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Bibb County Schools' graduation rates increase

The county went from 77 percent in 2017 to 78.5 percent in 2018.

Superintendent Curtis Jones stayed true to his word from his state of the district speech when he said that the graduation rate was on the rise.

The district's 78.5 percent graduation rate is just under the statewide 81.6 percent average.

The leading scorer was Central High School with an 83.6 percent rate.

Senior Lea Walker said that number has come a long way since she was a freshman back in 2015.

"I would've been surprised 9th grade year, but now that I'm here, it's an environment that I know everybody wants us to succeed. So I'm not really surprised at this point in my life that we got it that high," Walker said.

When she was a freshman, the graduation rate was about 55 percent. That year was also Emanuel Frazier first year as Principal.

Frazier is happy with the progress, but still wants more.

"What we told them then was that we expected them to have a 90 percent graduation rate. we talked about 90 in '19. So we've been talking about 90 in '19 with this senior class since they walked in the door," Frazier said.

The school system's strategy for the turnaround included getting more students to read on grade level, improving scores on the Georgia Milestone Assessment Tests, and improving attendance.

"If we can figure out where our students are struggling, give them additional support where it's needed, then we were able to get them to where they were successful on the milestones," Frazier said.

Frazier said putting all of those ideas together paid off with a higher graduation rate. His drive to help his students improve comes from his own experiences in school.

"Education and my teachers staying on me and refusing to allow me to quit on myself because they would not quit on me, that's why I'm doing what I'm doing now," Frazier said.

Northeast and Rutland High Schools also had graduation rates above 80 percent.

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