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Tennessee school superintendent donates $15K bonus toward student scholarships

The school superintendent in Hamilton County, Tennessee, donated his $15,000 in bonuses to establish a scholarship in the name of his late mother.

A Tennessee school superintendent announced he will donate $15,000 in bonuses he earned as part of his contract to establish scholarships in the name of his late mother.

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Hamilton County School Superintendent Bryan Johnson announced the LaBrenda Johnson Memorial Scholarships at Ooltewah High School on Thursday, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.

Johnson received the bonuses after the school district scored the maximum score of 5 in state testing last week, WCRB reported.

"I'm appreciative of our teachers, I'm appreciative of our leaders and I'm appreciative of you and what you did last year and what our school district did," Johnson told Ooltewah High's seniors. "When we talk about student achievement what it really means is that students are becoming better prepared for the future, better prepared for post-secondary, better prepared for life after high school, and that's ultimately our goal as a school district."

LaBrenda Sonnette Johnson, 64, died in Nashville on June 5, 2017, shortly after Bryan Johnson interviewed for the Hamilton County superintendent post, the Times Free Press reported. LaBrenda Johnson was one of the first African-American students to integrate the University of South Carolina and later worked as a social worker, the newspaper reported.

The scholarship fund will be administered through the Fund for Excellence. WTVC reported. The recipients will be announced at the Superintendent's Honors Banquet scheduled for April 2020, the television station reported.

"My mother would have enjoyed this, and I know she is," Bryan Johnson told WCRB. She raised her children to serve, and press toward excellence. These scholarships will allow her legacy to live on."

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