By By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
March 4, 2004
Phillip Daniels, principal of Kate Griffin Junior High School, confirmed Wednesday that he will resign his post to teach social studies at Meridian High School next year.
Daniels began his career with the Meridian Public School District as a teacher at Kate Griffin and Northwest junior high schools in 1987. He became assistant principal at Magnolia Middle School in 1995 and took over as principal of Kate Griffin in 1999.
Kate Griffin has been rated a Level 1, or low-performing, school by the Mississippi Department of Education for the past two years. The school has also experienced discipline problems, and three students were suspended earlier this year for calling in bomb threats.
Daniels came under scrutiny in 2002 for exempting students from final exams if they had a passing grade average. He also directed teachers to give students who took an exam not less than a minimum passing grade of 70.
The school district passed a "no-exemption" policy almost a year later.
Superintendent Sylvia Autry could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.