School District Superintendent wants support for educators and students
Dr. Johnnie Thomas is the superintendent for Rich Township High School District 227. PHOTO PROVIDED BY RICH TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT 227.
By Tia Carol Jones
Dr. Johnnie Thomas, superintendent of Rich Township High School District 227, truly cares about children. It is his concern for children that led him to pursue a career in education. He wanted to become a school leader to benefit Black people and Black children.
Thomas, who grew up on the West side of Chicago, worked for the Department of Children and Family Services for 4 years. He also worked at Hartgrove Hospital and at the Chicago Public Schools. He has been a school administrator for about 15 years. The last 11 have been as a school superintendent. Thomas describes Rich Township High School District as one that includes people with different viewpoints and diverse experiences.
“There are some very beautiful people who live in the community. They fight every day, not only for their children, but for their community. One of the things I have tried to do in my leadership is to try to bring us together as a people, try to figure out a way to rally support around our most important asset, which is our children, and get them to understand they have gifts we need to uncover,” Thomas said.
Thomas believes there is a foundation of love that people need to get back to. When it comes to challenges in schools and school districts, Thomas said he is worried about the way teachers and educators are supported, not only financially but socioemotionally.
Thomas has not seen a pipeline of teachers coming into the field, which concerns him. He believes that people need to come together and rally around the field of education, specifically retirement age and pension.
“Right now, in our Tier2 systems, teachers can’t retire until the age of 67. With us having to compete with talent and you have other professional organizations that can offer better benefits, better supports, the talent pool is being drawn away from education. We as a community have to figure a way out to inspire the next generation of educators. Because if we don’t it’s going to be tough moving into the future,” he said.
Thomas acknowledged that one of the lessons learned during the pandemic is patience. There was trauma that was not anticipated. While a sense of normalcy is coming back, the way technology is used in schools will remain. It has opened up different teaching modalities the district can use to support the education that is happening in the classroom. Rich Township School District 227 is taking advantage of that by offering different career pathways to its students, based on what they want to do with their lives. “We are really working hard to be more inspiring than mandating for our children and I think that’s going to create a more well-rounded individual for our society,” Thomas said.
Project 10 Million, a partnership between the School District and T-Mobile, provided mobile hotspots to students and families. It helped with the internet divide that was exposed during the pandemic when students had to engage in remote learning, which required devices and internet access. Thomas said it has been a game changer for the School District because those families now have connectivity. The School District also provided Google Chromebooks to the students.
While Thomas agrees that young people need to learn how to read and write, he believes those things are possible if they are loved. From what he sees, people have forgotten about the children, that they need constant love and admiration from adults.
“We need to show up when they’re doing positive things. We need to promote the positive experiences they are contributing to our community and our society. So much of what I see happening with our population of children, which is predominantly Black and Brown students, is they’re only painted in a negative light. We need to get back to showing up when they have a play … showing up when they have a spelling bee and clap and cheer and wrap our arms around them,” he said.
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