In celebration of its 10-year anniversary, the Town Center Community is enhancing its popular bikeshare program with new e-bikes, an upgraded pedal-bike fleet and a system integration with Kennesaw State University (KSU). These updates aim to increase connectivity, improve rider experience and support active transportation throughout the district.
In July, 10 pedal-assist e-bikes, powered by Georgia Power, will be added to the existing fleet while the original 35 pedal bikes will be upgraded with a new design. The update builds on a decade of steady growth for the program, which recently celebrated 100,000 total rides since its launch in 2015.
To further improve regional mobility, the Town Center bikeshare system will soon integrate with KSU’s bikeshare program. Once connected, KSU students will be able to rent and return bikes interchangeably between KSU Marietta Campus, Town Center, and new soon-to-open stations on the Kennesaw Campus. Non-KSU users will continue to rent and return bikes at designated Town Center locations only.
“During the 10-year anniversary of our bikeshare program, we’re proud to make it even easier for residents, visitors and students to move around our community,” said Tracy Styf, executive director of Town Center Community. “This expansion is about increasing access, supporting sustainability and enhancing everyday connections within our district.”
Currently, the Town Center bikeshare program operates 24/7 with 45 bikes across six strategically located stations. The addition of e-bikes and upgraded pedal bikes responds to growing demand for efficient, eco-friendly transportation options.
Pricing Structure:
Pedal Bikes: Free for the first hour; $3 per hour thereafter
E-Bikes: $1 unlock fee; first hour free; $2 per 30 minutes after
Anniversary Events & Giveaways
To celebrate the program’s 10-year milestone, Town Center Community is hosting a series of events and sweepstakes open to all riders:
Caffeine & Octane Sunscreen Pop-Up – August 3 at Town Center at Cobb
KSU Homecoming Game Activation – September 27 at Fifth Third Stadium
Fall Bikeshare Pop-Up – October 11 at Bells Ferry Trailhead on Noonday Creek Trail
Each ride taken from a Town Center Community bikeshare station between now and October 11 automatically enters riders into a sweepstakes to win a RadKick™ 7-Speed Electric Lightweight E-Bike, courtesy of Rad Power Bikes (valued at $1,564). Additionally, all bike owners can enter online at towncentercid.com for a chance to win a bike maintenance package from Conte’s Bike Shop (valued at $225).
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“Cobb used to be the county that people looked up to . . . that’s not how I see it now,” Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said.
Along partisan lines, the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a $1.3 billion fiscal year 2026 budget that holds the line on the general fund property tax rate and provides modest raises for some county employees.
The budget, which goes into effect on Oct. 1, adds only four new positions—two in the Cobb Water Department and two in the Cobb Fire Department—and reduces the amount of money transferred to the general fund from water revenues.
While that latter reduction—from 5 percent of water revenues to 4 percent—made Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb happy, she didn’t like a cut in the fire fund millage rate.
She and fellow Republican Commissioner Keli Gambrill voted against the budget proposal that drew criticisms for increased funding. The FY 2026 budget is $48 million more that FY 2025 across all funding categories, with much of the increase tied to employee pay raises and increases in the cost of benefits.
County employees will get a two percent cost-of-living raise, and some are eligible for another a three percent based on performance, primarily those in public safety.
Although the general fund millage rate is holding at 84.6 mills, that part of the budget is increasing by $13 million, to around $643 million, due to rising assessments.
The fire fund millage rate is falling from 2.99 mills to 2.97 mills, resulting in a $1 million decrease in revenues to $161 million.
That cut was among several from a projection in March by county budget officials that the government was facing a $7 million budget shortfall.
While Cobb property owners get a floating homestead exemption for the general fund portion of their tax bill, that exemption does not exist for the fire fund, which could be subject to higher taxes.
But Birrell opposed the fire fund cuts, pointing out that commissioners did the same thing in 2018, only to raise the rate again.
“We’ve been down this road before, and just got back to what it was,” she said. “Everything in the fire fund pays for what the fire department does.”
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, one of the three Democrats who voted to approve the budget, said the employee raises are needed, defending the additional spending for recruitment and retention purposes.
While most public speakers at Tuesday’s meeting urged commissioners to rein in spending, Cupid said that county employees “don’t come for public hearings. They speak with their feet.”
The budget also cuts out $1.2 million in discretionary spending for each of the five commissioners that they had had in recent years.
But the Cobb tax digest growth is smaller this year, less than 3 percent, compared to more than 7 percent in recent years.
That produced a budget crunch long before the FY 2026 spending plan was laid out. Cobb government department heads asked for nearly 300 new positions, most of them with the Sheriff’s Office and police department.
But even with what amounts to a hiring freeze and targeted cuts to balance the budget, Birrell complained that the trend in recent years to significantly increase spending is troubling.
“Cobb used to be the county that people looked up to,” she said.
“Our slogan used to be ‘we do more with less.’ That’s not how I see it now.”
Cupid, who took office in 2021, when party control of the board flipped from Republican to Democrat, said Cobb is doing “more with less” better than most local governments in metro Atlanta.
“Find me one,” she said. “Let’s go on a road trip.”
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Last Friday we posted some general information about the Great Southeast Pollinator Census, which the Cobb Master Gardener Volunteers are coordinating locally at a number of locations in the county Aug. 22-23.
