MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Colquitt County Board of Education continues to report decreasing drop-out rates for at least four consecutive years. 

The BoE released the county’s 2021-2022 school year drop-out rates at its Jan. 31 meeting. The report showcases the total dropout rate of all ninth through 12th graders who have dropped out of school since the 2017-2018 school year. 

While the 2022 school year is still under way, the school publishes the statistics by semester. In the fall of 2021 a total of 23 students had dropped out. Of these 23 students, seven 10th, 11th and 12th graders have dropped out as well as two ninth graders. 

The drop-out rate has continuously decreased since 2017-18, according to the report. That school year reported 123 drop-outs for the year. This decreased to 93 in 2018-19, then 59 in 2019-20, and last year during the 2020-2021 school year, 36 students were reported to have dropped out. 

The statistics do not include “No-Shows,” which are students who have continued absences with “a withdrawn status of ‘unknown,’” according to the report.

The board also heard from Altman + Barrett Architects who were previously contracted by the board to inspect the schools and other buildings around the county. They recommended that the Colquitt County School System consider rebuilding 2 schools as well as renovating Willie J. Williams. More information regarding those inspections can be found here.

During the Work Session, chief communications officer, Angela Hobby presented ongoing projects her office is undertaking. Currently, they are working on getting each school “its own unique (website) instead of pages of the district site,” according to her presentation. 

In actions taken by the board, current chair Robby Pitts of District Four and Mary Beth Watson of District Three were reelected as Board Chair and Vice Chair, respectively. The board also voted to not to redraw BoE district lines.

The board also approved four field trips. GEAR students will be going to Mission San Luis in Tallahassee on Feb. 16, and to Challenger Learning Center in Tallahassee on Feb. 17. The seventh grade STEM team from Willie J. Williams Middle School will be going to Challenger Learning Center Feb. 15. And the Willie J. Williams Science Team will be attending the Science Olympiad Competition in Statesboro, Ga., Feb. 19.

The next regularly scheduled BoE meeting is Feb. 28.