The MDE School of East Cobb hosts “Boots & BBQ,” October 19, 7 to 10 p.m. at Pontoon Brewing Company in Sandy Springs, GA. The event is generously presented by the Cobb EMC Community Foundation.
The third annual event is a benefit for the MDE School, a non-profit, private school in East Cobb that serves K-12 children with varying special needs. The MDE School is the only school of its kind in Cobb County and provides an exceptional learning environment where students with special needs have access to academics, music, drama, adaptive PE, enrichment programs and life skills training. MDE serves students with Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, communication disorders, and developmental delays.
Since MDE School’s inception in 2008, enrollment has increased from 3 to 50 students from all over metro Atlanta. MDE is able to uniquely serve children with special needs who cannot be served in a traditional educational environment, and addresses each students’ learning, social, cognitive, and developmental goals allowing their students to maximize their potential.
The fun-filled, casual evening for adults is $40 in advance and $45 at the door. Sponsors as of printing include Cobb EMC Community Foundation, Genuine Parts Company, Honest-1 Auto Care, Ms. Donna Maslia and Mr. Matthew Morton, Spectrum Behavioral Associates, and Mr. Steven and Mrs. Elizabeth Patrick. Sponsorships ranging from $250-$2,500 are still available.
Evening events include music by Shadowood, BBQ, local craft beer, raffle, and a silent auction with prizes ranging from $20 to $2,000. Proceeds from the event will go towards the MDE School arts and enrichment programs.
“Think cowboy boots and denim in a fun, casual atmosphere,” said Mindy Elkan, Executive Director for The MDE School, who said the event is projected to sell out.
“There are still opportunities to donate auction items,” said Elkan. She said you probably have something you know about or could offer as an auction item, citing examples such as your condo at the beach you could donate for a weekend, airplane tickets, pampering items such as a facial, manicure, or massage, or restaurant gift cards for a night out.
For more information or to purchase tickets, go to www.mdeschool.org. Tickets will be available until the event sells out.
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East Cobb realtor Janice Overbeck, is hosting a Women’s Empowerment Day at her real estate office on Saturday, October 5th from 10:00 am -2:00 pm.
The event will include a panel style seminar featuring business owners and leaders in the Atlanta community. The speakers will include: Emmy Award winner Mishael Porembski, Celebrity Hairstylist Nyema Bennett, Marine Corps Veteran & Motivational Speaker Chonta Flowers, Owner of Goodlife Magazine Kristen Bland, and Immersion Spanish Specialist Natalia Barrero.
The event will also feature breakout sessions and a vision board workshop. Attendees will have the opportunity to take a break from vision boards and treat themselves to a chair massage compliments of Life Moves Manual Therapies in Marietta.
The cost of the event is just $15 and covers materials and t-shirt. Attendees have the option to buy lunch catered by Red Sky Tapas or bring a packed lunch from home.
Coffee will be sponsored by local roaster Aroma Ridge and breakfast snacks will be sponsored by First American Home Warranty.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the events tab at www.JaniceOverbeck.com.
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A Roswell woman was ejected from her motorcycle and landed on a guardrail after her vehicle crashed into a concrete curb on Lower Roswell Road Friday afternoon, Cobb Police said.
Carolyn C. Keelaghan, 57, was taken by ambulance to WellStar Kennestone Hospital with what a police spokeswoman said are serious but not believed to be life-threatening injuries.
Officer Sydney Melton said Keelaghan was riding a Harley Davidson XL883 motorcycle northbound on Lower Roswell, between Asheforde Drive and Timber Ridge Road, at 5:54 p.m. Friday.
The motorcyclist was making a sharp turn to her left, but failed to maintain her lane and the bike crashed into a concrete curb, Melton said. The motorcycle overturned and Keelaghan was thrown into a guardrail, according to police, who said the incident remains under investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Cobb County Police Department at 770-499-3987.
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Former Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee, who lived in East Cobb and was best known for stadium negotiations to bring the Atlanta Braves to the county, died Sunday after a battle with cancer.
He died early Sunday afternoon at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, according to multiple reports.
Lee, who was 62, had been diagnosed with cancer last year. The MDJ reported that the esophageal cancer had returned, and that there was a dinner in Lee’s honor at the Delta Club at SunTrust Park on Monday that included political and Braves luminaries.
The report said Lee had been hospitalized this week but that he hoped to be released.
Current Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said Sunday that flags at all county government facilities will fly at half-staff this week through Lee’s funeral. Those arrangements have not been announced.
“The county has lost a true leader and statesman who will long be remembered for his accomplishments and love of Cobb County,” Boyce said in a statement issued by the county.
Lee was first elected to the Cobb Board of Commissioners from District 3 in Northeast Cobb in 2002, when Sam Olens left that post to become chairman. In 2010, he stepped down from that post to run for chairman when Olens resigned to campaign for Georgia Attorney General.
Lee won a full four-year term as chairman in 2012, staving off former chairman Bill Byrne in the Republican primary.
It was during the summer and fall of 2014 that Lee became a central figure in the controversial Braves deal.