Among those venues is McFarlane Nature Park (280 Farm Road, off Paper Mill Road) in East Cobb, a private passive park that’s operated by The Cobb Land Trust and that features a wide variety of plants and nature trails and offers programs about nature conservation to the public.
We’ve heard from Karin Guzy, Chair of The Cobb Land Trust, who tells us that signs have gone up at McFarlane to let visitors know about the census, which according to the Cobb Master Gardeners, will “document the insects that keep our gardens blooming and our food supply secure.”
Guzy says the signs at McFarlane:
” . . . are part of a summer-long program to educate visitors about the eco-services provided by bugs who support and sustain us. More than just pollinating our food supplies, insects break down waste, feed birds and other animals, aerate the soil and release nutrients from decaying plants. We literally cannot live without them. Even mosquitoes are packed with protein and provide a food source for birds, other insects, bats, amphibians and reptiles.
“In 2021, McFarlane volunteers built a small meadow to attract more insects to the property and enhance the environment for the birds. Over 350 plants were installed and hundreds of seeds were added—all native to this geographic area.
“The meadow has progressed with some plants showing up from seed this year, four years after being planted. Bluebirds and Purple Martins have adopted the Meadow and a wide variety of insects have appeared to make it their home.
“The ongoing effort is intended to aid in slowing the shocking decline of insect populations by enlisting homeowners in making them welcome.”
The Cobb Master Gardener volunteers will be at McFarlane on Aug. 23 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to do the counting and help those who participate.
“The Census invites participants to spend 15 minutes recording the pollinators that they see in a small area they have chosen.” Guzy tells us. “The GSEPC website provides help in learning how to identify the insects that you see.”
Cobb Master Gardeners also will be having a free Zoom webinar Aug. 12 at 7 p.m. with Becky Griffin, the UGA Extension’s Pollinator Census National Coordinator.
Griffin will present on the world of the pollinator ecology and share how anyone can contribute to the census.
Garden paths are common throughout the McFarlane property, which also has a pavilion and picnic tables. ECN file.
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The Cobb Chamber is now accepting nominations for the 2025 Citizen of the Year Awards. The Citizen of the Year Awards, created by Cobb County civic clubs and co-sponsored by the Cobb Chamber Area Councils and Cobb County business associations, have annually been presented to extraordinary individuals for the work they have done in Cobb County
Awards are given to deserving individuals based on eleven local area nominations: Acworth, Austell, Cumberland, East Cobb, Kennesaw, Mableton, Marietta, Powder Springs, Smyrna, Town Center, and West Cobb (Note: The 2025 Cumberland Citizen of the Year has already been awarded and is therefore not an option to nominate).
Given to honor an individual whose impact through the years will be recognized and regarded with pride throughout the area as a role model, these outstanding citizens are chosen for their definable, exceptional deeds, with which he or she has made their community a better place to live.
Thank you, Presenting Sponsor, Capital City Bank. For more information on the Citizen of the Year Awards, contact Katie Guice at 770-859-2334 or kguice@cobbchamber.org.
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I don’t pen too many commentaries on East Cobb News about hot topics of the day, because readers are usually pretty good about letting us know what they think. I’d rather feature their perspectives, and we let anyone leave a comment on any post that we publish here.
But sometimes it all becomes too much, as I wrote in an Editor’s Note Saturday about the Cobb school board’s vote last week to discontinue airing of public comments.
I was not impressed with board’s action nor the superintendent’s rationale, because those with valid criticisms won’t be heard beyond the meeting room. The public is ill-served by that, and the Cobb school district comes across as thin-skinned.
But while East Cobb News wants to foster robust discussion of important topics, the performative rage of the digital media world sometimes makes meaningful dialogue impossible.
As frequent commenters were giving the school board an earful on Thursday, some East Cobb News readers were being abusive to one another, and to me, on a social media page where I had posted a storyabout an anti-Trump political rally.
I had to take down comments that violated our comments policy, and banish one user in particular who had no intention of posting in good faith. I don’t like to do these things.
He and others accused me of being a typical media liberal for just posting a news story, calling it propaganda. Someone who read my commentary Saturday thinks East Cobb News is a “MAGA rag.”
Both characterizations are as lazy as they are inaccurate.
When the media doesn’t confirm the priors of partisans, that’s what you hear, and I’m used to it after more than 40 years in the news business.
But I know that so many other readers appreciate that we don’t whip up our audience into a frenzy about overheated stories. Some go out of their way to tell us this, emphatically.
We have never shied away from covering stories that inflame passions, but there’s a better way to do it than what some zealous individuals demand.
We want readers to be able to chime in and have discussions about important stories, and for the most part, they behave. On the rare occasions they don’t, we take action, because we don’t want our site or social media channels to become toxic and drive people away.
It’s a delicate balance that I have tried to adjust to for as long as I have published East Cobb News.
We work hard to give you unique local news and community information, and we don’t charge for it.
So if you find what you read here of value, please consider supporting the work East Cobb News does.
Your donation of $6, $12, or even $25 a month helps us to tell countless stories—keeping you informed about what’s happening in East Cobb. And your contribution delivers the news to readers everywhere—via e-mail, social media, and of course, at eastcobbnews.com.
When you support East Cobb News, you ensure stories don’t slip through the cracks. Every story we tell matters, regardless of he subject.
