We also broke the news of an Einstein Bros. bagel shop coming here soon—our readers love restaurant news!—and a real-time update about the long-term Lower Roswell Road traffic project that is already becoming a headache.
Judging from our traffic and engagement numbers, we’re giving you exactly what you come to East Cobb News to find out.
It’s local news that matters and we know how much this matters to you!
And as we noted last week, we’re seeking more financial support from readers, and we’re appreciative of those who have donated.
But after a few months of strong support earlier this year, we’re not getting that now. We don’t know if we can keep giving you this news for free.
This isn’t a step we’re taking lightly, and we don’t want to do it. We want local news to be accessible to all, but we’re considering some options to charge for access.
And as the school year ends and the summer begins, we’d like to ask you to take a moment today to consider making a donation if you haven’t already.
We’re suggesting a $6 monthly recurring donation as part of our 1500 Club plan to boost reader support. You can donate more if you like, but we think that’s a reasonable ask.
We know money can be tight and people are busy with their lives, but we remain hard at work no matter the time of year. The summer can be really busy, news-wise, and we’re not going to slow down if it does.
But readers love what we do! They tell us so! When we have good meaty news weeks like the last two, we get more newsletter subscribers and we have plenty of comment threads going on about some of these stories.
But we need readers to do more than just tell us what they like about East Cobb News. Here’s the time to show us that appreciation!
We have just a few dozen supporters, and we want to get to 1,500. That sounds like a high bar, but that 1,500 number is only a fraction of our newsletter subscribers, and an even smaller number of our overall readership.
I’m very proud of what we’ve built up here, from scratch, when so many news outlets have more name recognition and resources.
The truth is many news outlets rely on reader support to fund significant aspects of their news and business operations.
Soon I’ll be detailing how we use the contributions we receive from you, and to offer you incentives to contribute.
I’ve been doing a goodness-of-my-heart ask for a few months now, and it’s clearly not working. I blame myself for not being more proactive sooner about soliciting reader support. I haven’t been good at explaining what it takes to sustain a news site like this.
There is nowhere else to get this kind of news coverage, but we need your help. East Cobb News is community-driven, devoted to the people who live and work here, and who contribute to our daily lives.
For nearly eight years now, we’ve been giving you the local news you love, but we can’t sustain this on love alone. We’re not just a news source, but a small business. We keep our expenses to a minimum, but we do have costs, and some of them are rising.
If you have donated, thanks! If you haven’t and are ready to do so now, please click below. Our Press Patron platform is safe and secure and easy to use.
I wish for you all to have a great Memorial Day holiday weekend and a start to your summer, and we’ll come back with more details in June about how you can support East Cobb News.
Let us know what you think about all of this: e-mail me at wendy@eastcobbnews.com. I’m interested in hearing from you.
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 government spokesman said the new county website will look and function the same, “except for the last three letters!”
Recent ransomware attacks on the Cobb government website have prompted the county to move it to a more secure online location.
The county announced Monday that starting June 2, what had been cobbcounty.org. will be housed at cobbcounty.gov, “ensuring that county services remain secure, transparent, and easily accessible to the public.”
County Manager Jackie McMorris said in a county release Monday that the .gov domain—which is used by many federal, state and local government agencies—will enable Cobb to take “an important step to strengthen cybersecurity and enhance public confidence in our online services. Residents can trust that when they visit our website, they are accessing official government information and services.”
The .gov domains are reserved for verified government entities, “reducing the risk of fraud and phishing attacks,” the county release said, and also are prioritized in search engine results.
E-mail security also is beefed up at .gov, and official Cobb government addresses will use @cobbcounty.gov, “improving protection against phishing and spoofing.”
In addition to providing information about county agencies, the site allows citizens to view meeting agendas, conduct online library searches, register for recreation and arts classes and pay water and property tax bills.
Cobb government officials acknowledged a ransomware attack earlier this month, but aren’t commenting on reports that the website was hacked by a global cybercrime gang that’s taken down other government sites.
The county said it declined a third-party ransom demand following the March data breach, which it said affected 10 individuals, but didn’t elaborate on what data was stolen or compromised, and that the FBI has been notified, but didn’t indicate how that agency may be involved.