He announced a partnership with the Braves, contingent upon commission approval of a memorandum of understanding to provide $300 million of public financing.
But commissioners had only two weeks from the time of the announcement before voting, prompting questions about secrecy. The vote to approve the financing passed 4-1, but the Braves deal ultimately led to Lee’s departure from office.
The process over the Braves deal was a leading campaign issue in the 2016 chairman’s race for Boyce, a retired U.S. Marine colonel who lives in East Cobb and who ran for chairman in 2012.
Boyce overcame a lack of name recognition and was outspent, but defeated Lee in the Republican primary.
In 2017, Lee was named executive director of economic development for Habersham County in the North Georgia mountains.
District 2 commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb had plenty of differences with Lee, including the latter’s push for a property tax increase in 2011, during the recession.
On Sunday, Ott said in the Cobb government statement that “Tim guided Cobb County through some difficult economic times.
“His love for our county was seen from his early days as a commissioner and was even more evident when he became chairman. He always wanted the best for Cobb, and it is a true tragedy his life has been cut short.”
Said current District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who succeeded Lee: “He was a great leader and visionary for Cobb County. He always had the county’s best interest at heart and served with his entire being.”
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Charisse Davis was elected in November 2018 to represent Post 6 on the Cobb Board of Education. A Democrat, she narrowly defeated two-term incumbent Republican Scott Sweeney to represent the Walton and Wheeler clusters, as well as a portion of the Campbell cluster, where her two sons attend school.
A former educator in the Atlanta and Fulton County public schools and currently a youth services librarian in the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library System, Davis was sworn in in January.
On Tuesday, Oct. 1, she’s holding a town hall meeting in the cafeteria of Sope Creek Elementary School (3320 Paper Mill Road) from 7-8 p.m.
In her first few months on the board, Davis has suggested, along with Jaha Howard, another first-year Democratic board member, that the district should explore the possibility of making some changes to the Cobb schools senior property tax exemption.
Cobb is the only school district in metro Atlanta whose senior tax exemption comes without any conditions, such as an income threshold.
Davis and Howard also have called for the district to create a cabinet-level position for equity and diversity in the wake of calls by some parents and school staff in the county for Cobb schools to address what they claim are unaddressed and systemic racial biases.
Both of those topics have caused friction on the school board, whose 6-1 Republican majority before Davis’ and Howard’s election was reduced to 4-3.
East Cobb News met with Davis before the school year began to discuss her first few months on the board.
There’s been a learning process that naturally comes with being a newcomer, but most of Post 6 is East Cobb. Davis said her 15-year teaching experience working in very different schools in Atlanta—one a Title I elementary school and another a high-achieving school in Buckhead with an international baccalaureate program—has been helpful as she’s gotten started.
“Just sitting with people, in the beginning it’s all about listening,” she said. “It’s parent to parent, there’s nothing that you can’t discuss in a constructive way. There’s no challenge that anyone in East Cobb is talking about that I can’t understand.”
More than anything, Davis said, “I want them to know there’s someone who’s easy for them to get to.”
Charisse Davis, at right, takes the oath of office with her husband Sean and sons and fellow board members Jaha Howard and David Chastain in January. (ECN photo)
Among the early school year events she’s attended include a gathering of principals and school leadership with the East Cobb County Council of PTAs.
She said what she’s learned from parents everywhere, regardless of a school’s academic reputation or a family’s socioeconomic status, is that they want the same things for their children.
“They’ll say, ‘I don’t want to have my kid in a good school in a district that’s so-so,'” she said. “They want all our schools to be great. We’re all connected. We all benefit from having a strong district.
“What I find is a lot of parents bring up that they want everyone in the district to be doing well. To talk about these issues should never be about pitting some people against others.”
She said one of the most pleasant surprises to her is “seeing how much can be done at the school level” and that a big part of her role as a school board member is facilitating connections between parents and the larger school community, as well as school staff and teachers.
“You hear from families whose experiences are unlike your own,” Davis said. “My job is to help them and connect them, sometimes it’s with people, and sometimes it’s with information.”
Davis said she thinks last year’s election results in Cobb, which included Democrats making other inroads in the county (including Lucy McBath winning the 6th Congressional District) have sparked some broader conversations about local governance, as Cobb political and cultural demographics continue to change.
The Cobb school district enrollment of nearly 112,000 for the current 2019-20 year is 37 percent white, 30 percent black, 22 percent Hispanic, six percent Asian and four percent multi-racial.
“It’s encouraging to see so many more people being engaged,” Davis said. “It’s not just for a presidential election. People are waking up to the fact that these things have been happening, and that there are so many elections that are happening right down the street.”
Touching the senior third rail
At her first meeting in January, Davis was nominated to be the board’s vice chairwoman in what turned out to a series of party-line votes. That vote failed, as Republicans David Chastain (of Post 4 in northeast Cobb) and Brad Wheeler were chosen to be the board’s officers.
“On a seven-member board, we are three votes, Democrats, people of color, younger,” Davis said. “We have a nice little balance that is getting more representative of the county. It would show the great strength of our board to acknowledge that.”