We do it without ginning up stories to get you to click, or to stoke your outrage for no good reason.
I got a nice e-mail today from a reader who’s a former media executive who told me that “I admire anyone who is willing to create and run a media company in today’s environment.”
It’s incredibly hard, all right, and this last week tested my resolve significantly. More than anything, I would deeply appreciate your financial contribution to continue providing you with this community news resource.
When you give to East Cobb News, you ensure quality coverage with a local focus that is free and accessible to all.
Nobody else is doing this in our community, and our plans are to keep giving you the local news that you love for a long time to come.
Let us know what you think about all of this: e-mail me: wendy@eastcobbnews.com. I’d like to hear from you.
Thank you for your support of East Cobb News!
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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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Vision To Learn mobile clinics at Cobb County libraries in June through mid-July provided more than 400 eye exams, resulting in glasses for over 300 students. The professional eyecare teams of VTL have worked through about two-thirds of the exam appointments at the nine host Cobb library locations on the 2025 summer break calendar.
“Vision To Learn staff and Cobb library workers strive together to provide this solution – free eye exams and glasses – for as many children as possible,” said Cobb County Public Library’s Tom Brooks, Communications Specialist and a lead organizer of the VTL clinics at the libraries. “We are very grateful for the support for Vision To Learn by everyone involved benefiting communities across Cobb to promote literacy, social and emotional wellbeing, and cradle-to-career workforce development.”
About 3,000 children have been given exams by Vision To Learn through the Cobb Library partnership since 2018, the year Cobb libraries became the first library system in Georgia to host VTL. Still, Brooks added, the life-changing success of the program each year is against the backdrop of many children not securing VTL exam appointments before the start of the new school year as registration fills up fast.
The Cobb libraries eye exam clinic visits in June through July include the Switzer, South Cobb, West Cobb, North Cobb, Powder Springs, Sewell Mill, Gritters, Stratton and Sibley libraries.
Vision To Learn, a national nonprofit, partners with school systems to provide eyecare on-site at schools. Marietta City Schools has been a local VTL partner since 2021.
Across metro Atlanta, so far in June through July 11, Vision To Learn teams at public libraries conducted more than 1,250 exams resulting in nearly 900 glasses for children. The official count for Cobb libraries as of late last week was 433 exams and 304 glasses. In addition to Cobb, VTL libraries for summer break 2025 also include Gwinnett, Fulton, Clayton, Douglas and Henry counties.
“Children putting on their new glasses a few weeks after the exam often say, ‘Wow! I can see clearly now’ or ‘What a difference, I can see way over there’. Parents report days later to our team about how headaches caused by eyestrain have gone away,” said Alexandra Beswick, manager of the Cobb Library Central Region and Switzer Library. “Witnessing and being part of a partnership with this level of community impact is deeply powerful and meaningful for our library team.”
A regional campaign in the five core metro Atlanta counties is about closing the costly glasses gap.
Learn4Life (L4L), the Metro Atlanta Regional Education Partnership, is leading The Atlanta Vision Project initiative, backed by community partners with foundation and individual funding support, to accelerate the pace of children in need receiving eyecare and glasses. The initiative’s partners include Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation, Prevent Blindness Georgia and Vision To Learn.
L4L’s regional goal: “All elementary school students in need in metro Atlanta will receive a free pair of glasses by 2028.”
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At the last public comment she’s likely to be seen speaking at in front of television cameras and before the Cobb Board of Education, Jennifer Susko had her microphone cut off.
The former Cobb County School District guidance counselor, a persistent critic of the board’s Republican majority and Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, renewed those complaints on Thursday, before the board was set to approve a measure to end broadcasts of public comments.
Susko was making her remarks during a public hearing on the Cobb school district’s proposed property tax millage rate, and chairman David Chastain interrupted her, saying the comments weren’t germane.
“It’s about wasting public resources,” Susko insisted, waving her hand, and Chastain motioned to silence her electronically.
She could be heard continuing to speak, and school board attorney Suzann Wilcox said that “I believe the chairman has ended this commentary.”
About an hour later, the board voted along party lines to prohibit any other commentary from the public from being shown on its cable and livestreaming channels, a policy dating back to 2007.
Chris Ragsdale
The four Republicans, at the behest of Ragsdale, voted for the policy change without comment. The board’s three Democrats had plenty to say in protest, before being on the short end of another significant board vote in recent years.
It was an unnecessary thing for the Cobb school board to do, but not unexpected.
Since 2019, when the board’s GOP majority shrunk from 6-1 to 4-3, it and Ragsdale’s leadership has come under closer, and more vocal, scrutiny from Democratic members and citizens critical of the district’s handling of a number of issues.
Democratic former board members Charisse Davis and Jaha Howard were elected in 2018, and less than a year later, the Republicans voted to ban members from making public comments. So contentious were clashes at open board meetings that they became cringeworthy affairs, all the way around.
Yet four of them took the drastic step to silence themselves. Chastain, who was the board chairman that year as well, said the person holding the gavel shouldn’t have to be a referee.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise that eventually, Thursday’s action was inevitable. Howard and Davis are gone, replaced by more conciliatory figures, but with many of the same hot-button topics still on the front burner.
