AHS graduate receives Thurgood Marshall Award

Dr. Kendra Johnson was honored Nov. 2 with the distinguished Thurgood Marshall Award at the Thurgood Marshall Freedom Fund Dinner & Award Ceremony, sponsored by the Montclair Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It is the Montclair Branch’s highest award.

Johnson was selected April 11 as superintendent of Montclair Public Schools in Essex County, N.J., officially starting her new position May 1. She had been serving as the district’s assistant superintendent for equity, curriculum and instruction. She is the district’s first African-American superintendent.

Johnson has held the positions of teacher, department chairperson, principal, assistant principal, director of Title I, instructional director, chief academic officer, and adjunct college professor during her career. She has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Lincoln University, master’s degree in administration and supervision from John Hopkins University, juris doctorate with concentration in public interest and business law from the University of Baltimore School of Law, and urban educational leadership from Morgan State University. 

She honors children’s voices and believes they should serve as the expert voices when attempting to effectively program for them. To advance social justice and equity work, she consults with public, private, and independent schools, along with nonprofit agencies. Her first book, “When Treating all the Kids the Same is the Real Problem: Educational Leadership and the 21st Century Dilemma of Difference,” co-authored with Dr. Lisa Williams, was released in October 2014.

Johnson, a 1992 graduate of Alton High School, resides in New Jersey. She is the daughter of Terry and Mary Pearson of Godfrey and the granddaughter of the late Vernelle Lott.

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