Amanda Johnson founded KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy in Helena-West Helena, Ark., in 2009 and spent seven years running the school, but her dream was to make a difference in Clarksdale - the community where she lived.
Johnson gave up her position at KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy in 2016 to begin the journey of starting Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School, where she is now the executive director.
The school opened at the end of July, the beginning of the current academic year. The school, located at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on West Second Street, currently enrolls kindergarteners through second-graders and the plan is to eventually have students all the way up to eighth grade.
Originally from Little Rock, Ark., Johnson is a 1999 Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School graduate and earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and minor in urban studies from Rhodes College in Memphis in 2003.
Johnson’s interests shifted when she joined the Teach for America program and taught second grade in the Lee County School District in Marianna, Ark., from 2003-06.
“I did change course,” Johnson said. “The reason why I was interested in Teach for America was I thought it was direct service in areas where the need was great. So I didn’t necessarily start off trying to be an educator, but was intrigued by Teach for America’s mission and wanted to be part of it. I just thought it would be a good opportunity for me to have that experience for a couple of years before deciding to do law school or politics or something else and then I fell in love with education.”
She taught sixth grade at KIPP Delta College Preparatory School in Helena-West Helena, Ark., from 2006-09. When she decided she wanted to have a leadership position in schools, she went back to school and earned her master’s degree in educational leadership from National Louis University in Chicago in 2009. She remained in the KIPP school system in Helena by opening KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy.
During Johnson’s time running KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy, the school went from serving 100 students in kindergarten and first grade to close to 500 children in grades pre-k through fourth grade.
Johnson worked in the KIPP schools from 2006-’16, moved to Clarksdale during her tenure and is an eight-year resident.
Her husband, Sanford, who is deputy director of advocacy at Mississippi First in Clarksdale, also went through the Teach for America program and previously taught U.S. history at Coahoma County High School, is originally from Cleveland and did not want to leave his home state.
“He was really interested in living in Mississippi and I was continuing the work I was doing within charter schools so we moved to Clarksdale,” Johnson said.
“When I moved here to Clarksdale, I was still working in Helena and I see Clarksdale is having the same type of need that Helena does. And I was also interested in doing the work where I was living. So, I, personally, enjoy seeing kids from the school out in Walmart or at church. And so it was disconnected for me.
“I wanted to live and work in the same place so I could feel kind of all of the aspects of my life interacting. I enjoy seeing my scholars out and about and being able to go to their football games or being able to go to their church programs or whatnot. So I wanted to do that and couldn’t do that when I was commuting back and forth from Clarksdale.”
Johnson explored many different paths to get where she is today as the Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School executive director. She interned at a couple of law firms, considered running for a political office, became a teacher, then an administrator and has moved from Arkansas to Mississippi.
Wherever she was, she did not experience much sexism in the workplace.
“I think it’s some of the similar challenges that women face when they’re in leadership,” Johnson said. “I think it’s a matter of being able to make connections and being able to get resources and bring them to the school. I think sometimes, while I don’t feel like I’ve faced many outright challenges because I’m female, it is also one of those things that when we’re talking to funders or we’re talking to other superintendents where it’s a heavily male-dominated world, I think it sometimes can feel uncomfortable or feel like you’re kind of on the outskirts.
“That can be challenging. I don’t think I’ve felt any kind of direct challenges. It’s one of those things of being one of the only sometimes can be challenging and can make it tough.”
Opening school a scary process
While Johnson welcomed the opportunity to work in the community where she resides, she recognized the risk of leaving her position in Helena-West Helena, Ark., before the Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School had been approved to open.
“It was a scary process. It wasn’t easy, so there was always a possibility that something would come up or that we wouldn’t be able prove ourselves to the authorizer board,” she said. “But I felt strongly about the application. I felt strongly about the team that we had put together and I’ve had experience in charters for a long time, so I felt good about our chances and our abilities to do it well.
