Kim Blackwood joined the field of education after working briefly in the corporate world followed by raising her children, all of whom attended Clayton County Public Schools. Kim has a Bachelors in Business Administration, with a strong technology background and now serves as the District's Training Specialist for classified and certified employees. Kim offers training sessions in the areas of various work skills, including, but not limited to Professionalism, Customer Service, Dealing with Difficult People, Team Building, and Time Management. She has conducted various academies for classified employees, such as the Administrative Assistants' Academy and the Classified Leadership Academy. She provides technology training in various Microsoft, Google, and Adobe applications and has achieved certification as a Qualtrics XM Administrator and a ServSafe Trainer/Proctor.
In 2016, Kim became very interested in the subject of Emotional Intelligence and attended various extensive training sessions, seminars and workshops focused on increasing one's level of emotional intelligence. As a result of this training, she created an in-depth course on Developing Emotional Intelligence and the Power of Positive Psychology which has been delivered to over 1,500 CCPS employees, and condensed versions have been delivered to an additional 5,000 employees to date. The course has now become one of the modules in the CCPS Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Initiative and Kim proudly serves as one of the leads on the SEL District Team. Kim also serves as the District's Check and Connect Coordinator and is a certified Check and Connect Mentor Trainer with the responsibility of supporting and training all CCPS Student Engagement Specialists.
Kim is happily married to Ed Blackwood, who also works for CCPS as an administrator and shares her passion for social and emotional learning. Together, they have presented sessions on the subject at three different National Conferences and were scheduled to present at the 2021 Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) National Conference prior to the pandemic. Kim was honored to have been named the CCPS Classified Support Professional of the Year for 2020.
Kim enjoys cooking, boating, and traveling with Ed, as well as spending time with their large blended family consisting of seven adult children and fourteen grandchildren.
Favorite Quote: "Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous." - Albert Einstein
Favorite Technology or Digital Resource: Qualtrics XM, Zoom, Google Classroom, Camtasia

Contact Information
rise.blackwood@clayton.k12.ga.us
770-473-2795