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Today’s newsletter is sponsored by the Scott County Chamber of Commerce. Since 1954, the Scott County Chamber of Commerce has advocated for a strong community by supporting stronger infrastructure and leadership.
She was the first woman to serve as superintendent of Scott County Schools
For more than 80 years, only men served as Scott County School Superintendent. The county school system, organized just after the Civil War in 1867, had been led by 22 different men, but never by a woman. That changed in 1952, when Ora Shoemaker Robbins was elected to the post — becoming the first, and only, woman popularly elected to that position.
Born Oct. 4, 1913, Ora Shoemaker was the daughter of George Alvin Shoemaker (1887-1961) and Moda A. Ellis (1887-1961) of Robbins. She was one of eight children.
Shoemaker married Jasper Robbins (1906-1974) and they had two children: Jasper Jr. and JoAnn.
Ora Robbins was a career educator. She began her teaching career in 1932, when she was just 18, and taught for over 50 years in both the Scott County School System and the Oneida Special School District, as well as a school system in Lorain, Oh.
It was in 1952 that Robbins was elected Scott County School Superintendent, replacing A.V. Ellis. Scott County school superintendents had been appointed by the county’s quarterly court — a forerunner to what we know today as County Commission — from 1867 to 1924. Ovia Cross had been the first person elected school superintendent in 1924, followed by O.E. Jeffers, Earl Byrd, John Lee West, and Ellis.
Robbins was not only the first woman popularly elected to the office of school superintendent, but also the first woman to ever serve in that position in Scott County. There’s only been one other woman since that time who served as school superintendent — Sharon Wilson, but she was appointed to the position by the Scott County Board of Education; Tennessee stopped electing school superintendents in the late 1990s.
Robbins was the first woman to serve as Scott County School Superintendent, but she was hardly the first person from Robbins to serve in that role. Southern Scott County produced a number of Scott County’s school superintendents in the early 20th century. In fact, Ellis had also been from Robbins, the son of Berbin Ellis and Pernie Robbins. (He was a grandson of Mitt Robbins, who served as Scott County Judge in the 1920s.) He served as principal at Robbins High School for several years before being elected school superintendent in 1948.
The first person from Robbins to serve as school superintendent was Jasper Hughett, the prominent businessman and postmaster who served in that role in the early 1880s. Hughett’s half brother, Dr. Horace Maynard Robbins, served as school superintendent in the late 1890s. William F. Lee served as school superintendent in the late 1880s, and H.K. Pemberton served in that role in the mid 1890s.
Nor was Robbins the last person from Robbins to serve as school superintendent. Her daughter, JoAnn, married Eddie Culver, who would be elected to the school superintendent post in 1980 and serve two four-year terms in that position.
Robbins died on Aug. 27, 1995 and was buried at Black Creek Crossroads Cemetery in Robbins, where her husband is also buried.
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◼️ Monday morning: The Daybreaker (news & the week ahead)
◼️ Tuesday: Echoes in Time (stories of our history)
◼️ Wednesday: Threads of Life (obituaries)
◼️ Thursday evening: The Weekender (news & the weekend)
◼️ Friday: Friday Features (beyond the news)
◼️ Sunday: Varsity (a weekly sports recap)
Fantastic piece on Ora Robbins breaking that 80-year glass ceiling. What stuck with me is how she began teaching at 18 in 1932 and kept at it for over five decades across multiple school systems. That longevity in education probably gave her the credibility and institutional knowledge to lead when she finally got the chance in 1952. The detail about southern Scott County producing multiple superintendents shows how tight-knit communites can create pathways to leadership once one door opens.