NW Georgia News

There were 480 African American students enrolled in Whitfield County school districts in the 2022-23 school year, 1.2% less than the previous year, according to the Georgia Department of Education.

Data showed that Whitfield County school districts welcomed 19,120 students during the 2022-23 school year. Among them, African American students comprised 2.5% of the student body to be the second least represented ethnicity in the county's school districts.

The main offices of all school districts mentioned in the story are located in cities associated with Whitfield County.

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
Whitfield County	1%	11,871
Dalton Public Schools	5%	7,249