Richmond County schools boost safety as students return

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The rest of Richmond County students headed back to school Monday.

Richmond County elementary students started last week, and the rest of the district has now started, including middle and high schoolers.

There are a few improvements that district s hope will make the school a safer and better learning environment.

A safety grant from the governor allows for the purchase of new cameras throughout the district.

“The governor provided a safety grant for the schools in the state of Georgia. And we’re proud to implement that grant this year,” said Dr. Kenneth Bradshaw, Richmond County superintendent.

The district also has implemented a system with an emergency button in each classroom that allows teachers to notify the main office and even alert 911 dispatchers.

“Teachers can press a button, and the front office can come and them immediately,” said Bradshaw.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL COSTS:

• Many kids are well-equipped for the new school year, thanks to a tax-free weekend that just ended in South Carolina. This comes at a time when back-to-school season costs more. The National Retail Federation says families are spending almost $30 more than last year.

The superintendent says educators look forward to also having more resource officers at the school. There will also be a weekly meeting regarding safety.

“We’re going to have a weekly safety meeting in which we meet to really discuss the events,” said Bradshaw. “And we think that safety meeting along with getting all of our SROs and even asking the sheriff’s department and marshals department to us, we believe all of those entities will really help improve safety.”

These aren’t the only changes happening in the district.

“Educators are trying to narrow down to exactly what each student needs, so there’s now differentiated instruction, small group instruction in the classroom and more hands-on learning to captivate students in the learning process,” said Cordaryl Middleton, principal at Lucy. C. Laney High School.

Math class could even look a little different.

“Our math teachers have really been working hard to learn different math standards, as well as implementation of different strategies that have been provided by the math department to make sure that they’re able to meet our students’ needs,” said Middleton.

The goal is to make sure their students can accomplish anything, without any worries.

Middleton says educators want to make sure they get all that they need to be structurally strong in order to be ready for the real world.

Teachers have been working hard throughout the summer to implement these changes in order to be ready for the first day of school and the school year.

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