“Only by being true to the full growth of all the individuals who make it up, can society by any chance be true to itself.”                — John Dewey      

When John Dewey created his Laboratory School at the University of Chicago, he made it clear the school was to be a vehicle for the democratization of America. The social aspect of education was important as students learned with each other and about one another. Here in San Francisco, Helen Salz and Flora Arnstein, the founders of Presidio Hill School, agreed with Dewey. They saw a school in which children of all races, faiths, nationalities, and backgrounds could come together to learn. This was an uncommon position to take in 1918.

Over the years, Presidio Hill School has been true to this initial impulse and has, as American society has changed, expanded the scope of diversity to include families of all of socio-economic levels and children of varying learning styles. Although not a school for children with learning challenges, the progressive nature of the teaching at Presidio Hill School enables many children to learn who would otherwise be frustrated.  

During the late 1930’s and early 40’s, former school director, Josephine Whitney Duveneck, was “active with the American Friends Service Committee which helped refugees from Hitler’s Germany begin their lives anew in San Francisco” and the school was often used as a focal point for such activities. The school was also a locus for protest against the concentration camps in which many Japanese-Americans were interred during World War II.  

Just after the war, in 1946, the Williams family joined the Presidio Hill School community. Rosalyn and Stephanie, young girls at the time they came to the school, were as far as we can tell, the first African American students at any independent school in San Francisco. They were welcomed and say today that the school was their best educational experience.  

A few years later, as blacklists grew and intolerance for political activism became mainstream, both Paul Robeson, actor, singer and athlete, and Pete Seeger, musician and activist, were invited to sing at the school for students and parents alike. Both were blacklisted but found a welcome audience at Presidio Hill School. Seeger was joined by fellow singer-activist Malvina Reynolds for the Sunday sing-along, then popular at the school.  

Today the school carries on the tradition of preparing all students for a democratic society by educating a cross section of San Francisco life. Approximately 45% of Presidio Hill School students are children of color. Approximately 21% receive tuition assistance. Quite a few more come from families who are citizens of countries other than the United States. The curriculum stresses humanity’s search for social justice and human rights. A Presidio Hill School contingent marches with other independent schools in San Francisco’s Pride Parade every year.

We have become, as our mission states, “A school that mirrors and embraces the mosaic that is San Francisco.”