The county said on May 2 only that “Cobb County’s network is secure, and it remains safe to do business with us.”
Cobb said that its current website had more than 8 million visits in 2024 and that the old address will be accessible for a limited time and that citizens should update their bookmarks now.
The county also urged residents to use the @cobbcounty.gov e-mail address when contacting county agencies and employees “as soon as possible.”
Cobb spokesman Ross Cavitt said in response to a question from East Cobb News that “this does not require any significant capital expenses and has been an ongoing project in ITS [Information Technology Services] over the past year to implement the change. There is no budgetary impact requiring [Board of Commissioners] approval.”
He said the new site will look and will be organized just the same, “except for the last three letters!” Cavitt added that there will be a new website design coming later this year.
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 2025-26 academic year in the Cobb County School District comes to an end this week, and classes will be on an early release schedule Monday-Wednesday.
If you’re out and about during the lunch hour on those days, keep in mind the grade-level dismissal times as follows each day:
11:30 a.m.—high schools
12:30 p.m.—elementary schools
1:30 p.m.—middle schools
Graduation ceremonies start Monday and conclude on Saturday, with all six high schools in East Cobb holding commencement at the KSU Convocation Center:
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The Cortland Watermark complex off Roswell Road is in the Wheeler High School attendance zone, which has the highest number of apartments in the East Cobb area.
As far as broadsides go, this one was a doozy, even for him.
Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale has made a habit of making pointed commentary in recent months about a number of topics, especially school safety issues and sexually explicit materials in school libraries.
He typically has read from lengthy, prepared remarks, often with his critics in mind, anticipating their latest complaints against him, and responding in kind.
But at a Cobb Board of Education work session Thursday, he appeared to be seriously taken aback by numbers presented during a routine presentation of demographic trends as they may affect Cobb schools.
They were flashed on a screen by James Wilson, a former Cobb and Fulton superintendent who heads Education Planners, a private Marietta company that briefs the Cobb school board annually.
The figures that jumped out—that more apartment units have been approved in Cobb County since 2006 than any other jurisdiction in metro Atlanta—brought with it a torrent of sharp, unrehearsed retorts by Ragsdale.
Those numbers? A total of 20,671 multi-family units have been permitted in the last two decades in Cobb, just ahead of DeKalb County, and well above Gwinnett County, which has a population nearing one million, far bigger than Cobb’s roughly 775,000 inhabitants.
“I’ve never seen this kind of data,” Ragsdale interjected during the presentation. “That is more than disturbing . . . that is alarming.”
A slide presented by Education Planners to the Cobb school board showing metro Atlanta apartment permits since 2006.
He tore into the Cobb Board of Commissioners, accusing them of ignoring previous concerns the Cobb school district has had about the impact of high-density zoning, especially apartments.
Even though the school district has a representative attend zoning hearings, Ragsdale claimed that “there is absolutely no attention paid” and “we continue down this path with absolutely zero impact and zero attention and zero concern is being displayed at the approval of development.”
He mentioned the likely impact of such runaway multi-family growth, including split sessions, and referenced Florida, where he said there are high schools with seven thousand students or more.
“I don’t know how much we need to pull the big red switch or alarm, but this is seemingly status-quo now,” Ragsdale said of the commission’s alleged neglect about school impacts on their zoning decisions.
While Cobb school enrollment is expected to level out over the next few years, Ragsdale’s greater concern is rising transience in schools with growing numbers of apartments.
Those include most school attendance zones in South Cobb, in Smyrna-Cumberland-Vinings and the Town Center-KSU area as well around Wheeler High in East Cobb, where apartments abound and many schools are well over capacity.
“I’m afraid people have either poked their heads in the sand or just really don’t care. And, I’m afraid it’s the latter,” Chris Ragsdale said.
He said that an increase in this trend will “continue to have a detrimental impact on schools’ performance, whether they’re perceived or real.”
In addition, more than 300 units were approved last year in the city of Powder Springs, for a new apartment complex that will dramatically affect attendance in the McEachern zone, where single-family housing has been the rule.
On Friday afternoon, Cobb County government issued a brief statement from Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, inviting the Cobb school district and other “stakeholders” to discuss the matter at her meeting venue, next Wednesday.
