A $365,000 gift? Thanks, Oprah

Atlanta’s Ron Clark Academy became one of Oprah Winfrey’s favorite things in 2008: Last week, she gave the private middle school a surprise Christmas gift —- a check for $365,000.

Clark, an award-winning teacher and author, has been on the “Oprah” show twice since 2001, and Winfrey has tracked his innovative school’s progress. But the hyperkinetic Clark said in announcing the gift Wednesday, he had no clue it was coming.

On Christmas Eve, he said, he was by himself at the school when he spied a FedEx envelope in the mail. He opened it and found a note from Winfrey.

“You are a dynamic and powerful role model for what education can be,” it read. “Bravo, bravo. Well done, my friend.”

Then the check fluttered out. “I started crying,” he said.

Clark opened his ambitious academy in southeast Atlanta in 2007. He raised $3.5 million to start it and needs $2.4 million a year to keep it going. Winfrey’s gift, he said, will cover 26 full-year scholarships.

On Tuesday, he got a call from Winfrey herself.

“I said, ‘How did you come about sending $365,000?’ She said, ‘I was sitting on my couch. I was wondering who I wanted to give Christmas presents to. I thought of you.’ “