Ernestine Rouse, teacher and school board member

Ernestine J. Rouse, 89, of Philadelphia, a teacher in the city's public schools and the first African American woman to serve on the Philadelphia Board of Education, died at home Sunday, Feb. 14, of complications from diabetes.

Mayor William J. Green appointed Dr. Rouse to the school board on July 27, 1981. Two years later, she was elected to serve as vice president under President Herman Mattleman. She remained in the job until retiring in 1993.

"Ernestine brought insight, experience, and a love of the joy of educating children to her numerous leadership roles," said Sam Katz, who served with Dr. Rouse on the board.

"She was old school: humble, fair, respectful of diverse opinions, yet demanding. She was totally committed to improving the lives of young people and she made an impact everywhere she engaged. She exuded warmth and humanity."

The Chester native came from humble surroundings, but grew up instilled with the values of family, and belief in God and education, as the path to advancement.

She attended high school in the Darby Borough school system, and went on to Cheyney State College, intending to become a nurse. Known for her athleticism, she played basketball so well that she was later inducted into Cheyney's Athletic Hall of Fame.

During her freshman year, Dr. Rouse changed her major to education, and graduated in 1949 with a bachelor of science degree in elementary education. She later earned a master's degree in reading from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in pedagogy from Drexel University in 1992.

After graduating from Cheyney, Dr. Rouse taught at the elementary level in Philadelphia.

"She loved working with both children and adults, and creating lessons to drive their curiosity. She believed that anyone could learn. The trick was to find a way to reach each student," her family said.

She left the School District in 1975 to take a teaching job at Cheyney, and was recruited to join the Philadelphia school board in 1981.

In 1986, the Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force came before the panel to ask for courses on alternate lifestyles, so that students might better understand some of their peers. At the time, gay and lesbian students were reporting being bullied and harassed at school.

Dr. Rouse assured task force members that the board was aware of the problem.

"We are in a training program with teachers and counselors (on the gay students issue)," she said. "So it (the testimony) isn't going into one ear, then out the other."

Acutely aware that ninth and 10th graders were dropping out of Philadelphia schools in large numbers, Dr. Rouse went to the students themselves to advocate for finishing high school. Of the 18,759 students who entered ninth grade in the 1985-86 school year, only 10,646 reached their senior year, according to a School District evaluation.

"I hope when I attend senior graduation, I see all of you. You don't have the right in 1987 to do badly. You must make a go of it. Please, please, young ladies, young men, don't drop out of school," she implored the students at Warren G. Harding Junior High School in Frankford in February 1987.

After the program, Dr. Rouse told the Inquirer, "I just worry so. When they leave in ninth grade, what's there for them?"

Early in her career, Dr. Rouse met Felder E. Rouse Jr. The two married in 1952, and had three children and settled in Germantown.

Following her retirement from the Board of Education, she served as the paid coordinator for Drexel's field program for teacher preparation. She stopped working in the late 1990s.

She is survived by two sons, Felder "Chip" III and Wesley G.; a daughter, Patricia A.; two granddaughters, and a sister. Her husband, from whom she was divorced, died in 2012.

A viewing will be on Friday, Feb. 19, starting at 4 p.m., and will be followed by funeral services at 6, both at New Bethel A.M.E. Church of Germantown, 6153 Germantown Ave. Burial is private.

bcook@phillynews.com

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