Ragsdale, who didn’t consult board members before proposing a ban on airing public comments, said there are legal reasons for doing so, and because meetings could be more “efficient” if speakers addressed primarily the board and superintendent.
Jaha Howard
That could be interpreted as a desire to deprive critics of what they desire most—a platform, and the rhetorical oxygen that comes with it—to amplify to the wider public.
I think that’s exactly what Ragsdale, who urged his detractors to “take a break” after the 2024 elections, has wanted to do all along.
“If the public comment hadn’t been so impactful,” said Michael Garza of East Cobb, another of the regular critics, “the district wouldn’t be doing so much to impede it.”
There’s some truth to that, but perhaps not as much as Garza thinks. Critics have taken credit for the district’s decision last years to drop a proposed $50 million special events center after they revealed renderings the district never shared with the public.
That project was never properly justified, either in cost or in purpose, and when the details became known, made even less sense.
But Ragsdale’s most vocal opponents have overplayed their hand quite a bit at times. Some formed what they call the Cobb Community Care Coalition, with one member launching an unsuccessful Democratic school board campaign last year.
Their list of complaints is endless, and blistering, and overall I don’t think they’ve been all that effective. While all citizens have the right to address and petition their elected officials, when the same group of people rattles off the same complaints, meeting after meeting, it produces something of a Chicken Little effect.
While some of their criticisms have been valid, the sky isn’t falling like they imagine. The Cobb school district has shortcomings that some of these individuals have rightfully called out, but not always very constructively.
And sometimes they’ve been absolutely foolish, especially when ripping Ragsdale for removing sexually explicit books from school library shelves. These aren’t novels with literary merit, like “Catcher in the Rye” or “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Sharon Hudson
Most of the books that have been taken down were written specifically to introduce children in school settings to subjects they don’t understand, without their parents knowing about it.
To those who wore the “Read Banned Books” shirts while wrongly claiming censorship during public comments: Pick better battles. This was not one of them.
To be fair, a similar dynamic exists during public comments before the Cobb Board of Commissioners, where another handful of citizens lambaste the Democratic majority on a regular basis, with some speakers rambling aimlessly and off-topic.
Sometimes their microphones too are cut off, and they are escorted out away by police. These scenarios are playing out at many local government and school board venues across the country.
I’m not saying that people shouldn’t speak their minds to their elected officials. They should, if they feel so inclined. But how many others haven’t been able to because the usual suspects arrive early and take up the allotted time slots?
The district could have revised the policy to limit how often individuals can speak. But that wasn’t suggested.
For some citizens, the Cobb school district can do nothing right. For others, Cobb County government can do nothing right.
In a county with more than 750,000 people, and more than 100,000 public school students, that’s maybe a dozen people or so all told.
How representative are they?
Yet the superintendent’s legal claims to ban airing of public comments sound like a cop-out. After 18 years, this is only now an issue? He cited no laws and Wilcox wasn’t asked to explain any potential issues either. Is this a subject only for executive session?
We reached out to the Georgia First Amendment Foundation to find out if school districts can be held liable for what public commenters say.
We haven’t heard back, but GFAF president Richard T. Griffiths told Axios Atlanta that “anyone who brings legal action against the school district over comments made by a member of the public would have to prove that the board and school system organized, promoted or scripted the remarks.”
John Cristadoro
Cobb government has tried to address this by forbidding speakers from using visual presentations during their comments, but their words are still aired, and we’ve heard of no legal problems.
The four Republican board members who voted for this ban had absolutely nothing to say. That includes newly elected John Cristadoro of Post 5 in East Cobb, who said he received 30 messages from constituents in favor of continuing to air public comments.
Be he opted to acquiesce in silence, continuing a discouraging tradition among his Republican peers.
We’ve contacted Cristadoro too, but haven’t heard back.
The Cobb County Courier has a solid round-up of comments from many reasonable citizens, some of whom have not commented before, telling the board why this action is a bad idea.
Are some public commenters truly interested in getting resolutions for the subjects at hand, or are they engaging in performative rage-bait for a larger cause? Sometimes I wonder, and I sense this on occasion when monitoring comments on my own site.
Some people have given themselves proud permission to come completely unhinged on a vast array of platforms, and it’s getting worse in real life, including public comment periods.
The best solution is for adults to police themselves—not what they’re saying, but how they do it. And to what end. But so much of social media in particular is Forever Third Grade, reflecting a society with lowering levels of public trust.
Public school boards in Georgia are required to allow public commenters to speak, and most have not been proactive in developing policies to address the overheated times in which we live. In Cobb, from now on, you’ll have to be in the room to know what was said by your fellow citizens.
And there will be no public record of any of this. On meeting minutes as it is, the district now states only the number of public commenters who spoke, and nothing of their comments.
For a school district that was once a pioneer in public access, Cobb is taking on the appearance of one that seeks to control not just the message, but any messenger who diverges from its preferred narratives.
Maybe that will foster the “effectiveness” that Ragsdale desires, but it torches any pretense of transparency.
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Despite some pleas for relief, the Cobb Board of Education on Thursday approved maintaining the property tax rate for fiscal year 2026.
Board members voted 6-0-1 to hold the millage rate at 18.7 mills. But under state law that constitutes a property tax increase because the district is collecting more property tax revenues than in fiscal year 2025, and did not “roll back” the rate to match those revenues.
