By Rev. Theresa Nance

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... Well, no it's not quite another being from another planet. But it is Sharon Smith, the animated, progressive principal of the Rosa L. Parks School of Fine & Performing Arts, who's knockin' em dead, so to speak, with her razor sharp wit and relentless pursuit of excellence for her students.

The initials of her first and last name are S.S., which could easily stand for "Super Sistah," because she weaves in and out of those beautifully decorated rooms like a human comet ready to mow down anything that gets in the way of her handling her business. Since 1998, Smith has sat at the helm of this marvelous repository of learning which is named after the "mother of the civil rights movement." The slender, stylish educator credits one of her mentors, the late Alfreida Van Rensalier, an administrator at John F. Kennedy High School, for where she is today.

"I consider this a spiritual movement," she said. "I had been teaching at Kennedy for a year when Mrs. Van Rensalier called me to her office." Smith recalled that she trekked to the office with much trepidation because anyone who knew Alfreida Van Rensalier also knew she didn't suffer fools gladly and she didn't play. With anyone.

This is what the late educator said to Smith."Mrs. Smith, I think you have something. I want you to go to school to get your certification to become a principal. I'm not giving you the money and I'm not babysitting. Just do it!”
Don't you love it? Smith adhered to the advice, nay, demand of Mrs. Van Rensalier and enrolled at William Paterson College and obtained her certification in one year taking 24 credits.

Perhaps you can see why she's where she is today. She may have gotten her tenacity honestly. Her mother, Mrs. Josephine Chambers, who is still active in the Paterson community, was the first African-American to serve in the Paterson municipal tax office collecting the money.

Read what has occurred on her watch. The performing arts school was chosen by the New Jersey Department of Education as one of the 10 Star Schools in the state. They were ranked 3rd best academic school in Passaic County by NJ Monthly Magazine. And, eighty-five percent of Rosa Parks' graduates attend college. Hello!

In 2006, television station WABC Channel 7 conferred the Above & Beyond Award to the school its students have performed at West Point, the Rotunda in Virginia, Morehouse, Disney World, Hershey Park and Carnegie Hall. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice! Practice! Practice! And if that doesn't send you sailing, five Rosa Parks students came into the office the morning this writer was there to discuss how the institution had affected their lives. Here's the marvelous thing. They were polite, gracious and extremely articulate. Smith said she didn't choose them but where chosen to stop by that day by their teachers.

So, Brian Cousin, Danneille Galbraith, Amanda Dixon, Jasmine White and Priscilla Farrar each their assessment regarding the value of this school and the importance it has played in their lives. They all agreed that they loved the "family atmosphere" permeating the atmosphere. Danneille said, "Everybody talks to everybody. I like that." Danneille is headed for Oakwood University in Huntsville, Ala., where she plans to major in theology and minor in music. Brian loves the all-city concerts where students from other schools get to see that Rosa Parks students aren't "the disgusting, snobby kids they thought we were." Priscilla, along with Amanda and Jasmine likened Smith to a second mother who loves them unconditionally. Amanda said she wants to become an attorney and work in the forensic field. Priscilla wants to become a nurse and attend Atlanta Clark University. Danneille is numero uno, number one in her senior class. What can I tell you? Brian said he likes the smaller setting and is glad that he's around "the right people" who shaped and helped him.
Amanda says she's "not intimidated by Smith, which is a great quality in an educator." Jasmine is a dancer who put together a performance piece along with two other students attaching the spoken word and piano music making for a splendid, creative work of art recently Smith informed me.

As you readers can see, this is a mutual admiration group where these students laud their principal and the principal applauds her students. Smith also recalled that Rosa Parks herself had paid a visit to the school—in fact theirs was the only school named after this icon that had the pleasure of Parks' company a number of years ago.

I think you've gotten the gist of this feature story. There is a woman in the city of Paterson who's taking names and making plans and defying the odds and lifting broken hearts, encouraging insecure spirits and most of all, giving due diligence to the work that God has called her to do for such a time as this. It's delightful! It's delicious! It's, you got it, delovely!