This exhibit presents the Eleven Oaks administrators and teachers. Janie R. Howard was the first and only principal of this elementary school. She began her career as an educator in 1952 before Eleven Oaks opened its doors. Past students and parents fondly remembered the strict and generous "Mrs. Howard" and how she was the dedicated leader of the Eleven Oaks community. These quotes, below, testify to her strong character and lasting legacy. 

 “Mrs. Howard was a strict disciplinarian and many a young charge felt the sting of ‘Old Betsy,’ a wooden paddle which she used to gain the ‘attention’ of her pupils. But she was also known as a warm generous person. No pupil was ever deprived of a hot lunch at school because of lack of money. Mrs. Howard kept a special fund – of her own money – to pay for meals of needy children. She also collected clothes from her friends for a wardrobe pool for less fortunate students." [1] 

“During this time, most of Mabel Colbert’s eight children attended Eleven Oaks School. When it was time for her son, Mark, to go to school he refused because, as she stated, “he wanted to stay with me.” On the first day of school, Mrs. Howard, the school principal, met them at the door. Mrs. Howard could see there was a problem with Mark. She simply said to me, “Give me that boy.” Once inside, Mark, who continued to object to school, apparently was introduced to ‘Old Betsy.’ Mabel recalls, “There were no problems with Mark after that!" [2]

It is important to specifically name faculty and staff who showed a deep commitment to Eleven Oaks school. 

List of Teachers at Eleven Oaks:

• 1953-54: Janie Rucker Howard, Harold L. Lawson, Rebecca Marie Britt, Mary S. (Towns) Robb, Gladys E. Harris, Doris R. (Jones) Smith, Augustus Lynch.
• 1954-55: Janie Rucker Howard, Elnora Mills Branch, Rebecca Marie Britt, Mary Towns Robb, Gladys E. Harris, Doris Jones Smith, Marion Thompkins Ross.
• 1955-56: Janie Rucker Howard, Elnora Mills Branch, Rebecca Marie Britt, Mary Towns Robb, Gladys E. Harris, Doris Jones Smith, Marion Thompkins Ross.
• 1956-57: Janie Rucker Howard, Elnora Mills Branch, Rebecca Marie Britt, Mary Towns Robb, Gladys E. Harris, Doris Jones Smith, Marion Thompkins Ross.
• 1957-58: Janie Rucker Howard, Elnora Mills Branch, Rebecca Marie Britt, Mary Towns Robb, Doris Jones Smith, Deloris G. (Hawkins) Evans, Gloria A. (Russell) Moxley).
• 1958-59: Janie Rucker Howard, Elnora Mills Branch, Rebecca Marie Britt, Mary Towns Robb, Lola V. Saunders, Gloria Russell Moxley.
• 1959-60: Janie Rucker Howard, Elnora Mills Branch, Rebecca Marie Britt, Mary Towns Robb, Lola V. Saunders, Gloria Russell Moxley, Annie Mae Costner, Marjorie Roberta (Hopkins) Price, Elizabeth Helen Mills.
• 1960-61: Janie Rucker Howard, Elnora Mills Branch, Rebecca Marie Britt, Doris Jones Smith, Lola V. Saunders, Gloria Russell Moxley, Annie Mae Costner, Marjorie Hopkins Price, Elizabeth Helen Mills.
• 1961-62: Janie Rucker Howard, Elnora Mills Branch, Rebecca Marie Britt, Doris Jones Smith, Lola V. Saunders, Annie Mae Costner, Marjorie Hopkins Price, Elizabeth Helen Mills, Mary Kathryn (Goins) Roots, Alta M. Lee Newman.
• 1962-63: Janie Rucker Howard, Elnora Mills Branch, Rebecca Marie Britt, Doris Jones Smith, Lola V. Saunders, Annie Mae Costner, Marjorie Hopkins Price, Elizabeth Helen Mills, Mary Goins Roots, Alta Lee Newman, Ellis David Dillard.
• 1963-64: Janie Rucker Howard, Elnora Mills Branch, Rebecca Marie Britt, Doris Jones Smith, Lola V. Saunders, Annie Mae Costner, Marjorie Hopkins Price, Elizabeth Helen Mills, Mary Goins Roots, Alta Lee Newman, Ellis David Dillard.
• 1964-65: Janie Rucker Howard (Died March 1965, Replaced by James Gaskins, Elnora Mills Branch, Rebecca Marie Britt, Lola V. Saunders, Annie Mae Costner, Marjorie Hopkins Price, Elizabeth Helen Mills, Mary Goins Roots, Alta Lee Newman, Ellis David Dillard.
• 1965-66: James Gaskins, Rebecca Marie Britt, Lola V. Saunders, Annie Mae Costner, Addie Belle (Greene) Pleasants, Marjorie Hopkins Price, Dorothy H. Jones, Elizabeth Helen Mills, Alta Lee Newman, Ellis David Dillard.

By Alexis Massenburg

[1] William Johnson, “African American Education in the Town/City of Fairfax,” The Fare Facs Gazette, 2006; http://www.historicfairfax.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/HFCI41-2006.pdf

[2] William Johnson, “African American Education in the Town/City of Fairfax,” The Fare Facs Gazette, 2006; http://www.historicfairfax.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/HFCI41-2006.pdf; Evelyn Russell-Porte, “A History of Education for Black Students in Fairfax County Prior to 1954,” Unpublished Academic Paper, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2000; https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/29646/Final.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.