The visit included discussions with district and school leaders, followed by a tour of Walton’s robotics facility, where students showcased the impact of expanded STEM opportunities.
Here’s more from the Cobb County School District, which also submitted the photos:
Through support from the Caterpillar Foundation and PLTW, Cobb Schools has brought computer science education to all middle schools, creating a strong foundation for advanced STEM learning in high school.
“The Caterpillar Foundation focuses on workforce readiness, and partnerships like Project Lead the Way help us bring advanced manufacturing and digital technology opportunities to students across the country,” said Caterpillar Foundation President Asha Varghese.
Walton students say the program’s hands-on learning and mentorship have strengthened their engineering, teamwork, and problem-solving skills, helping them succeed in competitive robotics.
“We can’t just hope students are prepared—we have to work together to make sure they are,” said Dr. David Dimmett, President and CEO of PLTW. “The students we met today are well on their way to future success.”
The partnership continues to strengthen STEM education across Cobb Schools, equipping students with the skills needed for college, careers, and the workforce of tomorrow.
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The Cobb County School District on Tuesday said it has filed a lawsuit against Cobb County government for what it calls “a money-grab” over administrative fees levied to collect property and sales taxes for schools.
Cobb board of educcation vice chairman David Chastain
In a press release issued Tuesday morning, the district said that over the last 15 years, it has been billed more than $130 million in administrative fees to collect property taxes that are then turned over to the school district.
This year, that total is $13 million, and the district claimed in the release for fiscal year 2027—which begins on July 1—the county is charging the district $20 million.
That’s due to an increase in what the county charges the school district in those collection fees, from 1.6 percent to 2.5 percent of the total taxes collected—from property taxes and Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Taxes (SPLOST).
“This lawsuit is about the hundreds of teachers and thousands of students who would be affected. Every Cobb homeowner, business owner, parent, grandparent, and student benefits from a strong public education,” Cobb Board of Education vice chairman David Chastain of Post 4 in Northeast Cobb said in the district release.
“The Commission is trying to take millions of dollars from our classrooms for a tax increase, disguised as ‘administrative fees.’ Cobb’s parents want smaller class sizes, not more ‘fees.’ ”
The district’s press release—which didn’t state an author’s name—alleges that the county is guilty of “a money-grab, from classrooms, for absolutely no reason, other than the presumed hope of ending the senior school tax exemption or forcing a tax increase on Cobb homeowners. Both of which are strongly opposed by the District.”
The lawsuit, which was filed in Cobb Superior Court, named Cobb County and Cobb Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson as defendants. (You can read the lawsuit by clicking here.)
But the ire of the district’s statements, and claims in the lawsuit, are aimed at the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
“The collection fee is both unreasonable and unlawful. No reasonable person would believe the County incurs over $20,000,000 in annual expenses just to collect school taxes,” the district lawsuit states.
“And more importantly, the County lacks legal authority to charge the collection fee in the first instance.”
The lawsuit states that a 2011 Georgia law, Local Act 240, requires a county tax commissioner “to remit all educational taxes collected to the Cobb County Board of Education without charging a collection fee.
“But the County has unilaterally decided that Local Act 240 is invalid and has refused to comply with its mandate.”
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid
The lawsuit further states that Cobb improperly adopted a home rule ordinance from 2011-2021 to circumvent the new law and “unlawfully” charged the school district a 1.6 percent collection fee, even after that provision expired.
Since then, the lawsuit alleges, the school district’s fees have increased from $9.4 million in fiscal 2022 to the present $13 million.
“Despite receiving more than $130,000,000 in collection fees since 2011, the County remains unsatisfied,” the lawsuit states.
A discussion between the school district and the county over the fees was to have taken place in February, with the county seeking an increase in the tax-collection fee to 2.5 percent, according to the lawsuit.
But the the lawsuit said that Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, who asked for the meeting with school district leaders, tabled that discussion, saying it was premature, and no further talks were held on the subject.
On May 29, the lawsuit states, Cupid sent a letter to Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale and school board chairman Randy Scamihorn saying that Cobb would be imposing a 2.5 percent collection fee for school taxes, starting on July 1.
