Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday morning that the Cobb County School District will be starting online-only, instead of with original plans to offer in-person classes and remote options.
At the start of the Cobb Board of Education work session, Ragsdale said that “this decision has been weighing on me for a while” and that his decision to go to online only was done in part because the district “could not provide any more information than the people asking the questions.”
The school year will still start on Aug. 17, and teachers will still report on July 26, Ragsdale said, but current public health data and guidance from the Georgia Department of Education “does not support opening” with classroom instruction possible.
Ragsdale did not say how long online-only learning would last, and that the district could later add classroom learning.
Ragsdale said public health data indicated that Cobb remains in a “high community spread” status for the COVID-19 virus.
“The sooner we can get out of the high spread the sooner we can return to face-to-face,” Ragsdale said in a question related to that subject by school board member Charisse Davis.
“Our teachers are awesome, and they will continue to do an awesome job virtually, but nothing takes the place of in-person instruction from our Cobb County teachers,” he said. “I am not setting a timeline for how long our students will engage in virtual learning. We will continue to monitor the data and work with public health officials so we can open for face-to-face instruction as soon as humanly possible.”
You can watch Ragsdale’s announcement in full below.
Ragsdale said while many on-campus events are not being scheduled, high school athletics is still on for now.
He said parents and teachers have had many questions about reopening plans, both academic and otherwise, and said that the health of students and staff “is our top priority.”
Here’s more from the district about the decision, with more details expected.
Parents had until next Wednesday to choose a classroom or virtual option for their children for the fall semester.
Parent and teacher groups had scheduled a protest later today at the CCSD central office to express concern about the original reopening plans.
Other metro Atlanta school districts have announced online-only starts, including Atlanta. On Thursday, after Ragsdale’s announcement, the superintendents of Marietta and Fulton County schools said they also would be starting virtual-only.
School board Jaha Howard praised the Cobb decision, saying it “was the right thing” to do, and said the district needs to be more transparent in its decision-making process.
Ragsdale said “this is a totally different environment” from the end of the previous school year, which switched to virtual-only after the district closed campuses in mid-March.
He said the district is still soliciting parental surveys to help in its decisions moving forward.
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The Cobb Board of Education is holding its monthly meetings starting Thursday morning, and at least two groups critical of reopening plans are staging a protest later in the day.
A group of parents calling itself School ROCS (Reopen Our Classrooms Safely) has called for a march to start at 5 p.m. Thursday at Larry Bell Park in Marietta, then to proceed to the nearby Cobb County School District central office.
On Wednesday, the Cobb County Association of Educators said it would join in, and asked its members to wear red to “protest the lack of information regarding returning to school and working conditions for employees.”
The school board is holding its work session, executive session and voting meeting in succession in virtual form starting at 10 a.m. Thursday. (Agendas here.)
The board hasn’t met in person or heard public comments since the COVID-19 outbreak shuttered schools in March.
Since announcing its protest, ROCS has blistered Cobb school district officials, primarily in social media forums, for its reopening plan.
The group thinks the district’s plans, which were revised last Friday, are not complete and have left parents, staff and students confused.
The start of the school year has been delayed by two weeks to Aug. 17, but ROCS said it wants a further delay for a “safe, realistic, comprehensive plan” that includes information on how it plans to respond to CDC guidance, contingency plans for what to do when students and staff test positive for the virus and to make masks mandatory.
The district is “expecting” staff and “strongly recommending” students wear masks, but is not requiring them.
ROCS, whose leaders including incoming school board member Tre Hutchins, also wants the district to lay out plans to assist low-income families who may need more digital resources as the school year goes along.
Hutchins was among those speaking this week at a Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting to protest the district’s CARES Act funding request that calls for online content acquisition only, and not funding to aid students already at a disadvantage.
Parents have until Friday to choose a classroom or remote learning option for their students. They will not be allowed to switch options until after the fall semester.
An East Cobb parent who’s been critical of the district on bullying issues has launched an online petition to make masks mandatory in Cobb schools.
Rob Madayag, who briefly was a candidate for the school board seat held by David Banks, said in a social media posting that he’s “still in disbelief that the Cobb County School District would think it’s fine to put an adult teacher in close proximity to 20 or 30 bioweapons factories the entire day without reducing the risk to the teacher by requiring kids wear masks.”
Madayag has long disputed Cobb school district discipline figures. Those will be one of the items to be discussed Thursday at the board’s work session.
The agenda also includes discussion of an anti-racism resolution that was delayed from last month, and another interim spending resolution until the board can finalize a fiscal year 2021 budget.
District officials are expected to present a budget proposal to the board in August. That’s been delayed due to the COVID-related delay in the legislative session, and Thursday’s meeting also calls for what’s called a tentative budget adoption.
Cobb schools gets around half of its $1.1 billion budget from the state, and is anticipating a $62 million shortfall due to state budget cuts.
A virtual budget public forum begins at 9 a.m. Thursday, followed by a virtual tax digest public hearing.
All of Thursday’s meetings can be viewed online here on the Cobb school district’s website, or on Comcast Cable Channel 24.
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Manav Shah, a student at Wheeler High School, sends along the following information and photos about his work with young refugees in Clarkston, and the “Liberated Voices” initiative he started to address issues they face in adapting to American society.
