Education Edition - 1736 Magazine, Fall 2019

I was elected by the residents of District 8 on Nov.
the use and accessibility of technology will be a central
2, 2004, four days before my 35th birthday, and have
component of the new plan.
proudly served the citizens of Richmond County for 15
We are looking for businesses and nonprofits to help
years.
make internet connectivity and/or computers available
When my parents met in downtown Augusta, they
to students who currently do not have access at home.
could not know their only child would one day serve
The “Digital Divide” among students remains one of the
two terms as the President of the Board of Education
biggest challenges for our community.
Jimmy Atkins
at that very location.
The new plan will also put an emphasis on the importance
of social-emotional learning, or SEL, as research
In my years on the Board of Education, I have seen
many changes and continued improvement in our
has shown individuals with strong social-emotional
school system, especially with choices offered to our students. skills benefit academically and professionally. Richmond County
We have three 6-12 grade magnet schools (John S. Davidson School System Student Services and Curriculum are already
Fine Arts, A. R. Johnson Health Science & Engineering and
working closely with schools to implement SEL techniques in
Richmond County Technical Career) with 100% graduation
the classroom.
rates this past year and one K-8 magnet school (C. T. Walker
Having been born and raised in Richmond County, I’m
Traditional) that recently was named a 2019 National Blue
excited about the growth taking place with the revitalization
Ribbon School of Excellence for Exemplary High Performance. of downtown. As a child, I still remember walking down Broad
The Academy of Richmond County and Hephzibah High
Street with my parents well before the malls were built. To see
School, along with their feeder schools, offer the International that type of excitement back downtown is refreshing.
Baccalaureate Program. We also offer programs such as the
The Richmond County School System is proud to be a part of
Cyber Academy of Excellence and the Marion E. Barnes Career downtown Augusta’s revitalization and we remain committed
Center to prepare our students to leave high school and go
to building a better future for all students through education,
directly into the workforce.
collaboration, and innovation. I encourage families to come to
Along with the 100% graduation rates at our three magnet Augusta-Richmond County and see all that we have to offer!
schools, the other high schools in the downtown Augusta
area showed improvements this past year. The Academy of
Richmond County was 90.1% (up 2.1%), T. W. Josey was
74.8% (up 2.5%) and Lucy C. Laney was 84.3% (up 1.9%). Even
though our goal is 100% for all schools, we still are proud every
time we have an increase in graduation rates and test scores.
Over the past five years, we definitely have had positive results
due to the incredible work and dedication of our staff.
In August of this year, the board was faced with the challenge
of finding a new superintendent. I have been through
four superintendent searches during my time on the board and
we knew we had to have someone who knew the system and
could continue the incredible work already being done.
We found that person in Dr. Kenneth Bradshaw, who was
unanimously chosen by the board and started work the first
week of September. Dr. Bradshaw previously served as the
deputy superintendent for Richmond County before leaving in
June 2018 to accept a similar position in the urban school district
of Hamilton County, Tennessee. While in Richmond County, he
played a major role in many of our recent successes, such as the
Reaching Potential through Manufacturing (RPM) program.
Dr. Bradshaw believes in collaboration between everyone with
a stake in Richmond County schools, starting with the students
and their families and the community. He is working with everyone
to get us to the next level.
The school system and superintendent are currently working
with students, families, community members, staff, and administrators
to develop a new five-year strategic plan. The last time
we developed a strategic plan, the system was just starting to see
how the cyber boom was going to impact the Augusta area. Now,
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