“Rather than relying on public statements, I believe our residents benefit most from working together to examine the data and its context,” she said in the county statement. “Through open dialogue, we can reach shared understanding and develop solutions that support our schools, citizens, and students across Cobb County.”
Except that next Wednesday is right in the middle of Cobb graduation ceremonies, which run all week.
Surely she had to know that, right?
This is what happens when two entities don’t have any kind of working relationship at all. In fact, to say that there’s any relationship between the school district and the county would be a stretch.
This isn’t the first time Ragsdale has taken aim at the county, and especially the chairwoman. Two years ago, he blasted her for “derogatory comments” she made about the quality of schools in South Cobb, where she lives.
(Cupid previously home-schooled her two sons, who now attend Woodward Academy.)
She also hired Jennifer Susko, a former Cobb school counselor who is one of Ragsdale’s biggest public critics, for a short-term diversity role.
So there’s some friction there.
Ragsdale’s comments this week generated some heat on the usual social media channels, where his remarks were called classist, and even smacked of racism and fear-mongering.
There were parents, school advocates and even a prominent zoning attorney on one thread debating the merits and demerits of apartments, and that’s a valid subject worthy of examination at another time.
Education topics didn’t come up during Lisa Cupid’s State of the County address this week.
Ragsdale’s rhetorical shots this week certainly opened up that subject, and related topics about development, for wider scrutiny.
That’s why he should take up Cupid’s offer—not during graduation week, of course—because these conversations haven’t been happening.
Cobb’s reputation for attracting new residents largely because of the schools can be a double-edged sword. Ragsdale’s worried that too much of the wrong kind of growth will tarnish that track record, and that’s understandable.
But the reality is that Cobb continues to be a magnet, for schools, employment and other reasons, and demand for housing will not slow down because some schools don’t have room, or some have a lot of kids who live in apartments.
The Atlanta Regional Commission is projecting we’ll have a million people by 2050. Ragsdale knows that, and as the district enrollment projections revealed this week, most parts of the county will be fine. East Cobb has been on a flat line for some time now, and our schools are expected to remain that way.
Not only is there little room to build much of anything in this part of the county, what does come in is very limited.
Just a week or so ago, the new Evoq at East Cobb senior apartment complex had a grand opening, on what had been the former Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center. The initial plans were for 125 market-rate apartments for all ages, but those were nixed when Commissioner JoAnn Birrell opposed them, following community opposition (more than 100 townhomes are also being built there now).
Many of the new apartments being built across the county are one- and two-bedrooms, designed more for all-adult households than families. A good number of those are like Evoq, for renters 55 and older.
To say that there’s a blank check everywhere in the county on zoning isn’t accurate.
Neither are Ragsdale’s claims about large high schools in Florida, which following a quick check reveal only a few have more students than our biggest, at around 3,000 or so.
As for his complaints about his representatives being ignored at zoning meetings, well, I haven’t heard them say much of anything for months. School impacts are included in every residential case analyzed by the Cobb zoning staff.
Are Cobb school officials not being invited to speak, or have they just given up? Are they being dispatched to the meetings at all? The superintendent wasn’t clear about that.
Unlike Cupid, Ragsdale doesn’t have affordable housing issues to contend with. The median home price in Cobb is more than $500,000 now, and the median rent is creeping over $1,300. Many families can’t afford even that low-ball, one-bedroom rate.
The county’s well-paid consultant is methodically crafting a Unified Development Code that’s also generated complaints by commissioners who feel left out of the process.
Cupid recently began public meetings about the county’s strategic plan that might be strengthened by a better understanding of what the public schools mean to the community. Schools are mentioned nowhere in that document, in fact.
Nor did Cupid discuss school topics during her first State of the County address this week. But she’ll trot out another similar speech to the Cobb Chamber of Commerce next month.
There may not be time for a schools-county dialogue before then, but it needs to begin, and soon. Before the public, and with the kind of good faith effort that’s been absent for far too long.
You can listen to their most recent remarks below, but imagine that: Cupid and Ragsdale . . . in the same room, speaking to, and not at, or past, one another.
