Price announces retirement; here's a look back at her tenure

Dr. Noris Price last month passed the 10-year mark as superintendent of the Baldwin County School District.

On Tuesday, Price announced that year No. 11 will be her last. Price made the announcement at the BCSD's regular meeting on ABC Drive. She will work through the end of the 2o24-2025 school year, which wraps up June 30, 2025.

“It has been an honor to serve as superintendent of the Baldwin County School District. I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved together and confident that the district will continue to pursue its mission and vision for student success and thrive for years to come,” she said. “Thank you for the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Price overcame the odds to get to this point in her career.

"My parents wanted me to get a high school diploma, and they felt like that would be a success, because they only had a sixth-grade education," Price told WMAZ/Channel 13 back in 2021.

Price successfully oversaw the BCSD's transition to a "charter school district," one that offers more career paths and is more tailored towards a 21st-century economy and workforce. 

She also provided a steady hand and leadership during the COVID pandemic, a whirlwind and logistical nightmare for any superintendent.

Along the way, Price also picked up a Georgia Superintendent of the Year award...

Price often touts the district's increased graduation rates during its 10-year tenure. 

It's actually in the very first paragraph of her bio...

"Dr. Noris Price has served as the Superintendent of Baldwin County Schools since July 1, 2014. Under her leadership, the Baldwin County School District has implemented instructional initiatives and strategies that have resulted in improved student performance and the high school graduation rate has increased from 66% to 88%."

However, the math formula used to calculate graduation rates is a little "hairy," while the goal posts have moved since Price became superintendent in 2014. Other "dramatic turnarounds" have been witnessed in other nearby districts. Just south of here, Wilkinson County High School's graduation rate in 2014 was 68.9 percent. A mere two years later, it was a whopping 91.5 percent. The Twiggs County School District more recently claimed that its graduation rate was 91.5 percent, which compares to 42.2 percent back in 2014 (yes, 42.2 percent).

Below is a comparison of Baldwin County's graduation trends compared to every school district within two counties of Baldwin. The first percentage beside each school district is its 2014 graduation rate. The second percentage, meanwhile, is each county's graduation rate for the Class of 2023.

• Baldwin – 66.6% // 89.2%
• Bibb – 58.9% // 87.1%
• Bleckley – 87.7 // 95.9%
• Dublin City 51.1% // 96.9%
• Glascock - 95.7% // 90.7%
• Greene - 65.1% // 85%
• Hancock - 91.1%(?) // 82.8%
• Jasper - 66.4% // 93%
• Jefferson - 64.8% // 88.5%
• Johnson - 69.3% // 91.6%
• Jones - 71.8% // 87.7%
• Laurens - 77.2% // 85.4%
• Monroe - 82.9% // 94.4%
• Morgan - 87% // 94.4%
• Putnam - 81.5% // 87.7%
• Talieferro - N/A // N/A
• Twiggs - 42.2% // 91.5%
• Warren - 73.3% // 84.9%
• Washington - 81.5% // 93.7%
• Wilkinson - 68.9% // 98.9%

Above all else, the dramatic increases can be attributed to two things. First, there's the Georgia High School Graduation Test. The Georgia Department of Education began phasing out the Georgia High School Graduation Test in 2011. The Class of 2014 was the final cohort required to take the test. Prior to that, Georgia high school students "had to get at least a 200" on the different portions of the test in order to earn a non-special education diploma.

2014 was Price's first year as superintendent.

Also, since the graduation test was shelved, the use of "credit recovery programs" has become increasingly popular. Credit recovery programs traditionally meant summer school, but these days credit recovery programs can be more "flexible" and "creative." There's relatively little oversight for credit recovery programs, and it's basically left up to the individual school district. There's still some summer school in Baldwin County, but it only lasts for several weeks, and Uno cards are a large part of the curriculum.

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Also, standardized test scores and course competency scores, sometimes shockingly low, have continued to plague the district. BCSD elementary school students finished 165th out of 180 Georgia "city" and "county" school districts in Georgia in content mastery in 2022-2023. The Content Mastery score largely is derived from the Georgia Milestones Test, which is an end-of-course standardized test in four subjects – English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.

Perhaps more concerning, out of 79 Georgia school districts with at least 4,000 students, the BCSD finished 78th in content mastery. At the "Middle School level," the BCSD also finished in the bottom 10 percent and 77th out of the 79 Georgia school districts with at least 4,000 students.

According to the CCRPI data, African-American students in Baldwin County are most likely to fall behind. In terms of the different subgroups assigned by the DOE, the "Hispanic" subgroup actually scored higher in English/Language Arts than the "Black" subgroup at both the elementary and middle school levels here in Baldwin County. 

In other words, "Hispanic" elementary school students in Baldwin County were roughly 50 percent more likely to be proficient in "English/Language Arts" than "Black" students, according to the data.

To its credit, the Reading scores at the elementary level improved the following year. Here's a closer look. The first row of data represents the BCSD's Reading scores in 2023-2024 and how it compares to the statewide average. Meanwhile, the second table shows the same data from 2022-2023...

Also, here's how the BCSD's Reading scores rank among the 180 "city" and "county" school districts in Georgia:

• 3rd grade – 144th (20th percentile)

• 4th grade – 140th (22nd percentile)

• 5th grade – 138th (23rd percentile)

• 6th grade – 167th (7th percentile)

• 7th grade – 15nd (16th percentile)

• 8th grade – 160th (11th percentile)

Meanwhile, here's the same data from the 2022-2023 school year:

• 3rd grade – 159th (12th percentile)

• 4th grade – 159th (12th percentile)

• 5th grade – 171st (5th percentile)

• 6th grade – 152nd (16th percentile)

• 7th grade – 170th (6th percentile)

• 8th grade – 160th (11th percentile)

Prior to moving to Milledgeville, Price was the deputy superintendent at the Clarke County School District. She began her career as an elementary school teacher in New York City. Price then spent some time in Virginia before relocating to Georgia in 1997, serving as principal of an elementary school in Fulton County.

The School Board is expected to begin the process of finding its next superintendent at some point in the next few months. The Georgia School Board Association oversees all superintendent searches in Georgia. It's a highly structured and relatively arduous 17-step process, one that includes "establishing a search timeline, seeking community input, establishing selection criteria, advertising the announcement of vacancy, checking references, providing interview training, facilitating candidate interviews and finalizing the selection process."