“As Manav interacted with youth at the refugee enclave in Clarkston, Georgia (called the Ellis Island of South), he realized that they faced an uphill battle during the resettlement process in United States. Manav’s further interactions led him to understand the various xenophobic experiences refugees faced on a daily basis resulting in drug abuse and even violence amongst these youth. To help refugee youth cope with these stressful conditions and combat discrimination, Manav started an initiative called “Liberated Voices” that engages youth in critical conversations regarding identity, racism and discrimination. He uses art as a vehicle of communication, because it is independent of language and literacy, and could be the portal into youth’s minds and what they have witnessed. His workshops features artists like Ai WeiWei and Bansky who have ignited social and racial change in local communities by creating ‘protest art’.
Manav Shah
Amina, a participant of these workshops had lived in the United States for more than 5 years, but she was still very anxious to start high school. Amina and her family had left Somalia after the civil war broke out and were forced to live in refugee camps in Kenya. They were amongst the few who got a chance to move to the United States and have been in living in Clarkston, GA for the past few years. She was mocked at and called names like “penguin” as she would wear a hijab at her middle school. She was very worried that she would not fit in her high school.
Amina has been participating in workshops offered by LiberatedVoices and says that these workshops offer a safe environment for her to engage herself in critical conversations regarding identity, racism and discrimination with other refugee youth. She learned about ‘protest art’ and was able to sketch her own experiences with racism and persecution. Amina was able to explore what constitutes “American” identity, and how to be proud of her culture and religion.
Besides Clarkston, Manav has worked with Yazidi refugees in Lincoln, Nebraska and the Rohingya refugees in Chicago, Illinois, empowering about 500 middle-and-high school refugees and minorities. Manav’s honor comes with a $1,000 prize, which he plans to reinvest in his protest art workshops this summer. He has already been able to expand his workshops in Kenya with about 250 children and is in active conversations with refugee communities in Nepal, Belgium and Iraq. His other experience in race relations includes starting a Diversity Club at his school and an internship with Columbia University for research in refugee policies.
“This is what really motivated me – this almost unbreakable cycle of distress peers my age were facing helped me realize that things needed to change,” Manav said. “I’ve learnt so much and been so inspired by my young mentees! One of the biggest things that’s even applicable to my life is that even the smallest changes can make a huge impact. I’ve realized that everyone can change and re-engage in their communities in good ways! That really goes to anyone – especially high school students who want to get involved with improving race relations within their communities. Youth have the power to create any change they want to see if they are passionate. Just go for it!”
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Submitted information and photos about three East Cobb students—two from Pope and another from Wheeler—who took place in the 6th Congressional District Art competition:
Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Marietta) has announced the winners of the 2020 Sixth District Congressional Art Competition. McBath recently hosted a virtual reception and awards ceremony with the participants and their families.
“I was so impressed by the talent and creativity of these high schoolers,” said McBath. “I am so grateful to each and every one of our participants for sharing their gifts with our community. These days, it is so important that we celebrate and uplift artists and the beauty they bring to our lives.”
The winners of the Sixth District 2020 Congressional Art Competition are:
First Place:“Puebloan Memories of the Past and Present” by Connor Johnson (Centennial High School)
Second Place:“Stranger” by Evelyn Armstrong (Pope High School)
Third Place:“This is I” by Elisa Xia (Chattahoochee High School)
The first place winner of the competition will have their work displayed in the Cannon Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol. The second place winner will have their work displayed in Rep. McBath’s Washington, DC office. The third place winner will have their work displayed in Rep. McBath’s Sandy Springs District Office.
In total, twenty students competed in the 2020 Sixth District Congressional Art Competition. High schools represented in the competition included Pope High School, Chamblee Charter High School, Milton High School, SKA Academy of Art and Design, Northview High School, Centennial High School, Chattahoochee High School, Johns Creek High School, Wheeler High School, and Cambridge High School. To view a virtual gallery of all submissions for this year’s competition, pleaseclick here.
Founded in 1962, the Congressional Art Competition celebrates and promotes the arts in high schools across America. Over 650,000 students have participated in this competition since its inception. This is Rep. McBath’s second year hosting the competition for the Sixth District.
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!
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Runoffs will be taking place in several primary elections in Cobb County, next month, including the Cobb Board of Commissioners District 2 Republican race.
The runoff elections are on Aug. 11, and early voting starts next week.
From next Monday, July 20, through Aug. 7, voters can go to the Cobb Elections and Registration Office (736 Whitlock Ave., Marietta) from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and cast their ballots.
Early voting also will take place at additional locations, including the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road), from Aug. 3-7 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
There will be no early voting on Sundays, Saturday, Aug. 8, or Monday, Aug. 10.
On Election Day, Tuesday, Aug. 11, voters must go to their assigned polling locations, open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. You can check your voting status and view a customized sample ballot at the Secretary of State’s My Voter Page.
Cobb Elections officials are saying that lines are expected at all locations, long lines will be expected and that social distancing measures will be followed.
The District 2 commission GOP race is down to East Cobb resident Andy Smith and Vinings resident Fitz Johnson in what was a close three-way race in the July 19 primary.
