Riverdale High School (Archie Comics)
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In the fictional realm of Archie Comics, Riverdale High School is the name of the local educational institution of Riverdale. Its walls sport a blue and green colour. There is a school newspaper called The Blue and Gold.
Riverdale High is based on what was Haverhill High School in Haverhill, Massachusetts. The building still stands although is now Haverhill's City Hall. Archie cartoonist Bob Montana attended Haverhill High from 1936-1939 and drew on his experiences there in drawing the comic.
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[edit] Staff
Only a few of Riverdale High's staff appear regularly in the comics, others have appeared for short periods or sporadically over the years, particularly in the 1970s, and late 1980s through early 1990s.
[edit] Office
- The office staff includes the principal, vice-principals, secretaries and counsellors who run the school and attempt (generally with little success) to manage the student population.
- Mr. Waldo Weatherbee - Principal
- Mr. Weatherbee is sometimes playfully called The Bee. He is a somewhat heavyset man with tiny round glasses perched on the tip of an aquilline nose and a tiny wisp of a toupee that perpetually flies off whenever he is upset or startled. His birthday is April 5. His first appearance was in Pep Comics #27 of March, 1942.
- He is pompous, short-tempered and particularly easily annoyed by Archie, so he tries to stay away from him. However, ironically, even in the summer months he can't get away from him, as he also serves as head of the camp where the Riverdale teens serve as junior counselors. He constantly dreams of the day when (or if) Archie graduates from high school. He regularly sends him, Reggie and/or Jughead to detention.
- Mr. Weatherbee is a former member of the military with front-line combat experience, though due to the stories' "sliding time scale" and the magic of retconning exactly what duty in which war varies over time — initially he was said to have been a Marine, a veteran of the World War II Battle of the Bulge, and more recently a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War. (He is also referred to has having been in World War I, since in an old story he sings "Over There.")
- He is perpetually in his mid-60s and close to retirement, a fact which occasionally features in some stories. In one story, Mr. Weatherbee's motorcycle riding mother visits the school. She refers to him as "Willy".
- Miss Phlips- Secretary
- Miss Phlips is a slim thirtyish lady with short black hair. She is the school's administrative assistant, Mr. Weatherbee's girl Friday and acts as a buffer between office, staff and students. She still appears in the odd story and also appeared in Tales from Riverdale #1.
- Mr. Ramon Rodriguez - Vice Principal
- Mr. Rodriguez' initials earned him the affectionate nickname of "Choo-Choo". His daughter Maria also attends Riverdale High. He was primarily seen in stories from the 1970s-1980s.
- Mr. Patton Howitzer - Vice Principal
- Appeared from the mid-1980s into the 1990s. He also appeared in Tales from Riverdale #1. He is an ex-Marine sergeant who tries to conform the students (and the faculty!) to his military frame of mind, with limited success.
- Mr. Jenkins - Guidance counselor
- Mr. Jenkins, and old man, was the counselor at Riverdale high before Mr. Grimley. He got replaced by Mr. Grimley because Mr. Jenkins ended up suffering from a nervous breakdown. Mr. Jenkins is currently in the hospital and seems to be responding well to treatment.
- Mr. Grimley - Guidance counselor
- Mr. Grimley often suffered severe ulcers after hearing the Riverdale students' outlandish career plans. He did not stay at Riverdale very long, for obvious reasons.
[edit] Academic
- The teachers at Riverdale have covered most subjects over the years, but only a few have been in the story spotlight very often.
- Ms. Geraldine Grundy - English and occasionally Mathematics teacher
- Miss Grundy is the homeroom teacher for Archie's Gang. She is a tall lady with white hair tied in a bun. Her birthday is March 30. She first appeared in Pep Comics #30 in August 1942.
She regularly wears frumpy shapeless dresses and is often referred to as an archetype of the prudish and conventional. Before she became a teacher she was working for the Pickle Factory as a factory worker.
Despite occasional grumblings from her students, they seem to genuinely like and admire her. She in return tends to drive them hard, pushing Archie Andrews and Moose Mason in particular, but remains quite fond of her students.
- Professor Benjamin Flutesnoot - Chemistry teacher
- Mr. Flutesnoot is skinny, nervous, and ageing with a fringe of white hair. He also has an extremely prominent nose -- hence his name. His birthday is April 7.
Although to a lesser level than Hiram Lodge or Mr. Weatherbee, he is sometimes the victim of Archie's ever-present accidents (such as when Archie blows up the school's chemistry lab). Also by accident or as a prank his science class projects will occasionally result in apparent breakthroughs that ultimately lead to embarrassment. In more serious moments, he has devoted class time to such topical issues as smoking; in this story fire engines appeared at Riverdale High as Archie, who saw smoke in the boys' room, turned in a fire alarm. As it happened, three boys who had a pack-a-day habit were lighting up in the restroom. When they found out the "Bee" was on to them, they quickly confessed.
- Mr. Elmer Fluteweed - Music teacher
- Mr. Fluteweed seems to have been an early version of Mr. Flutesnoot and as such has not appeared in many years - this ambiguity makes giving a definitive first appearance impossible. He has mainly appeared in the Little Archie universe.
- Miss Haggly - History teacher
- Probably the oldest teacher at Riverdale (students say she teaches history because she's seen so much of it). She is white-haired and shrivelled in appearance, nonetheless she is occasionally surprisingly hip, though more often her old-fashioned view of events is the core of a joke. She is seen more often in the daily newspaper strips.
Some students told Miss Haggly they wanted to see the development of a mass-transit vehicle that moved people quickly and efficiently and was non-polluting. She showed then a picture of herself, taken with such a vehicle--in 1925--an old-fashioned streetcar.
