Completing a dream: West Mifflin private school to open this fall

The Rev. Tom E. Johnson Jr. had a vision. He wanted to establish neighborhood schools for young men from at-risk communities, much like The Neighborhood Academy that he and Jodi Moore co-founded in 2001 in a renovated warehouse in Garfield.

They developed a faith-based school, and he served as its headmaster for 18 years. It not only included academics to prepare the youth for college but also curricula to build their character, determination and understanding of the value of hard work.

Johnson was in the process of starting another school, the Mon Valley Boys’ Academy, when he died in April 2024 after suffering a stroke. He had already worked with a cohort of students in a summer academy based at Penn State University Greater Allegheny in McKeesport and a subsequent tutoring and mentoring program.

His dream will be realized this fall when his namesake private faith-based academy opens in the renovated former St. Agnes Catholic School in West Mifflin. Sheila Rawlings, who had served as The Neighborhood Academy’s director of development, is now the head of school and with her board has raised money to purchase the 16,000-square-foot building and make extensive upgrades. It will welcome its first students — sixth, ninth and 10^th graders — on Sept. 2.

Improvements to the building include a warming kitchen and dining area, health and wellness center, the Tom Johnson Reading Room/Writing Center, a state-of-the-art science lab, and arts/drama/music studio and fitness center. To do this, Rawlings said they have accumulated $1 million of the $1.6 million capital campaign. The school has applied for a three-year state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant with the help of state Sen. Nick Pisciottano and state Rep. John Inglis, both Democrats from West Mifflin, to finish the renovations and more.

Work on the two-story building also has included an HVAC system that adds air conditioning, sprinkler systems and fire alarms to meet all safety codes, and enhanced security systems to protect students and staff, Rawlings wrote in an email last week to supporters and donors. The goal is to admit 45 students this first year with 15 in each grade. As the school progresses, it will add grades and reach full capacity within three years, according to the school’s 2025 spring newsletter. 

Partners and supporters to date include the Allegheny Foundation, Dollar Bank, Merle E. and Olive Lee Gilliand Foundation, Parker Foundation, and the Bessie F. Anathan Charitable Trust of The Pittsburgh Foundation. 

Tuition will be on a sliding scale based on parents’ income, and it accounts for 1% to 2% of the operating budget. For example, Rawlings said, families with $35,000 or less yearly income will be charged $50 a month. The school is eligible to receive scholarship dollars through Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit program, according to the newsletter. A BOLD Scholarship Dinner is set for Sept. 18 at the Churchill Country Club to raise scholarship dollars so the students — “regardless of income or ZIP code — have access to a high-quality, college-preparatory education rooted in mentorship and opportunity.”

Rawlings served in development roles at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Point Park University, and through her work at the Downtown school she was connected to Johnson and raised funds for The Neighborhood Academy for 12 years. Her last position before launching the West Mifflin school was as the August Wilson African American Cultural Center’s senior director of institutional advancement.

The school leader said Johnson’s mission and vision to make a significant difference in Mon Valley students’ lives is based on its 360-degree program designed to create a holistic and supportive environment. That includes working with their parents, too.

Rawlings said through its faith-based initiatives, counseling, community service, tutoring, and career and workforce development, it all comes together. That includes health and wellness programs, nutritious meals, and fitness and athletic activities. The school will provide transportation for them, too. The fall school day will begin by 8 a.m. and end at 7:30 p.m., except on Friday when the students will head home around 5 p.m., according to the website.

An inaugural convocation to be held Sept. 9 is more than a ribbon cutting — it is the realization of a vision born from deep conviction and sacrifice, she wrote in last week’s email. “What began as a dream of our late founder — who gave his life to this mission — has now become a reality through the unwavering dedication of our board of directors, donors, foundations, corporate partners and community champions, like you. On this day, we will officially launch our school and welcome our first class of students — young men who are not just entering a building but stepping into a future shaped by purpose, mentorship and opportunity.”