In that letter, which is included in the school district’s legal findings (you can read it here), Cupid wrote that there “is no valid legal local legislation designating a commission rate for the collection of school taxes. Without such local legislation, the state law rate of 2.5 percent is applicable.”
Cupid concluded her letter by saying that “there has been no further discussion on this issue since the February meeting and, as Cobb County enters its budget process, it is appropriate to make the change.”
The district’s lawsuit states that “over the next five years, the proposed increase would allow the Board of Commissioners to charge over $100,000,000 in fees for collecting school taxes.”
Cobb government spokeswoman Shelly Weidner told East Cobb News that county officials are reviewing the lawsuit with legal counsel and issued the following statement:
“The County’s position regarding the school tax collection commission was outlined in the May 29 letter provided to the School District and referenced in the lawsuit. This matter involves the interpretation and application of state law governing the collection of school taxes, and we believe it is appropriate for the courts to provide clarity on the issue.
“Because this matter is now pending litigation, we will have no further comment on the specifics of the case at this time.”
The Cobb school district said the $130 million sum it’s paid in property-tax collection fees since 2011 could go to fund the salaries and benefits of 130 teachers.
“Our bottom line is simple: Cobb’s students are already funded less than their peers in most neighboring counties,” the district statement said.
“We will protect the investment parents and grandparents have made to live and raise their families in Cobb.”
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The Cobb County School District had announced that McCleskey Middle School in East Cobb has a new principal.
She is veteran educator Dr. Tonya Polk, who most recently has been an assistant principal at Sprayberry High School.
Her appointment was ratified by the Cobb County Board of Education Thursday night after an executive session.
Polk, whose appointment is effective July 1, succeeds Dr. Andrea Jenkins-Mann, who was reassigned to principal at Cobb Horizon School, an alternative high school program.
Jenkins-Mann had been at McCleskey since 2017.
Several other schools in East Cobb will be getting new principals in the 2026-27 school year that begins Aug. 1.
They include Dr. Kristi Lankford at Timber Ridge Elementary School, Dr. Christina Moll at Addison Elementary School and Lauren Rabil at Kincaid Elementary School.
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Arianna Mukherji, a graduate of Lassiter High School, has been awarded a Stamps Scholarship at the Georgia Institute of Technology, earning one of the nation’s most prestigious merit scholarships for undergraduate students.
Selected through a highly competitive process, Stamps Scholars are recognized for exceptional academic achievement, leadership, initiative, and service. Stamps Scholarships are awarded in partnership with leading universities and typically cover up to the full cost of attendance for undergraduate or, in select cases, graduate study. In addition, Scholars receive dedicated enrichment funding to pursue opportunities such as research, study abroad, internships, leadership development, conference participation, and independent projects around the world.
At the Georgia Institute of Technology, Mukherji plans to study Business Administration.
During high school, Mukherji demonstrated a strong commitment to leadership, business, civic engagement, and community service. She served as President of Lassiter High School’s Student Council and DECA chapter, leading initiatives that increased student involvement, expanded membership, and strengthened the school community.
Through DECA, she helped organize fundraisers supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month and WAGR syndrome advocacy efforts, raising funds and awareness for important causes. As a leader in Student Council and the Lassiter President’s Club, she also helped coordinate Paws for Life, a schoolwide fundraiser that raised approximately $1,200 to support service and therapy animals.
Through internships with Cobb Collaborative’s Vote Your Voice Initiative and Lassiter’s Business and Entrepreneurship Program, she gained experience in civic outreach, digital marketing, data analysis, and strategic communications. Mukherji also worked as an after-school supervisor and tutor, mentoring younger students at Moohan Martial Arts.
Additionally, she was selected as a finalist for Georgia’s Governor’s Honors Program in Social Studies, where she collaborated on research and presented innovative solutions to environmental challenges posed by AI data centers.