At a final tax digest hearing Thursday, several citizens asked for the board to match the “roll back” rate, which would have been 18.499 mills.
The FY 2026 budget (which can be found at this link) was based on smaller increases in the Cobb property tax digest increases than in recent years, an expected 2.1 percent.
The district is taking $43 from its reserves and providing smaller salary increases than in recent years,
Leslie Davis, who has asked for rate reductions in past years, told board members that “your insatiable lust for more and more money has got to stop” but was doubtful that would happen.
That’s because “you already voted on a budget based on your intentions” to keep the rate the same as the last year.
“Isn’t it convenient that that the increase in the budget each year miraculously is in line with the exact increase in tax digest,” continued Davis, who said her school taxes along are going up by more than $1,000.
“Or, more likely, is it that you want to extract as much money as possible out of Cobb citizens while also claiming there is no tax increase because the millage rate is staying the same.”
She also named three Republican board members—David Chastain, Brad Wheeler and Randy Scamihorn—for taking the senior tax exemption for “not caring enough about the school system to put your own money into the school system.”
At the board’s voting meeting later Thursday, board members discussed the millage rate issue only briefly before voting to approve it. Board member Nichelle Davis of Post 6 in Smyrna voted present.
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Is your kindergartner excited—or a little nervous—about riding the big yellow school bus for the first time? You’re not alone! That’s why each year, Cobb Schools invites kindergarten and first-grade families to hop on board together for a special preview ride before the first day.
This year, the Bus Ride-Along rolls out on Thursday, July 31, 2025. This fun and helpful annual Back-to-School Bus Ride-Along gives families a chance to:
Practice the morning bus ride.
Meet the bus driver.
Learn how to get on and off the bus safely.
Ease first-day nerves for students and parents.
See for yourself why the school bus is the safest way to get students to and from school.
This ride-along also reminds the community to stay alert for students walking to school or the bus stop, waiting at the bus stop, or crossing the road after getting off the bus. Cobb welcomes students back on Monday, August 4.
What to Expect on the Ride-Along:
Buses will run their regular morning routes on July 31.
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The Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, Inc. (MGVOCC) are once again proud to join fellow citizen scientists across Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, and Alabama for the 2025 Great Southeast Pollinator Census on August 22 and 23. This fun, fast, and impactful community science project invites everyone to spend just 15 minutes counting pollinator insects to support vital ecosystem research and conservation efforts.
What is the Pollinator Census?
Launched in 2019 with more than 4,000 participants across 134 of Georgia’s 159 counties, the Pollinator Census has grown into a regional effort with thousands of volunteers helping document the insects that keep our gardens blooming and our food supply secure.
The actual count takes just 15 minutes, making it an ideal activity for individuals, families, school groups, scout troops, garden clubs, and community organizations. Participants simply observe a plant, identify visiting insects using resources provided online, and submit their data.
Learn more and get ready to count at https://gsepc.org. Resources include identification guides, how-to videos, printable tally sheets, and fun ideas for involving kids and neighbors.
You can also learn more from the MGVOCC hosted Grow Virtually webinar, “Great Southeast Pollinator Census – Citizen Science at Work!” on Tuesday, August 12 at 7:00 pm featuring Becky Griffin, UGA Extension’s Pollinator Census National Coordinator. Becky will share insights about pollinator ecology and how everyone can make a difference and contribute to the 2025 Great Southeast Pollinator Census. You can register for this “how to” webinar at https://bit.ly/2025GSEPC-Webinar.
The Great Southeast Pollinator Census relies on the help of UGA Extension agents, Master Gardeners, teachers, students, nature lovers, stay-at-home parents, 9-to-5’ers, retirees, and everyone in between. Whether counting pollinators solo, with a school group, or as part of a community event, your efforts will make a difference.
The Great Southeast Pollinator Census is a fun, hands-on way for people of all ages to contribute to scientific research by identifying and counting pollinators in their own backyards, schools, neighborhoods, and community spaces. By participating, you’ll help collect valuable data that supports pollinator conservation across the region.
“We’re so pleased to be participating in this citizen science project,” says Janis Hylton, President of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County. “It’s easy and fun, and the results give important information to aid in environmental conservation efforts. Please join us at a garden near you or do it from home!”
MGVOCC invites the public to join them for Census Counting Sessions at the following nine Cobb County community gardens on the day and times listed below. Stop by any time during the window—each count takes only 15 minutes!
Friday, August 22, 2025, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Wright Environmental Education Center, 2661 Johnson Ferry Road, Marietta 30062
Wildlife and Rain Garden, 622 South Cobb Dr, Marietta 30060
William Root House Museum and Garden, 80 North Marietta Parkway, Marietta 30060
North Marietta Neighborhood Garden, 341 Pine St, Marietta 30060
Reconnecting Our Roots Community Garden, 271 Lemon Street, Marietta 30060
Saturday, August 23, 2025, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Wellness Garden at Cobb County Farm Bureau, 2850 Powder Springs Road SW, Marietta 30064
McFarlane Nature Park, 280 Farm Road SE, Marietta 30067
Green Meadows Preserve Community Garden, 3780 Dallas Highway, Marietta 30127
Friday, August 22, 2025, from 9:00 to 11:30 am and 12:30-2:30 pm
Saturday, August 23, 2025, from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm and 1:30-3:30 pm
Chattahoochee Nature Center, 9135 Willeo Road, Roswell 30075
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Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday that a proposed policy change to bar broadcasts of public comments during school board meetings is necessary for legal and other reasons.
