Chantilly High School Principal Honored by SIPA

Teresa Johnson, principal of Chantilly High School, has been named the Dr. Kay Phillips Administrator of the Year for the Southern Interscholastic Press Association (SIPA). 

Johnson will be honored at the organization’s annual spring convention in Columbia, S.C., this weekend. 

Chantilly High School is a Fairfax County public school. Nominated by SIPA member Mary Kay Downes, English department chair and Chantilly High yearbook adviser, Johnson was cited for her unflagging support of the school’s journalism programs, advisers, and student journalists.

Newspaper, broadcast, and literary magazine adviser Clare Gartlan adds, “Teresa Johnson consistently goes above and beyond to support Chantilly’s award-winning journalism programs. She has helped build a professional broadcast journalism program by supporting the staff in its endeavor to start a daily news show.

Additionally, she conducts monthly meetings with members of the broadcast and newspaper staffs to discuss news topics, and she is incredibly supportive of our students’ First Amendment rights.” 

The award honors an administrator who provides support to more than one publication; who nurtures the principles of scholastic journalism; who provides support, both in time and in aiding the acquisition of physical needs of the journalism program; and who supports the professional growth of the adviser and the educational growth of the students including supporting the publications’ participation in state, regional, and national organizations. 

SIPA is a non-profit organization of public and independent schools and represents the District of Columbia and 15 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.