I’ll even bring the popcorn.
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Valedictorians Edward Yao of Walton and Mayson Smith of Kell. See photo gallery below for all of the vals and sals from East Cobb.
As graduation ceremonies take place next week, the Cobb County School District on Friday announced the Class of 2025 valedictorians and salutatorians.
Overall, the valedictorians in the Cobb school district combined for an average grade-point average of 4.712, with salutatorians at 4.668.
Walton valedictorian Edward Yao had the highest GPA of any student in the district, at 4.875.
A total of 22 of the vals and sals from the Cobb school district are headed to Georgia Tech, with others bound for UGA, Penn, Carnegie-Mellon, Emory and Rice.
What follows are the vals and sals from the six East Cobb high schools, their GPAs, college choices and intended majors. For the full list of vals and sals in the Cobb school district, click here.
Kell High School
Valedictorian— Mayson Smith, 4.719, Georgia Tech, aerospace engineering
Salutatorian—Austin Killebrew, 4.672, Georgia Tech, chemical engineering
Lassiter High School
Valedictorian—Obadiah Cao, 4.764, Carnegie-Mellon University, computer science
Salutatorian—Vikram Sharma, 4.762, undecided on school and field of study
Pope High School
Valedictorian—Lexie Gordon, 4.778, Georgia Tech, computer science
Salutatorian—Aanchal Acharya, 4.741, Georgia Tech, neuroscience
Sprayberry High School
Valedictorian—Grace Fuleihan, 4.754, Georgia Tech, neuroscience
Salutatorian—Cristian Lozano, 4.742, Georgia Tech, data science
Walton High School
Valedictorian—Edward Yao, 4.875, University of Pennsylvania, computer science
Salutatorian—Selina Huang, 4.837, Georgia Tech, biochemistry
Wheeler High School
Valedictorian—Declan Anthony Amerault, 4.773, Georgia Tech, mathematics
Salutatorians—Rohan Kalia, 4.742, Cal Tech, undecided; Jackson Thomas Benedict Frangos, 4.742, Rice University, mechanical engineering.
Click the middle button below to view the photo gallery.
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 Education on Thursday unanimously approved a $1.8 billion fiscal year 2026 budget that provides modest staff raises and maintains a propery tax rate of 18.7 mills.
The budget (which can be found at this link) includes borrowing $43 million from reserves and is based on projected 2.1 percent growth in the Cobb tax digest.
The raises, which are based on STEP increases, go up to 4.6 percent. The tax digest growth, which is less than recent years, wouldn’t fund those increases, Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said.
Board member Becky Sayler asked him if he’s “confident” the budget includes enough funding and resources to address staffing and equipment issues presented last week by the district’s fleet maintenance staff.
Among their complaints were that many school buses are old and pose safety hazards, and that they can’t fill open positions due to low pay.
“Yes, absolutely,” Ragsdale responded, adding that that those concerns have prompted an investigation that he said is “pretty restricted as to what can be discussed publicly.
“The transportation and our buses are in safe operating condition.”
Another line item in the budget involves funding an additional $950,000 for the district’s marketing and communications staff.
The matter came up during a board work session on Thursday afternoon when board member John Cristadoro of Post 5 in East Cobb, who owns a digital media company, asked how Cobb’s marketing dollars can best be used to promote the district to prospective new families.
“It’s my experience that you have to reach consumers where they’re at,” he said. “There’s so many different ways to consume content. There’s a lot of questions about where’s a million dollars going to go.”
John Floresta, the district’s chief strategy and accountability officer who oversees that unit, said that some of the additional money will allow Cobb to target and customize content down even to the school level.
“More content, about your kid’s school, delivered to parents’ inboxes and social media feeds,” Floresta said.
The communications operation has come under fire by some district critics, especially following a public comment scuffle before a September 2023 meeting that has led to a federal lawsuit.
At a public budget forum before Thursday night’s meeting, East Cobb resident Heather Tolley-Bauer of the Watching the Funds-Cobb watchdog group, asked why the extra money is needed, if “our quality speaks for itself and 98 percent of our teachers renewed their contracts?
“What story are we spending nearly $1 million more to tell? In a tight budget, where can that money be better spent?”