During a Cobb Board of Education work session Thursday afternoon, Ragsdale said the Cobb school district could be legally held liable for the statements of public commenters.
The school board approved the measure, 4-3, along partisan lines (you can read it here) at its voting meeting Thursday night.
The board’s Republican majority voted in favor, and the three Democrats were opposed.
Georgia law requires public school districts to hear public comments but does not mandate that they be aired.
Cobb airs its public board meetings live on Comcast and Charter cable outlets and COBB edTV, its own livestreaming channel including comments from members of the public.
The district’s channel also archives past meetings for the public to view on replay. Other portions of the meetings would still be shown on those broadcasts.
In making prepared remarks at the work session, Ragsdale said that “we provide more opportunities for public comments” than most other school districts and having citizens’ statements aired is “far from the only way to communicate.”
He said comments are designed to address the board and superintendent, and not the public at large. Ending the broadcasts, Ragsdale added, would enhance efficiency and keep the district focused on “the business of students, teachers and our schools.
“We assume risks to the content” when airing comments, said Ragsdale, who said district staff have had to edit comments “due to legal concerns.”
The legal issues concern copyright and intellectual property infringement issues and “tortious” speech, and that on occasion public commenters don’t follow the rules governing their speaking time.
He also said that he’s heard from parents and other citizens who are reluctant to make public comments because “they don’t want to be subjected to Internet ridicule, abuse or doxxing,” a reference to a practice of publicly sharing private information about someone to intimidate or embarrass them.
Ragsdale said that claims that speakers’ ability to express themselves was being denied is “one hundred percent false. This will not diminish anyone’s ability to comment in the least.”
Stacy Efrat
At the start of the work session, six citizens said the proposal amounts to censorship and would diminish the district’s transparency with the public.
East Cobb resident Stacy Efrat, a member of the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, said that if her body had proposed such a change, “the outrage would be swift, and absolutely justified.”
A member of the Jewish community, Efrat said having the ability to publicly air concerns about anti-Semitic comments and actions in the schools has been vital.
“We must be heard, and our experiences must be part of the public record,” she said.
Efrat, who was appointed by the Cobb County Democratic Committee, mentioned new board member John Cristadoro, a Republican from Post 5 in East Cobb, whom she said “promised us that had our backs, that he would speak out and take action to prevent anti-Semitism in this district. And now we are counting on him to keep his word.”
Cristadoro said that “a lot of my constituents reached out with very pointed questions” and the gist of their concerns were over access, accountability and the timing of the proposal.
He asked how many school districts broadcast public meetings, and Ragsdale replied that there are “far greater number of districts that don’t broadcast anything . . . than there are who do.”
John Cristadoro
Cristadoro asked whether not airing public comments would restrict the public from access to board members or district officials as a result, and Ragsdale said “no, it will not limit access in any way, shape or form.”
Laura Judge, a Democrat who lost to Cristadoro in the November elections, said the public comment proposal “isn’t about order. It’s about power.”
She said that the public’s access to the board has been restricted since groups and individuals critical of board and district leadership began speaking up more vocally.
The board’s three Democratic members expressed concern about the proposal.
Post 2 member Becky Sayler of Post 2 said that for some parents, they come to public comments only after they haven’t been able to redress an issue previously.
Public comment, she said, “sometimes is an option of last resort” and doesn’t support the change.
When she asked whether public comments would be recorded at all by the district, if not for broadcast reasons but for the official record, she was told no.
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Gritters Library will be the setting on Saturday for a community block party involving all the entities at Shaw Park.
What’s being called the Shaw Park Community Block Party takes place Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the library. (880 Shaw Park Drive).
The library, CobbWorks and Cobb PARKS programs will be highlighted, featuring music, activities, games, face-painting, bilingual storytime, a Bollywood Dance Challenge and special appearances from local partners and sponsors.
Admission is free and food will be available for purchase.
Also on Saturday, a back-to-school event of sorts takes place at the Cobb Civic Center (548 S. Marietta Parkway). It’s called Backing the Need, and it’s a joint effort from KIDS Care and Cobb Police (see our previous story) from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
New donations of school supplies and backpacks will be collected, and there also will be free recycling on-site.
On Friday and Saturday, Cobb PARKS is continuing its summer “Scene on the Green” entertainment series at The Art Place (3330 Sandy Plains Road) with a presentation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Admission is free, and showtimes start at 7 p.m. Seating is first-come, first-served, and you’re invited to bring chairs, blankets. Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase, courtesy of the Mountain View Arts Alliance.
A one-of-a-kind tabletop storytelling session based on the book “The Moldy Orange Bandage” is on tap for Saturday at Bookmiser (3822 Roswell Road).
The Tabletop Puppet Storytelling will be presented by professor Mark and Albalis Smith. The event is free and open to the public; you’re asked to register at this link.
Our full listings, for this weekend and beyond, can be found by clicking here.
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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!
An East Cobb teenager was arrested last week after Cobb Police said he tried to set fire to a gas station on Johnson Ferry Road.
