After more than a year of celebrating being named the district and North Carolina Principal of the Year, Orange High School’s Jason Johnson and his Orange County Schools community will have reason to keep the celebration going.

The school district shared on its Facebook page Friday that Johnson earned the 2026 National Principal of the Year award from the National Association of Secondary School Principals. The organization is the leading association for middle and high school-level administrators and shares the award each year to one middle level principal and one high school principal representing their respective states.

Johnson was one of three finalists for the honor, alongside Christine Udarbe of Hawaii and Colin McNaught of Nevada.

Johnson has worked in public education for 28 years, with more than two decades spent in the Orange County district. After starting as a classroom teacher, he was hired to be an assistant principal at A.L. Stanback Middle School in 2001 and initially served as Orange High School’s principal from 2012 to 2016. Johnson left the role to become Orange County Schools’ Director of Secondary Instruction and, later, a school transformation coach for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. He returned to lead Orange High in 2021, helping the school community navigate a return to in-person instruction after remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and overseeing several improvements to student performance.

Orange County Schools reported the Hillsborough-based high school had strong academic growth in the 2023-24 academic year, including increasing overall proficiency among all racial demographics. Additionally, the district credits Johnson’s attitude in the role as played a crucial part in building the Panther culture, which he describes as “leading with love.”

The NASSP National Principal of the Year award comes after Johnson won the Orange County Schools Principal of The Year honor in October 2024. Johnson went on to win the North Central Regional Principal of The Year before being chosen out of the nine finalists to become the Wells Fargo North Carolina Principal of the Year in May 2025.

 

Featured photo by the Chapel Hill Media Group.

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