Local

Principal suspended with pay after sheriff's office investigation

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — An Iredell-Statesville Schools principal has been suspended with pay.  The school system confirmed the suspension Wednesday to Eyewitness News.

Todd Griffin is the principal of Lake Norman High School and has been with the school district for six years.

A school board member confirmed Griffin's paid leave is linked to a sheriff's office investigation into accounting irregularities.

However, some students at the school said they wanted their highly esteemed principal back.

"I don't think he'd do anything wrong. I know him personally. He's a really good guy.  I'll stand behind him no matter what," said Brendon Latham, a Lake Norman xenior.

Latham said he works closely with Griffin as a member of the school's Principal Advisory Board.

"He's just fun to be around. He'll do anything for anybody,"  he said.

The school district placed the six-year veteran and last year's Iredell-Statesville Principal of the Year on paid suspension Tuesday, pending the results of the investigation.

The district superintendent sent a letter home with students Wednesday.  It stated state law didn't allow him to say why Griffin was suspended, only that the investigation in no way compromises the welfare of students.

The Iredell County Sheriff's Office said the school district asked them to investigate some alleged "accounting irregularities" at the school.

A school board member told Eyewitness News the superintendent was bringing in an accounting firm to investigate.

"I think it's way overblown and he's going to be back here in no time,” the board member said.

Retired administrator Penny Hendrick was brought in as interim principal of the school.