This is rooted in Johnson’s background and teaching and coaching philosophy, as well as his ministry. In his obituary, it noted his parents raised him with a strong belief in the power of education. He grew up in Wilkinsburg, but they saved to send him to Shady Side Academy. Following graduation from the College of Wooster in 1977, he worked there for many years as an English teacher, head lacrosse coach, dorm parent, counselor and trustee.

He later earned a master of divinity degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. It was there that he formed his sense of vocation and met Moore. An ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ, Johnson served at Allegheny United Church of Christ and East Liberty Presbyterian Church before becoming head of school at the Neighborhood Academy, according to the obituary. Even as he led the school, he continued to serve the congregation at Community of Reconciliation.

His time at The Neighborhood Academy included a summer program, too, much like the one he started in the Mon Valley. The third version of that effort winds up this week at Penn State Greater Allegheny. Eighteen students from Munhall, Homestead, White Oak, Verona and McKeesport take classes and learn from five teachers, one paraprofessional aide and a counselor. A college intern helps, too.

One morning last week, after a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, potatoes, fruit and juice, 12 boys dressed in collared shirts and shorts or long pants headed to chapel to start the day. Ed Hulefield, the math teacher who also helps with curriculum, led it.

He told the students he is a Catholic school product who observes his faith every day. Hulefeld told them they didn’t need to be Catholic to understand his message — becoming the best version of yourself. He showed them two videos that explained the philosophy of author Matthew Kelly and related it to the school’s and program’s touchstones — academic excellence, relationships, leadership and mindfulness — that are displayed in the hall.

The previous day the students had toured Seton Hill University. Hulefeld told them he was very proud of how they conducted themselves during the visit, asking good questions about college majors and costs. Today he said they had to refocus and get back to work in the classroom. That means more than just sitting and listening to their teacher, and it also means doing more outside of the time spent on the McKeesport college campus.

Expounding on the idea videos present that champions in sports always wanting to be the best versions of themselves and doing the most possible, Hulefield offered a short Scripture reading on self-control and perseverance. One of the students led everyone in the room in the Lord’s Prayer, and Rawlings thanked the students, too, for their attention and interest in the Seton Hill visit.

They moved on to 45-minute classes in writing, history, English literature, reading writing intensive, math and science. Several times weekly the students also have 20-minute tutorials for individualized help in their academics.

Hulefield’s six math class students learned how interest is computed and added to the principal in savings accounts. They listened and then tackled problems on the topic, working it out first on paper and then calculators, finding out how interest makes that principal grow. He walked around the room, checking them and answering questions as needed.

In the English classroom four students worked with Victoria Radinovic, or Ms. Rad as the students call her, taking turns at first writing briefly on the white board from their dialogic journal entries on the Sharon Flake short story they had been assigned, “A Boy’s Duty” from her “Fresh Ink” collection. It’s a reading writing intensive course, and she moved around the room eliciting comments from the young men on the main character, Zakary  James. His mother died when he was 2, he ran away from his father’s pig farm, became homeless and planned to join the Navy. One student read a portion of the story aloud, and she asked the students to predict what will happen next to the character.

Radinovic graduated from Duquesne University this spring, and this is her first teaching job. She said the work “is everything I could ask for. We’re building curriculum.”

Counselor Sharease Quinn has been building relationships with the students through her group sessions with them and individual appointments.

She started with the academy this summer, too, after working as a learning support teacher at Plum’s intermediate school for fifth and sixth graders. That followed a five-year stint as a social worker for five years at Crisis Center North.

The students turn in infraction sheets daily, and those are reviewed as she prepares her sessions. They can uncover behavioral issues and concerns, and teachers suggest which students might need more help from her.

Quinn’s twice-weekly group sessions are divided by class, and each is different. She asks students to pick out areas where they think they can improve. “I [tell them] I want you to vocalize what is going on,” she recounted. With that information in hand, she teaches them skills and wants them to exercise them.

“Each group comes out with their values and what they care about,” she explained. “Each grade level is different.” She said the ninth grade group is the most vocal. “They all hash out their feelings and work on team building.” 

