It was a night of accolades at the Columbia County Board of Education’s October work session Tuesday as the accomplishments of area schools were highlighted.
Assistant Superintendent Kellye Bosch and Superintendent Steven Flynt announced North Columbia Elementary had been awarded the Exemplary High Performing National Blue Ribbon School for 2022.
This award recognizes the state’s highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally standardized tests and seeks to celebrate great American schools which demonstrate all students can achieve high levels.
The community also recognized North Columbia Elementary by awarding The Augusta Chronicle Cyber City’s Best winner of 2022.
The Cyber City’s Best award is chosen by the community through a series of voting and recognizes the best the Augusta community has to offer.
According to the Columbia County School District, principal Tonya Gambrell and Tiffany Eargle, a fourth grade ELA teacher at North Columbia Elementary, will represent the school at the National Blue Ribbon Recognition Ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 3 and 4.
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“It was really unbelievable to be nominated and then also to receive the award over so many wonderful schools in Columbia County and even across America – it was just unreal,” said Grambell. “We work every single day to make sure we are educating the students and preparing them for the future, and so it was really just exciting and thrilling for the teachers.”
Grambell said she attributes the school’s win to the community’s support and the teachers’ strong efforts to build relationships with all students to meet them where they are and then push them to excel.
After North Columbia Elementary was applauded, Harlem High School was recognized for being awarded the Georgia High School Association Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship award for the 2021-2022 school year.
“Congratulations teachers and coaches,” said Vice Chairman Lee Ann Meyer, representative of District 4. “Thank you for providing a place of education to our small children and our big children, and just shining the example to them of sportsmanship and what education should look like and excelling in both areas.”
Following award acknowledgments, the meeting progressed with a brief building update from Flynt highlighting the ongoing progress of Westmont and North Columbia Elementary’s new buildings.
Following the update, Flynt then announced the 2022 SAT scores for the district and how almost all of the high schools’ average mean scores were above the state mean score of 1098.
“Our district’s mean scale score rank, within the state, has increased to twelfth in 2022 when compared to sixteen last year,” said Flynt. “Additionally, the district ranked fifth in the state for the districts with more than 1,000 test takers compared to sixth place last year.”
Flynt continued by mentioning the graduation rates of Columbia County’s high schools and how all achieved a higher rate for the 2021-2022 school year than Georgia’s set graduation rate.
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“The district’s four-year graduation rate is 90.4. The district is above the state average of 84.1 and is ranked sixth in the state when compared to districts with a 1,000 or more graduates,” he said. “All of our high schools continue to report graduation rates well above state average, and I’d like to thank all the employees across all levels who supported students along the way to gain mastery of the curriculum and graduate on time.”
Flynt moved on to give the board a quick update on the Junior Achievement Discovery Center and how construction is expected to begin at the end of January or February 2023 within the time frame of the project.
Concluding with executive session, the meeting was adjourned after sharing how the district recognized some of its janitorial staff on Oct. 2 for National Custodial Workers’ Appreciation Day.
The next Columbia County School District meeting will take place Oct. 25 at the Columbia County Board of Education building for a work session.
Liz Wright is a staff writer covering education and general assignments for The Augusta Press. Reach her at liz@theaugustapress.com
