29 ....... schools 30 ....... Mt. Lebanon Public Library MT. LEBANON SCHOOL, 1912 This two-story white frame schoolhouse built in 1895 at Washington Road and Ammann Avenue (now Cedar Boulevard) was for first-to fourth- graders. The school district rented space for grades five and six across the street at 677 Washington Road, and grades seven and eight traveled to Lee School in Beechview. Until the 1930s, Mt. Lebanon sent students older than eighth grade to high schools in Dormont or Pittsburgh. Mt. Lebanon Public Library The roots of Mt. Lebanon schools reach to the late 1790s—time of the last Indian raids in the Laurel Highlands and the Whiskey Rebel- lion—when children studied at tree trunk tables in a one-room log cabin in what is now Upper St. Clair. But the school district was not born until 1912 when Mt. Lebanon separated from Scott Township. MT. LEBANON SCHOOL, CIRCA 1900 Class roster for grades 1-4: (top row, from left), Bessie Goodboy, (unknown), (unknown), George Clatty, Phoebe Alderson, John or Clifford Fergus, Agnes Gilfillan. (Middle) (unknown), Jack McCormick, Louise Uhlmer, Emma Alderson, Pearl Clatty, Birdie Fox. (Front) Agnes Charters, Ella McKnight, Mrs. Goodboy, Ada Martin, Lillie Myers. Under the supervision of the Allegh- eny County School Board, the district began with about 200 students and four existing school buildings. The four-room, white frame Ammann Avenue School on Washington Road and present-day Cedar Boulevard, (formerly Ammann Avenue), had a belfry that summoned first- to-fourth- graders from the surrounding farms each morning. It was complemented by three one-room schoolhouses including one on Beadling Road, which served children of Beadling coal miners. A rented building accommodated fifth- and sixth-grade students. The seventh and eighth grade traveled to Beechview, and those who went on to high school rode the West Liberty Avenue trolley to high schools in Dormont, Pittsburgh or the South Side. One of the first steps taken by the new 31 district was to eliminate the eighth ....... grade, along with homework and ex- aminations, and add a new two-year high school. The curriculum stressed “practical value” and included studies in algebra, botany, forestry and vocal music, among others. W.P. Allen was Mt. Lebanon’s first supervising prin- cipal. Although embraced in theory initially, the new system soon met with resistance from parents, as well as teachers who were fired en masse for voicing their objections. Allen was replaced as supervising principal in 1914 by George Hays, who continued in the post until 1918. In 1915, the Better Schools Party of Mt. Lebanon Township prevailed; a newly elected school board ended the experiment and restored the former system. The episode laid groundwork for a tradition of fierce community involvement and interest in the schools that continues today. Succeeding decades brought rapid growth. About 1916 West Liberty Avenue was paved, and in 1924 the Liberty Tunnels were completed, opening the gates to floods of residents seeking suburban life. Farmland gave way to Mission Hills, Beverly Heights and other neighborhoods. Gene Puskar In 1918, Mt. Lebanon’s first female supervising principal, Elsie Emerick, took control of the district. A series of land purchases beginning in 1919 set a prec- edent—as an area developed, an elementary school would be built in the center of it. The concept of neighborhood schools became entrenched. In 1923, Emerick was replaced by Tressa Yeager. Washington School opened that year. Scorned by some as a wasteful extravagance for a rural community, the school’s Greek Revival architecture set the tone for subsequent school buildings in the township, which opened in rapid succession: Lincoln (1925), 32 Julia Ward Howe (1927), and Edwin Markham (1929). St. Bernard’s Roman ....... Catholic School on Washington Road opened in 1925. Beginning in 1920 the Allegheny County Curriculum was adopted and coordi- nated across the system, so that education would be consistent. Mt. Lebanon was gaining recognition for its schools, its reputation felt as far away as Harrisburg. Corporations were recommending Mt. Lebanon to executives new to the area, and the township grew largely because of the strength of its school system. Mt. Lebanon Public Library HIGBEE SCHOOL This November 1930 newspaper article announced the recon- struction of Higbee School. Built in 1794, in what is now Upper St. Clair, Higbee School was the oldest school building in Western Pennsylvania. Sadly, the school