Atlanta school board selects Bryan Johnson as next superintendent

Bryan Johnson, former superintendent of the Hamilton County School District in Chattanooga, is the Atlanta school board’s sole finalist for the superintendent position.

The school board announced Johnson as a finalist Tuesday morning at the school district’s central office in downtown Atlanta. State law requires the board to wait 14 days before voting on Johnson’s hiring. Atlanta public schools have approximately 50,000 students.

Johnson was hired to lead Hamilton County Schools in June 2017. He resigned in August 2021 with three years remaining on his contract. From there, he became director of transformation at trucking company US Xpress Enterprises, Inc.

Johnson currently serves as executive vice chancellor and chief strategy officer at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Efforts to contact Johnson were unsuccessful.

In 2021, Johnson, a Nashville native, was named Tennessee Superintendent of the Year and was a finalist for National Superintendent of the Year. He worked for 10 years in the Clarksville-Montgomery County school system, northwest of Nashville. Johnson attended Austin Peay State University, Belmont University and Trevecca University, where he earned a doctorate in educational leadership, according to his UTC biography.

The Atlanta School Board surveyed community members about the qualities they would like to see in the school district’s next leader. In December, the board approved a leadership profile that encompassed the following characteristics: an equity-focused leader with knowledge of Atlanta and leadership experience.

Atlanta Public Schools has been without a permanent leader for nearly a year. Last June, board members decided not to extend former Superintendent Lisa Herring’s contract. Longtime APS administrator Danielle Battle stepped in as interim superintendent but said she did not want the position permanently.

Three candidates, including Johnson, made prepared presentations last week to a community panel involved in the superintendent search process and the panel then shared feedback with the board. Gwinnett County Public Schools Superintendent Calvin Watts met with the panel but withdrew his name from consideration.