Atlanta board member's award is the city's third this year for urban school leadership

By Kristina Torres

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta city school officials celebrated another national honor Friday after longtime school board member Emmett D. Johnson won the Council of the Great City Schools' highest award for urban education leadership.

It's the third urban leadership award won by city school leaders this year.

The council is a coalition of the nation's largest urban school systems. Johnson was one of 10 finalists for the award, which is named for Richard R. Green, a former schools chancellor of New York City and superintendent of Minneapolis city schools. The award includes a $10,000 college scholarship that Johnson can present to a local high school senior.

Johnson, a 12-year member, was on the board in 1999 when it hired Superintendent Beverly Hall. At the time, Hall was Atlanta's fifth superintendent in almost 10 years and the system was considered among the state's worst.

It is now cited nationally as a turn-around model, with double-digit test score and graduation rate gains, tangible corporate support and ground-breaking initiatives that include an overhaul of the system's high schools. System officials on Friday said Johnson has played a key role in strengthening the board's relationship with its superintendent.

Hall, too, earned honors this year when the American Association of School Administrators named her the nation's top superintendent. The board as a whole this year also won the highest leadership award given by the National School Board Association's Council of Urban Boards of Education.