SILER CITY — Pam Johnson remembers an elementary student named Curtis who, back in the early days of the nonprofit Communities In Schools of Chatham County, was, for some reason, afraid to climb the stairs to the organization’s small offices, then located in Pittsboro.
“We were on the second floor and he was literally petrified to come up the stairs,” she said. “And we would all coach him — we’d stand at the top of the stairs and at the bottom of the stairs, and we’d hold his hand and get him up the stairs, and then do the same thing getting him back down the stairs.”
Curtis persevered, conquered his fears, and eventually graduated from the Chatham County School system.
Today he’s a volunteer firefighter in Wilmington.
“He’s out there helping save other people’s lives,” Johnson said. “And we helped him along the way, because he learned to go up and down those stairs.”
Those who have worked with Johnson over the course of her career also describe her as something of a life-saver for CIS. Her steadying “behind the scenes” hand — and her keen eye on the finances — has played a critical role in helping the organization with its mission to surround students with a network of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.
Johnson, 65, retired last week after a 21-year career at Communities In Schools of Chatham County, now based in Siler City — a career which began when CIS was known as “Chatham Together” and Johnson arrived at the nonprofit as an office manager, and the “fourth or fifth” member of the organization’s staff and little formal training for the role.
The former 10th-grade dropout departs as CIS’s chief operations manager, having overseen an annual budget in excess of $600,000 with a firm penchant for detail.
And with heartfelt appreciation of co-workers who’ve labored beside her.
CIS’s former executive director, Kim Caraganis, who retired last spring, remembers Johnson’s early days at Chatham Together.
“Pam had the experience of working in a for-profit setting, bringing a professionalism to the organization that buoyed our organizational policies, technology, and overall organizational health,” Caraganis said. “This allowed CIS to grow and showed our funders and supporters that we had the infrastructure to steward their support.”
‘That’s who Pam is’
Caraganis recalls many occasions working on grant applications under tight deadlines and detailed parameters.
“The table in the waiting area was covered with papers and stacks, and Pam stuck with me to the bitter end and organized it all with post-its — and then checked and rechecked everything,” she said. “She made sure we had everything right. That’s who Pam was, that’s who she is. She’d stay late, give up personal time, work nights, weekend, vacations … whatever it took to get the job done.”
Before coming to Chatham Together, Johnson had already worked in the corporate environment, including a stint as one of the early employees at the shipping giant Federal Express. But after moving to Chatham County, she worked several part-time jobs at once — including at the Chatham Education Foundation. She and Caraganis, who would become Chatham Together’s director and oversaw its affiliation with the national Communities In Schools organization, each had young children at the time; they got to know each other.
Johnson didn’t have an accounting degree or much accounting experience, but through her work at the Education Foundation learned to use the same accounting software Chatham Together was using.
“That’s what got me the job,” Johnson said.
Back then, Chatham Together was, “for sure, just a mom and pop organization,” she said. When she joined the staff, the personnel policy was “literally one piece of paper,” Johnson remembers.
“It consisted of the holidays that people could take off, and a little bit of a sick leave and vacation leave policy,” she said. “And that was it. That was the policy.”
Knowing the organization needed more substantive practices and policies in order to grow and thrive, Johnson began to make suggestions for changes. She said Caraganis and “inspirational board members” encouraged her to work at that.
“I really wanted to make the agency stronger,” she said. “Kim was the creative person with the vision, and I was the person who could take her vision and the board’s vision and put it into concrete action. And I think that’s just a really good balance. I was always just willing to do the work to take those decisions and make them reality …
“So that’s been my role. I’m an organizer. I’m a doer and when I hear about good ideas, I can help put meat on the bone, instead of it just being ‘pie in the sky.’”
An eye for detail
A native of Nash County, Johnson and her husband, Steve, settled in Chatham by virtue of having a friend who had a home available for rent. (Steve retired about three years ago as a research specialist in the orthopedic lab at Duke University.)