She and Howard, a pediatric dentist who represents the Campbell and Osborne clusters, have spoken together about some issues that have ruffled feathers.
The senior tax exemption, enacted in Cobb by the Georgia legislature in 1973, comes to more than $100 million a year. Davis mapped out the disparities on her own website, illustrating senior tax exemption qualifiers in other metro Atlanta school districts.
At a school board retreat earlier this year, Davis asked that the district study the impact of possible changes to the exemption. She cited a recent change in the senior exemption for Forsyth County schools, where “they had households with kids registered in schools, but were taking the exemption.”
That exemption, in a heavily Republican county, amounted to around a half-million dollars a year. That may seem like small change in Cobb, Georgia’s second-largest school district (behind Gwinnett) and a $1.1 billion budget. The Republican majority on the Cobb board voted down her request for a study to see what such a change might mean in Cobb.
At an East Cobb business breakfast meeting in April, Chastain said adamantly that “we’re not taking away the senior exemption.”
“No one called for getting rid of it. People start with that, and then they’re not listening to anything else,” Davis said. “That’s been frustrating because people have gotten upset, but I don’t think we should get rid of it.”
Davis added that right now, “we don’t have any qualifiers [for exemptions]. Let’s think into the future, let’s plan for the future, because that $100-plus million dollars that we have now, it’s only going to grow.”
“We’re not going to agree all the time, and that’s okay,” Charise Davis said about Cobb school board deliberations. “That’s always been my point. Let’s have the discussion.” (ECN file photo)
Charges of bigotry
In late August, Davis appeared at a Cobb Donuts for Democrats event at which she explained school funding, board procedures and other issues with a Powerpoint presentation.
After showing a slide of a group shot of the board, someone asked if the four Republicans were older white males. Davis said that they were. The Marietta Daily Journal made note in its “Around Town” political column, including a fiery e-mail from Republican State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart of West Cobb, who accused Davis of being “the most bigoted board member ever to sit on the Cobb Board of Education.”
In a response on her Facebook page, Davis explained that she was simply pointing out factual information about the board’s makeup, not making a comment about it.
“I understand that our political environment is highly charged, and it may feel good to attack a school board member for a perceived slight,” she said. “But I know I’m here for kids and I welcome you to engage with me about your ideas on how to support the students of Cobb County.”
She also included a photo of her with her husband Sean, who is white.
The proposal came about for what Chastain said had become overly political comments, sometimes not even about school matters.
At the August board meeting, Howard mentioned President Trump and state and local elected officials whom he accused of not being ethical, as well as immigration raids, the Sterigenics lab closure and gun violence.
That the vote to ban comments was taken during the work session and not a business meeting was unusual, and it sparked cries from Howard—the likely target of the ban—and Davis that they were being silenced, including about some school issues.
“When a couple of us get here and bring up words like ‘equity,’ we’re censoring,” Davis said at the Sept. 19 meeting. “You want to censor members on the board agenda. That’s not okay.”
After several failed amendments by Howard and David Morgan of South Cobb, also a Democrat, the board voted 4-3 along party lines, with the four Republicans in the majority, to impose the comments ban.
‘Let’s have the discussion’
Davis has said from the time of her campaign last year that while test scores in Cobb continue to rise (especially in East Cobb), she wants to address the lingering question of “are we meeting the needs of all our students?”
She said she was encouraged that parents have come to her “after seeing something mentioned on social media and I welcome those conversations that because conversations happen on social media.
“But it would be a shame,” she added, if parents “don’t think they can come” and have offline, one-on-one discussions.
She also commended Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, “who has always been very open about having our questions answered,” and as she has learned more about how Cobb’s largest employer operates (with a work force of more than 18,000), her appreciation for what they do also has grown.
“We’ve got some great, talented people working for this district,” she said.
After a few months on the board, Davis said she’s encouraged that some dialogue she’s felt is long overdue beginning to take place.
“We’re not going to agree all the time, and that’s okay,” Davis said. “That’s always been my point. Let’s have the discussion.”
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If you travel on East Piedmont Road between Roswell Road and Allgood Road, be advised that overnight repaving is underway and will continue into the fall.
Repaving vehicles are parked along the road by the East Cobb YMCA along a stretch of East Piedmont where the top coat has been removed, so it’s slow and rough going there for vehicles in southbound lanes.
The repaving work, which began earlier this month, takes place Sundays-Fridays from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. and one lane of traffic will remain open. The estimated time for the end of the project is late November, according to Cobb DOT.
Other ongoing resurfacing and road construction work in East Cobb includes the following:
McPherson Road from Post Oak Tritt Road to Shallowford Road, with lane closures in effect Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through the end of October;
Kemp Road from Jamerson Road to Trickum Road, lane closures M-F 9-4 through the end of November;
Sidewalk additions on the west side of Chimney Lakes Drive from Revere Circle to Bishop Lake, lane closures M-F 9-4 through mid-November;
Roundabout construction at Hembree Road and Post Oak Tritt Road, lane closures M-F 9-4 through the end of March 2020 (ECN coverage here);
Construction work on Sandy Plains Road between Piedmont Road and Kinjac Road, lane closures M-F 9-4 through the end of December (ECN coverage here);
Construction work on Sandy Plains Road between Kinjac Road and Ebenezer Road, lane closures Sat-Fri 6a-3p and Mon-Sun 7p-5a through the end of December;
Construction work at Blackwell Road and Autumn Ridge Parkway, lane closures M-F 9-4 through May 2020;
Construction work at Canton Road and Liberty Hill Road, lane closures M-F 9-4 through Jan. 2020.
