During her six-year tenure as Deerfield High School principal, Audris Griffith has taken a holistic approach to running the institution and encouraging students to make connections with the broader community.
Her final charge to a senior class comes during graduation May 28 on the Ravinia Festival Grounds — but it won’t be the last commencement ceremony Griffith attends in Deerfield.
Along with her duties as principal, Griffith also teaches a homeroom of juniors. The same group of 18 to 22 students meets four times a week for four years, talking about events of the world, going over important information about the day or raising money for the school’s yearly fundraiser.
“It breaks a large school into a small group,” Griffith said. “It makes it easier to be part of the larger community.”
When her group of junior homeroom students graduates next year, Griffith will no longer be a Chicago-area resident, biding her time instead between Austin, Texas, and Taos, N.M. Yet, she vowed, “I will be back next year to watch them graduate.”
When junior Abby Goldstein, a member of Griffith’s homeroom, heard her teacher would return for her graduation in 2016, she said it validated everything she had come to admire about Griffith.
“I’m very excited,” Goldstein said. “It encapsulates everything about her..”
During her time at the helm, Griffith always kept one eye firmly fixed on the students’ academic achievement, while turning the other to encouraging their development in other arenas, whether that meant the arts, sports or community service.
Shortly after she announced her retirement last August, Griffith said she was particularly proud of the way School Chest, the annual fundraiser, helped turn teenagers into adult members of society with mature values. This year the fundraiser eclipsed the record set two years ago, of $135,393,with a total haul of $142,000.
“I so admire the way they review a multitude of charities and find one that commits to the needs of the community,” Griffith said. “I love the way the entire school finds ways to put its imprint on the people of the towns we serve and their futures.”
She also said she was proud of the way the school community looks beyond high academic standards alone to provide a well rounded experience for a student body exceeding 1,600.
“We don’t lose sight of the social-emotional needs of our students,” Griffith said. “It’s not just on the athletic field but in the fine arts where they show so much achievement. We meet those needs, too.”
Marc Pechter, a teacher and head wrestling coach who has been at the school 14 years, said he puts Griffith at the top of the list of principals he has worked for, both at Deerfield and at other schools.
“She takes a holistic approach,” Pechter said. “She’s always in the halls greeting everyone. She takes an interest in the arts. She goes to all the events, the concerts..”
Pechter said Griffith’s effort to attend as many school events as possible is unusual compared to other principals for whom he has worked.
“I’ve known a lot of principals,” he said. “Some you only see on the TV making announcements.”
He also works with Griffith to organize prom every year, which offers another venue for her to make lasting connections with students. One of the pictures in her office even depicts the principal with a former student at a past prom.
“I will know her children,” Griffith said. “I will know her grandchildren.”
Junior Abby Goldstein said part of Griffith’s ability to connect with students comes from the empathy she shows. For example, she remembered seeing Griffith the morning after appearing in a school play.
“She was at the show,” Goldstein said. “When I came into homeroom the next morning she said she saw me. It was so sweet. She really makes it seem so easy.”
Another picture in Griffith’s office shows the principal in a comic costume alongside four teenagers dressed in traditional nun’s habits.
“I played a cameo in ‘Nunsense,'” she explained. “I got to be a part of their lives.”
Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