The Stamps Scholars Program recently announced its 21st class of Scholars and will welcome 393 students from 34 partner institutions across the United States this fall. Selected from a pool of approximately 655,000 applicants, these Scholars join a network of more than 4,400 current Scholars and alumni connected across 53 partner institutions nationwide and into the UK.
Founded in 2006 by E. Roe Stamps and his late wife, Penny, the Stamps Scholars Program partners with leading universities to support students with extraordinary academic talent, leadership potential, and a commitment to making a meaningful impact in their communities and beyond. In addition to scholarship support, Stamps Scholars gain access to a national network of peers, mentors, leadership experiences, research opportunities, and enrichment programs designed to help them reach their biggest goals.
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When the 2026-27 school year begins, Pope High School will be having a special event to greet more than a new academic year.
The 40th anniversary year of Pope High School also will be recognized during the coming months, starting with a “Popefest” celebration on Aug. 14.
Tickets have been on sale since late May for the event at the school’s Matt Hobby Field (30o1 Hembree Road), and they start at $10 for general admission and $75 for what’s called the “VIP experience.” That’s for adults ages 19 and older.
Students and staff will have free admission, and parking costs $10 per vehicle.
The evening will feature, food, music, VIP hospitality, an artisan market and fireworks at the end of it all.
In the weeks leading up to the event, the Pope staff is seeking nominations for “40 Distinguished Greyhounds” who will also be introduced and honored. You can nominate someone by clicking here; the deadline is July 10.
Alan C. Pope High School opened in 1987, as East Cobb was continuing rapid suburban growth. In 1981, Lassiter High School opened, following Walton in 1975.
Pope is named after a former Walton High School teacher who grew up in what is now East Cobb, attending Sprayberry High School, where he was a star athlete and student.
He was killed in a car accident four years after returning to Cobb County to become a teacher.
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Javier Soto, a student at Walton High School who competes in the Legends Auto Racing tour, is a recipient of a 2026 Georgia Positive Athlete Award.
Soto was among the 31 honorees recently at the Georgia state capitol, and was named the winner of the boys alternative category.
The awards are given to high school student-athletes for their “leadership, resilience, and community impact.”
Recipients are nominated by coaches and school administrators who demonstrate positive values, including optimism, encouragement, respect and who are committed to service.
More than 5,000 students were nominated from more than 400 high schools in Georgia. Allatoona High School received the Most Positive High School award. Allatoona’s Avery Shoplock was honored in the girls’ soccer category.
Soto, who is a rising junior at Walton, has been successful on the track, earning several wins and podium appearances,” according to a release from the Cobb County School District, “but it may have been his willingness to mentor younger drivers that put him in the spotlight for Positive Athlete.
“Javi always has such a positive and optimistic approach and outlook toward each event,” said his coach, mentor, and crew chief, Andy James, who nominated Javier.
“He doesn’t have the best equipment, but he doesn’t let that change his mindset on the outcome of the race. Many times, he has outperformed his competitors that have bigger budgets and better equipment, but even when he doesn’t, he maintains a positive attitude.”
The Legends Auto Racing tour features vehicles modeled on the vintage American styles of the 1930s and 1940s. Soto also competes in the INEX Racing Series.
Soto also races for Podium Motorsports, which James owns.
He has competed in over 150 races and currently has 10 wins and more in the Top 5 and Top 10 of races he’s entered.
“This recognition speaks volumes about the culture that exists throughout Cobb County School District athletics,” Don Baker, the district’s athletics director, said in the release.
Javier Soto and former UGA football star Champ Bailey at the Georgia Positive Athlete awards.
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That’s the world’s largest international pre-college STEM competition, and Lee qualified from the Cobb/Paulding County Regional Science and Engineering Fair.
Lee titled her project “Glucotoxicity in Regeneration: Modeling Hyperglycemia-Induced Repair Failure in Schmidtea mediterranea,” and it “investigated how elevated glucose levels affect tissue regeneration using planaria as a model organism to better understand impaired wound healing. The project was conducted through research at Kennesaw State University under the mentorship of Dr. Varholick.”
Lee’s project also received the Regeneron Biomedical Science Award and was recognized as a runner-up in the Georgia BioGENEius Challenge.
