James Johnson-Waldington, the new superintendent of the Greenwood-Leflore Consolidated School District, has come a long way from the excited little boy who used to exclaim, “Y’all have brick houses?!” to friends after his family made the 30-mile trek to Greenwood from their shotgun- style house in Ruleville.
They made the trip to visit Johnson-Waldington’s aunt, who still lives in the same home she lived in when he was a boy, in the Rising Sun community.
“There was an entrance made of iron with the name and all these beautiful buildings that looked like the doctor’s office,” Johnson-Waldington said. “As a kindergarten-age child, that was just absolutely amazing.”
Johnson-Waldington is the youngest of five children, and visiting Greenwood provided his first exposure to a different landscape.
After graduating from Delta State University in 1992, Johnson-Waldington worked briefly as a warehouse manager. After leaving that job, he began working as an officer with the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
“What I saw there is what started my career in education,” he said.
As a teen, he would play basketball on the neighborhood court in Ruleville. He would see talented players there, and then suddenly they wouldn’t show up anymore. Relatives would say they had moved away, joined the military or done something else.
“Working in the MDOC I saw where some were,” he said. “It was very disheartening to see such talented individuals incarcerated, and 100% of those I saw had not graduated high school.”
He began his educational career in his hometown. From 2002-2009, before entering any role as superintendent, Johnson-Waldington served as the principal of Ruleville Central High School. This was immediately after he earned his master’s degree in educational administration and supervision from Delta State.
Johnson-Waldington subsequently served as superintendent for South Delta, Montgomery, West Bolivar Consolidated and Hollandale school districts before being appointed interim superintendent of the Leflore County School District in 2017 while it was under state control. The Leflore County and Greenwood districts merged in 2019.
He said he was “extremely honored and nervous at the same time” to be chosen for the interim superintendent’s job. Previously he had worked as superintendent in districts with fewer than 2,000 students.
“But I always wanted to use the experiences and talents I developed to help children in the Delta on a larger scale than I have in the past,” he said.
Johnson-Waldington officially began his term as the superintendent for the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School District July 1. Aug. 4 will be the first day he serves with school in session.
He will be serving about 3,500 students in the district, where, he said, he has met “people and children that only wanted an opportunity for a quality education.”
To ensure that students’ educations are equitable, Johnson-Waldington plans to refocus existing funds in the district’s budget toward the areas that will directly improve student achievement.
He also supports openness. “Being transparent helps individuals know how decisions are being made and holds everyone involved to a high standard,” he said.
He followed up on a public invitation he made to the community two weeks ago to hold him accountable for everything he has said. “Additionally, if everyone knows our situation, then it’s hard to hide the results of the effort to improve,” he said.
He agrees that skeptics of his administration “deserve to be skeptics because of past administration. All I want is for the GLCSD faculty and staff — including myself — to be held to a high standard so we can do what’s best for our children.”
For those children, he has two pieces of advice: “Education is the key to any door that you want opened. Secondly, never burn a bridge when you cross it.”
- Contact Katherine Parker at 662-581-7239 or kparker@gwcommonwealth.com.
