Lead with Love: Principal of the Year Jason Johnson

Vicki Davis (00:00): What did a principal say to a 24-year-old teacher doing a radio show over the school intercom that sent him straight to grad school? Why does the High School National Principal of the Year read a list of his own mistakes to his own faculty? And why does he tell brand new teachers to make tons of mistakes?

Today, we’re talking about leading with love, what it looks like when a principal builds relationships, gives real feedback, and still expects great things. This is Motivational Monday, Episode 1021.

Announcer (00:32): This is the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.

Vicki Davis (00:37): Today, we’re talking with Jason Johnson, the principal of Orange High School in North Carolina and the 2026 National High School Principal of the Year here in the United States. Jason has been an educator for 29 years, 19 of them in one community. Under his watch, the numbers move for every group of kids.

Jason, thanks for coming on the show.

Jason Johnson (01:03): Well, thank you for having me. I truly appreciate it.

What does it mean to lead with love as a principal?

Vicki Davis (01:06): Jason, we got to talk about it. You call it lead with love. What does it look like on a day when love is the hard choice?

Jason Johnson (01:16): Love is part of the human necessity, right? All of us need to feel respected in love. Now, what it looks like on a daily basis takes the form in different forms. It could be you pat somebody on their back saying, hey, you can do it. Or it can be like, you’re going to do this, right?

Love comes in different forms of fashion. It could be tough love, respectful love. Tell my students and staff this all the time. Words can lift you up or tear you down. Words can show you love or not show you love. A perfect example of this is the way I got in the principalship.

I was 24 years old doing a radio show in my principal’s office over the intercom. I was called DJ Jazzy J and all this good stuff. And the kids love me. But the principal walked in and he showed me some love. He looked at me and said, man, you really look good in that chair.

I immediately after school that day, drove to Greensboro and got myself an application for grad school. And that’s what I mean by leading with love, right? Like you care enough about other people. And to this day, he probably doesn’t even remember that conversation, but I do. I remember how he made me feel.

I remember that he believed in me. That’s what I mean by leading with love. You just, you pour into people and they’re always going to perform.

Can a principal lead with love and still raise test scores?

Vicki Davis (02:29): So many times you hear leaders say, well, it’s hard to lead with love because I have to improve test scores. How would you say that all this growth you’ve had for every single group of kids in your school has happened as a result of leading with love?

Jason Johnson (02:45): Well, I will tell you how we got our results. I allow my teachers to lead. My teachers have the autonomy to do things in the classroom that they need. I trust them and they lead within this building. Every faculty meeting, I started off faculty meeting with two claps for positivity, two claps can do.

And that came about because a teacher came to me about four or five years ago and she looked at me and said, you know what we need in this staff? We need people that are positive and they believe that we can do the work. So at that moment, I took off with positivity and can do.

You have to allow your teachers to run this show, so to speak. Now, it’s within a framework and it’s within expectations, and I allow the teachers to do what they do best, and that’s teaching and learning.

How should principals give teachers feedback?

Vicki Davis (03:29): So when you observe teachers, how do you hold them accountable in love?

Jason Johnson (03:33): Taking the time to be in the classroom and giving teachers genuine feedback. Start with the positive and start talking through what you need to improve on, right? But always, always you have to focus on people’s strengths. And that’s leading with love. You focus on what’s your value to this organization we call Orange High School.

So you just focus on their strengths and then you help with little tweaks here. Have you thought about this? Let’s talk about this. And then you got to come back and check in with them and kind of monitor that. But everybody, well, I can’t say everybody loves feedback, but feedback means you care.

And I can even tell my students all the time, you can tell how when somebody loves you. When somebody loves you, they don’t let you do whatever you want to do. They try to guide you in the right place. So if I allow you to run up and down these halls and tear up classrooms, well, Mr. Johnson probably doesn’t love you because I don’t care enough about you to say, hey, this is not the way you want to be. This is not the way you want to act. And that’s the same thing for your staff. I’m not comparing my staff to students. But they know I care when I give them feedback.

But the feedback has to come with having a relationship with people. I have to have a relationship with the students. I have to have a relationship with my staff. So you can’t just go in the classroom and just start throwing feedback and there’s no relationship there.

