Supt. Doug Johnson's career in rural Washington schools draws to a close

DAYTON–Outgoing Dayton Schools Superintendent Doug Johnson's passion for education in rural Washington state stemmed from his upbringing in the rural community of Chehalis, and carried through to a 41-plus year career that will wrap up June 30. New Superintendent Guy Strot will step into the position July 1, and conduct the School Board meeting that evening.

"I've always wanted to stay in a small town," Johnson said.

"There was always the lure of working in a bigger city," Johnson said, "but a large-district superintendent's job is much different than what I do. I didn't want to be far away from the kids and the parents."

Johnson graduated in the Class of 1974 from Chehalis High School in a class of 174. "I've never, as a principal or superintendent, graduated any class larger than 70 students, and as a superintendent never more than 40.

"It's just where I want to be. I enjoy visiting big cities but I don't want to live there," Johnson said.

Johnson was attracted to Dayton for the opportunity for professional growth in larger rural district, plus he and wife Patti were interested in living in a different part of the state. They also liked that the town had a nice bakery and a grocery store that was open until 10 p.m.

"It was closer to civilization," Johnson quipped.

Previously he had been superintendent in Odessa, Wash., a school district with enrollment of 225, for six years, and as principal and athletic director six years before that. Johnson, a graduate of Washington State University, taught at Woodland for about 18 years and moved into administration at Winlock for a year before moving to Odessa. He earned a Master's Degree in 1996 and added superintendent credentials from 2003-2005.

Johnson arrived in Dayton in 2009 just as the community–and the nation–was in a period of economic downturn. The cannery had finished its final packs of peas and asparagus and was being dismantled for shipment to Peru.

The Dayton School District went from enrollment of around 650 to about 400. "We lost a lot of kids," Johnson said. Enrollment has been "fairly stable" at around 400 in recent years, he said.

"Those were challenging economic times," Johnson remembered. The loss of enrollment resulted in five certificated staff being "riffed," reduction in force, but four of the five were hired back and the fifth had moved, he pointed out.

"In the first couple years, we made a decision as a board and as an administration not to lose people," Johnson said. Reducing expenses in a number of "little things" led to being able to not cut out major elements of school programs.

Another challenge was contracting with ESD 112 in Vancouver to handle Special Education. "Some of our employees felt we sold them out," Johnson said. "It's an insurance policy for Special Education, so that we have the resources for our special kids. It was a difficult transition."

Johnson believes that, after 11 years of his administration and emphasis on preserving jobs, district employees are happy. "Our staff-our employees-have been incredible allies in maintaining and building our financial stability," he said. "They only ask for things that are really, really important."

When Johnson arrived in 2009, the District had about $30,000 in its reserve fund and a $4.5 to $5 million budget. Prudent budgeting has built that reserve to somewhere around $300,000 to $450,000 on a $6.8 million budget, he said, giving administration and directors stability and flexibility to meet educational and extracurricular program's needs.

"Nothing I've been able to achieve here has been done on my own," Johnson pointed out. "Everybody here understands what they need, what they want, and they've truly worked collaboratively to meet the needs for the kids."

Johnson remembers admitting during the interview process that negotiating was not one of his strong points. "I told them negotiating had not gone well for him in previous jobs, but he was hoping to learn from his experiences," he said.

In addition to the challenges of the exodus of students in the first few years, the failure of the $20 million bond for a facilities renovation in 2014, was a hard experience, he said. Dayton School District is the only district in this region that hasn't updated its facilities. "It was not fun to spend that much time on that bond, and have it get only 23% approval," Johnson said.

Another difficult time has been getting the Dayton-Waitsburg Athletic Combine implemented. "It's difficult to get people to see what I see," Johnson said. "All I know it it's important for kids to participate in activities, whether it's band, sports, FFA, basketball, or track and field. Over the years we've worked to find a way to offer activities and it seems that joining another school is the best path.

"I wasn't here in the 1990s for the championship years and I understand the pride people have in the Bulldogs. It's hard to see people getting upset, angry and frustrated," he said, "and to be made to feel that myself and others had sold them out.

"It's been tough with lots of challenges, but I felt we'd be hard pressed to have a team in every sport," he said.

Johnson remembers in the few years before the combine with Waitsburg, nearly every football game had a player taken off the field by ambulance. He is assured that Waitsburg would be experiencing similar challenges if not combined.

Successes during his tenure include passing most of the school levies. "The people of Dayton believe in education," Johnson said. "We know we've got good support from voters. We just need to tell the people."

This is especially true of the support from the community for technology levies. During the pandemic closure, the district was able to hand about 150 Chromebook computers to students to augment their home-based instruction, plus the district's network was robust enough to handle the workload.

Johnson points to Dayton being "a bright enough spot to get quality people to work for us. People are willing to work here. Some are coming home; some are new. We've been able to hire quality people," he said.