For more information and detailed maps of those projects, and to check other ongoing construction and lane closures, visit Cobb Commute.
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For the fourth year, local and small businesses in East Cobb will gather to network and tell their stories to the public at the East Cobb Business Association Expo.
The expo takes place Tuesday, Oct. 1, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Olde Towne Athletic Club (4950 Olde Towne Parkway), and the event is open to the public.
In addition to learning about businesses in the area, guests can enjoy free food and beverages, door prizes, drawings, giveaways and more.
Bring plenty of business cards for networking and make sure to register (sign up at this link). At the door, admission is $1 with advance registration and $2 without advance registration. Admission proceeds go to the East Cobb Public Safety Appreciation dinner sponsored by the ECBA.
Each admission ticket comes with a raffle ticket for each of the grand prize drawings.
ECBA membership for the year 2020 is underway, along with year-end membership specials. Visit the ECBA website for information.
East Cobb News is a proud ECBA member and will be at the Expo, too, just as we were in 2018. Please make sure to stop by our table to say hello and learn more about East Cobb’s only daily all-local news source.
We’re grateful to serve East Cobb by providing local news and information and be part of an organization that supports and strengthens our community with a growing network of local businesses and entrepreneurs who really care about what happens here.
Come find out what we’re all about at the ECBA Expo!
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Tritt and Sope Creek elementary schools in East Cobb were named 2019 National Blue Ribbon Schools Thursday by the U.S. Department of Education.
The honor is awarded to public and private schools around the country “based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.”
There were 312 public schools and 50 private schools to make the list in 2019.
Tritt and Sope Creek were the only two schools from the Cobb County School District to earn the distinction this year. Tritt previously was named a Blue Ribbon School in 2013 and Sope Creek in 1988.
Since 1982 the Blue Ribbon awards have been given out to more than 9,000 schools. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Education notes:
“The National Blue Ribbon School award affirms the hard work of students, educators, families, and communities in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging content. The National Blue Ribbon School flag gracing an entry or flying overhead is a widely recognized symbol of exemplary teaching and learning.”
Tritt and Sope Creek have been among the highest-performing elementary schools in Cobb, according to most recent testing results. In last year’s College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) scores, Sope Creek’s overall score of 92.2 was third in the county, while Tritt students rated at 84.7, or seventh (previous ECN story here).
The CCRPI is a state accountability measure that gauges overall achievement results and how schools are preparing students for the next level of education. The 2019 CCRPI scores will be released next month.
Tritt also rated in the Top 10 in the Cobb school district on the most recent Georgia Milestones assessment where 97 percent of students scored levels 2-4.
They’re the latest East Cobb public schools to be added to the list of Blue Ribbon Schools. Dickerson and Dodgen middle schools were the last, in 2017.
The Cobb County School District said in a release that at Sope Creek:
” . . . teachers and staff use the Professional Learning Community (PLC) process to ensure that every student reaches their highest potential. Sope Creek students are some of the highest performing in Georgia partially because of the supporting partnership with parents and the community.”
“Tritt partners with local businesses for volunteer support, funding for special events, and STEAM partnerships. Each grade level works to build a partnership with a local business to solve a problem that connects to their grade level science standards. This becomes the year-long STEAM focus.”
Tritt and Sope Creek also were honored as “Exemplary High Performing Schools,” which goes to schools that “are among their state’s highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests.”
Both schools have STEM programs, and Tritt is undertaking measures to expand its STEM certification to include the arts, called STEAM, which only one other Cobb elementary school has earned (as well as Wheeler High School).
Here’s a longer roster of all the Blue Ribbon School winners from East Cobb:
2016: Mt. Bethel Elementary School;
2013: Tritt Elementary School;
2011: Timber Ridge Elementary School;
2009: Hightower Trail Middle School;
2008: Mabry Middle School;
2007: Walton High School;
2003: Dickerson Middle School;
2001: Shallowford Falls Elementary School;
2000: Lassiter High School;
1996: Sprayberry High School;
1994: Eastvalley Elementary School;
1992: McCleskey Middle School;
1990: East Cobb Middle School;
1988: Murdock Elementary School; Sope Creek Elementary School;
1986: Mt. Bethel Elementary School;
1984: Walton High School.
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Cobb commissioners Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell and County Manager Rob Hosack at a June 2018 budget retreat at the Cobb Civic Center. (ECN photo)
What was initially scheduled as three-day retreat for the Cobb Board of Commissioners in the north Georgia mountains next week instead will take place in Marietta.
