How this UVA alumnus found his new calling in the ‘beauty of a hospital school’

October 21, 2025
Eric Johnson seated at a table with open chairs in a classroom at UVA Health Children’s

Hospital Education Program Principal Eric Johnson smiles while sitting at a teaching table on the seventh floor of UVA Health Children’s. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

Eric Johnson didn’t just love being the principal of Buford Middle School in Charlottesville; he embraced all that came with the role for 11 years.

A lunch duty shift was never a chore to him. He viewed the cafeteria as his stage. 

“He’d carry a microphone around,” said Patty Luke, a Buford teacher for 24 years, “and would sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to students and get everyone involved. He loved it.”

Johnson’s energy was consistent. Bus duty? “I enjoyed greeting the kids as they came off the bus,” he said. PTO meetings? “I enjoyed my parents,” he said.

Eric Johnson

Johnson is in his seventh year with the Hospital Education Program. The UVA alumnus spent the earlier portion of his career working at several Central Virginia schools. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

So, why in 2018, did Johnson, a University of Virginia alumnus, leave Buford – recently renamed Charlottesville Middle School – for an opportunity at a hospital?

“When I met the kids,” Johnson said, “I couldn’t say no.” 

As principal of the Hospital Education Program, a partnership between UVA Health Children’s, the Virginia Department of Education and Charlottesville City Public Schools, Johnson still has a familiar title. Instead of overseeing 500 students in a two-story building, he now typically supports 10 to 12 students on one floor of the children’s hospital in addition to time spent with others at the Battle Building. 

There’s no denying he loves this job, too. 

Johnson, when gushing about the way his teachers regularly cater to the academic needs of children admitted to the hospital for treatment, paused to show a reporter the goosebumps on his arm. 

“That’s what it’s all about, man,” Johnson said. “Let’s go! It fires me up.”

Johnson works primarily with a staff of four teachers – including Luke, who eventually followed Johnson from Buford – and four educational consultants. It’s “school,” but in a different form as each student is adhering to their own curriculum. 

“Our teachers look at a kid, look at their educational background, look at their needs and try to match it all together and come up with a plan for that student,” Johnson said. “That’s the beauty of a hospital school.”

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UVA Health Children’s is one of three children’s teaching hospitals in Virginia. It welcomes students from all over the commonwealth and even from neighboring states. While the students’ length of time enrolled in the school varies from a day to several months, Johnson tries to form relationships with as many of his students, and their parents, as he can. 

“He’ll come in and he’ll hang out and really get to know them better and what their life is like,” Luke said. “It really just adds a community feeling to everything. He’s so good at putting people at ease.”

That’s Johnson’s nature. 

The Nashville native has called Central Virginia home since moving here in 1985 to attend UVA. In addition to working for a variety of local schools, he’s a board member at the Boys and Girls Club of Central Virginia, a youth adviser and Sunday school teacher at Zion Union Baptist Church, an active member of the Alpha Phi Alpha service-focused fraternity, and is a longtime baseball and softball umpire and volleyball official.

Johnson meeting with colleagues in a teacher work area at UVA Health Children’s

Johnson shares a laugh with members of his Hospital Education Program staff, including teacher Patty Luke, far right. Johnson is quick to credit his staff, from teachers to educational consultants, for tackling their unique roles with ease. “They are so talented in the craft in that they create a curriculum specifically designed for each student,” he said. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

The father to two boys – including former UVA football player Chris Johnson and local muralist Jae Johnson – and grandfather to seven, Johnson’s presence in the community is palpable, said Hospital Education Program consultant Amy Thompson, who also worked with Johnson at Buford. 

“We can’t walk from the Battle Building over to Mellow Mushroom or to the Marriott without two or three people stopping him,” Thompson said, “or he stops them to have an exchange, because he knows them in some capacity.”

Johnson may not be performing to a packed cafeteria anymore, but he’s found other ways to celebrate kids. When one student made the honor roll for the first time in their life under Luke’s tutelage, Luke recalls Johnson bursting into the room with a rousing “Attaboy!” that put a huge smile on the child’s face. 

As Thompson puts it, Johnson is a “goofy guy who really knows how to be a great leader in education.”

No matter the setting, said Mary Yowell, Thompson’s colleague who also worked with Johnson at Prospect Heights Middle School in Orange. 

“Eric is always driven to do what’s right for kids,” she said. “That’s been consistent across the board. Whether it was in a traditional school or here, he’s always trying to determine the best way we can help and serve children and families.”

Media Contacts

Andrew Ramspacher

University News Senior Associate University Communications

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