Welcome to the Tanana Website

I am so glad you have taken the opportunity to learn more about our school. I am honored to be the Principal of Tanana Middle School located in Fairbanks, Alaska. I have lived in Fairbanks since 1982 and attended elementary, middle, and high school in our amazing Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. We are an educational team that prides itself on providing students with a positive school culture by creating healthy and strong relationships with students and families.  I am so proud to be a part of the Tanana Middle School family!

My educational background includes a Master's Degree in Educational Technology from Western Oregon University, and a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Alaska, Anchorage.  I have worked within our district since 1997, and have taught at Lathrop High School, and Tanana Middle School, but spent most of my teaching career at Hutchison High School. I spent 6 years as an Assistant Principal at West Valley High School before becoming the Principal of Tanana Middle School in 2021.

As a school leader, I believe that every student deserves a learning environment that is respectful, positive, inviting, and invigorating.  Upon entering Tanana Middle School, students learn by openly sharing ideas and discussing views that can be freely embraced.  Respect for others’ thoughts and ideas is modeled, and diversity is celebrated.  Tanana's school environment creates heightened self-esteem and self-awareness in students and staff, thus leading to higher achievement overall, and a continued willingness to learn. 

My ultimate educational outcome is to create positive connections and relationships with individuals within our school.  I want students leaving our school to be effective in functioning in today’s society and able to apply classroom lessons to their own lives, creating healthier and better-rounded individuals.  We want our students to be more inquisitive, feel confident in taking healthy risks, and possess the inner discipline to self-motivate and solve problems independently.  They will also gain the ability to influence others around them to do the same.

Heather Johnson, M.Ed.

Interim Principal

Tanana Middle School