Quitman Lower Elementary School Principal James Bounds is retiring after nine years, and serving a total of 39 years as a coach and educator.

    Lured out of retirement in 2005 following three decades in education, James Bounds said his retirement this time will mark the end of his 39-year career in education.

    Bounds will retire on June 30 after nine years as principal of Quitman Lower Elementary School.

    A former Delta State University football player and later football coach for the Meridian Public School District – at both Kate Griffin and Northwest junior high schools – Bounds said it’s time to spend more time with family.

    “I am so lucky that both of my parents are still living,” he said. “I feel extremely blessed with the opportunity that I have to spend more time with my wife, Kathy, our three kids – a son and two daughters – and five grandkids. And with the state retirement system the way it is, this is the correct financial decision.”

    Longtime friend, fellow coach and Lamar School Headmaster Mac Barnes said he was surprised to learn Bounds was retiring, again.

    “He is an extremely nice man and a dear friend,” Barnes said. “He was my principal when I was still coaching at Meridian High School. And, he was a good football and track coach at Kate Griffin.”

    Bounds graduated from West Lauderdale High School, then spent two years at then East Mississippi Junior College. He was recruited to play football at Delta State University.

    “Coach Horace McCool recruited me to be a member of the football team and I played for coach Robert McGraw,” Bounds said. “I finished in 1976.”

    Bounds started his career as an educator at Lamar School for one year, then moved to Meridian Public School District and taught at Northwest Junior High and later Kate Griffin. He was at both schools for a total of 12 years.

    “I was Benny Wright and (Leslie) Brooks Gray’s junior high football coach,” Bounds said of the now prominent doctors in the Meridian medical community. “My last quarterback was Dexter McCleon.”

    McCleon went on to enjoy a productive 10-year career in the National Football League with the St. Louis Rams, helping them win Super Bowl XXXIV against the Tennessee Titans.

    Bounds decided to hang up the whistle and go into administration. He was an assistant principal at Carver for five years, and spent one year as assistant principal at Meridian High School before being named the school’s principal in 1995. He retired from from Meridian Public School District in 2005.

    A year later, Bounds was brought back into education.

    “A little school in the Delta needed a principal for a semester,” he said. “I was going to enjoy my retirement and I knew it was a four-hour drive from my home.”

    Nonetheless, Bounds took the job at Ray Brooks High School in Benoit. He said it was his short time at the small Delta high school that reignited his passion for education. There, he met Coach Butch Inman and Superintendent Suzanne Hawley.

    “That was a great semester and the memories there will stay with me forever,” he said. “I got to see Butch work those kids during spring practice; I couldn’t believe such a small school had such a great talent pool. I stayed all the way through graduation.”

    When Hawley was named superintendent of Quitman School District, she brought Bounds with her, saying she knew she had to have him as a principal. Bounds was named principal of Quitman Lower Elementary School in 2006.

    “Mr. Bounds and I have worked together for most of the last decade,” Hawley said. “He is the epitome of a professional administrator. He is very knowledgeable, hard working, dedicated to his profession, and has the ability to get a diverse group working together for a common goal. Quitman will truly miss his leadership.”

    For Bounds, guiding pre-k through second-grade students has been a dream.

    “To impact young children with the fundamentals and the skill development shows that if the foundation is strong, all students can be successful,” he said. “Last year, we were ranked seventh on the state readiness test.”

    Bounds credited having excellent teachers and resources to the school’s success.

    “The quality of teachers and time on task is what has made us successful,” he said. “We have had structured academic planning. These kids have been challenged the day they come in to the day they leave. They’ve showed continuous growth throughout the year.”

    Bounds has made a big impact on the school, said Quitman Lower Elementary teacher June Rozar, a former Golden Apple winner.

    “He means everything to me, and I have taught in three states,” Rozar said. “He’s the best and I have taught for 11 principals. He is a man of integrity. A great Christian man who puts children and teachers first.”

    Rozar said she especially loved how Bounds would routinely make the rounds of his school to see how the children and his staff were doing that day.

    “Every day, he would come around the classes, greet the children and see us,” she said. “He will be missed.”

    Further illustrating Bounds’ dedication to the Quitman students is his lengthy commute to get to the campus. Since his time with the Meridian Public School District, he has maintained his home in the same area where he grew up – the Liberty community in south Kemper County.

    “I’ve been willing to make that drive for these kids,” Bounds said of his nearly 80-mile daily commute. “I grew up in the Liberty community in Kemper County and it’s where I have my house today.”