Springfield Elementary School

Springfield Elementary School is an elementary school which Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson, and many other children of Springfield, such as Nelson Muntz, Janey Powell, Martin Prince, Ralph Wiggum, and Milhouse Van Houten attend.

The principal is Seymour Skinner and its superintendent, who often visits the school, is Gary Chalmers. The school's mascot is a purple puma.

Profile
Springfield Elementary is around two stories high, and contains a gym and a cafeteria. The basement includes a steam tunnel. In the earlier episodes (such as seasons 1-5) there is somewhat of a steeple on top of the school roof. The floor plan is identical to that of West Springfield Elementary School. Springfield Elementary School is also based on McCarthy Middle School.

There is a field trip memorial that shows the names of the students who never came back from a field trip. Groundskeeper Willie constantly has to edit the wall, and is very sad and angry when he must engrave the name of a student with a long name, like Bart and Lisa Simpson.

In At Long Last Leave it is mentioned that the school sneaks the kids answers to state tests, yet they still fail.

Condition
Springfield Elementary is heavily underfunded. With almost constant reductions in the budget the school has been forced to use rather bizarre methods to make up for the lack of funding.



It has been stated many times that the school is filled with asbestos. Underfunding of the school has resulted in a variety of troubling scenarios for students and staff. Sub-standard facilities abound, including a cinder block having replaced the school's tether ball, cafeteria food made from circus animals, shredded newspaper, and old gym mats, as well as a cheap substitute for Milk called "Malk" (only the teachers eat French fries made from potatoes), among others. It was revealed that Springfield Elementary was at one time voted "The Most Dilapidated School in Missouri" and was then moved, brick-by-brick, to Springfield. The school is overcrowded because of insufficient funds to build more classrooms. In addition, the teachers are less than average, known for their lack of ability to teach, and are seen smoking and drinking within the school premises. Lunchlady Doris was forced to use grade F meat.

Before Bart came to the school and before Lisa was born, the school had a swimming pool and Groundskeeper Willie was the swim coach. Skinner took the pool out when he spent an entire weekend inside it, among lots of worms, which made him what he is today. This was a prank made by Andy Hamilton, a former student of the school.

The school was once shown to have a tower with a winding staircase within which led to a fortification area, a feature that has not appeared since. Other short period additions include a disabled ramp access system constructed by local mafia funding (which collapsed shortly thereafter without it ever being used [as the student who acted as the reason for building it, Bart Simpson, who was confined to a wheelchair after an accident, had recovered earlier than expected], and was also revealed to have been made out of breadsticks) which later forced the school to almost close completely until a toy company bought it. The auditorium was once bulldozed to make way for a mini-mall.

At one time, Groundskeeper Willie accidentally struck oil and the school built a large drilling rig on top of the building. Unfortunately, Burns took the oil first and Springfield Elementary was made even poorer due to the cost of deconstructing the drill.

Springfield Elementary was partially converted to a prison to support funds.

The school's address is 19 Plympton Street. When Springfield underwent an economic crisis, Springfield Elementary, as a result of the cutbacks from the slump, significantly shortened the school day to no school at all.

Underneath the school was once an oil well (which was accidentally discovered by Groundskeeper Willie while burying Superdude the hamster) which lead Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers to welcome everyone's ideas of how to spend the money, while some ideas were considered ridiculous). Mr. Burns then began to steal the oil from the school, which not only resulted in the loss of their fortune, but the cost of deconstructing the oil platform above the school placed it in a far worse financial state than before, forcing Skinner to get rid of nearly everything in the school. Mr. Burns was shot later. It was believed that Skinner was the one who shot him, supported by his going to the Bathroom. However, while he did intend to ambush Burns and kill him, he was not the one who shot him, as he had mixed up his camouflage face paint with his mother's makeup while attempting to put camouflage on when it happened.

The school library was frequently used by the students, although adults who weren't faculty members frequently used the library as well, a notable example being Homer Simpson, who had to use the student library due to the public "big people's" library in downtown Springfield banning him from the premises due to "unpleasantness," and used it to research Thomas Edison to inspire himself to invent new objects.

It is surprising that the school has managed to stay open with all the problems it has. It was also one of the few landmarks that wasn't destroyed during Trappuccino, much to Bart's disappointment. It has also been confirmed in 500 Keys that there is a hidden classroom, but only for the use of dummies so the school can get publicity.

Faculty

 * See List of Springfield Elementary Faculty Members

Current and former Students

 * See List of Springfield Elementary School Students

Behind the Laughter
In the opening credits the school is featured with Bart writing lines on a blackboard. The school's design and apparent floorplan is identical to Chapman Elementary School in Portland, Oregon.

Name of South Carolina school
In 1994, the naming of a new elementary school in Greenwood, S.C. was left up to the students, and the name Springfield Elementary was chosen. The school board was unaware of the connection to The Simpsons until a protest by one group of parents. The name stood for the school, which opened in August 1994.

Trivia

 * Apparently, the school has a policy against faculty members interacting with students. This made evident in Lisa Simpson, This Isn't Your Life and Penny-Wiseguys.