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Retiring principal appreciates school’s history
poland
Until recently, a black-and-white photo hung on Carmella Smallhoover’s office wall.
It pictured a man standing in front of the brick building Smallhoover will leave March 1.
“The caption on the back said it was the principal of Poland Union in 1902,” said Smallhoover, who has been Union’s principal since 2002. The photo was given to her by a family friend, who found it at a flea market.
“You have to appreciate the history of this place,” she said.
Now Smallhoover, 75, is preparing to become part of that history when she retires and concludes a 35-year career with the Poland school district.
Smallhoover, from Pittsburgh, graduated from Robert Morris University with an associate degree in business administration. She never thought she would become an educator.
Smallhoover, then Carmella Petraglia, married Bill Smallhoover, and the two moved to the Mahoning Valley. Shortly after that, their daughter, Erica, suddenly died.
“I never thought I’d be a teacher. I lost a child. My husband understood and said, ‘You have to do something,’ and encouraged me to go back to school,” Smallhoover said.
“I lost Erica, but I gained so many children,” she added.
Smallhoover attended Youngstown State University to earn a bachelor’s degree in education. It took her seven years to complete, and she graduated one year before her daughter Kristen, who became a math teacher.
“We’re an education family,” she said with a smile. Her daughters, Evelyn Stanton and Kristen Dailey, are teachers in Boardman.
Smallhoover was hired as a special-education tutor and then as a second-grade teacher at North Elementary. She later taught kindergarten and became principal in 1985.
Then, as now, being principal of North and Dobbins elementary schools in Poland was a part-time job. Smallhoover would work half the day as a kindergarten teacher or reading tutor and the other half as principal.
“It got to be a little too much. If there was an emergency, I’d have to leave the children and take care of things as principal,” she said.
When the opportunity arose to be principal of Union, which is large enough by state law to require a full-time principal, she took it, but not without some sadness.
“I cried the day I left North. I oversaw the installation of the new playground and the remodel of the school,” Smallhoover said.
She said throughout her tenure the biggest change in education has been the growing importance of testing.
“The testing gives the school a reputation and affects the way kids feel about themselves,” she said. “... But what’s been eliminated is true exploring and creativity.”
Smallhoover said she will remain active in Poland Rotary and the Poland All Sports Boosters in her retirement.
“She is outstanding,” said Superintendent Robert Zorn. “I wish her well, but I hate to lose her.”
The job listing for Smallhoover’s replacement was posted internally, and the Poland Board of Education is expected to take action on the hiring at its next meeting Feb. 28, Zorn said. The March 1 date was chosen for Smallhoover’s retirement to give the new principal time to set the school calendar and order supplies for the upcoming school year.
“We will miss her,” Zorn said.