Columbus High principal Marvin Crumbs honored and selected for national conference

A Muscogee County School District principal was selected for a national conference to discuss how to help children from low-income families become high-achieving students.

Columbus High School principal Marvin Crumbs was among more than 100 principals from around the country who attended the Closing the Excellence Gap Summit, Feb. 25-26, in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and the Coalition of Leaders for Advanced Student Success.

Columbus High is a total magnet school, meaning it doesn’t have an attendance zone. Instead, its enrollment comprises students from throughout the county who are admitted and dismissed based on academics and behavior.

Nearly one-fourth of Columbus High’s 1,281 students come from families who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, but the school’s graduation and college readiness rate are 100 percent, Crumbs told the Ledger-Enquirer.

“My experiences as a member of the CLASS Coalition reinforce in me the belief that students from every economic strata within our community can achieve at high levels when given the right opportunity,” Crumbs said in an email to the L-E. “I’m fortunate that I work in a school district that shares the same goals and expectations as the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.”

Crumbs credits all of Columbus High’s stakeholders for the school’s success.

“I can honestly say that everything I’ve achieved as a principal has been due to dedicated teachers, hardworking students, supportive parents and a school district that realizes that every child matters,” he said.

Crumbs returned from Washington encouraged by national efforts to decrease the number of at-risk students not being prepared for college or the workforce.

“Educators and lawmakers alike are getting on board to address this underserved portion of our educational community,” he said. “From the White House down to our classrooms, we had attendees who were dedicated to this worthwhile educational cause. Our group, just like the Muscogee County School District, is fully dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students even though they may be living in challenging financial situations.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 4:08 PM with the headline "Columbus High principal Marvin Crumbs honored and selected for national conference."