AUGUSTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First, WRDW/WAGT) – A former Atlanta Police Department officer was arrested in east Georgia on an enticing a child charge.

Benjamin Travis Hopson, 34, was arrested by Richmond County deputies on Aug. 24, according to WRDW, Atlanta News First’s sister station in Augusta.

Hopson was charged with enticing a child for indecent purposes.

WRDW reported that authorities said Saturday morning they were looking for Hopson, and he was arrested later that afternoon.

The charges stem from an incident in the 1000 block of Stevens Creek Road in Augusta in June, WRDW reported.

WRDW reported jail booking information, the incident report and Hopson’s booking photo were not immediately available.

The Atlanta Police Department said it is aware of the investigation into Hopson, a former public information officer. Hopson was “relieved from duty and placed in a non-enforcement, administrative assignment” in May 2023, APD said. The department said he had been on extended unpaid leave before he was fired on Aug. 23.

Copyright 2024 WANF. All rights reserved.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public’s help in looking for a missing 14-year-old.

The sheriff’s office says Grady Nathaniel Thomas IV was last seen on Wednesday on the 1900 block of Starnes Street.

Officials say Thomas may be in the areas of Columbus, Ohio or Miami, Fl. with his biological father, Grady Thomas III.

Thomas is described as 5 foot 4 inches tall and weights 130 pounds.

If you have any information on Thomas, please contact the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office at 706-821-1020.

Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Georgia Power has committed $200,000 to Augusta University to help improve the quality of the teacher workforce in Richmond County.

The university’s College of Education and Human Development is using the funds to launch Richmond Recruitment and Retention, or the R3 Initiative.

First and foremost, the R3 initiative will aim to recruit more high school seniors – especially minority male students – to a career in education. Nearly 85% of Richmond County students are members of minority groups.

“We are trying to create more diversity by recruiting differently and providing the support that is needed to retain teachers who are members of minority groups,” said Judi Wilson, PhD, dean of COEHD. “I’ve had students say, ‘Dean Wilson, I went all the way through school, and I never had any teachers who looked like me except for a coach.’ Those role models are really important.”

Similarly, the R3 Initiative will help foster affinity groups to assist with recruitment and retention efforts.

“We gravitate toward like-minded people,” Wilson said. “We want to create intentional support systems, so students feel engaged and like they are part of a community.”

Other recruitment and retention efforts will include securing leadership candidates to support first- through third-year teachers and involving retired teachers in observation, mentoring and support of the most at-risk education degree candidates and young teachers.

“We are also reaching out to teachers who have received a waiver in Richmond County,” said Wilson. “These are teachers who have a degree in something other than education. We recognize that these teachers are at risk because they haven’t been fully trained, and we are sending them out into the field to serve. We want to help prepare them for success.”

Last year, there were more than 450 teachers with a waiver in Richmond County public schools. That means more than 1 in 5 of the 2,136 teachers employed by Richmond County did not meet the minimum education requirements to be certified as teachers in Georgia. The Georgia Professional Standards Commission approves these waiver certificates, which are intended to help alleviate teacher shortages and allow qualified candidates to teach while completing all requirements for certification.

AU is partnering with the school system to facilitate education credits and professional development for these teachers. Furthermore, a portion of the Georgia Power funding will provide partial scholarships to assist teachers in earning a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from AU – in just two years – through an online MAT program.

“The MAT online is catered to adult learners,” Wilson said.

Through focus groups, university leaders learned that barriers to going back to school include money, raising children, caring for aging parents, and constraints on time and quality of life. The online option allows teachers who have a waiver to accommodate the additional coursework within their already busy adult lives, and the partial scholarships from Georgia Power will help with tuition fees.

Securing a master’s degree will boost retention of qualified teachers because of the pay raises that accompany higher education in the field, Wilson added.Georgia Power has supported minority male teacher recruitment in the past in collaboration with AU.

“Georgia is our home and has been for over 100 years,” said Kerry Bridges, Georgia Power Region Executive for the Augusta area. “Georgia Power Foundation continues to support education and workforce development initiatives that align with our vales through exciting partnerships like the R3 Initiative to power Georgia’s growing economy, our communities, and our next generation workforce well into the future.”

“We’re really excited to be partnering with Georgia Power to create the R3 initiative,” said Wilson. “They are incredible partners, and we are very blessed to have them in our community and to have them investing in the future of education.”

Additional contributions may be made online to the College of Education and Human Development’s R3 Initiative fund to help educate and promote more male minority high school teachers in Richmond County.

Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.