Kathy Clark recently toured the Conroe ISD intermediate school being named after her.
Itâs been more than six months since the Conroe school board decided to name a new intermediate school after Katherine âKathyâ Clark, and sheâs still pinching herself back to reality.
Clark, who has bachelorâs and masterâs degrees from the 91ĆĆ˝â°ć College of Education, has worked in education for 37 years. She spent the majority of her career in the Conroe Independent School District, as a teacher and principal before retiring as communications director in 2012. She continues to work part time as a substitute administrator.
The campus â Katherine Johnson Clark Intermediate School â is scheduled to open in August 2018, located about 30 miles from Clarkâs house.
âItâs a very humbling experience,â Clark said. âI can only say I didnât get there by myself. Success in schools is all about team effort.â
Conroe ISD Superintendent Don Stockton praised Clark as a standout.
âWeâre honored to be able to name a school after Katherine Johnson Clark,â he said. âSheâs a phenomenal educator who has made a lasting impact on everyone sheâs worked with throughout her illustrious career.â
Clark, a native of northeast Houston, has known she wanted to be a teacher since fifth grade. âI never ventured into the possibility of anything else.â
Her dad persuaded her to stay close to home for college. She started as an English major at but said the physical education and health faculty won her over. She still remembers the frank advice from one of her professors: âExpect to show up in a school and have one tennis racket to teach them all to play tennis.â
Clark packed all her classes into three-and-a-half years and graduated with a bachelorâs in December 1974.
She landed her first teaching job in North Forest, the same district where she grew up. Itâs also where she met her husband, Gary. He was the agriculture teacher and Eagle Guard sponsor at Smiley High School. She was the drill team director. They married in 1980 and moved to Conroe for more acreage.
While teaching P.E. in Conroe, Clark decided to return to for a masterâs. She considered majoring in dance but chose educational leadership after taking a fascinating education law class. Her sister, Karen, joined her in the graduate program.
âIt was just phenomenal the things we would learn,â Clark said. âWe would say, âThis is the kind of leader we want to be.ââ
Clark graduated with an M.Ed. in 1984 and got her first administrative job as an assistant principal at Conroeâs Milam Elementary. She later served as an assistant principal at Wilkerson Intermediate and then as principal there and at Glen Loch Elementary.
âI was in classrooms a lot,â Clark said. âI figured thatâs where I needed to be. Thatâs one of the things instilled in me. A leader knows the heartbeat of the school, and thatâs the children. And then getting to see phenomenal teachers, it made me a better teacher to see the things they were doing.â
After a stint in Spring ISD as an HR director, Clark returned to Conroe ISD as communications director.
âWhile it wasnât as close to the classroom and curriculum, it was still a wonderful opportunity for me to tell the story of all the great things that happen in CISD,â Clark said.
Two of Clarkâs grandchildren are now in Conroe ISD, and her daughter works as a school counselor in the district. Her son is a major in the Air Force in Washington.
âI did not do as a good a job as my father did and say, âYou need to stay in Houston,ââ Clark said with a laugh.
She had a chance to tour the construction site of Clark Intermediate a few weeks ago, and the honor began to sink in as the principal pointed out where children soon will be sitting in reading groups.
âBecause my mom and dad valued education and because I always wanted to be a teacher and because I think schools are the coolest place, to have that legacy is just beyond words,â Clark said. âIâm very grateful.â
âBy Ericka Mellon
âPhoto courtesy of Kathy Clark