“ But, yes, there was definitely a possibility that it wouldn’t have gotten approved. I didn’t think about that a lot because you have to kind of keep moving forward and see what’s going to happen. I’m thankful that it did (get approved. Now, we’re just trying to run an excellent school.”
After leaving the KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy in September 2016, Johnson began the process of putting together Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School by recruiting board members, planning academics and the organizational structure and looking at facilities.
Johnson turned in a letter of intent to submit an application to have a charter school in Clarksdale in March 2017. She went to the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board with information and the full application was complete in 2017.
A public hearing was held at The City of Truth Church and Johnson and her board went to Jackson where the authorizer board focused on areas of questions and concerns in the application. The board voted to approve the school Sept. 11, 2017 and a facility was secured last February.
Johnson could have chosen to apply for a position at a school in Coahoma County, but she knew where she was most experienced and where her strengths were.
“I’ve been in the charter world since 2006, so it’s been most of my career,” she said. “It’s been most of my experiences. I wanted to make sure that I did what I know well. I think the big thing for me is that charter schools offer an opportunity outside of what already exists and what is the status quo.
“ I haven’t worked within a district for a long time, so for me, it was about wanting to feel successful and to do a really good job. For me, that was leading a school outside of the traditional district. I think what we’ve opened and what we have going here is working really well for the scholars that we have. Our families are happy. That’s what I know how to do, so I wanted to do that within this particular realm.”
Johnson moves forward in first year of school
Johnson has shown her faith in Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School by vowing to send her children there. Her older daughter, Lorelei, is in second grade at the school and her 4-year-old daughter, Ava Jae, attends Jonestown Montessori School and will enroll at Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School when she is old enough.
The purpose of the school is to prepare students for college and Johnson believes the first year will set the tone.
“What we believe that we need to do everything that we need to now in order to make sure they’re set up for success,” she said. “We don’t believe that the path to college starts in high school or middle school or senior year. We believe that starts now and so want to ensure our scholars are on or above grade level in our core subject areas.”
Johnson said the traditional public schools could implement many of the same programs as Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School. However, one advantage of being a charter school she mentioned is she is able to be closer to the kids and still make key decisions, including the hiring of teachers.
“For us, we believe that literacy is critically important and so we believe in explicit phonics instruction to ensure our scholars are able to decode actual words on the paper and also build their language comprehension where, once they are able to read or decode the words, they are actually able to understand what they’ve read,” Johnson said.
Johnson said students get more than two of literacy a day, a 90-minute math block, built-in interventions and start science and social studies as early as kindergarten.
“We’re serious about it when we say our scholars are college bound. We want to make sure that they’re really prepared,” she said.
Students also learn art and music, have PE and recess throughout the week and a science lab offered once a week and virtual reality learning stations.
“I think it’s about thinking about what scholars need at an early age and not waiting until later to do that,” Johnson said.
Clarksdale College Public Charter School is also teaching different cultures. The second graders finished up a unit in early Asian civilization and visited Bill’s Museum of Asian Art in Memphis.
Eventually, Johnson said, students will play sports at the school.
Next year, Johnson said Clarksdale College Public Charter School will be at the same location and the facility will expand to hold more children. She does not know where the long-term facility will be.
While Johnson continues to do her job, she understands there are organizations trying to close the school. One of the main issues opponents have cited is the charter school takes funds away from traditional public schools.
Johnson does her best to stay the course.
“I keep trying to do my job better every day because, at the end of the day, we have been approved and I feel like we will stay here and in existence as long as we’re doing a great job,” she said. “There’s no other way for me to explain why we’re here or why we should be here. I think the best thing that I could do is get great results with kids. When my scholars start taking state tests and start just showing just some of the things that they know; I think that will be the things that makes a difference for some. I think that’s the only that I do is making sure that we’re running an excellent school. As long as we’re running an excellent school, I’m not worried about keeping our doors open.”
More information on Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School can be found at https://www.clarksdalecollegiate.org/.
