AASD selects new superintendent J. Jack Johnson
The Atlanta Area School for the Deaf (AASD) and the Georgia Department of Education announced that they have selected Mr. J. Jack Johnson to be the next superintendent. His role will begin on August 1. Johnson is Deaf person.
This selection brings a closure to a tumultuous time at the school, as there were student-led protests in September 2021 to demand that a newly-appointed hearing superintendent be removed and replaced with a deaf leader who would be supportive of BIPOC students. That superintendent, Lisa Buckner, resigned two weeks later and a search process was initiated.
Prior to the protests, AASD had a deaf superintendent, John Serrano, who was the first deaf leader in the school’s history. He left the school in 2021 to accept a new job at Gallaudet University.
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Johnson was selected out of a pool of three finalists that included Rayburn Boland and Dina Rae Padden. The search process to select Johnson was organized by Innivee Strategies.
Johnson said in a video that he is very touched and humbled to be selected and that he is looking forward to seeing the students coming in at the start of the new school year.
Johnson’s LinkedIn profile shows that he is currently the executive director of the Knoxville Center of the Deaf in Tennessee and recently worked in an administrative position at the Tennessee School for the Deaf.
https://innivee.com/aasd-superintendent-selection/
https://www.dailymoth.com/blog/aasd-superintendent-resigns-after-protests
https://www.dailymoth.com/blog/atlanta-area-school-for-the-deaf-students-hold-protests