If you’re involved in the Lincoln Public school district, sooner or later, you’ll meet Mrs. Mary Anne Roll. Next to teachers and staff, Roll is one of the most influential people in the lives of students as a school committee member, co-chair of the Health & Wellness Committee, and proud nana.
Roll first came to Lincoln in the late 90s, all the way from Southern California. At the time, she was a stay-at-home mom, but she still had a love of education from teaching secondary school for 13 years. When her family moved to Rhode Island due to her husband’s job, she promised her young daughter that she would visit the local elementary school. This was none other than Northern Elementary, which had just become a National Blue Ribbon School. When Roll asked principal Frank Peters if Northern deserved the recognition, he said, some days yes, and some days no. The honesty combined with the friendliness at her first visit hooked Roll, and she has been involved in the Lincoln school district ever since.
Roll started out by helping the PTA with projects like managing money in the dawn of computers and limiting teen use of tobacco. When just 22 community members successfully campaigned to build a new middle school, Roll was inspired to run for a seat on the school committee. She won and has proudly served Lincoln for 20 years.
“You don’t know what the job is until you’re there,” explained Roll. “If you go to Chapter 16 in Rhode Island general law, there’s a whole list of things that school committees are supposed to do. But essentially my job on the school committee is [to] hire a superintendent, a little budget and a little contract, but not much.”
Perhaps the most meaningful role of the school committee for Roll is to connect the community with local education.
“[I am] there primarily as an advocate, which is a role that’s really comfortable for me because I think that’s what the community needs. There needs to be some place, just like the town council, some people who are going to be the voice for the community,” said Roll.
Right now, Roll is excited about the Vision of a Graduate program, which aims to prepare students for life after graduation. This process begins in elementary school with yearly presentations on topics like communication, critical thinking, and civic participation and continues through student-led conferences in middle school, exhibition in junior year, and community service projects for seniors.
“While much of the work on our facilities is a once in a generation project, VOG gets to the heart of the mission of our public schools and will impact teaching and learning in all of our schools for years to come,” she said. “Full implementation of VOG will take time. Achieving the goals of VOG will require ongoing investments on the part of the community that support both students and staff. In the end, we all benefit when every student who crosses the Bridge to receive their diploma from LHS is prepared for what comes next.”
Roll also runs the district’s Health and Wellness Committee with assistant superintendent Kevin Macnamara and Lincoln Middle School Principal James Williamson. The state of Rhode Island mandates such an organization in each school district. The committee’s focus is on attendance, nutrition, and staff wellness, among other issues.
Both school committee and H&W meetings are open to students. The school committee meets in the Lincoln High School auditorium on the first Monday of each month at 6:00pm and is open to the public. The H&W committee meets quarterly in the Lincoln High School library on Wednesday mornings, and welcomes student representatives from clubs such as Green Team and P.A.W.S.
To students, Roll said, “I need to hear your voices. And speak up, because sometimes I can’t. Don’t be afraid. Bring something forward.”
So what keeps Roll so invested in education after all these years? For starters, Lincoln Public Schools are a family affair. Her children went to Northern elementary, her daughter-in-law went to Central, and she now has grandkids at Northern and LHS.
Beyond her role as a nana, Roll simply values equitable education.
“Everyone certainly needs to be able to grow and develop to meet their full potential. Education is the gateway to all of that, right? I think health and education are the two things that figure out the future generation,” said Roll. “Everyone, anyone, should be able to aspire to running a company, running a government, you know, participating, doing that. I mean, everybody should have that kind of opportunity to grow and to contribute to the world in which they live. And so schools, and in particular, public education – we would be lost without it. Otherwise, we would be pretty much educating the elite.”
At the end of the day, it is this belief that motivates Roll to champion our district.