Thursday’s meetings were the last for Brad Johnson, the district’s chief financial officer, who is retiring next month.
He has been with the district since 1988, except for a brief stint with Atlanta schools before returning to Cobb.
As he presented the budget to the board for voting Thursday, the reserved Johnson was asked to make some final remarks by Ragsdale.
“I can honestly say I’ve never dreaded coming to work,” Johnson said. “I’m a little bit apprehensive about the future but I think it’s going to be good.”
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Let East Cobb News know what’s going on with your organization.
We want to be the go-to source for all the many ways people in East Cobb are enjoying the spring, and year round!
It’s what we call The Power of Local, and we’d love for you to take part!
Pass along your details/photos/videos/information to: editor@eastcobbnews.com, and please observe the following guidelines to ensure we get everything properly and can post it promptly.
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.
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The Cobb County School District announced a number of new principal assignments Thursday for the next school year, including several at East Cobb schools.
They include Wheeler High School, where Paul Gillihan is leaving after six years, having been reassigned to principal at Campbell High School.
The Campbell principal, Vanessa Watkins, was named principal at Betty Gray Middle School.
Gillihan will be replaced at Wheeler by Sara Fetterman, the principal at Sprayberry High School. Her successor at Sprayberry is David Church, the principal at Simpson Middle School.
The new Simpson principal is Cory Stanley, the principal at McClure Middle School.
Mt. Bethel Elementary School also will be getting a new principal in August, following the retirement of Tucker Smith. She is Michelle Gillham, who has been an assistant principal at Addison Elementary School.
The Cobb Board of Education formally approved those and other moves by a 7-0 vote at a voting meeting Thursday night.
The appointments of the principals in their new roles will become effective on July 1, when the fiscal year 2026 begins.
The Cobb school district’s 2025-26 academic year begins Aug. 1.
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Upcoming Walton High School graduates are celebrated by the Princeton Lake subdivision.
The Cobb County School District is holding 2025 commencement exercises all next week, and the six high schools in East Cobb will be holding their ceremonies at the KSU Convocation Center (590 Cobb Ave., Kennesaw).
Here are the commencement details for high schools in East Cobb:
Sprayberry: Tuesday, May 20, 3:30 p.m. at KSU
Kell: Wednesday, May 21, 3:30 p.m. at KSU
Lassiter: Wednesday, May 21, 7:30 p.m. at KSU
Walton: Thursday, May 22, 2:30 p.m. at KSU
Pope: Friday, May 23, 10 a.m. at KSU
Wheeler: Saturday, May 24, 2:30 p.m. at KSU
The district will live-stream each of the ceremonies (link here with full schedule), but they will not be available for playback. Instead, DVD and USB drive recordings can be purchased for $30 or $35 each, respectively (ordering link here).
Currently the multi-direction turn lane on Lower Roswell Road, just east of the Johnson Ferry intersection, is closed as work crews are on the scene.
They’re directing traffic in multiple directions, including vehicles turning eastbound out of the businesses along the north side of Lower Roswell.
That turn lane will be converted to a median between Johnson Ferry and Davidson Road as a major component of the project, as Cobb DOT said it is essential to improving safety in the corridor.
The median was the subject of concern from some of those business owners as well as the public.
Also, if you’re heading southbound on Johnson Ferry and attempting to turn left (eastbound) on Lower Roswell, one of the two turn lanes is closed for the time being.
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The 35th rendering of the Marietta Greek Festival starts Friday afternoon and goes through Sunday afternoon at Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church (3431 Trickum Road). Parking is free, including the satellite lots at Simpson MS and the Church of Latter-Day Saints, with site transportation provided by complimentary shuttle bus.
A wide range of homemade Greek foods, music, dancing, church tours and atmosphere about in this venerable community celebration of Greek culture.
The Taverna offers adults the opportunity to quench their thirst with Greek wine, beer, and liqueur, while the Greek Street Food tent offers delightful portable food options. Be sure to take a guided tour of the Byzantine style sanctuary to see the beautiful iconography and learn more about the Orthodox faith.
