Helen Kittell West, Principal of the Monmouth Beach School (1922-1946).

A borough education leader during very trying times — all through the Great Depression and World War II — Helen established a foundation for the definitive “neighborhood school.” Her efforts have allowed generations of borough families to adore its “walk to” access.

Hellen Kittell, 1901.

In September 1922, borough native Helen Kittell was appointed principal of the Monmouth Beach Public School — then with 80 students and a $5,000 annual budget. Helen was a “graceful and intelligent” educator, according to a July 1918 Long Branch Daily Record profile and almost certainly one of the first female school principals in New Jersey history. And no borough school leader has ever served longer.

Born in 1891 on Riverdale Avenue (then called Fresh Pond Road), her father, Mellon, was a borough councilman and pioneering pound boat fisherman in North Long Branch. Helen graduated from Chattle High School in Long Branch in 1909 (the same year the Monmouth Beach School opened). She earned a college degree from Trenton State in 1912 and began her career in Eatontown; teaching there from 1912 to 1916.

Once in Monmouth Beach, in addition to her principal duties (at a $1,500 salary), she taught 7th and 8th graders. Helen proved to be quite the consequential leader. She started the school’s first kindergarten program (called a pre-primer class) in 1943, helped form the first school PTA in November 1930, organized the first school class trip (to West Point in 1925), launched the first MBBP student cook-out in June 1927 and directed the school’s annual commencement exercises for over two decades.

Small classes were the norm during the early years. For a while the school had just three teachers: Helen, Eleanor Van Note and Alice Johnson (the trio would combine for 100+ years of instruction in Monmouth Beach). Back then three grades were taught in one classroom. And talk about doing a lot with a little — the school education budget Helen was given never reached $15,000 in any year.

“Those who know, do. Those who understand, teach.”
—Aristotle

Helen was a real patriot too. An early and eager leader in the women’s suffrage movement, she was Vice President of the Monmouth County League of Women Voters. Until the 19th Amendment passed in 1920, women could not vote. She also sold Liberty Bonds for WW I efforts in 1918 and was auxiliary president for the local American Red Cross and the American Legion in the 1930s.

As a kind and thoughtful education leader on Griffin Street for 25 years, parents and students could relate to Helen. Thus the success. Shortly before her death, a Long Branch Daily Record profile on Monmouth Beach, offered: “The borough has an excellent graded school and is rated high for efficacy and thoroughness of training.”

Helen was living in North Long Branch with her husband, Walter E. West, when she died in May 1946. Her quarter-century career as a school principal — when women were just beginning to gain leadership roles — reflects most favorably on her professional competence and the community’s trust.

Fast Fact: Helen’s first graduating class as MBS principal, the Class of 1923, included 8^th graders: Paul Peterson, Theodore Hansen, Charlotte Drake, John Hansen, Carolyn Smith (top honor pupil), Barbara Rodney, Robert Archer and Horace Titus.

More Info:
• Monmouth Beach School History — HERE
• Monmouth Beach School Images — HERE
• Monmouth Beach School Song — HERE
• Shore Regional High School History — HERE

Teaching Trio — Principal Helen Kittell (r) with teacher-colleagues Alice Johnson (l) and Eleanor Van Note (c) at Borough Hall on Beach Road, 1942. From 1911-1961 annual school graduation exercises were held in the same building — the Casino (1911-17) and then the Borough Hall (1918-1961). Commencement moved to the Precious Blood Church Catechetical Center (1962-1975) and finally and properly to the new school on Griffin Street (1976-present).

Local Ivy — Monmouth Beach School on Griffin Street, 1940s. When Helen Kittell took the top education job in Monmouth Beach in 1922, there were fewer than 450 borough residents and annual municipal spending was under $45,000.