How do principals build relationships with teachers and students?

Vicki Davis (04:45): So what are some of your secrets for building relationships? Let’s start with staff and then let’s move to students.

Jason Johnson (04:51): Well, the biggest, I don’t know if it’s a secret, visibility. Like you have to be out there with your teachers. You have to be out there talking to your teachers. And you’re not always talking about instruction either, right? Oftentimes we’ll start talking about your family and I’ll wrap it back to instruction. But the big thing is visibility.

And then your teachers have to know that you genuinely listen. And you don’t have to always agree, but you have to listen. It has to be genuine. Sometimes as leaders, and I’m guilty of this sometimes, you could be having a conversation with me and I could be staring right past you because I’m thinking about something else.

And they will know and they will call me out for that. So you have to genuinely listen. In terms of students, visibility, you have to be out there with them. You have to be at the ballgames. And that’s the beautiful thing about high school is like I get free entertainment, right? Like I get band concerts, I get chorus concerts, I get athletic events for free, right?

But the kids truly appreciate you being there. And they also appreciate you noticing what’s going on, right? So there’s often times I go out there and say, man, I really appreciate that home run. I really like the way you was hitting those three-pointers. And they appreciate the fact that I know the game and I know enough of the game to have a conversation like, this is your value on the team.

This is what you should be doing. And this is why your coach believes in you. I’m authentic. Like, whether it’s students or staff, I’m going to just show up as myself.

What advice would a national principal of the year give a new principal?

Vicki Davis (06:14): So, Jason, if you could travel back and talk to young Jason Johnson, first day of being a principal, what would you tell him about becoming the best principal he could be as quickly as possible?

Jason Johnson (06:30): First thing I would tell that young Jason Johnson, because he was 29, one, you don’t know everything. Two, the most important thing you can do is always ask for help and be vulnerable. And what I mean by that is like, when you don’t know something, admit it. But also when you make mistakes, admit that as well.

And one of the things I’ve done before in the past, to give you an example of mistakes, I’ve taken all the mistakes I’ve made in one school year at the last faculty meeting, I read it out to the staff. I say, hey, I made this mistake. I made this mistake. Now, I was a little offended when I heard, mm-hmm, I remember that one.

Vicki Davis (07:07): Oh, no.

Jason Johnson (07:09): But being vulnerable, I got a keynote address to do tomorrow. One of the things I tell other leaders, you do a disservice to other leaders when you’re not being vulnerable. Because people look at leaders like iron fist, you’re very resilient. Nothing’s going to stop you. You’re going to keep on going. But in actuality, there’s been a lot of tears.

There’s been a lot of, man, I really don’t like this job today. There’s been a lot of stuff. And when other leaders are looking at you, they need to know that because they’re in that same space. And I tell leaders all the time, do not compare yourself to other leaders. Because when I was that same young principal, my first principal, I sit in principal meetings and all these principals said, well, I’m doing this at my school.

I’m doing these things in my school. And I’m sitting there feeling so inadequate, like I’m not doing any of that at my school. Then five to 10 years later, I find out all of us leaders are struggling. Right. So that’s what I would go back and tell my young self, like you’re going to struggle.

And that’s OK, because that’s how you learn and grow.

How can schools get more students to take AP classes?

Vicki Davis (08:02): You’re doing some really interesting things with encouraging students to take your AP courses.

Jason Johnson (08:08): What we’ve done in the past, we have met with students. We’ve had other students, especially the students of color, to meet with a lot of our students of color and talk to them about the benefits of AP classes. We’ve also found some of our students of color’s trusted adults in the building that can help support them through the AP process.

And finally, if you want to get out of AP class, you got to come talk to me. And you got to explain to me why you would like to get out of that class. Now, if you want to get out of a regular old class, the counselor can change your class. But if you want to get out of AP class, we need to have a conversation.

Vicki Davis (08:44): When they come to you and they say they don’t want to take that AP class, how does that conversation go?

