Ensuring that every child in a public school has the opportunity to receive a solid education has been one of the tenets of Dr. George McKenna’s life. The tireless leader believes that children have a fundamental right to receive a proper education that will prepare them to be productive members of society and reach their full potential. Not only does McKenna believe and profess this, he has spent his entire professional career putting it into practice as one of the pre-eminent educators of the past 50 years.
McKenna recently came out of retirement and accepted an appointment as Interim Superintendent of Local District 7 of the Los Angeles Unified School District, an area which encompasses South Los Angeles and includes King-Drew, Jordan, Fremont and Manuel Arts high schools.
As Interim Superintendent of Local District 7, Dr. McKenna will guide 83 elementary, middle and senior high schools and early education centers serving more than 58,000 students in the communities adjacent to downtown Los Angeles and South Los Angeles.
He replaced Dr. Liza Scruggs, who served as Interim Superintendent of Local District 7 this summer after Dr. Carol Truscott retired in June.
McKenna, an educational leader often compared to other greats like Chicago’s Dr. Marva Collins, New Orleans’ Dr. Mack Spears and New Jersey’s Joe Clark, spoke recently about the goals he has for the school district he will oversee.
“The challenge is still there for us to make public schools work better than they are [working] for children,” McKenna told The Los Angeles Sentinel in early September. “I think there is a movement not only here locally in Los Angeles but nationally, to find alternatives to public schools, and I still think that most of the children will be in public schools. So there is no reason for public schools not to work more effectively than they do now.
McKenna earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Xavier University if Louisiana at the age of 20, George McKenna went on to earn a master’s degree in mathematics from Loyola University in New Orleans and a doctorate in education from Xavier University.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of him taking over the helm at George Washington Preparatory High School, a troubled institution where he had to contend with street gangs, drugs and gun violence. His radical transformation of George Washington Preparatory High School is the stuff of legends. He turned the embattled, crime-ridden school from a failing institution into one where nearly 80 percent of its graduates went on to college.
McKenna has been a principal, an assistant superintendent, a deputy superintendent, and a superintendent of Unified School districts around the Southland. He was the subject of an award-winning movie, The George McKenna Story, based on his tenure as principal of George Washington High School and has received numerous awards including the Congressional Black Caucus Award and citations from civic, legislative and professional organizations. He has served the community as chair of the California-based Educational Civil Rights Committee that developed the Black Educational Civil Rights Agenda presented along with Dr. Bill Cosby, and adopted as a NABSE priority and initiative at the 2007 annual conference. He is listed in History Makers as a pioneer educator and was elected into the National Alliance of Black School Educators’ Hall of Fame.
This article was originally published in the September 28, 2009 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper
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