house which stood in Mt. Lebanon Park for years, fell into disrepair and was razed in the 1950s. Secondary schooling Mt. Lebanon Public Library In 1927, the district began offering high school classes (grades seven through nine) at Washington School, still an elementary school, as construction began on a new high school building. By 1930, Mt. Lebanon was reclassified as a third-class school district, meaning the district was no longer under the Allegh- eny County School Board, and instead reported directly to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction. The administrative system was overhauled, with the post of superintendent of schools replacing that of supervising prin- LINCOLN SCHOOL Lincoln school, in the background, has been a focal point of the Beverly Road area since 1925. It is the second oldest school in the district. WASHINGTON SCHOOL The Mt. Lebanon School Board purchased the land for Washing- ton School in 1919. All grades were housed there until September 1931, when the senior high school moved into its new building on Cochran Road. Mt. Lebanon Magazine Mt. Lebanon Public Library Bob Humphreys MT. LEBANON HIGH SCHOOL 1949 Mt. Lebanon’s student enrollment grew with the community. In 1912, 250 children attended a Mt. Lebanon school. In 1923, the number rose to 610, and by 1950, there were 5,109 students. cipal. Mt. Lebanon’s first superintendent was Dr. C. Herman Grose, who served from 1931 to 1935, when he was replaced by Dr. Harry Herlinger, who retained the job for 10 years. Mt. Lebanon’s first senior high class of 70 students graduated in 1931 from Washington, with later classes attending the newly opened high school. By 1937, district enrollment had grown to 3,700, overcrowding the high school and prompting construction of Mellon Junior 33....... High, which opened in 1939. Community and schools formed a tightly knit partnership. It was not unusual for teachers to visit students’ homes for lunch or dinner. PTA groups filled audi- toriums on meeting nights, and mothers helped in the classrooms. In 1934, the Markham PTA along with teachers and the community raised $18,000 toward the cost of a playground, with parents doing much of the work. That effort was the first of many parent-sponsored playground projects that have taken place at Markham and other elementary schools over the years. Government work projects in 1937, an outgrowth of the Depression, provided landscaping for the new high school grounds and grading for the stadium area. During World War II, students participated in air raid drills and scrap drives. Activities of students and the community raised $205,762 in war bonds and stamps, while the Office of Price Administration invoked a salary freeze for teachers. In 1945, salaries were recouped, and men and women received equal pay. However, teachers who were married, owned a home, and had children were compensated with extra pay, a practice that was highly criticized as “so- cialistic” and eventually abolished. HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC COMPLEX Lebanon Log 1949 RALPH HORSMAN Dr. Ralph D. Horsman (inset) served as Mt. Lebanon School District Superintendent from 1946 to 1969. Horsman Drive in front of the Mt. Lebanon High School is named in his honor. The 1949 Mt. Lebanon School Board members in background: (from left) Mrs. Donald C. Lewis; Mr. Beckly Smith; Mr. Raymond B. Hecht; Mr. Elmer S. Stanier, treasurer; Dr. Ross M. Gill; Mr. A. C. McMillan, president; Dr. Horsman; Mr. C. F. Mellinger; Mr. Otis C. Hogsett, vice president; Mr. Edward H. Buck; Mr. Samuel A. Schreiner, solicitor. Secretaries in back row (from left): Miss Miriam Headley, Miss Bertha Walp, Miss Esther Whinnie. Foster Elementary School opened in 1941, marking the beginning of a brief moratorium on building that ended when Jefferson Elementary School opened in 1952, and Jefferson Junior High School, an addition to the elementary school, opened in 1959. 