Admission is $5 and children under 12 are free. This year the festival is offering special online ticket packages that include free admission, as well as other substantial coupon deals.The festival also donates a portion of its proceeds to local charities.
On Saturday, the Atlanta-based choral ensemble Coro Vocati will be concert starting at 7 p.m. at St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church (571 Holt Road). The theme is “Two Rivers,” and features eight pairs of songs–including both choral classics and new, less discovered work that serve as a study of the contrasts found within the life experience.
Tickets are $12 for students at $20 for adults and can be purchased by clicking here.
Sunday is the final concert in the Music in the Park spring series at East Cobb Park (3322 Roswell Road). The musical guests are the Dark Star Brothers Band (formerly Men in Blues), who perform blues, folk, Americana, country, pop and rock tunes with some jazz infusion.
Presented by Wellstar, East Cobb Rotary and Frameworks gallery, the concert is from 4-6 in the back concert shell and is free to the public. You can bring food, a blanket and chairs to enjoy.
The fall Music in the Park begins after Labor Day.
Send us your event news!
If your organization or entity is holding an event that’s open to the public, please send East Cobb News your information and we’ll be glad to post it!
This can include festivals, pumpkin patches, Thanksgiving activities, holiday concerts, Christmas tree and Menorah lightings, New Year’s celebrations and fundraisers.
Pass along your details to: editor@eastcobbnews.com, and please observe the following guidelines to ensure we get everything properly and can post it promptly.
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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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 Cobb Board of Education will hold a final public hearing Thursday before being asked to adopt the fiscal year 2026 budget.
The Cobb County School District has proposed a budget of $1.8 billion that holds the line on the property tax rate and provides modest pay raises.
The budget public hearing starts at 6:30 p.m., and the board’s monthly voting meeting, which includes tentative budget adoption, starts at 7 p.m.
(The budget proposal can be found at this link that includes general fund and other funding source breakdowns.)
The board also will hold a work session starting at 2 p.m. Thursday.
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.
Last month the school board tentatively adopted the budget proposal that includes raises up to 4.6 percent for eligible employees and maintains a propery tax rate of 18.7 mills.
The budget proposal includes using $43 million in reserve funding to help balance the budget, with the property tax rate holding steady at 18.7 mills for the third year in a row. The district has a fund balance of $198 million.
“It’s not a great budget, but it’s far from gloom and doom,” Cobb Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said.
But he said there are “storm clouds” possible beyond the coming academic year.
The Cobb property tax digest is projected to grow only by two percent in 2025, lower than in recent years.
Among the personnel changes in the proposed budget is shifting 57 school-leaving interventionist positions to fill classroom vacancies.
The interventionists help detect possible learning issues, but Ragsdale said their work will continue, just in different fashion.
Another 68 teachers who had been on special assignment will be also redirected to classroom teaching positions.
The Cobb school district’s fiscal year runs from July 1-June 30.
Also on Thursday, the school board will get and update at the work session on county demographics that affect long-term enrollment planning.
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Mt. Bethel Christian Academy is proud to welcome Jill Hunt as the school’s new Head of Lower School. Ms. Hunt comes to MBCA from Lipscomb Academy, a 2-year-old through 12th grade school in Nashville, Tennessee, where she has been serving as the Head of Lower School. She brings 16 years of experience in education, including 11 years in leadership roles where she has guided schools to the highest distinctions in achievement, growth, and culture.
Ms. Hunt has served as assistant principal and principal in the Williamson and Hickman County public school systems and has taught kindergarten and first grade. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Child and Family Studies & Education and a Master’s in Education Administration.
A passionate and student-centered leader, Ms. Hunt makes all decisions with one priority in mind: what is best for students. “I believe school should be a joyful and safe place where children are challenged to meet their limitless potential,” she shares. “It should be a place where academic excellence and spiritual growth go hand-in-hand.”
She has expressed her desire to serve and inspire, seeking to make school “a child’s happy place” where they grow academically and are “equipped to understand Biblical principles,” where “staff members feel valued…and make a meaningful impact on the world.” Jill has been seeking a “both-and” school—one fully committed to both academic excellence and spiritual development—and she is thrilled to have found that at MBCA.
