Dr. Ebony Johnson is the Interim Superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools, the largest school district in the State of Oklahoma serving nearly 34,000 students at 77 schools. She is a proud graduate of Tulsa Public Schools and attended Walt Whitman Elementary, Gilcrease Middle School, and McLain High School (class of 1994).
Dr. Johnson is a lifelong educator and transformational leader who started her career at Tulsa Public Schools as a classroom teacher at Monroe Middle School in 1999. She then served as a school leader at Academy Central Elementary, Central Junior High, Central High School, and McLain High School where she implemented strategies and best practices that resulted in school turnaround. In 2017, she stepped into the role of Executive Director of Student and Family Support Services and oversaw key initiatives resulting in a 27% decrease in out-of-school suspensions systemwide, district-wide adoption of SEL-integrated instruction, and the implementation of restorative practices as part of the district’s behavioral interventions.
In 2020, she was named as Tulsa Public Schools’ Chief Academic Officer providing strategic oversight for special education, multilingual learning, services to immigrant and refugee learners and families, curriculum and instruction, early childhood education, and student and family support services including mental, social, and emotional health. Dr. Johnson also serves as an adjunct professor in the College of Education at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Johnson was selected by the Council of Great City Schools as a candidate in the Michael Casserly Aspiring Superintendent’s cohort.
Dr. Johnson received a bachelor’s degree in English Education, a master’s of arts degree in Educational Leadership from Northeastern State University, and earned her doctoral degree in Education at the University of Oklahoma, where she earned a 4.0 GPA. She currently serves on the advisory board of directors of the University of Tulsa’s Schweitzer Foundation and the board of directors for The Pencil Box. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and takes pride in serving her community.
Dr. Johnson has been recognized by Tulsa World in 2015 as one of the Top Ten Tulsans to Watch, the United States Department of Education for Tulsa Public School’s outstanding work during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In addition, Dr. Johnson received the Hall of Honor in Community Service award in 2014 from 100 Black Men of Tulsa; Madam President award from the League of Women Voters of Tulsa in 2022; and the NSU Centurion Award in 2022, among many others.
Dr. Johnson is the proud mother of a Rogers High School graduate and an aspiring Booker T. Washington graduate. She has been married for 23 years to her husband, a Central High School counselor and graduate.
