THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 26, 1996 TAG: 9609260305
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 41 lines
Patricia W. Griffin, principal at Princess Anne High School, has been named the state's Outstanding Secondary School Principal for 1996.
She is the second consecutive Beach principal to win the honor. Last year, Virginia Beach Middle School principal Donald L. Harvey won the award.
Griffin steered the school and its students to a successful year in 1995-96 despite a devastating fire that gutted much of the main building just days before classes were to begin. She has supervised programs set up on two campuses, with some classes in undamaged portions of the Princess Anne campus and others at the former shopping mall Celebration Station. The school is being rebuilt, with substantial renovation work, and is on schedule to reopen in January.
Griffin was entered into the state competition as the representative of the Virginia Beach Association of Secondary School Principals and now goes on to the national competition. Randy D. Barrack, executive director of the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals, said it was unusual within the state and the nation to have consecutive winners come from the same division.
``It just goes to show the caliber of school principals Virginia Beach has,'' he said.
A graduate of Radford University, Griffin holds a master's and educational specialist degree from George Washington University. She became principal of Princess Anne midway through 1993-94, after serving as assistant principal at Kempsville High School and as a teacher and coach at Bayside High School.
At Princess Anne, she has been instrumental in establishing one of the first block-scheduling programs in the city and the division's only International Baccalaureate program.
Griffin will receive her award this weekend at the 1996 Educational Leaders' Symposium in Washington. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Patricia W. Griffin was chosen the state's Outstanding Secondary
School Principal for 1996.
KEYWORDS: AWARD by CNB