Amanda Johnson founded KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy in Helena-West Helena, Ark., in 2009 and spent seven years running the school, but her dream was to make a difference in Clarksdale - the community where she lived.
Johnson gave up her position at KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy in 2016 to begin the journey of starting Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School, where she is now the executive director.
The school opened at the end of July, the beginning of the current academic year. The school, located at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on West Second Street, currently enrolls kindergarteners through second-graders and the plan is to eventually have students all the way up to eighth grade.
Originally from Little Rock, Ark., Johnson is a 1999 Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School graduate and earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and minor in urban studies from Rhodes College in Memphis in 2003.
Johnson’s interests shifted when she joined the Teach for America program and taught second grade in the Lee County School District in Marianna, Ark., from 2003-06.
“I did change course,” Johnson said. “The reason why I was interested in Teach for America was I thought it was direct service in areas where the need was great. So I didn’t necessarily start off trying to be an educator, but was intrigued by Teach for America’s mission and wanted to be part of it. I just thought it would be a good opportunity for me to have that experience for a couple of years before deciding to do law school or politics or something else and then I fell in love with education.”
She taught sixth grade at KIPP Delta College Preparatory School in Helena-West Helena, Ark., from 2006-09. When she decided she wanted to have a leadership position in schools, she went back to school and earned her master’s degree in educational leadership from National Louis University in Chicago in 2009. She remained in the KIPP school system in Helena by opening KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy.
During Johnson’s time running KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy, the school went from serving 100 students in kindergarten and first grade to close to 500 children in grades pre-k through fourth grade.
Johnson worked in the KIPP schools from 2006-’16, moved to Clarksdale during her tenure and is an eight-year resident.
Her husband, Sanford, who is deputy director of advocacy at Mississippi First in Clarksdale, also went through the Teach for America program and previously taught U.S. history at Coahoma County High School, is originally from Cleveland and did not want to leave his home state.
“He was really interested in living in Mississippi and I was continuing the work I was doing within charter schools so we moved to Clarksdale,” Johnson said.
“When I moved here to Clarksdale, I was still working in Helena and I see Clarksdale is having the same type of need that Helena does. And I was also interested in doing the work where I was living. So, I, personally, enjoy seeing kids from the school out in Walmart or at church. And so it was disconnected for me.
“I wanted to live and work in the same place so I could feel kind of all of the aspects of my life interacting. I enjoy seeing my scholars out and about and being able to go to their football games or being able to go to their church programs or whatnot. So I wanted to do that and couldn’t do that when I was commuting back and forth from Clarksdale.”
Johnson explored many different paths to get where she is today as the Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School executive director. She interned at a couple of law firms, considered running for a political office, became a teacher, then an administrator and has moved from Arkansas to Mississippi.
Wherever she was, she did not experience much sexism in the workplace.
“I think it’s some of the similar challenges that women face when they’re in leadership,” Johnson said. “I think it’s a matter of being able to make connections and being able to get resources and bring them to the school. I think sometimes, while I don’t feel like I’ve faced many outright challenges because I’m female, it is also one of those things that when we’re talking to funders or we’re talking to other superintendents where it’s a heavily male-dominated world, I think it sometimes can feel uncomfortable or feel like you’re kind of on the outskirts.
“That can be challenging. I don’t think I’ve felt any kind of direct challenges. It’s one of those things of being one of the only sometimes can be challenging and can make it tough.”
Opening school a scary process
While Johnson welcomed the opportunity to work in the community where she resides, she recognized the risk of leaving her position in Helena-West Helena, Ark., before the Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School had been approved to open.
“It was a scary process. It wasn’t easy, so there was always a possibility that something would come up or that we wouldn’t be able prove ourselves to the authorizer board,” she said. “But I felt strongly about the application. I felt strongly about the team that we had put together and I’ve had experience in charters for a long time, so I felt good about our chances and our abilities to do it well.
