Ahead of her time

Mary Haddow worked to integrate classrooms decades before integration was openly discussed.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Good Americans are the product of a good education, one that focuses on developing respect for others, right relationships in religion, and a sense of responsibility as much as it focuses on reading, writing and arithmetic.
These were integral elements in the curriculum of Youngstown elementary schools under the direction of Mary A. Haddow.
Haddow began teaching first grade in 1901. Devoted to educating the community's children and making the world a better place for them to live, she acquired a reputation as a problem-solving trailblazer and worked to integrate classrooms decades before integration was openly discussed.
After being transferred to teaching positions at several schools over the next 19 years, Haddow was promoted to school principal.
As an administrator, she was often assigned to serve in schools with the most challenging supervisory positions.
These included the old Caldwell School, which was so crowded that half of the pupils attended a morning session and half attended in the afternoon.
The Caldwell district was composed primarily of blacks and impoverished immigrants, and their children frequently got into trouble knocking coal and scrap iron from trains, gambling and drinking.
Haddow presented these social problems to the Youngstown Board of Education and was instrumental in helping to develop the Caldwell Settlement, a community center that offered classes in English and access to social clubs and recreation.
What worked: According to a 1957 article from The Vindicator, Haddow's sense of fairness "always resulted in better relations" in school districts plagued by social problems.
She eventually became director of elementary education of Youngstown's public schools and became a national figure in her field, serving on state and national boards of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and becoming active in the International Association for Childhood Education.
She was even asked to serve as consultant in education in Korea and Germany but was unable to go.
She joined the summer faculties of Columbia University and Youngstown College, where she taught courses in classroom instruction and curriculum.
During World War II she served on the executive committee of the Mahoning County Chapter of the American Red Cross and as volunteer chairman of the Junior Red Cross. Haddow also served on the executive boards of the Monday Musical Club, Camp Fire Girls and International Institute.
New career: She resigned her position with Youngstown public schools in 1950 to pursue other interests and to become an associate professor in elementary education at Youngstown University.
In a letter to the Youngstown school board, Haddow wrote: "From the early years when I entered the schools as a first grade teacher ... I can say from the heart that my lines have fallen in pleasant places and that I have a goodly heritage of rich and rewarding memories."
Haddow died of a heart attack in September 1957. She was 75.
In January 1962, the city's newest school was named in her honor. Mary Haddow Elementary, 2800 Oak St., serves 297 pupils in grades K-4 and two special education classes. Fourteen children are enrolled in the preschool.
kubik@vindy.com