The techniques she uses include breathing exercises and letting the students lead them, journaling with prompts or questions, and reviewing current events as a discussion point. The latter covers local, national and international news. “They came in not knowing much, but that has changed,” she said. She also works on stereotypes with them, an important topic for the young men.

In between those sessions she schedules the individual sessions. With both forms, she said the students also learn about confidentiality: “We don’t talk about it outside of the room.”

She said she loves the work and includes whatever the students need to feel comfortable, “not prying but encouraging participation.” It can be difficult, she said, to get some of the boys to show or tell what their issues are. She said, “We always have some who’ve gone through hard things. As a result, I believe I have become a mom figure here …. I’m not a mom yet. [But I have been] having big conversations with them all.”

All of this teaches them as well that it’s OK to share, she said. She writes back to them in their journals, and she said, “Some of the entries make me cry.”

That hearkens back to her work with the crisis center, which involved home visits that disheartened her. She said she would go home lamenting what she saw. “How could anyone expect these students to excel?” she would ask.

Some of that has carried over into this position. She found out, for example, that even if one student’s mom is at home, he can be responsible for his younger siblings, a large task for a young person.

Quinn is an Erie native, the youngest of nine children in a big family who goes home often for gatherings and celebrations. She graduated from Penn State Behrend with a degree in social and behavioral studies, a minor in sociology and a certificate in education. Her studies helped her in her social work position and with this one. “I feel I am doing the work I’ve been called to do,” she said.

At the end of the day, the students, teachers and staff have circle time. “Everyone shares one thing they learned today, and a student shares something inspirational,” she said.  

She will continue as a counselor with the school in the fall. It will look a somewhat different as the academy will partner with a therapy practice, but her work will be similar to the summer program. The school will have a wellness room “if [a student] needs a moment,” too.

“I’m very excited. It’s needed, especially in this neighborhood,” she said. “Some of these boys don’t have much. They don’t see healthy relationships at home. Everything is about relationships, people and things.

“They’re so deserving. They’re so determined. They all want something different. That’s what adolescents need.”

Richard Rawlings has moved from a career in banking to help his mother with the school, serving as on-site coordinator for the summer program and as the school’s dean of students.

He said the third version of the summer session has again included testing during the first week, and similar assessments will be given again this week to get a baseline of how the students progressed, see where they have grown or need remediation.

Last year’s results pleased the staff and school leaders, Richard Rawlings  said. “We found a 12 to 27% increase in 16 of the 18 boys. We thought those numbers were very encouraging.”

The students have homework at least twice a week, getting them used to doing it and bringing it back for review. The four field trips in July — in addition to Seton Hill the students visited the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the August Wilson African American Cultural Center and the Rainbow Kitchen in Homestead, the last one for a service project — involve assignments, too, that are not graded but collected and reviewed.

The students dress up for those trips in dress shirts and ties. “We want to show them how to behave and act,” Richard Rawlings said, adding that they really enjoy dressing up.

Black history and culture is embedded in the courses and field trips. In Ms. Rad’s class, they learn a fact daily about August Wilson, the famous late Pittsburgh playwright, for example. 

They will end the summer program with a ceremony Friday, and the students can earn a certificate for completing those extra assignments. Other awards include the Tom Johnson Excellence Award, Financial Literacy, Most Improved Student and Were You Listening? Parents, siblings and donors attend.

A major part of that ceremony is awarding the up to $690 stipends the students earn for completing the program. Richard Rawlings said some students earn less or more, depending on the number of infractions and missed classes. Jim Nealon, senior vice president at Dollar Bank and chair of the academy board, has arranged for the money to be deposited in accounts for each student.

All but a few of the 18 summer students have committed to enrolling in the West Mifflin academy this fall, Richard Rawlings said. So that will be celebrated at the ceremony, now called Moving Up instead of a Completion Ceremony, according to his mother. “The boys feel that energy and that congratulation,” he said. “They will use that as a springboard into the fall.”

He’s helped his mother with her development work and looks forward to the opening. “It’s been a long time coming. It’s like a dream that is coming into reality.”