34 ....... Mt. lebanon Magazine National recognition Years of prosperity after the war reflected in the community. Mt. Lebanon con- tinued to attract well educated and affluent residents. In 1958, median household after-tax income was $8,000—28 percent had incomes of $10,000 or more— while the national average was $5,650. Money was available for education, as township assets swelled from a value of $3 million in 1912 to $105 million in 1959, and school taxes grew from 4 to 22 mills over the same period. In 1961, 81 percent of Mt. Lebanon seniors went on to college, a rate well above the national average of 38 percent. Mt. Lebanon chose to offer a wide choice of courses, resisting the trend toward placing students in ability tracks. Enrichment and remedial opportunities were provided for students of various ability levels. The district’s remedial programs, initiated in the mid-1930s, were expanded over the years. In 1953, Mt. Lebanon was the first district in Western Pennsylvania to institute the National Advanced Placement Program. In 1957, Mt. Lebanon gained national recognition, as Time Magazine ranked the high school as one of the nation’s top 35. Enrollment skyrocketed, as baby boomers moved through the system. Hoover School opened in 1964, and four years later added 12 rooms. In 1967, plans began for a $14 million construction project to expand the senior high school. THE ROSE BOWL In 1954, the Mt. Lebanon High School Band, directed by Philip Prutzman (in window) played at the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, Calif. The band went again in 1959, and to the Orange Bowl in Florida in 1960. Mt. Lebanon Magazine To circumvent community opposition to the project, the board voted to fund construction through authority financing, avoiding a ballot referendum and certain defeat. But the community still managed to assert its influence. Ground- breaking came only after estimated costs were cut by $1.25 million. Built to suit an envisioned instructional program, the new building comprised six stories that included a fine arts wing. It opened in 1972. High school enrollment peaked in 1975 with 3,200 students including 810 graduates, representing Mt. Lebanon’s largest senior class. The 1970s ended with Mt. Lebanon’s first-ever teacher’s strike, a six­-week event in the fall of 1979 that was acrimonious at the time but eventually came to be regarded by both sides as a valuable lesson in forging win-win solutions. Substantial fixed costs, double-digit inflation, and flat real estate valuation led to hefty budget deficits by the 1981-82 school year, which—coupled with drop- ping student numbers—were precursors of tough decisions ahead. After reaching its zenith in 1975, enrollment ebbed until the close of the 1980s. By 1979, many classrooms stood empty, precipitating discussions about possible school closings. Public hearings on the subject were heated, as residents asserted their reluctance to surrender any of the seven neighborhood elementary schools. Instead, Jefferson Junior High closed in 1983, and some of the vacated space leased to businesses and nonprofit organizations. Mellon then closed in 1986, when grades 7 and 8 were moved to the sixth floor of the senior high building. Staffing decreased significantly, as well, through attrition. To prevent stagnation as new teachers—and their fresh perspectives—became a rarity, administrators and teachers teamed to create an intensive staff development program, an in- novative and successful model that attracted inquiries from across the country. In 1984, Mt. Lebanon was named among the country’s top 100 public high schools by the National School Recognition Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. A dramatic fiscal turnaround created a $5 million surplus by 1986. And as the 1990s dawned, the first-ever strategic planning process was begun, well ahead of the state’s mandate for strategic plans to be prepared by districts every five years. A growth spurt erupted as the 1980s ended, fueled by baby boomer offspring. But also, Mt. Lebanon had reached maturity. The first generations of residents had raised their children and were at retirement age, being replaced by young families with school-aged children. The kindergarten class of 1990 was 25 percent larger than the year before. By the close of the century the total student population had grown to nearly 7,000, a 40 percent increase over the decade. Early in the 1990s, it became evident that the number of existing classrooms Mt. Lebanon Magazine Bouncing Back BLUE DEVILS FOOTBALL Coach Henry Leucht “The Dutchman” was a physical education teacher who for 25 years coached football, as well as track, tennis, basketball, wrestling and baseball, with the help of Victor Doak, who became Mt. Lebanon’s first tennis coach. (Left) Leucht with 1932 co­-captains Jay Wells and Bill Rees. 35 ....... SARAH LONG LEWIS EWALT Lewis’ ancestors settled in Mt. Lebanon in the 1700s. She was captain of the girls’ basketball team, class of 1925 (when Mt. Lebanon had not yet built its own high school and was sending its