Jill is a mother of three, two of whom will attend MBCA in the fall, with a future Eagle joining in a year. She lives by the Golden Rule: “Treat people the way you want to be treated,” a principle that deeply shapes her leadership style and relationships within the school community.
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“I don’t think it’s the role of government to do this,” Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said.
On a party-line vote Tuesday, the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved spending $108,000 for the MUST Ministries summer cooling center.
The vote was 3-2, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
The item was on the board’s consent agenda, but was moved to the regular agenda for the purposes of having a discussion.
GOP commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Keli Gambrill said they weren’t opposed to the cooling center, but said the county shouldn’t be funding charities.
“I don’t think it’s the role of government to do this,” Birrell said. “We do it for one [non-profit], we get a lot of requests from others. I would like to revisit this if it’s going to be in the budget this year.”
This will be the second year in a row that Cobb is directly providing funding to MUST for the cooling center, which is open to the homeless when temperatures exceed 90 degrees during daytime hours.
Likewise, Cobb has funded MUST operations for heating assistance during the winter. The funds have come from a $500,000 allotment to the Cobb Emergency Management Agency.
According to an agenda item (you can read it here), $40,000 of the cooling center funding is earmarked for families to stay in hotels “to ensure they stay together.”
Another $25,000 is to go for additional security at the MUST Hope House venue at 1297 Bells Ferry Road, with the rest to provide additional food, cleaning supplies, staffing and transportation from South Cobb (you can read the agreement here).
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, a Democrat, said there is “misinformation” being spread about Cobb funding charities, said “this is an initiative of the county, and not of MUST.
“We’ve had conversations with a number of partners because of concerns about people being outside during extreme temperatures,” she said. “It’s not necessarily to fund MUST operations, but they’re coming in and asking us to partner.”
She said the amount of effort to place homeless people in county facilities in the winter and summer was overwhelming, and that “MUST was able to step up.”
Marietta resident Christine Rozman, a frequent speaker at board public comment sessions, said before the vote: “We shouldn’t be paying for charities.”
Gambrill said that she’s “heard a lot of discussions today about grants and conversations, but I was never included in these conversations and that is why I don’t support this.
“It’s not that I don’t support helping people in need, but we are essentially giving MUST a heads-up over other non-profit agencies which as a government we should not be doing. We should be treating them all equally.”
Cupid said she has had “multiple meetings” with members of Cobb faith communities who have expressed concerns about how to care for the homeless during extreme weather situations and “that helps us in determining that this was something we wanted to do.”
Cobb EMA director Cassie Mazloom said that MUST offers security, “which is so important” and that it “makes it a more pleasant atmosphere and a more safe atmosphere for everyone.”
Tuesday’s meeting was the first for District 2 Commissioner Erick Allen, a Democrat and former Georgia legislator, who last month won a special election to serve the area that includes most the Cumberland-Smyrna area and along the I-75 corridor.
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East Cobb will be getting a Einstein Bros. Bagel location soon.
Renovations are getting underway at a space at Providence Square Shopping Center (4101 Roswell Road, Suite 801), between Sprouts and Mattress Firm.
The store’s website says it’s open, but when we went by on Monday, there was only a branded “coming soon” sign and the start of filling out of the interior.
In response to a message from East Cobb News, Gabe Washburn, a public relations representative for Einstein Bros., said that “I don’t have a hard opening date quite yet, but we are hoping to be open early summer.”
This will be the second Einstein Bros. in Cobb County (along with another on Barrett Parkway) and 22nd in metro Atlanta.
In addition to bagel items, Einstein Bros. serves up bagel-based breakfast and lunch sandwiches. The company began in 1995 by Boston Chicken and was purchased along with Caribou Coffee by Panera Breads in 2021.
The fruit-bowl shop chain Playa Bowls will be entering the East Cobb market soon.
The 11-year-old New Jersey-based company will be occupying space at Woodlawn Square Shopping Center formerly held by Clean Juice (1255 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 124).
Playa Bowls serves a menu of açaí, pitaya, coconut bowls and smoothies, inspired by surf locations in the U.S. and Central America.
The chain has more than 300 locations, including eight in Georgia. The East Cobb store will be the first in Cobb County.
