NC Principal of Year wants to talk about supporting students and teaching the truth
Getting called to the principal’s office is rarely a good thing, but Orange High School Principal Jason Johnson treats all the kids like they are his own and knows most of them just need an opportunity to succeed.
“I tell parents all the time … I’m going to try to know your kid’s name, because they’re a human being, not because they’re in trouble,” said Johnson, the state’s newest Principal of the Year.
Principals are “the instructional leaders,” he said. “We’re the visionary leaders. We try to take care of your kids. We are more than just this mean person sitting in the office ready to discipline your kid.”
Sporting his trademark orange bowtie and socks, Johnson accepted the statewide honor at a May 16 ceremony in Cary. He was one of nine Regional Principals of the Year nominated for the honor of being the 2025 Wells Fargo Principal of the Year.
His family, Orange County Schools Superintendent Danielle Jones, and former A.L. Stanback Middle School Principal Ann Osburn — a mentor who hired him as an assistant principal in 2001 — were there to cheer him on.
“It’s a great day to be a Panther,” Johnson told the crowd, echoing his daily salutation to OHS students and staff: “I love each and every one of you, and I hope that you have a great Panther day.”
Orange High School achievements
The Principal of the Year award was created in 1984 to recognize the critical role principals play in nurturing a school culture and supporting staff and student excellence.
The winner travels the state for one year with financial support from Wells Fargo and the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, serving as an ambassador for roughly 2,500 state principals.
Johnson will also serve on the N.C. Public School Forum Board of Directors and as a two-year adviser to the State Board of Education.
This is Johnson’s second time as OHS principal — the first was from 2012 to 2016 — and he has implemented several initiatives. He was also lauded for supporting student and staff equity teams; and Orange High’s state testing results last year, which exceeded academic growth for the first time in six years.
The school has about 1,200 students, over 43% of whom are economically disadvantaged and 82% of whom graduate in four years, state data shows. Roughly 62% of students who graduated in 2023 enrolled in college.
Johnson was also recognized for teacher development programs, such as Lunch & Learns, Guiding Coalitions and Beginning Teacher support. State data shows 96% of OHS teachers are rated effective or highly effective.
His name might be on the award, Johnson said, but it also belongs to students, staff, and the community. He hopes the culture of achievement, accountability and respect will continue long after he’s gone.
“I’ve just got to make sure I’m taking care of the school and doing all I can to pass along to the next principal, so they can take it to the next level,” Johnson said.
Truth in history to foster success
Johnson’s mother Zeathea Massiah — his earliest mentor — would have been excited to see him named Principal of the Year, Johnson said. She died in 2004 but left him with two important lessons, he said.
The first was that, as a Black man, he would have to work twice as hard to earn the same recognition as others.
She also taught him to “achieve greatness, because I come from greatness,” he said.
Born in Barbados, Massiah moved to New York in the 1960s, where she met Johnson’s father, a Durham resident who died when Johnson was 12. His mother supported her children by working as a nurse in Durham and Butner.
He wasn’t the best student at Hillside High School, and their Durham neighborhood was rough, but his mother had a firm hand, Johnson said. She took them to performances at N.C. Central University and to Barbados, teaching them about African kings and queens, and a culture that had produced doctors, engineers, scientists and philosophers.
“When you’re surrounded by love … you don’t even recognize that it’s rough,” he said.
Public schools weren’t planned to serve all students equitably, Johnson said, but when teachers tell the truth about history, it can give confidence to students of color, he said.
“Teaching the history of the contributions of people of color through our curriculum helps us understand that these accomplishments are not flukes or anomalies,” he said. “They’re the result of perseverance, hard work and the strength of communities that support and uplift.”
He also pushed back against state and federal efforts to fund private school vouchers, saying parents can choose to send children to private schools, but public dollars should support public schools.
It’s not about being divisive, Johnson said.
“The conversation is just to bring everybody along, because the system does not want us to think critically,” he said. “It’s about actually us getting along and celebrating the good and looking at the bad to ensure it never happens again.”
Passion for education, students
Education is a family affair for Johnson and his wife, A.L. Stanback Middle School literacy teacher Heather Johnson. A son is attending college, with plans to also teach, and three daughters attend elementary and middle schools.
School days often stretch into the night and the weekends for Johnson, who tries to attend every student performance, activity and ballgame, he said. On a walk from one end of the school to the other he greets everyone he passes, and students regularly stop him for questions or to remind him about something he promised to do. Occasionally, he singles out a student to to encourage or praise.
He would like to see more students consider a career in education, Johnson said.
His own journey back to Orange High School started when he was working in the district office, on track to be a superintendent one day. A random video call with two OHS students reminded him where he wanted to be, he said.
He returned to Orange High School in 2021.
“I even went through the North Carolina superintendent program, won the Sam Houston award, but this is where my heart was at,” Johnson said. “I think I’m no different than anybody else during COVID, right? Like we all sat down and kind of reflected on what we really wanted.”
OHS won’t be far from his mind as he travels the state next year, Johnson said, but now, “I’m just trying to enjoy this moment.”
“I’ve talked to previous North Carolina principals of the year, and they’re like ... just try to enjoy the moment that you’re in … and do all you can for the school leaders in the state, the students in the state, staff members in the state,” he said.
He hopes the work will inspire others to start important conversations in their own communities, he said.
“I guess what I like to see coming out of it is people willing and open to sit down and have some critical conversations around public schools, and not just shut down,” Johnson said. “Be open to having conversations, and teachers having voices, saying, ‘Hey, this is what we see in the school. This is the type of support that we need.’”
Who is Jason Johnson?
▪ 1992 Hillside High School graduate. Earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University, and a Specialist in Education Administration degree from UNC Greensboro.
▪ Business education teacher and middle school principal in Chatham and Guilford counties.
▪ 2001-04, A.L. Stanback Middle School assistant principal.
▪ 2005, N.C. Department of Public Instruction school transformation coach.
▪ 2006-11, Gravelly Hill Middle School principal.
▪ 2012-16 and 2021-present, Orange High School principal.
▪ 2016-20, OCS director of Secondary Education, Student Support and School Improvement executive director.
▪ Orange County Schools’ Principal of the Year in 2010 and 2025.
This story was originally published June 4, 2025 at 3:59 PM.
