Paula Johns

I am currently employed as a Career Technical Education Teacher at Pinellas Park Middle School. The Law, Public Safety and Security at this school is a program I piloted and am currently spearheading, with supervision from the Principal, Mr. Dave Rosenberger. My specialty in education is creating career and technical programs for middle school students. I choose this specialty because I was hired by the school district five years ago to create a Law, Public Safety and Security Program for a low social economic middle school. With little experience in teaching and 11 years in Law Enforcement I started my education journey. There was no curriculum, text books, material etc. to start this program. I had limited guidance with the exception from our Pinellas Park High School Magnet Programs. As of right now my school is the only middle school in the district with this powerful program that provides students with skills that can serve as a crime prevention and deterrence mechanism against school crime and violence. This year I have had 233 students that were accepted into either the Magnet Criminal Justice Program or the Magnet First Responders Program at Pinellas Park High School. So with all that being said I would like to work for the district developing programs for our schools not only to keep students engaged but allow them the opportunity to become leaders. I am capable of bringing insight, ideas, and solutions to our district through my partnership with the Clearwater U.S. Coast Guard, St. Petersburg Fire Academy, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, and the United States Attorney’s Office. There is a great deal of potential within our schools among our students and teachers but may have limited resources to succeed