SM High School building must be preserved

San Mateo High School is not only a nationally recognized school of excellence, but the main building itself is also a magnificent standing tribute to the history and dignity of San Mateo.

With the shabby condition of most of the High Schools in the Bay Area, the beauty and majesty of this proud red brick building stands as a symbol of the promise and future hopes of our children and our community. It must be preserved, if nothing else, just to show our youth what it means to be a part of history (and that they are important to us).

I have worked with youth in the Episcopal Diocese of California ever since graduating in 1992 and some of the most common themes running through each group of kids with which I've worked over the past ten years are issues of self esteem, sense of belonging, and self-confidence. What better way to build self-esteem in our teens than to provide them with a historically significant, well kept school as beautiful as San Mateo High school? What better way to build a sense of belonging than to give them the gift of attending a cornerstone in the San Mateo community that has been an institute of learning, friendship, and belonging for the past 100 years? What better way to build self-confidence than to validate their educational accomplishments by saying 'you have been working in a school worth saving'?

I can think of nothing more detrimental to the over thirteen-hundred students at San Mateo High School than to tell them that their school isn't worth saving. That their community and the symbol of their common dreams and goals is worthless and defective and should be torn down and replaced.

In addition to the thirteen hundred fifty (plus) students, we also have a duty to our community to show them that one of the most diverse and recognizable schools in the Bay Area (and even in the country) has the respect and support of its community.

San Mateo High had long been looked at as a second class high school in the years preceding our national recognition, mostly because we had (and continue to have) the highest level of diversity in the Bay Area.

With 42.9 percent Caucasian, 25.85 percent Hispanic, 17.88 percent Asian, 6.13 percent African American, 4.8 percent Pacific Islander, 2.37 percent Filipino, and even a couple of Native American and Alaskan students gracing our halls, San Mateo High is testament to the fact that diversity can and does work in an Educational institution.

In recent years we've been looked to as a source of pride and distinction amongst the rest of the schools in the area and have continued to shine in that spotlight position even through a year and a half of portable classrooms. But our example is not simply one of a school surviving in a diverse area, but of a showcase school thriving and growing in history and in prestige.

We have one of the best schools on the peninsula thanks to the determination and hard work of our teachers and students, but we have the most recognizable and beautiful school on the Peninsula because it is one of the oldest and most loved schools on the Peninsula.

Please help to ensure that it will be here for another hundred years.

Austin Leininger

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