Joe Griffin Meridian

Jo-Seph or Joe Griffin to most people is a teacher, high school sports coach, and principal by profession.

For almost two decades, he taught English to both high school and college students and served as a principal in several institutions.

Right now, he is the Principal of Meridian High School. At the same time, he has been working as a part-time professor of English at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College since 2017.

During the early years of his professional journey, he taught English and coached sports teams in the Coahoma County Junior/Senior High School (2002 to 2005) and the Senatobia Junior/Senior High School (2005 to 2007).

Because of his coaching experiences in these two schools, he grew to love the concept of leadership and took the challenge to become an outstanding leader in the education industry.

After being the Lead Teacher at Jonestown Elementary School for one year, he started holding administrator roles in different schools, leading each of them towards development and success.

Joe began as an Assistant Principal at Heidelberg High School before becoming the Principal for two years. In a span of three years, he was able to initiate a 60-point growth for the school. Following this, he also drove Pointe Coupee Central High School towards an 18-point growth on Academic Index and prepared it for state takeover during the school year 2011-2012.

Also in 2012, he became West Bolivar High School’s Principal. By helping its students achieve better test scores, Joe was featured on Larry Bell’s October 2015 workshop brochure. Two years later, he was leading Amanda Elzy High School where he oversaw the development of academic programs and significantly reduced fights in the school.

Furthermore, he also served Moss Point High School for four years before his current role at Meridian High School. He led Moss Point towards making a successful leap from a D to a B status and helped to maintain such until he left the school last year.

Aside from his career as a principal, he also continued teaching as a part-time professor in college. Between 2013 and 2016, He taught Health at the Mississippi Valley State University and English at the Coahoma Community College.