An Augusta educator has broken an unspoken tradition at one of Georgia's oldest schools by becoming the first woman hired as principal in its 229-year-history.

Malinda Cobb says she wasn't even aware that the top job at the Academy of Richmond County had been filled by only men until she applied for the open position this summer.

Founded as an all-boys school in 1783, the Academy of Richmond County became a military school during the Civil War, and later a public high school. The first girls enrolled in 1950.

The academy's streak of men-only principals doesn't apply to the rest of Richmond County's public schools. The school system says that 40 of its 55 principals are women.

Tags: Augusta, principal, Academy of Richmond County