Rochester Educator Ready to Get to Work After Being Appointed to State Board

The bustling halls of Rochester High School, lined with colorful art displays celebrating women and people of color throughout history that Pamella Johnson helped create, are what Johnson calls her “domain.”

She typically arrives at 7:30 a.m. and stays until 9 p.m. daily, coaching track and attending students’ sports games on top of her duties as academic and behavioral intervention specialist.

Rochester High School is where Johnson spends most of her time, but she has a voice that’s heard statewide: she has long been a board member for the Washington Education Association and had a working relationship with the previous chair of the state Paraeducator Board.

Last month, she was appointed to the Paraeducator Board by Gov. Jay Inslee.

The nine-member board establishes requirements and policies for paraeducator professional development certificates and makes policy recommendations for paraeducator advancement through education, professional learning and increased instructional responsibility, according to a statement on the board’s website.

Johnson’s term began March 28 and expires Aug. 31, 2023.

Johnson told The Chronicle this week she was hesitant about accepting the appointment because she was running for a seat on the North Thurston Public Schools Board of Directors.

While she was disappointed to lose that election, the loss empowered her to accept the appointment to the state board position.

“I lost my seat, but guess what? It gave me greater insight for what I can do for paraeducators from the outside,” she said.

She's the oldest of eight children, five of whom have careers in education. Johnson graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in history and minor in elementary education in 2011. She soon took a job as a paraeducator — a school employee who works under the supervision of teachers or other professional educators — in the Rochester School District.

“I got into it (paraeducation) to see if I wanted to be a teacher. Then I was like, ‘Wait, this is my role,’” she said.

Johnson moved between schools in the Rochester School District before settling in at Rochester High School in 2014, where she was paired with social studies teacher Jan Watson.

Johnson credits Watson, who passed away in November 2020, as a strong influence in her approach to education.

“She guided me,” she said of Watson. “That was a big part of my heart.”

One of the lessons she learned from Watson was the value of collaborating with students and other educators, she said.

Johnson is a major proponent for elevating the voices of students of all ages and making sure they get “a seat at the table” for topics that directly concern them.

“Whenever there’s a topic that students have experience with, we need to bring student voices to the table,” she said, adding that it’s the job of board members to “listen intently” to what they have to say and commit themselves to learning about other perspectives.

Johnson said that as an African American educator working in rural America, she has an opportunity to publicly voice a perspective that is frequently underrepresented.

“Representation matters, and just being an African American educator, being able to use my voice in a way that people can see it from my perspective and the perspective of other BIPOCs (Black, Indigenous and people of color) in the community (is important),” she said. 

While her experience with the Washington Education Association means Johnson is hardly new to working on the state level, Johnson said she is looking forward to the “learning experience” this new role will be for her.

“I want to make sure we maintain a level of professionalism, especially for our students, (and) not just for our students but students statewide … for educators too, because we’ve all enjoyed learning and if we’re not learning, we need to check why and maybe check ourselves out of education,” she said.

Her work with the state Education Association has helped “open the door” for educators nationwide to learn about the work Washington is doing in education, she said.

“Washington state is doing great work but hearing people nationwide talk about it, it makes you feel good,” she said. “But we still have a lot of work to do.”