Nellie O'Donnell

Nellie O'Donnell (2 June 1867 - ?) was an American educator from the U.S. state of Ohio. She was a teacher in the public schools of Tennessee and was elected superintendent of public schools for Shelby County. When elected, there were 148 schools in the county. She increased the number and brought them to a higher standard.

Nellie O'Donnell was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, 2 June, 1867. Both her parents were natives of Massachusetts. Her father was born in Auburndale and her mother in Brookline. She moved with them to Memphis, Tennessee, whilst a child. She was educated in St. Agnes Academy, where she graduated in 1885.

In 1886, O'Donnell was an applicant for a position as a teacher in the public schools, stood the necessary examination and was appointed. The following year, she was advanced to the grade of principal and took charge of a school in the 13th district, and was connected with the county schools ever since. After two years in that capacity, she was elected superintendent of public schools in Shelby County, Tennessee, and was reelected in 1891.

O'Donnell extended the average school-term from seven to nine months. She established 16 high schools, 11 for white children and five for black; held normal training-schools for teachers during each summer vacation, one for the white and one for the colored teachers, and held monthly institutes during the months when the schools were in session. She believed in technical training and continued study. When she first assumed the duties of superintendent, she found 148 schools open in the county, and brought it up to 217. She introduced higher mathematics and book-keeping, rhetoric, higher English, civil government, natural philosophy, physiology and the history of Tennessee as studies in the high schools. O'Donnell added vocal music as a study in all the schools.

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