The winner will face Democrat Jerica Richardson in the November general election.
That’s the only Republican runoff election in Cobb. There’s a Democratic runoff for Cobb Superior Court Clerk between Nancy Syrop and Connie Taylor.
Two non-partisan judicial runoffs also will be taking place. For Superior Court Judge, Jason Marbutt will be facing Greg Shenton. A State Court Judge seat will be decided between Tricia Griffiths and Diana Simmons.
Cobb Elections is seeking poll workers for the runoffs. They must be at least 16 years of age and be U.S. citizens who can read, write and speak English. They also must be Cobb residents with no prior felony convictions for at least 10 years.
All new workers will be trained and will be paid. An online application can be found here.
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!
The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday voted to approve an $8.1 million request from the Cobb County School District for resources to bolster online learning, but not after another testy discussion for the second day in a row.
By a 3-2 vote, commissioners signed off on funds from the federal CARES Act so the district can purchase content to add to its Cobb Teaching and Learning online portal that could accommodate the full 113,000-student enrollment for remote instruction if necessary.
The county received $132 million from the federal government to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, and commissioners have spent $50 million for small business grants, as well as funding for non-profits for emergency food supplies and to help tenants work with landlords to pay back rent and avoid eviction.
Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the majority of the funding the district was seeking would be spent on content from a variety of sources. In March Cobb schools switched entirely to remote learning, but Ragsdale has said the district needs a “more robust” portfolio of digital materials should classes go 100 percent online.
The Cobb school district has pushed back the start of classes to Aug. 17 to prepare for in-person and online options that parents are choosing this week.
Three other metro Atlanta school districts have said they are holding fall semester classes online only.
Ragsdale told commissioners another superintendent asked him if Cobb would be going to online-only, and he said that “it’s a rumor, but no decision has been made.”
After Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce and Commissioner Lisa Cupid clashed at a Monday work session to hear the district’s proposal, Cupid blistered Ragsdale when she asked whether he had run the request by the Cobb school board.
Ragsdale said that the CTLS project has been in development for several years, and that he had discussed the CARES Act request at school board’s June meeting.
At that point, she interrupted him, saying she’s heard from multiple school board members who’ve said they’ve never been presented with the funding request.
Cupid also said teachers have been e-mailing her about the matter.
“I cannot support anything that my peers on the BOE have not authorized,” said Cupid, of South Cobb, who is facing Boyce in the November election for chairman.
She told Ragsdale that due to the way he presented the funding request, “my intelligence is being undermined.”
Cupid didn’t identify the board members, but she continued expressing concerns from Monday about students lacking access to technology, and implored him to “not let these students fall further behind.”
Several citizens spoke during the commissioners’ public comment session Tuesday in opposition to the district requesting CARES Act funds only for technology. Some identified themselves as Cobb school teachers and a former Cobb school counselor, and said that students in need still need laptops, and teacher and staff need personal protective equipment.
They said they were coming to commissioners because the school board has not heard public comments since going to virtual meetings in March.
The speakers included incoming school board member Tre Hutchins, who also wants the district to regularly provide students with masks, which aren’t in the reopening plans. Staff will be provided masks, although neither they nor students are required to wear them.
Cupid and Keli Gambrill voted against the school district’s funding request; commissioners Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb supported it, as did Boyce.
Boyce said before the vote that Ragsdale’s request federal guidelines for CARES Act distribution.
While he said that “I acknowledge all the issues” commissioners heard, “the real issue” is that the district is facing a $62 million budget deficit.
While CARES Act funding can’t replace all of that, Boyce said the “request reflects the sentiment” of the superintendent and the school board.
Commissioners are delaying a CARES Act request from Marietta City Schools until July 28.
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The final group of National Merit Scholarship recipients this year include three Walton High School seniors who will be receiving aid from their chosen universities.
They are Daniel Catanese (music) and Guy Kemelmakher (mechanical engineering), who will be attending the University of Georgia, and Erik Pitts (business), who is headed to Texas A & M University.
These scholarships range from between $500 and $2,000 each. Recipients were chosen after submitting an application that included an essay describing leadership positions and contributions in school and community activities, as well as their academic and being endorsed and recommended by a high school official.
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For a larger view, click here. Source: Cobb Finance Office
The proposed fiscal year 2021 Cobb government general fund budget revealed Monday is $1.8 million less than the current budget and does not include pay raises for county employees.
During a Cobb Board of Commissioners work session, assistant county finance director Buddy Tesar outlined the proposals that include no new positions, continuing a restricted hiring process and that call for steep reductions in capital expenses.
The $473 million budget proposal holds the line on the current general fund property tax rate of 8.66 mills and assumes a flat tax digest after increases of more than three percent in each of the last two years.
The overall Cobb government budget—which includes separate funds for fire and emergency services, debt service, capital expenses, the hotel-motel tax and other categories—is proposed to be $732.897 million, slightly less than the current $732.998 million.
The first public hearing on the proposed budget will take place at the commissioners’ regular meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
The meeting takes place in the second-floor board room of the Cobb government office building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta. You also can watch here or here or on the county’s public access outlet, Channel 23 on Comcast.