Cobb government issued a statement early Thursday afternoon that the retreat will take place next Thursday-Saturday, at the Cobb Senior Wellness Center, 1195 Powder Springs Street, with each session starting at 9 a.m.
The change in venue was chalked up to an unspecified “series of schedule conflicts,” according to the Cobb statement.
Commissioners hold retreats annually to discuss funding, budgeting and other priorities. But they’re usually scheduled in the county, such as the Cobb Civic Center and the Threadmill Complex in Austell.
This retreat had been slated for Blairsville, nearly 100 miles away, from Thursday to Saturday.
The agenda, according to county spokesman Ross Cavitt, remains the same: A discussion of “SPLOST issues, 2020 priorities, and other long-term board initiatives.”
The retreat is open to the public.
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Cobb commissioners this week approved grant applications for federal grant funding to study areas of major traffic congestion across the county, including the busy Roswell-Johnson Ferry intersection in East Cobb.
The resolutions, passed at Tuesday’s commissioners meeting, formalize Transportation Improvement Program applications to be submitted to the Atlanta Regional Commission.
What would be called the Roswell Road and Johnson Ferry Intersection Improvement Study would cost $500,000, with $400,000 coming from federal sources under the Surface Transportation Block Grant program. Another $100,000 in local match funding would be provided in the 2016 Cobb SPLOST Transportation Improvement Program, according to Tuesday’s agenda item.
The study would provide a concept design for “a congestion relief and mobility improvement planning project” that’s in the Cobb Comprehensive Transportation Plan 2040 Update:
“The purpose of this project is to conduct a transportation study to assess existing conditions at the intersection of Roswell Road and Johnson Ferry Road for design of a congestion mitigation strategy to reduce vehicular travel delay. The study will include cost effective alternatives to identified capacity improvements and grade separation options.”
The Noonday Creek Trail Head at Bells Ferry Road (ECN photo).
Another grant application for the East Cobb area includes a possible extension of the Noonday Creek Trail, from the current termination of the trail on Bells Ferry Road northbound to Shallowford Road (see map at right, below).
The grant request is for $320,000 in federal funding, with an $80,000 local match, also earmarked in the Cobb 2016 SPLOST.
Cobb DOT map
Concept design of the proposed Noonday Creek Trail Extension project would include assessing a possible greenway trail along Noonday Creek that would expand pedestrian/bike trails and connect to the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.
Funding for the studies is not guaranteed, and “will be competitively selected” by the ARC for the FY 2020-24 periods and are based on “predetermined evaluation,” according to Tuesday’s agenda item.
If TIP funding is approved by the ARC, Cobb commissioners would have to approve proceeding with the studies.
Any funding for projects constructed following those studies would be provided in the future.
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After a two-week delay, the Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 3-1 Tuesday to appoint an economist to the county’s development authority whose nomination had drawn opposition.
J.C. Bradbury of Kennesaw State University has been a critic of how Cobb financed SunTrust Park and has been skeptical of economic benefit claims since the Atlanta Braves stadium opened in 2017.
He had been selected by new commissioner Keli Gambrill of North Cobb on Sept. 10, but chairman Mike Boyce asked for the delay when he said he had learned two commissioners opposed the choice (previous ECN story here).
Boyce didn’t name the commissioners, but the only vote against Bradbury Tuesday was JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb. Bob Ott, also of East Cobb, was absent from the meeting and did not vote.
Previously, the other commissioner, Lisa Cupid of South Cobb, said she supported Bradbury, and reaffirmed that before the vote.
Birrell did not publicly explain why she voted against Bradbury, saying only that she expressed her concerns privately to Gambrill.
Boyce said after meeting with Bradbury and speaking again with him by phone that Bradbury is “qualified in every respect” and also that he is “now he is a public figure.”
Boyce referenced Tweets Bradbury had posted, and without citing a topic, said that “if you’re going to be on this board we have to be circumspect in our comments. Somebody may want to use it against him.
“[Bradbury] assured me he could make impartial decisions,” Boyce said.
The Development Authority consists of seven individuals appointed by county commissioners who consider economic development incentives, including tax abatements.
That an appointment was put to a vote is unusual, and so were public comments before the vote in support of Bradbury.
They included East Cobb resident Larry Savage, a former chairman candidate who unsuccessfully challenged the Development Authority’s tax abatements for a Kroger superstore that’s part of the MarketPlace Terrell Mill project.
Also speaking for Bradbury was Caroline Holko, who ran against Birrell last year, and Lance Lamberton of the Cobb Taxpayers Association.
He said Bradbury “speaks truth to power” and a board like the development authority needs to have members with an array of perspectives.
Boyce told Lamberton that “you stole my thunder.”
On Wednesday morning, Bradbury Tweeted that “I can confirm that I have been confirmed,” and apologized to his followers for a head shot of him that accompanied a media story he included in his message.
“Sorry to shove my giant melon in your face.”
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The following East Cobb food scores from Sept. 16-26 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing to view details of the inspection:
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Wheeler High School had the biggest jump in the Cobb County School District in 2019 SAT scores. (ECN photo)
The Cobb County School District released 2019 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores on Tuesday, and four East Cobb high schools lead the way.
