Tampa Bay
Lolita Jackson
Director
With over thirty years of experience as an educator, Lolita E. Jackson brings a wealth of experience and knowledge, a sense of urgency to do whatever it takes to educate her students and, most importantly, a relentless dedication and commitment to Icon's mission. Since childhood, it has been Ms. Jackson’s dream to become a teacher. Ms. Jackson worked as a teacher’s assistant for 15 years while raising three beautiful children and ensured that they received a high quality education. After 15 years, Ms. Jackson made a life changing decision and decided to go back to college. She earned her Bachelors of Science in Liberal Studies and immediately after that went on to earn her Masters of Education. After graduate school, Ms. Jackson moved to the Bay Area for a 4th grade self-contained teaching position at Cesar Chavez Elementary in San Jose, California. Ms. Jackson left Cesar Chavez to become the founding 5th grade Math teacher at KIPP Heartwood Academy in San Jose. Ms. Jackson taught 5th grade math at KIPP Heartwood for three years and had over 90% of her students score proficient or advanced on the California State Test each Year. In 2006, Ms. Jackson won the KIPP’s Harriet Ball Excellence in Teaching Award. For the 2008-09 school year, Ms. Jackson served as the Principal of KIPP Heartwood Academy before transitioning to become the school leader at KIPP Bridge Charter School in Oakland, CA in December of 2009. In 2010, KIPP Bridge won the California Distinguished School award and Ms. Jackson was also awarded the Hart Vision School of the Year Award. In 2012, KIPP Bridge received an API score of 905 out of 1000 possible points and ranked the #1 school in West Oakland. Ms. Jackson was honored with the KIPP Six Year Principal Award at the 2014 KIPP School Summit celebration.