- She was recently featured in Betty and Veronica Spectacular # 71
- Miss Simkins - Math teacher
- Only occasionally seen
- Ms. Samantha Lovett - Drama teacher
- Briefly seen in 1987
- Ms. Kandinsky - Art teacher
- Primarily seen in the early 1990s
- Mr. Flores - Computer Science teacher
- Primarily seen in the early 1990s
- Miss Crouton - Home Economics teacher
- Primarily seen in the early 1990s
- She was recently featured in Betty and Veronica Spectacular # 71
- Mr. Kroskut - Shop teacher
- Mr. Kroskut (sometimes referred to as "Mr Wood") is a surly, sarcastic shop teacher with a perpetual scowl on his chiseled face. He hasn't been seen since the 1980s.
- Mr. Jordan - Shop teacher
- Mr. Jordan , and old man, was recently featured in a reprint in Archie's Double Digest #176 as a shop teacher
[edit] Athletic
- The school athletics department includes the physical education teachers and coaches of intermural team sports, track & field, and cheerleading.
- Coach Kleats - head coach
- Coach Kleats is somewhat overweight — atypical for a gym teacher — and is often afraid that he has grown too old for the job, particularly in contrast to his friend and fellow gym teacher, the trim Coach Clayton. However, it has been revealed that Kleats was once a fantastic athlete, and can still beat the boys in a game of one-on-one basketball. He also has an encyclopaedic knowledge of baseball and football. He first appeared in Pep Comics #24.
He has a constant problem in getting the athletic best out of his students. He always tries his best to get Archie and Reggie's minds off girls, but rarely succeeds for long. He often gets undesired advice from Mr. Weatherbee on how to turn his losing teams around.
- Coach Floyd Clayton - assistant coach
- Coach Clayton is an African American physical education teacher who believes in practicing and experimenting with various methods for teaching students. He coaches the school's basketball and wrestling teams. He first appeared in Archie at Riverdale High #14.
He is very open and warm, which has led many in the student body to seek out his advice as well as tell him about their problems. Unlike his fellow phys-ed teacher Coach Kleats, he is in excellent physical condition -- although both men are very good athletes. His son, Chuck Clayton, attends Riverdale. Coach Clayton mainly appears as a basketball coach.
- Patti Pacer - Gym teacher
- Patti Pacer is the Girl's Athletics coach and faculty sponsor for the cheerleading squad. She appeared in 1988 but has rarely been seen since.
[edit] Support
- The school's support staff are the school nurse, librarian, cafeteria workers and custodians.
- Miss Bernice Beazly - Cafeteria
- Miss Bernice Beazly is the school's cafeteria chef. She is unkempt, surly, loud, sarcastic and no nonsense. However, she is also portrayed as being a softie, with a (deeply buried) heart-of-gold, especially toward the school custodian, Mr. Svenson. Her birthday is September 1.
In a stereotype of high school cafeterias, Miss Beazley is portrayed as an awful cook (although Jughead Jones enjoys her cooking) who is quite curt and outspoken, even to Mr. Weatherbee who most people fear.
She prides herself on providing a hot well-balanced meal to the students - she sees no need to worry as to whether it is edible. Behind her back kids, and even Mr. Weatherbee, will constantly talk about her "exotic" dishes and how they taste like rubber or glue, but they know better than to criticize if she can hear them. She frequently fights with Mr. Weatherbee, but the students stand by her — especially Jughead. On one occasion, she enlisted the help of Archie and Jughead in handling cafeteria supplies--and they came away with new respect for her. And when a rainstorm threatened to flood Riverdale and crews were building levees along the river, she was right there, providing the workers with hot meals.
- Mr. Svenson - Custodian
- Mr. Svenson (sometimes spelled "Mr. Svensen") is an older Swedish man with a large moustache.. His birthday is June 21. He first appeared in Archies Jokebook #35.
Svenson is bashful and speaks with a thick accent that is often hard for Archie and the gang to understand. He is extremely hard-working and happy in his job (despite numerous frustrations), and although they don't always show it, he is widely admired by the students. He is quite friendly with the cafeteria chef Miss Beazly. He isn't the most brilliant, but is very practical in his approach to problems and life in general.
[edit] Notes
In the Faculty Funnies mini-series, Mr. Weatherbee, Mr. Flutesnoot, Miss Grundy and Coach Clayton were secretly superheroes who all possessed super powers (in this series Clayton was referred to as Harry even though he's been called Floyd many times by faculty in regular digest stories).
[edit] Notable Students
Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, "Jughead" Jones, Reggie Mantle, "Big" Ethel Muggs, "Moose" Mason, Midge Klump, Dilton Doiley, Chuck Clayton, Nancy Woods, Cricket O'Dell, Frankie Valdez and Maria Rodriguez
[edit] Rival Schools
[edit] Central High
- The school's main scholastic and athletic rival is Central High School.
Central High seems to consist of nothing but villainous types. The males are generally thuggish, conniving brutes, and the females are usually lecherous, scheming vamps. In most of their encounters, Central students seldom compete without using unsportsmanlike conduct, if not out-and-out cheating. The coaches and teachers often are not only aware of this skullduggery, but often encourage it. In most cases, Central's team colors are bright red, contrasting Riverdale's blue.
[edit] Pembrooke Academy
- Pembrooke Academy is a private school in Riverdale's suburb catering to the snobbish and wealthy.
Pembrooke is the school of Cheryl and Jason Blossom and their snobbish friends Bunny and Cedric. They look down on Riverdale students as "townies" and will not (except for the Blossom twins) willingly associate with them. When they must interact they will do whatever it takes to humiliate and defeat their rivals.