Walton (1,288), Pope (1,220) and Lassiter (1,212) had average classwide scores exceeding 1,200, while Wheeler (1,196) came close.
Wheeler’s jump of 49 points was the highest of the 16 high schools in the Cobb County School District.
“Wheeler continues to focus on providing the best overall learning experience for ALL students,” Wheeler Principal Paul Gillihan said in a statement issued by the school district.
“We strongly believe that SAT scores do not define our students nor our school but only provide evidence of the work that is being done daily to prepare our students for college and careers.”
Walton’s score is up 20 points from 2018. Full district scores and details can be found here.
The SAT is administered by the College Board, and tests students in two cluster subject areas: Math and ERW (Evidence-Based Reading and Writing). The score grading is from 400 to 1,600.
The Cobb district-wide average was 1,114, a seven-point gain from 2018 and 66 points above the state of Georgia average. Nearly 5,600 Cobb students took the SAT.
What follows below are the six East Cobb high school scores, as well as the Cobb, Georgia and national results.
# Test Takers
ERW Mean
Math Mean
2019 Overall Mean
2018 Overall Mean
Kell
256
541
531
1,072
1,059
Lassiter
447
606
605
1,212
1,204
Pope
360
615
605
1,220
1,203
Sprayberry
281
539
505
1,044
1,049
Walton
563
640
649
1,288
1,262
Wheeler
333
597
598
1,196
1,147
Cobb
5,596
565
549
1,114
1,107
Georgia
533
515
1,048
1,064
National
524
515
1,039
1,068
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On Tuesday morning Joe Glancy of the Sprayberry Crossing Action group said the proposed redevelopment plans for the blighted retail center are expected to have what he termed “substantial changes.”
He said he spoke Monday with Richard Aaronson of Atlantic Residential, and “although I have agreed to not share what I strongly believe may be changing, what I will share is that the change to the plan will be significant, and I believe most of the surrounding community will enthusiastically support the change (if it in fact happens).”
Since Atlantic Residential unveiled details of its mixed-use proposal on Sept. 13, some residents have expressed opposition in particular to a 195-unit apartment building. Others were concerned about the fate of the Mayes Family Cemetery, located in the back of the 15-acre property on Sandy Plains Road near East Piedmont Road, and that could be slated for relocation.
According to the site plan (above) released by Atlantic Residential, 62 townhomes would go up in and near the current cemetery site.
Glancy said Aaronson “made it clear that they want to be sensitive to the concerns of those who have family members buried in the cemetery—and that they have no intention of forcing a cemetery move against the wishes of the community. They care about the reputation of their firm, and are not interested in fighting with a large contingent of angry community members. They want dialogue—they want to communicate their plans with regard to the cemetery – and they want to LISTEN to the concerns of those who object. They have already begun to have those talks with individuals connected to the cemetery.”
Glancy and Shane Spink, another leader of the Sprayberry Crossing Action group, had said they’d like to schedule a town hall with the developer, possibly in October. But today Glancy said due to the site plan changes and the cemetery issue, “I don’t think it makes sense to force a community meeting when there is so much up in the air.”
East Cobb News has been hearing from opponents to the apartments since the original site plan was released. In addition to concerns about putting so many rental units near single-family neighborhoods, they said such a development would add to traffic woes and school crowding in the area.
Some also said their concerns were being ignored by Glancy’s group and that in some cases their Facebook postings were being taken down.
Craig Blafer of the nearby Harper Woods subdivision said the Atlantic Residential proposal would create density of 26.5 units an acre, which he claimed is one of the highest figures in the county, and that the plans would change precedent in the area.
“While I laud the efforts of the guys who got us this far, communications have turned into a one-sided sales brochure,” Blafer said. “The community opposition to this project is overwhelming. Nobody wants apartments and nobody wants density.”
Glancy said in response that Blafer’s density claim “is not even close” to being accurate. He also said “that I have heard from many varying opinions from so many members of our community. There is not overwhelming opposition to apartments.”
Glancy also disputed charges that commenters opposed to apartments have had their comments taken down. The Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook group, Glancy said, “has hundreds of comments from the anti apartment folks.”
The only messages that have been deleted, he said, involved personal attacks or commenters starting new threads.
Glancy said while he understands that “the concern about apartments at that property is reasonable . . . the factors that the community should be considering are nuanced and require careful, informed and respectful discussion.”
