By Judith Roberts
A new lion is leading Ruston Elementary.
Stephanie Griffin, former coordinating teacher at Choudrant Elementary, has been named the principal at RES and said she is already preparing for the upcoming school year.
“The first thing that I wanted to do was to fill our staff,” Griffin said. “Once you have all of those pieces in place, then you can work on utilizing those pieces in the most strategic manner. My first job was to fill the school with qualified teachers who are going to help our students the best. Now that I have an almost complete staff, I get to work on using those staff in strategic manners for our students.”
Griffin said her goal was to raise up leaders, not only with her staff but with the students attending RES as well.
“My goal has always been to create leaders, either within the classroom or outside of the classroom, and you start with students,” she said. “Making an impact on the whole school is something that I’ve been looking forward to. I have been doing that at Choudrant in a way, but now being able to create leadership within a school, that’s something I’ve have aspired to do.”
Griffin started her educational career at Simsboro, where she taught science and then ELA for 14 years. She then moved to become the coordinating teacher at Choudrant, where she served for eight years. Ricky Durrett, Lincoln Parish School Board superintendent, said she’s done a great job in all of her positions.
“I think she will be a great principal for us,” Durrett said. “Ruston Elementary has kind of been on an upswing with Mandy (Brown) being there (as principal), but with her stepping away, Stephanie taking that role will continue to keep that trajectory going up. I look forward to some good things there.”
Former principal Mandy Brown, who served at RES since 2019, is moving into an assistant principal role at I.A. Lewis.
Griffin said she’s most looking forward to getting to know the teachers and students at RES more.
“I recognize that Ruston Elementary is already a great school, and I want to continue to enhance that greatness because they’re already on that path,” Griffin said. “I recognize that they are an established great school already, and I get to be part of it now.”
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