Clean Juice did not announce a closing, but the Woodlawn Square shop’s location is no longer listed on the company website. Its most recent social media posting was in early April.
Following up the Taste of East Cobb, here are some of the honorees as chosen by attendees:
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Cobb County Public Library invites the community to its annual Summer Reading Kickoff Party, a celebration of books, community, and summertime fun, on Saturday, June 7, 2025, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM at Switzer Library, conveniently located near the Marietta Square at 266 Roswell St. NE, Marietta, GA 30060.
Last year’s kickoff event drew over 1,400 attendees and featured the memorable debut of the library’s new mascot, Rita Book, whose name was selected from over 200 imaginative submissions from the community.
This year’s event promises even more excitement with the theme “Color Our World,” encouraging readers of all ages to explore the diverse world of stories, cultures, and ideas that make our lives richer. Families can anticipate engaging craft stations for all ages, lively music from the in-house DJ, interactive activities, opportunities to win exciting prizes, and photo opportunities with beloved mascots Rita Book and Dewey.
“Our Summer Reading Program reflects months of careful planning, typically starting six to seven months in advance, all to ensure it provides meaningful and fun experiences for readers of all ages right here in Cobb County, a go-to destination for family fun,” states Slone Williams, Community and User Engagement Division Manager. “With over 400,000 library cardholders, we are dedicated to creating a program that is both inclusive and enjoyable for every family in our community. We extend our sincere gratitude to our numerous community partners, county departments, and the Cobb Library Foundation, whose ongoing support makes this vital initiative possible year after year.”
The community is encouraged to register for the summer reading challenge at cobbcat.org/summer or sign up at any library branch to begin logging their reading, earning rewards, and participating in the many engaging programs scheduled throughout June and July.
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The Cobb Chamber of Commerce named The Music Studio Atlanta the 2025 Woman-Owned Business of the Year and a Top 25 Small Business of the Year for its remarkable innovation, sound approach to organizational challenges and positive impact on the community. This is the third year in a row The Music Studio has been named a Top 25 Small Business of the Year.
The 2025 Woman-Owned Business of the Year award recognizes a small business that has attained outstanding business achievement and exemplifies the significant contributions made by women-owned businesses in the county. The Cobb Chamber awarded The Music Studio with both of these awards at their May Marquee Monday breakfast at the Coca-Cola Roxy.
“We are incredibly honored and thankful to receive both of these awards from the Cobb Chamber,” says Cecilia Rowe, owner and founder of The Music Studio. “For more than 30 years, we’ve remained dedicated to delivering the highest quality music instruction. I believe it’s the unique blend of exceptional teachers, our proprietary rewards-based curriculum, and our longstanding experience that has brought us to this moment of recognition.”
“We are proud to honor The Music Studio Atlanta as the 2025 Woman-Owned Business of the Year Award winner, a testament of the innovation and drive that defines Cobb County’s business community,” said Sharon Mason, President and CEO of the Cobb Chamber.
To be considered for the Cobb Chamber’s Small Business of the Year awards, each hopeful submits an application to the Cobb Chamber. The applicants must provide key factors contributing to the company’s success, provide examples of innovation, discuss adversity and challenges, and thoroughly detail their community involvement. Applications are analyzed and considered by a group of independent community business leaders and affiliates of the Small Business Administration.
The 2025 Small Business of the Year Award is sponsored by LOUD Security Systems, Inc. and S.A. White Oil Company.
About The Music Studio Atlanta The Music Studio Atlanta opened in 2011 growing out of Courtnay & Rowe In-Home Music Academy and continuing a 30+ year tradition of offering quality music lessons to thousands of Atlanta students, of all ages and levels. With locations in Vinings and East Cobb, this multi-award winning studio offers lessons in piano, voice, guitar, drums, strings, woodwinds and preschool music, 7 days a week and employs a large roster of top-notch teachers and support staff.
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Over the weekend we published stories that resonated with our readers—the apparently permanent closing of a favorite restaurant in the East Cobb area, and the story of a local couple being detained by immigration authorities after living here for many years.
We saw it not only in the traffic numbers, but in the conversations they generated, and we’ll be following up both stories as more developments arise in both of them.
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