“I was honored to represent our community and compete alongside students from around the world,” Lee tells us, and if you’re interested to learn more about the project, here’s a link with all that information.
Send Us Your News!
Let East Cobb News know what’s going on with your organization, or about any recognitions, to share with the community. We love to get photos and stories like the above, as well as calendar event listings and more.
We want to be the go-to source for all the many ways people in East Cobb are involved in the community.
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: [email protected], 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, but d0 send them as attachments to your email.
Of course, send us links that are relevant to your message so we can direct people to your website.
Thanks for your cooperation and we look forward to 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!
Eight recently graduated high school students from East Cobb are the latest recipients of college aid from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
The NMSC students announced on Wednesday more than 2,500 nationwide recipients of scholarships from the college or university of the student’s choice.
According to a release, “these awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.
“This year, 138 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 69 private and 69 public institutions located in 42 states and the District of Columbia.”
The students were chosen based on a variety of factors, including SAT and other test scores, a writing essay, and extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions.
“Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance,” the release said.
The NMSC, a not-for-profit organization, has conducted the National Merit Scholarship Program since 1955.
What f0llows is the name of the student and high school, college choice, and intended field of study.
Nathan Cole Lawson, Wheeler: University of Alabama, mechanical engineering
Carter Kopp, Lassiter: Vanderbilt Univerity, orthopedics
John Mackay Leith,Wheeler: University of Georgia, software engineering
Ameen H. Sayeed, Walton: University of Georgia, business
Aubrey Seay, Walton: Texas A & M University, industrial engineering
Riley J. Sullivan,Lassiter: Vanderbilt University, engineering
Vishruthi Thiyagarajan, Walton: University of Texas at Dallas, materials science
Jacob Podolski, Campbell: University of Georgia, public policy
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East Cobb Middle School had perfect inspection scores, like many school cafeterias do.
The 2025-26 school year is in the books, and the Cobb County School District and local private schools have been noting their academic, athletic and other success metrics.
Some of the most impressive numbers they racked up are health inspection reports at their cafeterias, which almost always result in scores of 100.
As we noted in the below compilations, public and private school cafeterias got nothing less than scores of “A” and that’s been routine for a number of years, and not just Cobb County.
Given the struggles of some well-known East Cobb restaurants to get high or even passing scores, East Cobb News recently asked Cobb and Douglas Health about the disparities.
That’s the local inspecting agency under the Georgia Department of Health, and in addition to commercial restaurants, their inspectors visit school cafeterias, as well as food vendors at Truist Park, Whitewater, Six Flags and community pools and clubhouses that have food service.
The specific question we had for the health inspectors about the school cafeterias is if they are inspected the same way and—no pun intended—if they’re graded on a curve.
Christopher Hutcheson, the Cobb and Douglas Public Health Director of Environmental Health, told us that the school cafeterias go through the same inspection process as everyone else:
“The school systems put a lot of effort into training their staff, and their cafeteria managers are focused on proper food handling and cleanliness at the individual school level. That’s not to say that there aren’t a lot of restaurants in Cobb that operate at the same level as schools, but we see more consistency with schools as a group.”
Like the commercial restaurants, the school cafeterias are inspected typically twice a year, with some exceptions. Here’s what we put together; click the links to view the inspection reports for school cafeterias in the past year.
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Having a Sunday night graduation ceremony in the middle of major storm didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of Sprayberry High School’s Class of 2026.
One senior even clicked his heels in mid-air after jumping with joy upon getting his diploma.
As the rain pounded the ceiling of the KSU Convocation Center, Sprayberry seniors concluded the Cobb County School District’s commencement schedule with a considerable list of accomplishments.
More than 200 of them had grade-point averages of 3.5 or higher, and 143 took part in dual enrollment programs for college credits. Nearly 200 will be heading to four-year college programs soon.
Sprayberry also had one of the single-highest GPAs in Cobb in valedictorian Payton Pace, whose 4.813 total was third in the entire school district.