For a larger view, click here. Source: Cobb Financial Office
Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce has been saying since the COVID-19 outbreak that he would not be proposing merit raises but he wants to continue the county’s STEP salary and grade program for public safety employees initiated last year.
The general fund is funded with property tax revenues, and revenue from them in the the FY 2021 general fund budget is projected to be $306 million, up from the current $302 million.
That reflects a small bump in the tax digest, although the millage rate will not be going up. Under state law, that counts as a tax increase, and commissioners are required to hold three public hearings.
Other hearings will take place on July 21 and on July 28, when commissioners are scheduled to adopt the budget.
Personnel costs in the proposed budget would rise from $296.4 million to $316.6 million.
Contingency spending also would go down sharply, from $18 million currently to only $3 million in fiscal year 2021.
Around $12.7 million of that contingency was spent on a four-percent merit increase for county employees, and an additional seven-percent for public safety employees, as commissioners addressed staffing and retention concerns for police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies.
In addition, the economic fallout from COVID-19 closures has produced a steep drop in hotel-motel tax revenues that help the county pay off bond debt for Truist Park.
The proposed hotel-motel tax revenues are $9.9 million, down from the current $17.5 million.
The total proposed for bond stadium debt service is the same as the fiscal year 2020 total of $22.4 million, and would include transfers from other capital service funds. No transfer funding from the hotel-motel tax is included in the budget proposal.
An additional $732,000 in property tax revenues also would be shifted into the stadium debt service fund.
Other revenue losses factored into the budget proposal include cuts of $1.7 million in fines and forfeiture, due to a curtailed court calendar since the virus, as well as a $910,000 loss in licensing and permitting revenue.
The additional personnel costs include increases in pension and health-care costs.
For a larger view, click here. Source: Cobb Finance Office
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Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale says the district needs to complete a “more robust” online learning portal.
A presentation by the Cobb County School District for emergency funding resulted in a bit of a clash between county commissioners Monday.
The Cobb and Marietta superintendents are seeking CARES Act funding from the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which is overseeing distribution of $132 million for responses to COVID-19.
Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale is seeking $8.1 million for the CCSD to complete development of its Cobb Teaching and Learning System, an online resource that became more heavily utilized than usual when district schools closed to in-person learning in March.
Ragsdale told commissioners that the final phase of the portal, called CTLS Learn, has been in progress but needs to become “a more robust” resource should schools have to close again.
He said the district has redirected existing funding for that effort, “but we’re going to run out of funding” to have CTLS Learn ready by the time classes begin on Aug. 17.
“We have to be prepared with 113,000 students and 8,000 teachers to be online with CTLS without missing a beat,” Ragsdale said.
The district is offering both classroom and remote learning options for students, whose parents have all this week to choose that environment.
The CARES Act funding, Ragsdale said, would enable the district to purchase and develop enough online curriculum materials to accommodate full-fledged distance learning.
CTLS currently has around 700,000 resources, he said, and the additional elements would be purchased from vendors, obtained from open sources and developed in-house.
Ragsdale also said that unlike the end of the last school year, when students’ grades as of March 13 were allowed to stand, there will be academic accountability.
Commissioner Lisa Cupid, who represents South Cobb, said she was disappointed the district’s proposal didn’t include technology assets—computers and internet access—for students in need.
Ragsdale said that wasn’t part of his proposal, and based on unused Chrome Books that were given out this summer to students in need, he was confident the district could provide them.
She also asked if the district would be providing masks to students, since they’re not going to be required, and Ragsdale said that each student would be given one mask. Masks also will be available for teachers and staff, who are “expected” to wear them.
At that point, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce cut off Cupid, saying her questions were off-topic, telling her “I’m running this meeting.”
She protested, saying all aspects of the district’s preparations for the start of school were germane.
(Boyce and Cupid will be squaring off in the November general election in the chairman’s race).
Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb told Ragsdale that “all this could have been avoided” if the district had requested funding to pay employees and for personal protective equipment (PPE).
“If you had done that, there would have been no questions from the board,” Ott said. “I’d rather see a request for PPE than for a learning system.”
Ragsdale said he was asking the county for online learning funding since that’s “a finite amount of money, “whereas PPE funding “is a flexible amount.”
The Cobb school district received $16 million in CARES Act funding from the Georgia Department of Education, and Ragsdale told commissioners that’s being used to pay for employees providing student meals during the summer, and to help offset an anticipated $62 million budget deficit.
When asked by Commissioner Keli Gambrill of North Cobb if the CTLS Learn could be completed by Aug. 17, Ragsdale said it could.
Marietta City Schools are asking for $2.9 million in CARES Act funding from the county, to be used for social distancing and safety measures that include classroom partitions and required masks, and for staffing to provide daily temperature checks for students.
Superintendent Grant Rivera also wants to purchase Chrome Books for every student in the district, which has around 9,000 students.
Commissioners will take action on both funding requests at their voting meeting Tuesday morning.
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!
As shops at The Avenue East Cobb continue to open—around 40 tenants are open for business now—the retail center’s management has scheduled some outdoor activities in the summer months (we noted previously a car show that took place in late June.)
On July 23 there will be the third in a series of Dinner & Drive-In Movie Nights, with a Christmas in July theme. Santa Claus will arrive in a convertible and show the movie The Grinch, around dusk.
