Metro Spirit - 09.07.17

V28|NO36
The Reality of Richmond County Schools
Augusta leaders face the challenges of having approximately 20
“chronically failing” schools in Richmond County
When GeoRGiA Gov. nAThAn DeAl came to Augusta earlier this year to
celebrate the future development of the $50 million Georgia Cyber Innovation and
Training Center on Reynolds Street, he was all smiles.
That is, until he began to discuss the current state of the Richmond County School
System.
That’s when the gloves came off.
“They have too many chronically failing schools,” Deal bluntly said about Richmond
County during the public ceremony in February. “And in order to have the pipeline for
workers and students who will be able to take advantage of this (cyber facility), if you
want those to be local students, they have to have an underlying good education.”
There is no doubt that the stigma of having about 20 public schools labeled as
“chronically failing” has hurt Richmond County.
Over the past decade, many new residents moving into the area with school-age
children have flooded into surrounding counties rather than gambling on their child’s
future in Richmond County schools.
The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement is quick to point out that Richmond
County received an “F” grade in 2016 based on its schools’ scores on the College
and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI), which is calculated by the Georgia
Department of Education.
Richmond County School District’s performance was worse than 96 percent of the
state’s other school districts in 2016, according to the Governor’s Office of Student
Achievement.
The state’s data also indicates that only 34.1 percent of Richmond County’s third
grade students are reading “at or above” the grade level target.
By eighth grade, about 57.6 percent of Richmond County students are reading at or
above grade level.
Once students graduate from Richmond County schools, only 45.6 percent of the
graduates are “college ready,” according to the governor’s office.
However, when it comes to Augusta’s neighbors in Columbia County, it is like a tale
of two counties.
The Columbia County School System received an overall “B” grade in 2016, which is
By Stacey Eidson
higher than 91 percent of all of the state’s other districts.
For third-graders in Columbia County, about 64.3 percent of the students are
reading at or above the grade level target.
In eighth grade, approximately 83.2 percent of students are reading at or above the
grade level.
And by the time seniors are walking across the stage to receive their diplomas in
Columbia County, about 72.1 percent of graduates are college ready, according to the
governor’s office.
New residents moving into area can’t ignore those statistics, the governor said.
“Because people do notice,” Deal said in February. “The military takes note of that.
And I would point out to you that as we had our meeting with them several weeks ago,
they pointed out that they have more of the children of those who are working in their
facility that go to Columbia County to go to school than go to Richmond County.”
That is absolutely true, according to Col. Todd Turner, the garrison commander for
Fort Gordon.
“Thirty-one percent of our military children attend schools in Richmond County,”
Turner told the audience at the Augusta Education Summit on Aug. 24. “About 64
percent go to Columbia County and 5 percent go to North Augusta. We have seen
“So many of our children come to
school ill; their teeth are aching
because they don’t have good
health care.”
— Dr. Angela Pringle,
Richmond County Superintendent of Schools
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