According to an arrest warrant, Ian Robert Simmons, 18, threw a Molotov cocktail at the Shell station at 2898 Johnson Ferry Road on July 9.
The warrant said that the device melted a trash can and chair next to the station’s convenience store around 12:45 p.m. on July 9, and which also melted a curb on a sidewalk and caused black residue on the side of the building.
The warrant also said Simmons used a hammer to shatter the glass door of the building but did not indicate a motive for the attack.
According to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, Simmons, of a Lassiter Road address, was arrested at his residence several hours later and taken into custody.
He was charged with a felony count of arson and a felony count of second-degree criminal property damage. Booking reports show that Simmons was released from the Cobb Adult Detention Centeron July 11 on a $5,720 bond.
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!
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 Juvenile Court of Cobb County proudly announces that Adolphus Graves, Juvenile Court Administrator, has been honored with the prestigious Exemplary Leadership in Youth Justice Award from theNational Resource Center for the Transformation of Youth Justice. This national recognition celebrates his unwavering commitment to collaborative reform, innovation, and compassionate leadership within the youth justice system.
The Exemplary Leadership in Youth Justice Award recognizes a distinguished agency leader who goes beyond expectations to create inclusive, supportive environments where youth, families, and staff alike are empowered to thrive. Honorees are visionary changemakers—leaders who not only navigate the complexities of the justice system but actively transform it through accountability, advocacy, and forward-thinking solutions.
Mr. Graves exemplifies these ideals through more than two decades of leadership in the criminal justice arena. His distinguished career includes serving as Director of Probation Services, Chief of Staff, and Court Administrator across several Georgia jurisdictions. In his current role in Cobb County, Mr. Graves oversees all non-judicial operations, including fiscal management, strategic planning, and staff performance, guiding the court toward excellence through integrity and innovation.
A respected voice in the justice community, Mr. Graves serves on the Georgia Juvenile Justice State Advisory Group and is an active member of several national and state-level organizations, including the Juvenile Court Association of Georgia, National Association of Court Managers, American Probation and Parole Association, National Criminal Justice Association, and American Corrections Association. His work champions evidence-based practices, the promotion of governmental and community partnerships, and a steadfast dedication to enhancing outcomes for youth and families.
Mr. Graves holds a B.A. in Sociology from Morehouse College and an M.S. in Criminal Justice from Liberty University. Known for his humility, passion, and strategic insight, he continues to raise the standard for court administration and youth advocacy throughout the state and beyond.
“Adolphus represents the very best of what youth justice leadership should be,” said Presiding Judge Amber Patterson. “His vision and tireless dedication have impacted countless lives and helped shape a more compassionate and effective justice system.”
Outside of his professional achievements, Mr. Graves is a devoted husband and proud father of four. His work is a reflection of his deep personal commitment to creating a better future for all young people.
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 Georgia Department of Education has designated four elementary schools in East Cobb as recipients of its John Hancock Award.
The awards are given to schools “that demonstrate excellence in cursive instruction” at the elementary and middle school levels.
Powers Ferry Elementary School—whose students have received Golden Pen Awards from the Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K in recent years—was the lone Cobb County School District school to be named a John Hancock Banner and Ribbon of Distinction recipient for the 2024-25 school year.
Those schools have at least 90 percent of their students who can write both their name and the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution in cursive. A total of 93 schools in Georgia earned that designation, according to Georgia DOE.
The John Hancock Banner and Proficiency Ribbon recipients include Davis, Garrison Mill and Keheley elementary schools. At those schools, 90 percent of students can write their name in cursive, and they included 188 schools across the state.
The awards are designed to enhance state standards for English Language Arts, combining a mastery in handwriting with engaging with historical texts.
“As Georgia’s State School Superintendent and a former classroom teacher, I firmly believe learning cursive is more than just a writing skill – it’s a connection to history, critical thinking, and personal expression,” Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods said in a release.
“In an age of digital communication, the ability to read and write in cursive remains essential. Cursive writing builds cognitive connections that support literacy and learning across subjects. We’re committed to developing students who are not only college- and career-ready but also confident in their ability to read, write and think for themselves.”
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East Cobb resident Jenny Peterson is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against the Cobb County School District for a public comment scuffle in 2023.
The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday will hear a proposed policy that would allow the Cobb County School District to stop airing public comments from citizens on its meeting broadcasts.
According to an agenda item for Thursday’s meetings, “Public Participation in Board Meetings” provisions, and specifically, a subsection on broadcast policies, currently state that:
“Speakers should be aware that their public commentary may be broadcast live, filmed, photographed, or recorded by the District or others non-District media sources. The District may rebroadcast public commentary on COBB edTV or on the District or school websites. Any portion of the public commentary that is not in compliance with this Policy (such as prohibited in Section F. above) and/or applicable broadcast authority may be edited prior to broadcast.”
The proposed change would state the following:
“Speakers should be aware that their public commentary may be filmed, photographed, or recorded by the District or others.”
You can read the policy and proposed changes by clicking this link. The public comment period, which typically allows up to 30 minutes of speakers per meeting, would continue in person only.
The measure also would add “tortious” comments to those described as “slanderous, or defamatory . . . or other unsubstantiated claims about an identified or identifiable employee” that would be prohibited from being made by public commenters at the meetings.