Coming up on Aug. 22 will be the Chalk It Up! Birthday Bash for BoB, a fundraiser and celebration of the Box of Balloons non-profit. Families will reserve a parking spot for a donation to the organization and decorate it with chalk for prizes.
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!
A Cobb GIS Map of COVID-19 deaths by ZIP code, with icons showing the locations of long-term care homes. For more details click here.
Since we began breaking down COVID-19 cases, deaths and other data in Cobb County and specifically East Cobb, we’ve been getting queries from readers imploring us to dig further into the numbers.
Some think the seriousness of the virus is overstated considering the high number of people who test negative and the very high percentage of those who recover.
They worry that a slide back into lockdowns would not only devastate the local economy, but some wonder if there isn’t an intent to close things down until after the November elections.
Others think we’re not doing enough to illustrate the spread of a virus that’s killed and sickened far too many people, and that we should hunker down until the case numbers decline, or a vaccine is developed.
Most just want to know how to better understand numbers that are floating around in incredible quantities, and from an increasing variety of sources.
The biggest problem is the limited range of the data that is community-specific, and especially pertaining to East Cobb.
On Friday a total of 339 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Cobb County, a weekday single-day high since the Georgia Department of Public Health began issuing daily updates in March.
(A total of 556 new cases were reported in Cobb on Monday, July 6, reflecting a lag due to the Independence Day holiday weekend.)
As of Friday in Cobb County, there were 6,708 confirmed cases of COVID-19, fourth-highest in Georgia, and 250 deaths, second only to Fulton County.
On Saturday, Cobb’s case count rose by 232, to 6,950 cases, and three more deaths were added, for 253 overall.
Those are staggering numbers, and some readers have been asking us what exactly do they mean? It’s easy to see graphs and charts showing big jumps in cases alone and get very jittery. How concerned should we be?
What’s the larger context we should be thinking about? Who’s getting the most sick and dying the most, and who’s experiencing only mild symptoms or none at all?
Cobb and Douglas Public Health figures showing higher case rates for younger age groups. For more local data click here.
This more recent crest of cases—which is disproportionately affecting younger age groups—is not bringing with it the death rates we saw in the spring, when many elderly and at-risk people were the primary casualties.
The Cobb and Douglas Public Health website, like the state’s, has a lot of valuable information, but quite often it’s hard to parse data that readers say they want us to examine.
CDPH breaks down cases by age group, but not deaths. It also tracks the test positivity rate (how many people test positive against all those it tests), which is at 6.76 percent in Cobb, up from around five percent just a few weeks ago.
Those are figures noted by Dr. Janet Memark, director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, who issued a public health alert last week as a result.
CDPH has tested 18,571 people in Cobb County. If you factor in those 253 deaths, that’s 1.36 percent of people in Cobb who’ve been tested for the virus—at least by our public health agency—who’ve died.
If you measure deaths against what as of Saturday is now 6,940 positive cases (what’s called a case fatality rate), that figure is 3.6 percent.
Cobb government’s Geographic Information Systems department also has been tracking COVID numbers, focusing mostly on data stemming from case and death counts.
How many of those who are testing positive these days are seriously ill? Beyond hospitalization numbers, which have been going up in Cobb and elsewhere in Georgia but are still considered manageable, that’s unclear.
How many people have mild or no symptoms at all also isn’t known. Since anyone is being encouraged to get tested, it would be helpful to know how many asymptomatic cases there are. But that’s data that isn’t readily available.
In East Cobb, we’ve had 1,271 confirmed cases of the virus, and 44 deaths. That’s up from 1,034 and 41 a week ago. But that’s about all that we know, for now.
As we noted in that last report, 16 of those deaths were in ZIP Code 30068, in East Cobb, which has a number of long-term care homes.
While that information has been helpful, it’s become public only in recent weeks. There’s nothing more in the ZIP Code data to indicate the infection rate (those who test positive against those tested) and the case fatality rate.
We don’t even know the age, gender or racial breakdowns by ZIP Code, or how many of those cases involved people with other underlying health issues.
This is information that might calm the fears of many citizens, fears that have been skyrocketing in recent weeks.
Right before Friday’s numbers came out, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said he wouldn’t issue a mask mandate, as some mayors have done in Georgia, because he thinks it’s unenforceable.
After Friday’s numbers were reported, the Cobb County School District issued revised reopening plans that do not require staff or students to wear masks.
That’s set off a firestorm of emotion and anxiety that figures to get even more heated before classes start next month.
How masks became such a fraught issue is a topic for another column, but it does show the continuing uncertainty, not just over data, but how to interpret it and how to develop strategies to combat the virus.
We are drowning in data without having a better understanding of it. Other data that might better explain how many people seriously become sick, or not, is harder to come by.
Yet politicians and public health officials keep peddling the same pedestrian messages they have since March—wash your hands, practice social distancing, and wear a mask in public.
Gee, thanks Mom.
After four months, this is all they can still say? This isn’t reassuring the public any more than continuing to extend emergency orders, as the governor and judges have done, at least until August, and possibly into the fall.
How much longer will business owners, employees, students and parents, religious worshippers, sports fans and everyday citizens be told to continue placing their lives and well-being on indefinite hold?
