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Mary Scroggs, 85, schools advocate

Posted on April 18, 2007April 30, 2007 by Staff

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Longtime board of education member and outspoken schools advocate Mary Scroggs died last week. She was 85.

Scroggs, who served on the school board from 1961 until 1977, is known for her work toward desegregation as well as for the construction of several schools at a time when schools were extremely overcrowded.

“When you talk about my mom, the first thing you’ve got to talk about is principles,” said Steve Scroggs, Mary Scroggs’s son and assistant superintendent for support services for Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools. “She was truly devoted to educating all the kids and she believed in what she did.

“Mother’s first vote on the board of education was to desegregate Estes Hills,” he continued. “What people miss in that conversation was that [Estes Hills] was where her children went to school.”

At home, “It was okay to talk about anything,” he added. “On the personal side, she was legendary.”

She was viewed as “someone who wasn’t reluctant to speak her mind … at a very crucial time,” said Kim Hoke, director of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation. Hoke chaired the committee that named Mary Scroggs Elementary School in her honor. Scroggs Elementary opened in 1999.

Scroggs continued her work for the schools at the elementary school, where she volunteered for several years. “She used to come over every week and help us,” said Grace Repass, principal of Mary Scroggs Elementary.

Repass said Scroggs helped the school organize the library, where she often read to the children. For her 80th birthday, Scroggs celebrated with the children and served every student punch and cookies, Repass recalled.

Superintendent Neil Pedersen was in San Francisco attending a conference, but said in a statement, “Mary Scroggs was one of the most influential school board members in our district’s history. She served during a very turbulent time when the school system was desegregating and growing at a very rapid pace.”

He continued, “She was instrumental in helping the school district desegregate in an orderly and peaceful manner.”

Scroggs was born in 1921 and was a graduate of Doane College in Nebraska. She moved to Chapel Hill in 1946. She is preceded in death by her husband, Ross Scroggs, who served on the Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen.

She is survived by four children, Jan, Ross, Max and Steve, as well as eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation for “Mary A. Scroggs,” at P.O. Box 877, Carrboro, N.C., 27510.

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