That policy change proposal is among several put on the agenda by Superintendent Chris Ragsdale and to be presented to the board at a work session Thursday at 2 p.m., followed by possible voting action Thursday at 7 p.m.
East Cobb resident Michael Garza is a frequent critic of the Cobb school district and school board.
All meetings take place in the board room of the CCSD Central Office, at 514 Glover St. in Marietta. An executive session will follow the work session.
The Cobb school district has been airing its public school board meetings live on Comcast and Charter cable outlets and COBB edTV, its own livestreaming channel including comments from members of the public.
The district’s channel also archives past meetings for the public to view on replay.
In recent years some citizens have grown increasingly critical of Ragsdale and the Republican majority on the school board, which holds a 4-3 edge, and sometimes in blistering fashion.
The topics have included district finances related to its COVID response, racial and LGBT cultural issues, school safety plans, demands to change the name of Wheeler High School, removals of sexually explicit books from school libraries and complaints from parents of special education students.
At times, the meetings have been disrupted, either by speakers or attendees, some of whom have been ushered out of the meeting room. Among those incidents included a school board vote in 2022 to hire armed guards, which drew protests.
Other recent public commenters appearing before the school board include bus drivers complaining about safety issues and short staffing, and the head of the Cobb County Association of Educators citing allegations of leadership issues at an unnamed elementary school.
In another proposed change to be discussed Thursday, members of the public who “willfully and actually” disrupt meetings “so as to render the orderly conduct of the meeting unfeasible” could be barred from making public comments or attending meetings for “a specific period of time as allowed by law.”
The current policy ban is up to 60 days, but the district hasn’t taken any such action against commenters. The board has revised its policies to require that all people attending board meetings in person pass through a security screening area.
Tensions involving members of the public and district boiled over in September 2023, when school district officials changed the process for signing up for public comments at board meetings. That prompted a federal lawsuit that is still pending.
Critics complained that was meant to prevent them from speaking up. One of the plaintiffs, East Cobb resident Jenny Peterson, has been a frequent critic of Ragsdale and the Republican board members.
The Cobb school district has been airing live meetings, including public comments before a state law went into effect requiring public comments at all school board meeting statewide. But there are no provisions for whether those public comments must be aired.
JoEllen Smith
Last August, the district prohibited the airing of comments by JoEllen Smith, a resident of East Cobb, who was reading from sexually explicit books that had been removed.
The district said it was doing so due to federal regulations, and resumed airing after her two minutes were up.
During public comment periods, Ragsdale and school board members do not engage with speakers.
Critics have accused Ragsdale and the Republican board majority of being insensitive to their concerns over a period of years and don’t want the public to hear that.
On a school-related social media page Tuesday afternoon, parents were urged to contact board members, including vice chairman John Cristadoro of Post 5 in East Cobb, whom one poster said is a “swing vote,” but didn’t elaborate.
“We need to flood his inbox TODAY and urge him to vote NO on removing public comment from the broadcast,” the poster said.
“Tell John: Cobb families have a right to be heard—and seen. Don’t vote to silence us.”
East Cobb News has left a message with Cristadoro seeking comment.
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!
Three students from Walton High School and two from Wheeler High School have been named recipients of National Merit Scholarships.
Another East Cobb student attending a private school in Fulton County also is among those recipients.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation this week announced 800 more graduating seniors nationwide had been named recipients of scholarships provided by the colleges and universities of their choice.
Those awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study.
The local students, are listed with their high school, college choice and intended field of study:
Jaden Choi, Wheeler, Case Western Reserve University, biochemistry;
Prisha Dev, Wheeler, University of Georgia, medicine;
Chloe Jieun Park, Walton, Emory University, neuroscience;
Rishab Thiyagarajan, Walton, University of Georgia, industrial engineering;
Sophie Y. Wang, Fulton Science Academy, Emory University, public health;
Tiffany Yao, Walton, Emory University, business economics.
The NMSC said that more than 7,100 high school seniors graduating this year received scholarships totaling nearly $26 million.
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!
Following recent reports on changes within the administrative ranks at public schools in East Cobb are a few more new appointments for the coming 2025-26 Cobb County School District academic year.
According to minutes of the Cobb Board of Education’s June meeting, a number of appointments were made that were not announced in the open meeting. They involve the following individuals at schools in East Cobb:
Natasha Beemon, appointed assistant principal at Lassiter High School, from Sprayberry High School teacher, effective July 10;
James Case, appointed assistant principal at Walton High School, from Harrison High School teacher, effective July 10;
Ann Nemeck, appointed Wheeler High School assistant principal, from Sprayberry assistant principal, effective July 10;
Deanna Munlin, retirement from Wheeler assistant principal, effective July 1.
Ashley Taylor, appointed Addison Elementary School assistant principal, from Baker Elementary School teacher, effective July 10;
Jessica Sutton, appointed to Vaughn Elementary School assistant principal, from Mountain View Elementary School teacher, effective July 10;
Michael Williams, resignation from McCleskey Middle School assistant principal, effective June 9.
In May, the school board approved the appointments of new principals at Sprayberry, Wheeler and Mt. Bethel Elementary School.
New assistant principals previously were named at Bells Ferry, Sedalia Park and East Side elementary schools and Mabry and McCleskey middle schools.
More appointments could be announced at Thursday’s Cobb school board meetings.
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!