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6:30-8 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 29
Mt. Zion Methodist Church, 1770 Johnson Ferry Road, Marietta
As for everyday crime prevention tips, at home and when you’re out and about, Cobb Police have been sending out the following information recently:
• Never advertise you are leaving town: Don’t broadcast that you and your family will be away. Wait until after your trip to share updates and photos on social media. Remind your children not to Facebook, blog, or tweet your family’s absence from home. • Create the illusion of occupancy: While away cancel delivery of mail and newspaper or arrange for a neighbor to pick them up. • Lights: Put inside and outside lights on a timer to establish a look of occupancy. Adding a timer on your TV so it’s on when you’d normally be watching TV is also a good idea. • Lock all windows and doors: Keep valuables away from windows, lower blinds, and close curtains so passers-by can’t view these items. Remember, a significant amount of crime can be deterred if home owners do not create easy opportunities for the criminal element. • Garage: Keep your car locked and the windows up even if its parked in the garage and take your keys with you. If your house is broken into, there is no need to provide the thief with a car. You may also want to unplug your garage door opener and lock the garage door while out of town. • Trust a Neighbor: Make sure a dependable neighbor watches your house, has a house key, and has your cell number in case of any home emergency. Also make sure your neighbor has a way to shut off any alarms. • Utilities: It’s always a good idea to turn back the temperature of your water heater and shut off the water to your washing machine (washing machine hose breaks are at the top of the list when it comes to home damage costs).
And for preventing specific types of crimes:
Burglary Prevention
Lock your doors, including the one from the garage
Keep garage doors closed-check before bed every night
Motion sensor activated lighting
Surveillance cameras
Entering Auto Prevention
Lock your vehicles and remove items of value and items that appear to contain valuables.
If you can’t keep them with you, secure your valuables in the trunk before reaching your location.
Keep your vehicle locked and your purse or wallet on your person while fueling at the gas station.
Postal Theft
Anti-Theft mailboxes with a special locking system
Security Cameras
Do not raise the mail flag
Do not send cash, checks, or anything that has credit card information
Remember to CALL 911 to report any suspicious persons or activity. If you see something, say something!
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Precinct 4 officers honored at the East Cobb Business Association’s Public Safety Appreciation Dinner.
The fourth annual East Cobb public safety dinner is set to take place in early November, and organizers are seeking donations from the public.
The dinner treats Cobb Police Precinct 4 officers, staff and their spouses to a night out, with dinner, gift certificates, door prizes and entertainment.
Susan Hampton of East Cobb, one of the event’s organizers, said the dinner “has become a big deal” in the local law enforcement community, with around 97 percent participation.
The East Cobb Business Association has been behind the dinner since its inception, and Hampton continues to lead the effort as a member of the new Cobb County Public Safety Foundation.
The ECBA organizes a similar dinner for the full Cobb Fire and Emergency Services department in the spring.
Hampton said door prizes, which are donated by local businesses, are especially popular. The suggested individual donations are $25, $50 and $100 in the “Thank A Hero” category. The donor’s name is listed on the event program.
Sponsorship levels are $250, $500, $1,000 and $2,500. According to the donation form:
“We are blessed to live, work and raise our families in this wonderful community. We appreciate the continued support of our co-host organizations, the East Cobb Business Association, the Cobb Chamber’s East Cobb Area Council and the Cobb County Public Safety Foundation. These organizations are represented on the event committee, which also includes individuals from East Cobb civic clubs, representatives from the police and fire departments and past East Cobb Citizen of the Year recipients.”
For information and to donate visit the ECBA website, or the Cobb County Public Safety Foundation website.
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Two Powers Ferry Road redevelopment projects that are considered major efforts to revitalize that corridor are starting to take initial shape. Over the weekend we swung by both to capture the work in progress.
Above is the parking deck for a apartment building at MarketPlace Terrell Mill, fronting Powers Ferry, where a low-slung office park once stood. When its complete, the nearly 300-unit apartment building will wrap around the deck, which won’t be visible like it is now.
Along Terrell Mill Road, the only other structure going up for now is a self-storage building, next to the Salem Ridge condominiums.
The $120 million MarketPlace Terrell Mill project, being built by Eden Rock Real Estate Partners, will include a Kroger superstore, restaurants and other shops and retail space. Here’s the promotional brochure and a rendering Eden Rock is sending out to prospective tenants; none other than Kroger have been announced thus far.
Eden Rock partner Brandon Ashkouti told the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance this spring that the timetable for completion of MarketPlace Terrell Mill is around 24 months.
Kroger, which will build on the site of the former Brumby Elementary School as the last phase of the MarketPlace Terrell Mill development, qualified for the abatements since the land was on the county’s redevelopment list.
The dental office that’s gone up at the corner of Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill is not part of the MarketPlace project.
Down the road on Powers Ferry, what has been called Restaurant Row is no more. Clearing and grading crews have flattened five free-standing buildings that housed restaurants, with only the Rose and Crown still in business.
Above is where the Rose and Crown once stood. It’s slated to be part of a new mixed-use development by Greystar Development Group, an Atlanta apartment developer, that includes a 280-unit apartment building (Elan at Powers Ferry), and a 170-unit senior living building (Overture at Powers Ferry) and restaurant/retail space.
Rose and Crown closed in July and its owners are running Mojave, a restaurant on Powers Ferry Road in Sandy Springs, until then.
The 8.8-acre tract fronts the entrance to the Wildwood office park. Construction also is expected to last for two years.
A back view facing Powers Ferry and north, at the Windy Hill Road intersection.