“ But, yes, there was definitely a possibility that it wouldn’t have gotten approved. I didn’t think about that a lot because you have to kind of keep moving forward and see what’s going to happen. I’m thankful that it did (get approved. Now, we’re just trying to run an excellent school.”
After leaving the KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy in September 2016, Johnson began the process of putting together Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School by recruiting board members, planning academics and the organizational structure and looking at facilities.
Johnson turned in a letter of intent to submit an application to have a charter school in Clarksdale in March 2017. She went to the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board with information and the full application was complete in 2017.
A public hearing was held at The City of Truth Church and Johnson and her board went to Jackson where the authorizer board focused on areas of questions and concerns in the application. The board voted to approve the school Sept. 11, 2017 and a facility was secured last February.
Johnson could have chosen to apply for a position at a school in Coahoma County, but she knew where she was most experienced and where her strengths were.
“I’ve been in the charter world since 2006, so it’s been most of my career,” she said. “It’s been most of my experiences. I wanted to make sure that I did what I know well. I think the big thing for me is that charter schools offer an opportunity outside of what already exists and what is the status quo.
“ I haven’t worked within a district for a long time, so for me, it was about wanting to feel successful and to do a really good job. For me, that was leading a school outside of the traditional district. I think what we’ve opened and what we have going here is working really well for the scholars that we have. Our families are happy. That’s what I know how to do, so I wanted to do that within this particular realm.”
Johnson moves forward in first year of school
Johnson has shown her faith in Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School by vowing to send her children there. Her older daughter, Lorelei, is in second grade at the school and her 4-year-old daughter, Ava Jae, attends Jonestown Montessori School and will enroll at Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School when she is old enough.
The purpose of the school is to prepare students for college and Johnson believes the first year will set the tone.
“What we believe that we need to do everything that we need to now in order to make sure they’re set up for success,” she said. “We don’t believe that the path to college starts in high school or middle school or senior year. We believe that starts now and so want to ensure our scholars are on or above grade level in our core subject areas.”
Johnson said the traditional public schools could implement many of the same programs as Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School. However, one advantage of being a charter school she mentioned is she is able to be closer to the kids and still make key decisions, including the hiring of teachers.
“For us, we believe that literacy is critically important and so we believe in explicit phonics instruction to ensure our scholars are able to decode actual words on the paper and also build their language comprehension where, once they are able to read or decode the words, they are actually able to understand what they’ve read,” Johnson said.
Johnson said students get more than two of literacy a day, a 90-minute math block, built-in interventions and start science and social studies as early as kindergarten.
“We’re serious about it when we say our scholars are college bound. We want to make sure that they’re really prepared,” she said.
Students also learn art and music, have PE and recess throughout the week and a science lab offered once a week and virtual reality learning stations.
“I think it’s about thinking about what scholars need at an early age and not waiting until later to do that,” Johnson said.
Clarksdale College Public Charter School is also teaching different cultures. The second graders finished up a unit in early Asian civilization and visited Bill’s Museum of Asian Art in Memphis.
Eventually, Johnson said, students will play sports at the school.
Next year, Johnson said Clarksdale College Public Charter School will be at the same location and the facility will expand to hold more children. She does not know where the long-term facility will be.
While Johnson continues to do her job, she understands there are organizations trying to close the school. One of the main issues opponents have cited is the charter school takes funds away from traditional public schools.
Johnson does her best to stay the course.
“I keep trying to do my job better every day because, at the end of the day, we have been approved and I feel like we will stay here and in existence as long as we’re doing a great job,” she said. “There’s no other way for me to explain why we’re here or why we should be here. I think the best thing that I could do is get great results with kids. When my scholars start taking state tests and start just showing just some of the things that they know; I think that will be the things that makes a difference for some. I think that’s the only that I do is making sure that we’re running an excellent school. As long as we’re running an excellent school, I’m not worried about keeping our doors open.”
More information on Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School can be found at https://www.clarksdalecollegiate.org/.