How much longer will there be public demands to mask up, and lock down, healthy people? Especially school children, who are in an age group with the fewest virus cases of all? Is this even a good thing for our society to expect?
The numbers are all over the place, begging to be better organized, and so are the reactions to a crisis that seems to have no end.
Cobb County appears to be in good shape, based on data that goes beyond raw case and death counts.
However, those are the metrics that dominate government response, media coverage and good bit of public opinion.
They’re also feeding a social contagion that’s sweeping through our country faster than COVID-19, and that might be the most difficult outbreak of all to contain.
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After several employees of various Cobb courts tested positive for COVID-19, Cobb Superior Court Chief Judge Reuben Green has issued new orders regarding court operations.
In an order issued on Friday, Green said that four Cobb Superior Court employees, two in Juvenile Court Court, and one each in State Court, Probate Court and Magistrate Court have tested positive for the virus.
Green said there’s no information that any of them were exposed at work, but they are required to undergo 14 days of quarantine.
Infected employees must test negative before they are allowed to return to work, and contact tracing has taken place to inform those who may have been exposed to someone who’s tested positive for the virus.
In addition, Green said the work areas where those employees work are being deep cleaned, and that the Superior Courthouse is being disinfected this weekend.
In his order (you can read it here) Green said Probate Court and Superior Court operations “will shift back to a general presumption that all cases should be handled virtually via videoconference.”
Anyone who thinks a case needs to be heard in person, Green said, should contact the assigned judge’s chambers.
All persons entering Cobb courthouse buildings are required to undergo temperature checks and must wear masks, and social distancing guidelines are in effect.
Earlier this week a state judicial emergency that was to have expired on Sunday was extended for another month, to Aug. 11. Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton’s order continues a prohibition on jury trial proceedings and most grand jury proceedings and issues guidelines for in-person and remote proceedings that are taking place.
Friday’s extension was the fourth since COVID-19 closures began, and the new deadline coincides with a continuing state public health emergency that was extended last month by Gov. Brian Kemp.
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When we talked last week with Cheryl Lassiter of the Marietta Campmeeting about a shortened schedule for this year’s event, she said the prospect of having those few services next weekend was “still pretty iffy.’
On Friday the decision was made to call off the whole thing, over concerns about growing COVID-19 cases in Cobb County and Georgia:
“It is with much prayer and consideration that Campmeeting leadership has decided to cancel our shortened Campmeeting this year. We hope you will join us in prayer for the safety and health of our nation during this time. We are already looking forward to Campmeeting 2021 when we can all be together safely again!”
As we noted in our story last week, Lassiter said the only other time the Campmeeting, which dates back to 1837, was cancelled was during the Civil War.
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The Cobb County School District on Friday issued updated reopening plans that “expect” teachers and other school employees to wear masks and “strongly recommend” that students wear them.
That language falls short of requiring masks, and a district official did not say late Friday afternoon whether those words could be interpreted as a mandate.
When asked by East Cobb News to explain the difference between “expect” and “recommend,” John Floresta, the district’s chief’s strategy accountability officer, said he was reading from the district’s new guidelines.
On Friday the district launched a new website, called Cobb Learning Everywhere, that details what parents and students can expect if they choose classroom instruction or a remote option.
Earlier this week, Cobb school board member Charisse Davis said the board was notified by Superintendent Chris Ragsdale that a mask requirement was forthcoming. But a district spokeswoman said Davis was improperly making public information that had not been finalized.
On her Facebook page, Davis reiterated on Friday night that she and other board members got an e-mail from Ragsdale “communicating that the district would be communicating that under new guidelines masks would be mandatory. There was no mention of keep it to yourself, and I fully expected the link to go out at about the same time which is how things have been done. Well…between Tuesday and now the superintendent changed his mind.”
Marietta City Schools and the University System of Georgia announced mask mandates earlier this week.
The district released the new guidelines, and procedures for choosing an instructional option, as part of its weekly COVID-19 updates, which you can find here.
Starting Monday, and continuing through July 22, parents can make their choices at the district’s ParentVue portal for classroom or remote learning for the fall semester. A few more details:
Students who are new to the District must first register as a Cobb student here. Once the school approves the registration, a ParentVue account will automatically be activated.
If parents already have a student enrolled in the District but do not have an active ParentVue account, the registering parent will need to contact the student’s school for activation.
“COVID-19 has brought more complications to schools than I have ever seen in over 30 years in Cobb County,” said Cobb Schools Board Chair Brad Wheeler. “The beliefs that have made our schools some of the best in the country will keep us that way. All students will have the opportunity to learn, and all students will see what a community can do when we use our differences to make us stronger.”
Cobb schools will be asking the Cobb Board of Commissioners this week for $8.1 million in CARES Act funding to expand distance learning capabilities in anticipation of students and their parents choosing to stay at home.
The reopening update calls for the mask recommendations, social distancing and cleaning practices in place, and additional health and safety protocols that include hand sanitizing stations at schools.
Parents are encouraged to inform staff if their children get sick and to keep them home if they have symptoms or are diagnosed with COVID-19. There will be isolated areas at the schools for students and staff who show symptoms of the virus.
