Were You Expecting to See the Pages From the 1969 Paseon?
Sorry but there wasn't a Paseon produced for 1969. Read below for an explanation taken from page 94 of the 1970 Paseon.
But that's not all, below are three other written accounts that detail the reason there was no 1969 Paseon.
Patricia Williams, Class of 1969
The senior class of 1969 was penalized because sufficient quantities of yearbooks were not reserved or sold by an arbitrary cut-off date identified by the Paseo High School administrators. Previous years had resulted in a loss of revenue associated with the cost of publishing the yearbooks and the administrators wanted to make a point. Obviously, this tactic worked for the administration because the class of 1969 was the only Paseo High School class without a yearbook. Even though purchasing of the yearbooks was available to the entire school population (8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders), the senior class of 1969 was particularly impacted because we were left without a documented legacy that we could reflect back on.
Carol Stovall, Class of 1969
In 1969, We did not have a yearbook for all of the reasons that Pat has already mentioned (thanks, Pat!). But, the year book also fell through the crack because 1969 was a turbulent year.
For most of the fall in 1968, the building was being renovated to create space to bring in an educational experiment - modular scheduling. We were one of the first schools in the United States to have this type of educational system. After we got into the new space, sometime right before the holidays, there was major confusion for students and I think faculty and staff. This was a completely new system and everything was quite overwhelming.
Add to this the fact that there was significant social changes occurring, like white families moving from the school district, Vietnam, the Black Panthers showing up at school and a principal who came in and tried to impose a military like environment on the students. We were lucky to just finish the school year!
In fact, the Spring of 1969, when we should have been working on the year book, we were busy figuring out how to get RID of the principal. Not only did he create arbitrary rules and problems around our having a year book, but, In a school of around 1300, he had almost as many suspensions. These suspensions were for silly reasons - refusing to shave off facial hair or wearing a jacket around the waist (after not being allowed to go home to change split pants) no less! We staged a big protest where students DID NOT GO INTO THE BUILDING for 2 days! The Board of Education met and changed out the principal. So, 1969 was an upside down year, where we experienced many of the same issues as the rest of the country during a time of great societal change.
Thank goodness we graduated!! But unfortunately, we did not get our year book!!
Nancy Griddine, Class of 1971
During the school year of the 1969 Grads, Paseo High was going through an extensive renovation and many classrooms were not available for use for much of that full year. The Senior class did not attend classes in the school for most of that year but instead, their classes were held in a building just east of Prospect and between Swope Parkway and Brush Creek Blvd. (now Cleaver II Blvd.) I don't know the building name but it had been used and was associated with the U.S. Navy. Many Senior activities were eliminated or severely curtailed for that full year because of the extensive renovation of the school. One results was that there was no 1969 Paseon.
Below are the names of all the Paseo High School 1969 graduates:
If you have any additional information specific to the 1969 yearbook, please contact the Paseo Alliance.