When Roberta McConnell Douds resigned from her position as the first principal of Mt. Lebanon’s Lincoln School, her supervisor, C. Herman Grose, regretfully accepted her resignation.
“Have you ever written a letter against your will?” Grose wrote to McConnell on April 29, 1932, in response to her resignation. “I shall not forget the wonderful spirit always evidenced in the organization of the Lincoln School.”
With gratitude for her seven-year tenure, Grose wrote, McConnell will always be a part of the Mt. Lebanon School District.
Generations later, that’s still the case.
Mt. Lebanon officials will host an event from 1 to 4 p.m. April 11 at Lincoln, 2 Ralston Place, to celebrate the school’s 100th anniversary.
The second-oldest school in the school district, Lincoln Elementary serves more than 400 students from the Twin Hills, Old Virginia Manor and northern Bower Hill neighborhoods.
More than 40,000 students have attended the school throughout the past century.
The celebration will include historical displays, artifacts and more.
McConnell’s daughter, Roberta Campbell, will give remarks on her mother’s time as principal, and plans to read Grose’s letter to her mother. Current district and school leadership will also give remarks.
“She always felt the proudest thing she did was Lincoln School, other than family,” said Campbell, who taught in Mt. Lebanon and is now a substitute teacher in the district. “This is about my mother, this isn’t about me. She would be delighted to be honored this way.”
A Beaver County native, McConnell graduated from what was then called Slippery Rock State Teachers College and became Lincoln’s principal when she was in her 20s. McConnell was chosen for the position by the district supervising principal, a role similar to superintendent, Campbell said.
After McConnell resigned, Mt. Lebanon schools didn’t have a female principal until 1966, when Shirley Davidson was chosen to lead Hoover Elementary.
Campbell said that her mother “was intelligent and had a presence of knowing what she was doing.” She drew inspiration from two phrases engraved near the building’s entrance: “It makes a difference to all eternity whether you do right or wrong today” and “I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”
McConnell resigned as principal when she became engaged to C. Edward Douds in 1932; they married later that year. Roberta, their only child, was born two years later.
Campbell earned her teaching degree from what was then named Chatham College, and her mother strongly encouraged her to work at Mt. Lebanon.
“(Then-Superintendent Ralph Horsman) told me, ‘If you’re one-tenth as good as your mom was, I’ll hire you right now,’ ” Campbell said.
Lincoln would only have nine principals in its 100-year history. The current principal, Ron Kitsko, started in 2014.
“It’s a busy, community neighborhood school,” Kitsko said of Lincoln. “We’ve tried to build a positive community for our students and school.”
Kitsko estimated more than 1,000 teachers or educators have worked at the school. He said the teachers set, and meet, high standards for their students and the community.
“The strong connection goes way back in Lincoln’s history,” Kitsko said. “The strong community to people, school and families has been a big part of the success and being here for 100 years.”
Families value the neighborhood school, Kitsko said. There’s been a consistent level of parent and teacher involvement throughout the years to help students succeed, he said.
“The community expects a lot,” he said. “They want their kids to have a high-quality education, to achieve. It’s what drives families here.”