Mandi Griffin is a Family Engagement Specialist with the Family-School Partnership Program at the Georgia Department of Education. This is her 21st year in education. The first 11 years of Mandi’s career were spent teaching elementary-age students in the Cobb County School District in Georgia. After discovering her passion for family engagement, she served as the Parent Facilitator at the school level for 4 years. While serving in this role, she worked closely with her Title I supervisor and served on the district-level Solutions Team, taking on many leadership roles. She is in her 6th year as a Family Engagement Specialist with the Family-School Partnership Program at the Georgia Department of Education. In addition to her professional life, she is also a wife, mother, and Glammy who enjoys spending time with her family, reading, shopping, and cheering on the University of Alabama!  

As a middle school Assistant Principal, Ginger had an integral role in supporting family engagement by planning events and activities to build parent/family capacity for the middle and high school. While serving at the district level, she was instrumental in the successful implementation of Academic Parent-Teacher Teams in many of her district's schools. She actively participated in meeting observations, followed by debriefing sessions to help build the capacity of teachers to support the needs of parents/families better. Her experience has made her a valuable asset to the Georgia Department of Education's APTT initiative as she co-facilitates many training sessions for new schools.