Jason Johnson (08:50): It depends on the student. Sometimes we’ve been able to encourage, sometimes we haven’t. Usually I would get the parent on the phone and have that conversation like, hey, we really think this class will benefit such and such. What do you think? If I can get to the parent first, I’m going to win.

If they get to the parent before I do, they’re going to win. Yes, sometimes we’ve been able to encourage them to stay in the classroom. Not always.

How do schools help every student group grow?

Vicki Davis (09:14): As an AP teacher myself, there’s a time where this is not a good fit for that student. One thing you’ve done is that all student profiles, a very diverse group of students, all of them have grown and improved. What’s your secret to reaching all of your students and not just one group?

Jason Johnson (09:31): Well, providing strong core one instruction. And not only that, we have an intervention block here that we take extremely serious. If you need support, let’s say in Math 1 or Math 2, where you’re going to go back to a teacher based off of the standards, not to go back and take a test, not to go back to homework.

We actually focus on the standards. So we pull out what standards are essential here at Orange High School from our Standard Course of Study from the state of North Carolina. And then when you go back to your intervention group and you’re struggling, we’ll focus strictly on those standards that you need support. Now, that’s not to say we don’t have other groups that’s doing homework or doing study hall.

It’s a 30-minute intervention block. All the kids are in the class and all the teachers, counselors are engaged somehow, some form or fashion with students.

What should principals tell new teachers?

Vicki Davis (10:18): So, Jason, what are the things you say to infuse the culture you’ve built into your new hires?

Jason Johnson (10:26): So, fortunately for us, we only have but six new hires this year on a staff of almost 90. So that’s super awesome. And I can just tell you a conversation. I had a very brand new teacher today and the words I left it with. I said, listen, when you come to Orange, I want you to make tons of mistakes.

We’re going to laugh about the mistakes. We’re going to high five about the mistakes. And of course, we’ll work on the mistakes, but just make the mistakes because I know that means you’re trying. Right. And I tell them all, I said, it’s kind of like a baseball batter where I want to get teachers to the point where, okay, you’re getting coached a little bit here, but you really want a baseball batter to go up to the plate and make adjustments real time based off the pitcher.

And then you don’t want the coach always saying, hey, do this, do that. So I encourage them to make adjustments as you go. Feel free to make those adjustments. I’m happy to talk about those adjustments. But don’t hesitate to make those adjustments because kids’ education depend on you making those adjustments. So I just tell them to come here and make mistakes.

Really make them feel comfortable. Do we talk about tests and test scores? Absolutely do. But it’s not the be-all, end-all, right? Of course, we do what most schools do with beginning teachers. We go through the typical, this is where the coffee machine is. This is what we expect. But at the end of the day, it’s how the principal connects with that teacher.

It can’t necessarily be an assistant principal. The teacher needs to feel like they connect with the principal, some form, some fashion.

Vicki Davis (11:58): Wow.

Jason Johnson (11:58): So that’s what… It’s just really grassroots, right? Like, I care about you. I want you to make mistakes. We’re going to laugh about it. And let’s keep it moving.

Why do students hate math?

Vicki Davis (12:07): I guess I’m just floored. Here you are, Jason, just won top principal in the United States. And you’re sitting here saying that I read a list of all my mistakes into a faculty meeting at the end of the year. And I just met with a new teacher today and encouraged her to make mistakes.

Like, that’s counterintuitive, isn’t it?

Jason Johnson (12:27): It is, but why do you think students hate math, right? Because they don’t like making those mistakes, but that’s the only way you’re going to grow in math. You have to make mistakes in order to become proficient in math. Some kids hate math because they don’t like making mistakes. Life is all about us making mistakes and learning from it.

Like, we just got to be human. Like, I make mistakes all the time at home. It’s just what we do.

Vicki Davis (12:53): I love this conversation. We’ve been talking with Jason Johnson, principal of Orange High School, North Carolina, the 2026 National High School Principal of the Year. Thank you for coming on the show, Jason.

Jason Johnson (13:06): Thank you. I appreciate it.

Announcer (13:07): Thank you for tuning in to 10 Minute Teacher Podcast. Join us here every weekday and subscribe to the Classroom Matters newsletter. See you later, educator.