Georgia Mountain News

There were nine African American students enrolled in Towns County school district in the 2022-23 school year, the same number as the previous year, according to the Georgia Department of Education.

Data showed that Towns County school district welcomed 946 students during the 2022-23 school year. Among them, African American students comprised 1% of the student body to be one of the least represented ethnicity in the county's school district.

This is the only school district located within Towns County, with its main office in Hiawassee.

While enrollment in Georgia inches closer to pre-pandemic levels, chronic absenteeism remains a serious challenge. In 2023, a significant portion of students (23%) missed 10% or more of their classes. Although this is slightly better than the peak of 25% in 2022, it's still nearly double the pre-pandemic rate of 13% recorded in 2019.

District	% African American students	Total enrollment
Towns County	1%	946