Despite leaving high school after10th grade, Johnson’s persistence and eye for detail got her jobs at large corporate operations before she moved to Chatham County. Around the time she began working for Chatham Together, and long after earning her GED, she went back to school at Central Carolina Community College at age 43 — and graduated with honors.
She applied her talents and knowledge well, said Caraganis, who depended upon Johnson for her “wizardry of financial matters and planning skills and all matters HR.”
“She took the time and the initiative to teach herself about things she didn’t know — everything from accounting to phone/computer systems,” Caraganis said. “She was my closest counsel in all things: celebrating little ‘victories’ and making difficult decisions. We did not always agree but I respected her opinion and often changed my course of thinking or operating based on her perspective.
Caraganis’ successor as executive director, Tych Cowdin, has been on staff at Communities In Schools since 2014. He described Johnson “an absolute cornerstone” for CIS, performing “all-encompassing” duties and making contributions to the agency which allowed it to grow in size and impact.
“Her tireless work ethic, reliability and dependability have enabled CIS staff to focus solely on their direct service work and personal growth with little worry to all of the behind-the-scenes effort it takes to coordinate a well-functioning non-profit,” Cowdin said.
When Johnson joined Chatham Together, Shirille Lee was already there. Now the Youth F.I.R.S.T. Student Support Specialist, Lee also described Johnson as the behind-the-scenes glue which has held CIS together.
“We may be the faces people associate with Communities In Schools, but Pam is the backbone that keeps up standing tall in this community,” Lee said.
Johnson’s focus on fiscal accountability and policy kept Lee and other employees on their toes, she said. But Johnson was more than an strict overseer.
‘Tried to make myself better’
“She’s family,” Lee said. “She was there for my girls’ dedication when their adoption was final; she was there when my brother and aunt died. She has been on my school contact list to pick up the girls if anything happened to me or I could not get to the school in time. She has kept my mom happy with an endless supply of peach honey. She’s my sister. She laughs with me, cries with me, complains with me, helps me see the other side … We don’t always agree — most sisters don’t — but at the end of the day I know she loves me and I love her.”
Long-time board member Paul Bauer said another of Johnson’s strengths was keeping board members informed and engaged.
“From the smallest of questions to the most complicated issue, Pam would address it and help to develop a solution and present options about how to proceed,” he said. “She helped guide the decisions, but she was always careful to let the board make decisions.”
And while Johnson was always there to help staff and board members, Bauer said her main goal was “to help provide necessary resources to our school-age children in Chatham County.”
“The children of our county definitely come first with her and they are her priority,” he said.
Johnson says she’s “deeply, deeply proud of the organization” she’s leaving. She thinks Cowdin’s enthusiasm and vision as its chief executive will help Communities In Schools continue to grow, and its staff — including her replacement as chief operations manager, Perla Ayala — and financial strength will enable it to continue to help students and their families in Chatham County.
In retirement, Johnson plans to help be a caretaker for her intellectually challenged older sister, who will come to live with her and Steve in Chatham County, and to support her other family members as well — including joining Steve in more of the gardening chores at home.
And, not surprisingly, Johnson plans to continue to learn — as an avid reader and someone who has engaged in “self-reflective journey” work throughout her life, she says she’s always learned more from life than from an educational institution. But she’ll never forget the critical role education can play in someone’s life.
“That’s one of the reasons I’m so passionate about the work, and about making Communities In Schools solid,” she said. “There are other ‘Pams’ out there who are going to drop out of school. There’s always going to be that kid, and we need to show them that it’s not the end of the world, that it’s just one chapter in their story. It just means you might have to work harder than some other people.
“It’s one of the reasons I went back to CCCC — because I was beginning to realize if I had a little bit more formal education, I could be a stronger employee,” she said. “That’s why I went back to school. The kids we serve at Communities In Schools are worth the work. I didn’t want to be the reason they couldn’t succeed, so I tried to make myself better.”