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Cobb Fire and Emergency Services staff will host seven basic medical emergency training programs at Cobb County public libraries in late September through October. This free training is designed to help residents be prepared and confident to handle medical emergencies. There will be two segments of about 90 minutes each. The first session, Family and Friends CPR, will cover hands-only CPR, how to occlude severed arteries, using AEDs and basic first aid. The second session, Stop the Bleed, will teach how to save lives in emergencies involving uncontrolled bleeding. Space is limited and registration for the training sessions is required whether you are attending one or both segments.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Submitted information and photos from Sheri Kell, who served as a project advisor:
Girl Scout Elisa Fontanillas is inspiring art and creativity among Georgia’s foster care children through the creation of the Kits for Kids project. Elisa, a senior at Pope High School in Marietta, has spent 8 months organizing the project and collecting donations for her Girl Scout Gold Award.
As a graphic artist and photographer, Elisa chose the project as a reflection of her own creativity. “My goal of these kits is to make sure foster kids are able to create art with their foster families and encourage their individual creative expression,” said Elisa.
After months of collecting paintbrushes, washable paints, paper, canvas, beads, yarn and many other art materials from local drop box locations at retailers and schools, Elisa recently recruited friends and classmates to help her assemble 200 kits. The kits were designed for age groups ranging from three to 12 years of age.
The kits were delivered to the Foster Care Support Foundation, where they will be distributed to the children. East Cobb Marietta Target, Roswell Blick Art Materials and the Roswell Road Kroger also generously donated supplies.
About Kits for Kids:
Kits for Kids is a charity organization set on creating art kits for kids in the foster care system through the Foster Care Support Foundation. We believe that by creating with families and individually, foster kids can express themselves freely through art. The kits were donated to the Roswell, GA-based Foster Care Support Foundation.
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One of the leaders of a committee exploring cityhood in East Cobb said an independent review of a financial feasibility study released this week “confirms” that the resources exist to deliver what the group has long maintained a proposed city can do:
Lower taxes and expand services.
David Birdwell
David Birdwell of the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb told East Cobb News that “there’s a lot more” he needs to absorb about the independent review, but “it confirms to me that a city is financially viable.”
The IFG, made up of five members with finance and legal expertise, said while a Georgia State University study commissioned by the cityhood group (read it here) had some flaws, a tax base exists in East Cobb for most of what the cityhood forces have in mind.
“The advocates for cityhood have always encouraged the residents of East Cobb to dig into the facts and draw their own conclusions,” Birdwell said. “That’s what the Independent Finance Group did.”
“Cityhood would certainly give East Cobb more local control over issues such as zoning, but this study is one more strong argument that cityhood will also bring lower taxes and more police protection.”
The IFG did recommend, however, that a City of East Cobb not start with a police department—every city must provide at least three services—until it would work out a revenue-shifting agreement with Cobb County.
Instead, the financial review group suggested the city provide waste disposal services, a low-cost, revenue-neutral option. The other services proposed by the cityhood group are fire and community development, which includes planning and zoning.
Ultimately, the services a City of East Cobb would provide would be determined by an elected mayor and city council.
Legislation filed by State Rep. Matt Dollar of East Cobb that calls for a referendum and includes a proposed city charter (read it here) must pass next year, or it would go have to go through another two-year legislative period.
Cityhood leaders are eyeing a possible May 2020 referendum, and if that passes, elections in November of next year. A two-year transition period for a new city would also take place.
About not starting with police, Birdwell says while he doesn’t agree or disagree about the IFG’s conclusion, “I get that.” But “as I talk to a lot of people in East Cobb, public safety is very important.”
Birdwell said the IFG’s position is “an intriguing angle,” and appreciates the group’s highly detailed approach to its work.
“We’re inviting anyone in East Cobb to study [the finance review group’s report] and look at the facts,” Birdwell said. “There has been so much emotion over this.”
Birdwell said the cityhood group is tentatively looking at an early October date for a town hall meeting, and another in mid-November.
A newly formed group opposing cityhood is the East Cobb Alliance. Bill Simon, one of the group’s organizers, told East Cobb News he’s just beginning to read through the IFG’s report, and has a few questions.
The report refers to the provision of solid waste services instead of police. “Do they mean for the Proposed City of East Cobb to contract with one provider of household garbage and waste services for all property owners? What if the citizens are happy with the competitive availability of multiple garbage companies now?”
As for a new fire department for a city, Simon asked what can the IFG “guarantee in terms of the ISO classification for a new PCEC Fire Department?”
The report refers new franchise-fee revenue of $6.1 million a year, but the GSU study’s figure is $7.3 million. “Please explain this discrepancy,” Simon said.
(Bill Green of the financial review group told East Cobb News previously that the $6.1 million figure represents new franchise fees only, and that the group does not recommend adding new franchise fees. Currently cable franchise fees totaling $1.2 million a year are collected in East Cobb.)
Simon said that “isn’t it true that nearly every other large city in Georgia is assessing and collecting franchise fees from their tax base? And, if cityhood is granted, then wouldn’t that mean East Cobb residents would be implicitly granting power to a city council and mayor that they become the sole deciders of whether to assess franchise fees any time they wanted in the future?”
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