Blue Chip Stamps will likely seem remarkable to a modern-day reader.
added a permanent technology line-item expense to the school budget, granting the Academic Committee the ability to provide students and faculty with access to computers. At that time, this meant Apple II computers. In 1986, the eighth grade won the ISAL Basketball Championship—a first! Tuition was now $5,800 per boy. In 1988, Cathedral celebrated its 30th birthday party, and the School officially entered adulthood. Malcolm H. Manson became Cathedral’s seventh Headmaster in 1990, and with his arrival came new changes. In 1991, Mandarin was introduced to the school curriculum. In 1992, Grace Cathedral expanded the Cathedral Close, with a grand staircase, a new Chapter House, and an underground parking garage. The School Board agreed to expand the size of the school to 235 students and embarked on a capital effort to fund a building expansion and renovation of facilities. Faculty salaries and benefits reached a par with comparable schools. The school expansion, completed in 1996, vastly improved the facilities of Cathedral by adding an East Wing to the School. The current kindergarten classroom and administrative offices were added and the library was renovated. In 1997, the “Gender-Issues Subcommittee of Education Policy/Strategic Planning Committee of the Board” was formed. That group’s name was later revised to the more concise “Boys’ Study.” The
Early physical education on the tennis court that would become the site of the main school building
decade ended as Michael Ferreboeuf became Headmaster in 1999. In 2001, Cathedral boys voted to replace its retired mascot, the Crusaders, with a new school mascot: the Cathedral Hawk, which in 2018 was officially named “Forbes” (read more about this on page 21). Following the completion of a successful endowment campaign—Endowing the Future—in 1999, Cathedral School’s endowment reached $10 million. Teachers’ salaries were raised from the bottom quartile to the top decile of San Francisco peer independent schools. Cathedral then had the highest endowment per student among its peer schools. The professional development budget for teachers increased dramatically and financial assistance increased steadily, now benefitting one in three Cathedral families. Renovations were made across the school. The art rooms were built out in 2000, the gym was renovated in 2003, and the science rooms were upgraded in 2004. Gresham Hall was given a facelift and the theater was expanded and modernized and named in honor of Todd Traina ’83 and his older brother, Trevor ’82. The kitchen facilities and adjoining Crypt Hallway were also updated. The school program was enhanced as instrumental music, band, and more athletic teams were added. In September 2006, the entire school began to enjoy a daily hot lunch, provided by Acre Gourmet in the refurbished Gresham Hall. During the summer of 2008, Cathedral broke ground and began excavation to create new classrooms and technology spaces underneath Veazie Court. Ahead of the start of the
2009-10 school year, new Upper School classrooms were completed, while construction continued on the Lower School floor and at the Jones and Sacramento Street entrances. By early 2010 the Sacramento Street entrance reopened and the Lower School now included three learning rooms, a new admin- istrative wing, and a spacious light-filled library. Then, in the spring of 2011, during the Gala’s Fund-A-Need, the Parents Association “Raised the Roof” for renovations of and enhancements to the School’s rooftop playground, including two basketball courts, two climbing structures, a soccer playing field, and a garden learning center. The Parents Association raised funds during the summer of 2012 to construct a Lower School science lab. In 2015, as part of the Foundation for the Future Campaign, a new Head of School house was purchased. That same year, Burns Jones became the School’s ninth Headmaster. Most of Cathedral’s founders’ early aspirations for the School have been realized. The hard-won milestones of Cathedral’s early days have become commonplace. The “first basketball championship” in 1986 has been replaced by multiple league championships in several sports every year. The Cathedral School for Boys community is known for its good sportsmanship, whether at a kindergarten soccer game on the roof or at a high-stakes eighth-grade team basketball championship in the Crypt. Every boy performs in a play, musical, or band performance each year in Gresham Hall. Service is integrated into the curriculum in age-appropriate
Boys perform gymnastics (some of them wearing their ties!)
Boys head to chapel
FALL 2018 • RED & GOLD | 19
18 | CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS
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