At Joseph Pye Elementary, there is an environment of academic excellence, love, and fun. Teachers and students say it’s all thanks to their principal Dr. Priscilla Johnson. We’re in Dorchester School District Two for our Cool School Principal of the Week.
Fun, loving, motivating – those are among the words students and teachers at Joseph Pye Elementary use when they talk about their principal Dr. Priscilla Johnson. “I get to love kids all day long,” says Dr. Johnson. She is in her fourth year at Pye, her third as principal. Johnson began her career in Dorchester School District Two in 2006, first as a teacher, and then as assistant principal, and now serves as the school’s leader. “My job is to make sure my teachers pour from a cup that’s full.”
Dr. Johnson says she knew since fifth grade she wanted to be a teacher. She says, “I like helping people. I like helping people feel like they matter, that they’re valued. Whatever gifting or calling they have, I like to help foster those. Being able to be a teacher and do that, kind of advanced me into wanting to be an administrator to help teachers enhance the same things I used to do in the classroom with students. It’s been a full circle moment coming from a kid wanting to be a teacher, to an administrator wanting to still be a teacher, but just teaching in different ways.”