Lois Harrison-Jones is an American school administrator and academic who served as superintendent of

Richmond Public Schools Richmond Public Schools is a public school district located in the independent city of Richmond, Virginia. It is occasionally described locally as Richmond City Public Schools to emphasize its connection to the independent city rather than the ...

and

Boston Public Schools Boston Public Schools (BPS) is a school district serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest public school district in the state of Massachusetts. Leadership The district is led by a Superintendent, hired by the ...

. She was the first female superintendent in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

and the first black female superintendent in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Early life

Harrison-Jones was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia. She earned degrees from Virginia State College,

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

, and

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

Career

Harrison-Jones began her teaching career in 1954 as a sixth-grade teacher and worked her way up through the Richmond Public School system to the position of assistant superintendent for elementary education. In 1985 she was chosen to succeed Richard Hunter as Richmond's superintendent of schools. At the time of her appointment she was one of only 24 black women superintendents in the United States, the first black female superintendent in Virginia, and the first female superintendent in Richmond. In 1988 she left Richmond to become the associate superintendent for education of the

Dallas Independent School District The Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD or DISD) is a school district based in Dallas, Texas (USA). It operates schools in much of Dallas County and is the second-largest school district in Texas and the seventeenth-largest in the U ...

. On May 14, 1991, Harrison-Jones was named superintendent of Boston Public Schools. During her tenure in Boston, student drop-out and suspension rates dropped, the Center for Leadership Development and six pilot schools were developed, and school-to-career programs were expanded. In February 1995, school committee members informed Harrison-Jones that they did not plan on extending her contract and she agreed not to contest her removal. She left office on June 30, 1995. While in Boston, Harrison-Jones also served as a professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. She later taught at Howard University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison-Jones, Lois 20th-century African-American women 20th-century American educators Boston Public Schools superintendents Harvard University faculty Howard University faculty People from Westmoreland County, Virginia School superintendents in Virginia Temple University alumni Virginia State University alumni Virginia Tech alumni