Metro Spirit - 09.07.17

“When children come to school in
kindergarten and they arrive at
school from high-poverty families,
typically they are already behind.
Believe it or not, we have children
who arrive at kindergarten, they
barely know their names.”
— Dr. Angela Pringle,
Richmond County Superintendent of Schools
“A bad school district can drop your home by almost a quarter of the value of that
home,” Jackson said. “That’s quite an impact.”
Over the past 15 years, the perception that Richmond County has a poor school
system and suffers from high crime has also negatively affected its population, she
said.
“From 1980 to 1990, Richmond County had a population growth of about 8,000
people,” Jackson said. “From 1990 to 2000, it was about 10,000.”
But from 2000 to 2010, Richmond County had an increase in population of less than
a 1,000 people. Then, from 2010 to 2015, Richmond County picked up about 3,000
people, she said.
By 2030, Jackson estimated that the population of Richmond County would be
about 210,000 people.
In contrast, Columbia County’s population has exploded over the past several
decades.
“From 1980 to 1990, Columbia County picked up about 26,000 residents,” Jackson
said. “From 1990 to 2000, about 23,000 residents and from 2000 to 2010, about
34,000 residents.”
By 2030, Columbia County’s population is estimated to be at least 201,000 people,
Jackson said.
“So we would have a difference of about 9,000 people,” she said. “That’s all.”
One major problem is, many local Realtors are encouraging those moving into the
area to just look at homes in Columbia County because of the perception of high crime
and poor schools in Richmond County, Jackson said.
“Unfortunately, with perception comes reality,” she said. “From the moment those
new residents walk into the area, that’s what they are told and that impacts their
decisions.”
In order to strengthen Richmond County schools, Pringle said the Board of
Education is trying to help break the cycle of poverty by instilling the importance of a
good work ethic. “We have to be concerned about how we really engage them in the
world of work,” she said of students. “How do we help a child who doesn’t see a parent
working or who doesn’t see a family member working?”
One of the programs that has already enjoyed an extremely successful first
full year is the RPM (Reaching Potential Through Manufacturing) program.
It is a partnership between the Richmond County School System and Textron
Specialized Vehicles (E-Z-GO) that is designed to provide students with
classroom instruction, on-the-job training, life skills, mentoring and employment
opportunities.
But more importantly, the RPM program helps students stay in school, graduate
and go on to become successful, productive members of the workforce, Pringle said.
“When we started this program, Textron said, ‘We want your dropouts, we want
your kids who could potentially drop out, we want your kids who have children and
we want your kids in high poverty,’” Pringle said. “Textron didn’t come to us and say,
‘We want your A/B students. We want your students who are successful.’ They came
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“We have to be concerned about
how we really engage them in the
world of work. How do we help
a child who doesn’t see a parent
working or who doesn’t see a
family member working?”
— Dr. Angela Pringle,
Richmond County Superintendent of Schools
to us and said, ‘We want your students who are really having challenges.’ And (Deputy
Superintendent) Dr. Kenneth Bradshaw asked, ‘Now, are you sure? Are you really
sure?’ And they said, ‘Yes. We are really sure.’”
The program is literally changing these students’ lives, Pringle said.
“The reality is these are important opportunities for children to experience the world
of work,” she said. “Because when children are in poverty and they can’t see how to get
out of poverty legally, they tend to find other ways to do things they shouldn’t, which
causes Sheriff (Richard) Roundtree some problems. These children now understand,
there is a connection between work, making money and education. So many of our
children don’t see those connections. This program offers us an opportunity to make
that connection.”