Mt. Lebanon School District

History

First years of operation

The Mt. Lebanon School District was established by decree of the Court of Quarter Sessions in July 1912. With a five-member school board and a population of less than five thousand students, it was designated as a fourth-class district. The district initially encompassed two buildings—a one-room, frame structure that was located on Beadling Road and a six-room, frame structure that was located at the corner of Cedar Boulevard and Washington Road.

In 1913, a two-year agriculture course of studies was added to the Mt. Lebanon High School curriculum. In 1914, controversy arose when a group of parents of twelve children petitioned the Mt. Lebanon School Board to reimburse them for their children's tuition after they removed their children and re-enrolled them in the Pittsburgh city schools, citing their objection to the "Mt. Lebanon system" of education. According to The Pittsburgh Post, "Prominent among the features in the Mt. Lebanon system" was "the elimination of the periodical, stated examination on which promotions ordinary are based; an expressed tendency to permit each pupil to be his own pacemaker in school work; the elimination of night study and the individual observation of each pupil in order that the school may be fitted to his or her needs." In addition, according to that publication, "The present school term saw the organization of a new force of instructors—their predecessors having been relieved for want of adaptibility to the new system."

1930s

During the early 1930s, H. V. Herlinger, the superintendent of the Mt. Lebanon School District, approved a "Cadet Teachers" plan to enable residents of Mt. Lebanon who were college graduates with state teaching certificates to receive two years of additional on-the-job training while working as temporary educators within the school district, with the promise that, if they successfully completed their training period and passed their required professional examinations, they would receive full-time teaching jobs at the end of their respective two-year cadet teacher training periods.

1950s

In 1959, Mt. Lebanon High School was ranked among the top 44 high schools in the United States in a review of American school districts by educators from 120 colleges and universities. The faculty at that time included 3 educators with doctorate degrees, with 62 out of the high school's 75 educators holding master's degrees. Beginning educators were paid $4,200 annually while educators with doctorates earned $8,000 per year. Teachers who resided in Mt. Lebanon and had children of their own were also each awarded an additional $350 per year through the school district's cost of living allowance program for its staff. With a total enrollment of 2,242 students, the high school was home to 11 varsity sports teams and a 165-member band.

1970s

In 1973, civil rights and social justice activists Ellen Berliner and Anne Steytler were part of a group of fifty parents, students and other community members who filed suit in the Common Pleas Court of Pennsylvania "to prohibit Mt. Lebanon School District from including prayers in its commencement exercises." Berliner's husband and daughter were also two of the plaintiffs.

1990s

In 1998, the Mt. Lebanon School District was presented with two Blue Ribbon Awards by the United States Department of Education, as well as special Blue Ribbon Award for being the home of one of the eight best fine arts programs in America.

2000s

In September 2009, the enrollment at Mt. Lebanon High School was 5,302, the per-pupil cost of education was $13,745 per child for that academic year, there was a teacher student ratio of 23.04 to 1 (district average), and 96 percent of students planned on pursuing "full-time or Armed Service education." The beginning salary for a teacher with a bachelor's degree was $43,989 and for a teacher with a master's degree plus 60 credits was $96,420. Seventy-seven percent of the school's faculty held master's degrees or higher.

Schools

High School: Mt. Lebanon High School

Middle Schools: Jefferson Middle School, Mellon Middle School

Elementary Schools: Foster Elementary School, Hoover Elementary School, Howe Elementary School, Jefferson Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary School, Markham Elementary School, Washington Elementary School

Facilities

High School

Source:

Library and media center

Full production digital media and television studio

Multiple computer labs

Writing labs

Science wing

Child development labs

Food and nutrition labs

Applied engineering and graphics labs

Multiple biology and chemistry research labs

Outdoor greenhouse

Solar Flower

Mathematics Lab

Source:

Three full-size gymnasiums

Indoor swimming pool

Athletic weight room

Six tennis courts

7,200-seat stadium

Three synthetic turf multi purpose fields

Synthetic running track

Grass baseball field

Two synthetic turf baseball fields

Outdoor swimming pool

Three indoor tennis courts

Two ice rinks

Notable alumni

Athletics

Eric Angle (born 1967) - professional wrestler

Kurt Angle (born 1968) - Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling and former professional wrestler