School buses also will have hand sanitizers, and field trips will be suspended until further notice. Buses will be wiped down and disinfected after morning and afternoon runs each day.
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After several jurisdictions in Georgia—including the City of Atlanta—issued face mask mandates this week, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said Friday he won’t be doing that.
In his weekly newsletter, Boyce said while “there are those who support imposing a county mandate on face coverings,” Gov. Brian Kemp’s executive order on June 30 states that cities and counties cannot take public health actions “that are more or less restrictive” than the state.
Boyce also said that while other elected officials are imposing mask requirements in response to rising COVID-19 cases in Georgia, “I cannot support this kind of governance. Moreover, while such a mandate looks great on paper, it puts an unsustainable burden on public safety personnel. They would be the ones responsible for enforcing this behavior on more than 760,000 people in the County. This expectation is unreasonable.”
Boyce said he’s making a “nice ask to wear a mask” by encouraging citizens to wear a face covering whenever possible “as a matter of personal and public health.”
Last week, Gov. Kemp went on a statewide tour encouraging mask use, but said he wouldn’t be making it mandatory, even though he warned rising COVID cases could affect the college football season. Kemp also said on Thursday that local mandates are not enforceable.
Other cities that have issued mask mandates include Athens-Clarke County, Savannah and Brookhaven.
Georgia’s COVID-19 cases have spiked in recent weeks, to more than 106,000 in all. On Thursday, 2,837 more confirmed cases were reported, and for the past week the test positivity rate in Georgia is nearly 13 percent.
UPDATED:
On Friday the Georgia Department of Public Health reported a one-day record of 4,484 new reported COVID-19 cases and 35 additional deaths statewide.
By Friday, Cobb’s case totals had grown by 339 to 6,708. The single-day high for Cobb is 556 new cases on Monday, July 6, likely reflecting a reporting lag due to the Independence Day holiday weekend.
Georgia has 2,965 deaths, although the seven-day average for fatalities is the lowest it’s been since March. A total of 250 deaths have been in Cobb County, two more than Thursday, and second in Georgia to 321 deaths in Fulton County.
ORIGINAL REPORT CONTINUES:
Boyce said voluntary mask-wearing to help slow the spread of virus “is a learned behavior that is better achieved by cooperative engagement rather than legislative fiat. I believe our efforts will ultimately achieve the desired outcome of normalizing the wearing of face coverings. This health precaution is one that is reinforced by a sense of personal accountability and respect for the health of others.”
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A salute to health care workers at the entrance to East Cobb Health Park.
Submitted info:
The Cobb2020 Partnership and the Cobb Chamber, sponsor an annual Health Hero Award recognizing qualified individuals and agencies who, through outstanding, significant and innovative activities and accomplishments, have made a significant positive impact on the health of the Cobb community.
Each year, the efforts of one individual and one business to improve and support community health and healthcare infrastructure are awarded. Through the first half of 2020, hundreds of Health Heroes have stepped up to assist local businesses and the community during the COVID-19 pandemic, displaying strong determination to protect employees and ensuring people have what they need to continue to work, live and play safely.
To be considered for the award, prospective nominees must:
Provide health and wellness services, support health issues, or support the healthcare workforce in Cobb County;
Currently live or work in Cobb County. Organizations must have a location in Cobb County; and
Be a member of the Cobb Chamber.
The application deadline is July 17th. Apply at cobbchamber.org/healthhero. The award will be presented during the Cobb Chamber’s Healthcare & Biotech Industry Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 8th, 2020 from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Wellstar Vinings Health Park.
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Each year, Northwestern Mutual recognizes financial advisors who go above and beyond in giving back to local communities through its Community Service Awards program. Earlier this year, through its Foundation, the company announced a donation of more than $310,000 in grants to nonprofit organizations on behalf of the 2020 recipients.
As part of the award, 16 company financial advisors are each recognized with a grant to benefit a nonprofit he or she is involved with. Local resident Mike Hendley, a financial advisor for Northwestern Mutual in Atlanta, has been recognized as a 2020 recipient of the award, receiving a $15,000 grant for MUST Ministries.
“Our Community Service Awards program honors advisors who go above and beyond in an effort to lift up their communities nationwide through action,” said Eric Christophersen, president, Northwestern Mutual Foundation. “Fueled by passion and commitment to service, these advisors continue to better the lives of others through volunteerism.”
MUST Ministries addresses the basic needs of individuals in the Atlanta area by providing food, housing, jobs, healthcare and clothing. Hendley first became involved with the organization 25 years ago, when a friend suggested they begin regularly volunteering together at a local organization. This became a lasting tradition, as Hendley continues to serve meals at MUST’s homeless shelter every month, in addition to serving on the organization’s board of directors and regularly participating in other volunteer activities.
“As a father of four, my biggest heartache is seeing the increasing number of homeless children at the shelter,” said Hendley. “I’m thankful to say that the funds from this grant will be used toward the construction of a new homeless shelter, designed to accommodate more women and children. It is our goal to build a shelter that provides dignity and respect to all who come to MUST needing our services while on the path to stability.”
