Beloved APS elementary school principal dies, leaving behind remarkable legacy

ATLANTA — Susan Crim-McClendon, the principal of Woodson Park Academy and daughter of Atlanta Public Schools’ first black superintendent, died Wednesday.

Crim-McClendon, 60, died "in her sleep last night," Superintendent Meria Carstarphen wrote in a blog post Thursday.

Crim-McClendon was the daughter of former Superintendent Alonzo Crim, a leader known for his progressive methods who held the post from 1973 to 1988.

“I cannot begin to express what an incredible loss her passing brings to APS and the Woodson Park community. Dr. Crim-McClendon brought a great legacy and love for education to APS and this school.

That love was instilled in her as a child of educator parents. Her father’s belief in a ‘Community of Believers’ and work toward the education of all Atlanta’s children directly informed his daughter’s work,” wrote Carstarphen.

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APS hired Crim-McClendon as a teacher-leader in February 2010. The next year, she became principal of the former Woodson Primary, one of a couple dozen new principals tasked with giving Atlanta schools a fresh start amid a massive test-cheating scandal.

In 2016, the school board voted to merge Woodson with Grove Park Intermediate to create Woodson Park Academy, and she was named the school’s principal.

Crim-McClendon was remembered as a caring educator who looked out for students and their families.

“Each family could tell you something personal that she did for them. That was just her nature,” said Edwin Cook, whose son, now in seventh grade, attended Woodson.

Cook said the principal gave him a part-time job in the cafeteria, an opportunity he appreciated as a single father. He said he worked with her on leadership committees, and she supported programs such as summer camp and a food pantry.

“She would always do more than what was expected,” he said. “What I loved most about her was her, who she was.”

Crim-McClendon graduated in 1976 from Atlanta’s former Northside High School and attended the University of Georgia, where she studied pre-veterinary medicine, according to Carstarphen. She earned her master’s degree and a doctorate from Georgia State University.

She taught in several school districts and for several years worked as the associate director of GSU’s Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence, named for her father, who died in 2000 at age 71.

In a welcome message on the Woodson Park website, Crim-McClendon laid out her beliefs: That children "deserve excellence."

“Every student has the right to be academically successful. Every teacher has the capacity to meet the needs of every student in every classroom,” her message states.

The academy enrolled 565 students as of October. Next school year, it will be turned over to KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools to be operated by the charter school group through a contract with APS.

KIPP named Dwight Ho-Sang, who served as principal of one KIPP’s other schools, as the incoming Woodson Park principal.

The district is working with partner groups to raise money for a new building to house the academy in the Grove Park neighborhood. The new school building is scheduled to open in 2020.

APS has not announced who will serve as the academy’s principal through the remainder of the current year.

This article was written by Vanessa McCray, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Cox Media Group