Troy Apke (born 1995) - NFL cornerback and special teamer

Matt Bartkowski (born 1988) - NHL ice hockey defenseman

Mia Bhuta (born 2005) - soccer player

Gene Breen (born 1941) - NFL football player

Ave Daniell (1914-1999) - football tackle

Jim Daniell (1918-1983) - NFL football player

Bill Davidson (1915-1970) - NFL football player

John Fitsioris - professional basketball player

John E. Frank (born 1962) - NFL football player and surgeon

Justin Geisinger, NFL football player

Curt Grieve, college football player

Ian Happ (born 1994) - MLB player

Eli Heidenreich (born 2003) - NFL player

Chris Jelic (born 1963) - MLB baseball player

Tom Jelley (1926–2014) - NFL football player

Don T. Kelly (born 1980) - MLB player and coach

Business

Mark Cuban (born 1958) - billionaire entrepreneur

Brian Cuban (born 1961) - attorney and author

Andrew Mason (born 1981) - founder and former CEO of Groupon

Rich Skrenta (born 1967) - computer programmer and tech entrepreneur, creator of Elk Cloner virus

John P. Surma (born 1954) - businessman, former CEO of US Steel, minority owner of Pittsburgh Penguins

Greg Fenves (born 1957) - 21st President of Emory University and 28th President of the University of Texas

Entertainment & Media

Carl Betz (1921-1978) - actor

Eugene Baird (1923-1988) - jazz singer

Patti Burns (1952-2001) - journalist and TV news anchor

Frank Capelli (1952-2018) - actor and singer

Twink Caplan (born 1947) - actress

Christina Cindrich (born 1981 or 1982) - actress and television host

Daya (born 1998) - Grammy award winning pop artist

Jon Delano - journalist

Scott Ferrall (born 1965) - radio personality

Dave Filoni (born 1974) - President and director of Lucasfilm

Bob Hoag - record producer and recording artist

David Hollander (born 1968) - actor and film producer

Gillian Jacobs (born 1982) - actress

Vince Lascheid (1923-2009) - Pittsburgh Pirates and Penguins organist

Daniel London (born 1973) - actor

Joe Manganiello (born 1976) - actor

Matt McConnell (born 1963) - NHL play-by-play broadcaster, Utah Mammoth

Terri Minsky (born 1957) - television writer, producer

Government

Kenyen Brown (born 1969 or 1970) - United States attorney

Ruth Colker (born 1956) - scholar, lawyer, and distinguished professor

Susan J. Crawford (born 1947) - lawyer

Q. Todd Dickinson (1952-2020) - USC(IP) and USPTO director

Wayne S. Ewing (1929-2010) - politician

Timothy Hauser (1948–2005) - economist with the United States Department of Commerce and the Bureau of Labor Statistics; two time winner of the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive winner

Dick Lamm (1935-2021) - former governor of Colorado and Presidential candidate

Lynn Scarlett (born 1948 or 1949) - government official, environmental policy executive and analyst who served as United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior

John Seymour (1937-2026)- politician

Carole Beebe Tarantelli (born 1942) - Italian parliament member; first American citizen to be elected to the Italian Chamber of Duties

Gerald Bard Tjoflat (born 1929) - lawyer and jurist serving as Senior United States circuit judge and in the US Court of Appeals in the eleventh circuit

Education

Gwyn Cready (born 1962) - author

Todd DePastino - author and history professor

Sandra Moore Faber (born 1944) - world renowned astrophysicist, National Medal of Science recipient

Terry Hart (born 1946) - former NASA astronaut and engineer

Stuart A. Herrington (born 1972 or 1971) - author and retired counterintelligence officer

Paige Kassalen (born 1993) – Electrical engineer who was the only American, female engineer, and youngest member of the ground crew for the Solar Impulse 2 project

Dan Klein (born c.1976) - computer science professor

Caroline Klivans (born 1977) - mathematician

Linn F. Mollenauer (1937–2021) - physicist and author

Reed E. Pyeritz (1947-2026) - geneticist, physician, and academic

Warner Slack, professor at Harvard University, physician, biomedical informatician, and pioneer in medical informatics

Ann M. Valentine (born 1971 or 1972) - Yale University bioinorganic chemist and researcher

Julia Randall Weertman, materials scientist, academic, Northwestern University professor

Other

Richard Baumhammers (born 1965) - spree killer and former immigration lawyer

Newt Heisley - commercial artist and designer of the POW/MIA flag

William D. Morgan (1947-1969) - U.S. Marine and Medal of Honor recipient

Michael Turian - Professional Magic: The Gathering player

Notable staff

Orlando Antigua (born 1973) - basketballer

Ralph Fife (1920-2000) - NFL football player and coach

Freddie Fu (1950-2021) - doctor, surgeon, and academic

Armen Gilliam (1964-2011) - basketballer

George Savarese (born 1965) - radio personality and educator

Jamie Silva - NFL football player

Paul Tortorella (born 1963) - football coach