students to Dormont). Lewis, in 1922, (left) wore the sports uniform of the era: middy blouse with tie, full pleated bloomers, long stockings and high-topped gym shoes. LINCOLN SCHOOL—HOCKEY KIDS Sports have always been a big part of life at school. Maintaining that quality will be a fiscal challenge for the school district in the years to come, as less and less state and federal money is represented in the district’s budget and resistance builds around a property­-based tax structure. Other challenges also await students and teachers of the new millenium, prompted by the birth of the Inter- net in the mid-1990s and accom- panying information technology explosion. Rather than equipping students with facts, today’s teachers must help students become lifelong learners who can access and evaluate information from multiple sources, deftly competing in a global mar- ketplace that may offer them five or six careers in a lifetime. Go, Teams! Mt. Lebanon school sports teams have produced their fair share of collegiate and professional athletes, including Olympic gold medal wrestler Kurt Angle, diving silver medalist Dick Rydze, pro football players John Frank and Brian Williams and pro tennis players Gretchen Rush Majors, Berta McCallum Russo and Don Johnson. The Hall of Champions in the school’s lower level has hundreds of trophies and plaques in its cases, representing the school’s triumphs as a powerhouse in various team and individual sports, ranging from the earlier favorites such as football, basketball, wrestling, swimming and tennis to sports that have mushroomed in the past two decades, such as soccer, lacrosse and volleyball. And unlike the days when the boys played and the girls cheered, today both boys and girls are well-represented among the approximately 80 percent of high school students who play a Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) sport. Mt. Lebanon was the top WPIAL football team in 1966, for five years in the 1980s and again in 1998, and holds individual and team WPIAL titles in nearly every WPIAL sport. In 1990 the system was changed to include all-state championships, instead of just Western Pennsylvania, and Mt. Lebanon continued its impressive record. In the 1990s the school produced state champs in cross country, girls volleyball and soccer, boys soccer and baseball. Feeder programs for elementary and middle school students help assure that Mt. Lebanon’s winning tradition will continue. Mt. Lebanon Public Library would not accommodate the growing number of students, as new teaching styles and technical equipment required more space per pupil. With input from school board members, teachers, admin- istrators, students and community resi- dents and the help of a nationally known consultant hired to evaluate and affirm strategies, a plan evolved to renovate the furloughed Mellon and Jefferson Junior High Schools. At a cost of $14 million, the schools opened in the fall of 1998—but not without controversy. 36 Debate centered on how the elemen- ....... tary schools would be divided between the two middle schools, and how stu- dents who lived the farthest from their designated schools would get there safely, because Mt. Lebanon has no bus- ing. Ultimately, the residents themselves developed the solution. A simple plan called for allowing up to 30 students who lived the farthest from either school to have their choice of schools. Since the schools have reopened, the number who expressed a choice has never exceeded 30. More crossing guards were added to improve walking safety, and with the help of a group of parents, a port authority bus route was added to carry interested students from the Markham area to and from Jefferson Middle School. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Mt. Lebanon has upheld its reputation for excellence, both in academics and in cocurricular activities ranging from fine arts to sports. Mt. Lebanon’s Academic Games and Forensics teams have regularly claimed medals. Sports teams and individual athetes have consistently brought home WPIAL and PIAA titles. The high school’s musical groups have performed in regional and national forums, including performances by the band at Walt Disney World, the Triple Trio at the White House and the orchestra at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. In 1998, Mt. Lebanon High School was honored for the third time as a Blue Ribbon school by the United States Department of Education and received a special award for its outstanding Fine Arts program.