THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 23, 1995 TAG: 9503220125
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Her mother returned to teaching by setting up a kindergarten class in the back room of their Portsmouth home. The Great Depression had hit and the family needed extra money.
Clarice C. Johnson was about 5 years old, but her mother's enthusiasm for the profession quickly rubbed off on this only child. Johnson, the newest School Board member, got a kick out of helping others learn. Still, she, too, turned to teaching primarily as a way to help out with family bills. Before that, there was college, motherhood, responsibility.
In the early 1960s, she landed a substitute teaching job in Staunton. The situation was ideal, she said, because her four children were all in school and the new responsibility didn't require much time away from home.
The job quickly became a passion.
Johnson, 65, replaced Mack Benn Jr. when he left the board earlier this month. The former government teacher retired in 1985, but she continues to look for ways to touch the future.
``I guess you could say I was a pretty traditional teacher,'' she said from her Respass Beach home one recent afternoon. ``I've always been quite concerned about making sure students have what they need to be successful, productive citizens.''
Councilwoman Marian ``Bea'' Rogers of the Sleepy Hole Borough appointed her to serve until next June. If Johnson wants to stay in office after that, she must vie for the seat during the May 1996 election.
That decision is still up in the air, Johnson said. Meanwhile, she's pinpointed a few areas she wants to explore during her current tenure.
Disciplinary problems in the classroom are a personal concern, she said. Johnson describes as unfortunate the way public school teachers were stripped of their authority over the past several decades. She intends to closely follow plans for an alternative school.
She also said she wanted to learn more about programs or classes that can better prepare students for the workaday world or advanced training in vocational fields if they aren't college-bound.
When she was in her mid-30s, Johnson went back to college for more training, with the goal of teaching full-time. After returning to South Hampton Roads in 1968, she started her Suffolk career at the former John Yeates High School.
She had a reputation for pushing students as far as they would rise.
Every six weeks, she changed the assigned seating chart so less-stellar students would be placed up front. Get caught cheating and you were ``on probation'' thereafter in her eyes. Students were to behave as they would in her house - and she welcomed them there, too.
She wasn't a teacher who didn't try to make learning fun, though. For years, she organized an annual class trip to Richmond to watch the General Assembly in action and to tour historical and other sites.
``She was a very thorough teacher, a very dedicated person,'' said board member William L. Whitley, who once served as principal of Yeates High. ``When the year ended, those students had definitely learned something about government.''
In many ways, she will always be a government teacher at heart, someone who believes educators must do whatever they can to mold active citizens. When she sees former students around town, she still reminds them to make sure they're registered to vote.
``If you don't get involved,'' she said, ``you really have no right to complain about things.''
Johnson is an avid bird watcher. She admires all that is historic or unspoiled by man. That's one of the main reasons she's remained active in land development issues around the Respass Beach and Holly Acres communities, she said.
``I hate to see old things destroyed if they can be kept.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Clarice C. Johnson, 65, a former government teacher, was appointed
to replace Mack Benn Jr. when he left the Suffolk School Board
earlier this month. She says one of her primary concerns is
classroom discipline.
by CNB