To support those impacted by the global health crisis, MUST Ministries has converted 50 food pantries into curbside pick-up programs, where boxes of groceries are provided to every family that visits. In just eight weeks, the organization has fed over 42,000 people and helped 585 people find housing.
Since 1995, the company has donated more than $6 million to nonprofits through the Community Service Awards program. The 2020 winners were announced at the company’s regional meetings earlier this year, with grants to be presented to nonprofits throughout the country.
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Drift Fish House and Oyster Bar at The Avenue East Cobb is closed until at least Saturday after one of its employees tested positive for COVID-19.
The restaurant sent a message Thursday afternoon that the employee “is safe and is in quarantine” and the premises are undergoing “a deep sanitization and disinfection.”
“Rest assured, we have been meeting and exceeding all state and local safety requirements. We are doing everything in our power to ensure a safe dining experience for our guests, and to provide a safe place to work for our team,” the message said.
The tentative reopening is Saturday for dinner service. Drift said it also has alerted Cobb and Douglas Public Health and “is closely following their guidance.”
A few other restaurants in East Cobb also have closed for similar reasons. Earlier this week Paradise Grille was closed for two days after an employee tested positive for the virus.
Drift and Seed Kitchen and Bar, both owned by East Cobb restaurateur Doug Turbush, reopened their dining rooms on June 9. Turbush’s three Seed Hospitality Group businesses closed in March; Seed and Drift began serving takeout only in late May.
Seed remains open, and resumed lunch service this week. The Stem Wine Bar, also owned by Turbush and located adjacent to Seed at Merchants Walk, has been closed since March.
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The Cobb County School District will be asking the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Monday for federal COVID-19-related funding to enhance distance learning options.
The district will make its presentation at a commission work session at 9 a.m. Monday. You can watch here on Cobb TV, the county’s public access channel, or tune in Channel 23 on Comcast cable.
The CCSD is seeking $8.125 million for “digital content acquisition, open education resources, and its own in-house content development.
“These costs will cover curriculum content development for every core subject, professional learning, translation, support and maintenance, and allow schools that currently spend their own discretionary funds on curriculum to instead spend those funds on other resources,” according to the proposal.
The work session agenda item explains the details, and the matter is up for commission action on Tuesday.
The Cobb school broke down the proposed costs here in Tuesday’s agenda item. The Tuesday meeting, which starts at 9 a.m., also can be seen online at the above link and on TV.
Cobb schools are in the process of offering parents the option of having their students go back to the classroom or continue a remote option that was undertaken when schools closed in March due to COVID.
Students who stay at home will be offered a separate curriculum, along with dedicated teachers who will instruct only via online.
The start of classes is being delayed two weeks in Cobb, to Aug. 17, to continue preparations and as concerns grow over a rising number of COVID cases in the county.
The Cobb school district is facing a deficit in the vicinity of $60 million for fiscal year 2021, which began on July 1. The district will be presenting its proposed budget next week to the Cobb Board of Education. The FY 2020 budget was $1.1 billion.
The district is currently operating on a special spending resolution this monthwhile the school board formulates a budget delayed by the delay in the legislative session.
Initially state budget reductions were projected to be around 14 percent, which would have left Cobb schools with an $80 million deficit, but the final cuts were around 10 percent.
The Cobb school district has received $16 million in federal CARES Act spending through the Georgia Department of Education.
The Cobb commission received $132 million in CARES Act funding, and has spent $50 million to assist small businesses and another $1 million for low-income renters affected by COVID closures.
The online content the Cobb school district wants to acquire would expand the district’s CTLS online learning portal (Cobb Teaching and Learning System) that’s also accessible for parents.
The curriculum content proposed includes open education resources for both classroom and remote environments, as well as “curated content” reviewed and approved by credentialed educators, and licensed content.
The agenda item said the Cobb school district’s proposal is “a complete content solution” that would cost “a fraction” of a similar acquisition recently by the Chicago Public Schools, which is spending $253 million over five years.
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Angela Christian, the center’s project manager and board coordinator, said the auction gets underway Friday at 9 a.m. and ends next Friday, July 17, with a Facebook Live event. Here are the details:
A wide range of items will be available for bid including an Atlanta Braves package, a State Farm Arena experience package, a Dan Reeves autographed football, a New York Prime Steak House four-course dinner and wine pairing, a one-year membership to the High Museum of Art, and Chick-fil-A for a year.
Auction items may be previewed in advance and accessed for bidding at www.tnc20.givesmart.com.
The auction will conclude with a Facebook Live stream hosted by TNC program participants on July 17 at 4:30 p.m.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/TommyNobisCenter to attend. Funds raised through the auction directly support Tommy Nobis Center’s programs and services for youth and adults with disabilities.
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Let East Cobb News know what your organization is doing, or share news about what people are doing in the community—accomplishments, recognitions, milestones, etc.
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Send the body of your announcement, calendar item or news release IN TEXT FORM ONLY in the text field of your e-mail template. Reformatting text from PDF, JPG and doc files takes us longer to prepare your message for publication.
We accept PDFs as an accompaniment to your item. Images are fine too, but we prefer those to be JPG files (more than jpeg and png). PLEASE DO NOT send photos inside a PDF or text or any other kind of file. Of course, send us links that are relevant to your message so we can direct people to your website.
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