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First Female Superintendent
Susan Miller Dorsey made her mark as superintendent of the Los Angeles public-school system. During her tenure the system experienced huge growth in the number of students and employees. Dorsey managed this growth well, making the Los Angeles system a model for the country.

Background as a Teacher
Miller was born in Penn Yan, New York, the daughter of James and Hannah Benedict Miller. After attending the local public schools and Penn Yan Academy, she majored in the classics at Vassar and graduated with a B.A. in 1877. At Wilson College in Chamberburg, Pennsylvania, Miller taught Latin and Greek for a year before returning to Vassar to teach in the classics department. In 1881 Miller married a Baptist minister, Patrick William Dorsey, and they moved to Los Angeles where he accepted a position at the First Baptist Church. She was a social-welfare worker, and their only child, a son, was born in 1888.

Joining the Los Angeles System
Dorsey was teaching at Baptist College in Los Angeles when in 1894 her husband deserted her and took their son with him. Two years later she accepted a position at Los Angeles High School, again teaching Latin and Greek.

Dorsey shifted her career to school administration in 1902 and had many active and productive years as vice-principal of Los Angeles High School, assistant superintendent, and then superintendent of the Los Angeles City Schools.

Dorsey served as department chair from 1903 to 1907 and became vice principal of the school in 1907. Miller was chosen assistant superintendent of the Los Angeles city schools in 1913; she was the first woman to hold that position. In 1920 she was appointed superintendent of the Los Angeles school system.

Growth of the Los Angeles System
Dorsey served as superintendent of the Los Angeles high-school system from 1920 to 1929. During that time the public-school system experienced rapid growth. Miller saw the system swell from 47,000 students in 1920 to nearly 360,000 in 1929. To meet the demands of this increased enrollment, Dorsey hired more teachers, increasing their ranks from 750 in 1920 to 9,000 in 1929, and supervised a massive building program for the system. During her tenure Dorsey worked successfully with teacher committees in revising the curriculum in the Los Angeles city schools to accommodate the rapid growth in enrollment and the industrial-education needs of businesses in booming southern California. Dorsey looked out for her teachers through her support of higher salaries, sabbatical leaves, and job tenure. She advocated a strong vocational curriculum and special programs for both disabled and gifted students.

In 1929, at the age of 72 years, Dorsey resigned from a third term as superintendent, and began a 12 year period as an active participant on school committees, an advocate of temperance, a speaker, writer and recipient of numerous honors and tributes. She died in 1946 a few days before her 89th birthday.

Lasting Influence
In addition to fulfilling her duties as superintendent, Dorsey was also in the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association (NEA), particularly as a member of the editorial council of the NEA.

Dorsey was a member of Kappa Theta Pi the international honor society in education and a member of the Board of Trustees of Scripps College, earned an LL.D at the University of Southern California and rose to the position of Superintendent of Schools in Los Angeles.

Susan Miller Dorsey High School
In 1937 the Susan Dorsey High School was dedicated at 3537 Farmdale Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90016

• dedicated in 1930

• houses 70 students