Yellow Jackets athletes also stood out in the district, with 37 signing college scholarship offiers—the most of any school in the county.
“These are representative of more than trophies and titles,” principal David Church said. “They represent commitment, discipline and the courage to pursue excellence.”
But he told Sprayberry seniors that they should get accustomed to regarding their legacy, and their lives to this point, as unfinished—in a good way.
He noted that’s the theme of this year’s Sprayberry yearbook, and for a compelling reason.
“Unfinished is a great way to describe where you are right now,” he said. “It’s just the beginning of your story.
“It’s proof that your life is not something that you ever finish. It’s something that you continuously build, revise and grow into.”
Pace’s academic journey is a prime example.
Homeschooled until the sixth grade, Pace told her classmates that she came to Sprayberry as a freshman four years ago lacking confidence and doubted she could aspire to her dreams.
“But fear has a funny way of either stopping you or pushing you,” said Pace, who will be enrolling at Emory University. “And for me, it pushed. So I worked a lot.
“Success is rarely about being naturally talented. It’s about commitment. It’s about deciding what matters to you and continuing to show up for it, even when it’s difficult.”
Church said that “the most meaningful lives are not the ones that are perfectly finished. They are the ones that are courageously unfinished.”
Pace added that the only way to pursue such a life is to embark upon it without reservation.
“You have to be willing to work for the life that you want,” she said. “Chase the thing that excites you, even if it scares you. Because fear will tell you all of the reasons why you shouldn’t do something.
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On Sunday afternoon 631 seniors at Walton High School received their diplomas, and they were reminded of the many people who helped them get there.
Almost all of those seniors are college-bound, accounting for more than $20 million in scholarship funding outside of the HOPE program. There are 24 National Merit Scholarship finalists from Walton at a school that teachers and students alike admit poses high academic challenges—and stresses.
“You’ve come out of it with a lifetime of friendships, a strong foundation of knowledge and experiences that you’ll never be able to forget,” senior class president Abhijeet Ghosh said.
“And now for the most important part—think about everything that changes in these four years, and compare yourself from then to now.
“How has Walton shaped you?”
Ghosh said that each diploma “represents a culmination of real-world skills that are guaranteed to make everything down the road easier.”
Principal Stephanie Santoro expanded on that theme in urging Walton seniors, as they continue on with college and their adult lives, to continue to “pay it forward.”
She came to Walton as a teacher and volleyball coach in 2002, when another teacher-turned-principal, Catherine Mallanda, became her mentor.
Mallanda, a Walton graduate who for the last four years has been the Cobb County School District’s chief academic officer, attended Sunday’s graduation, just as she is set to retire.
Santoro called Mallanda “a trusted friend” in explaining that “you are where you are because people invested in you.
“Now it’s your turn. The most important investment you can make is in people.”
When those investments are made, Santoro continued, not only are the lives of others changed, but “it transforms yours and elevates everyone else.
The Class of 2026 has done some of that already, having logged more than 58,000 hours of community service in their final year of high school.
Ghosh asked his classmates to “remember the community you came from, and remember the struggles as they get harder.” After all, they’ve done it before.
“When it got hard, we didn’t give up. Keep that attitude up.”
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Kell High School’s Class of 2026 walked across the stage Friday night to receive their diplomas, but school leaders encouraged them to think of the occasion as so much more than that.
This year’s seniors include 87 Presidential Scholars—students with GPAs of 3.5 or higher and ACT scores of 1100 or higher—and earned more than $8 million in college scholarship funding.
“You’re not just walking away with a diploma,” Principal Peter Giles said. “You’re carrying memories, lessons and relationships that have shaped you and in turn have shaped this school.”
Giles said he watched this year’s group from the time they were freshmen four years ago, and like all incoming high school students, was curious to see what they would make of their time at Kell.
“You didn’t just find your place, you created it.”
Among the students offering remarks was salutatorian Dylan Brostoff, who will be enrolling at the University of Georgia with plans to major in nursing.
He admitted to being one of those freshmen who wasn’t sure what to expect of high school. Like other seniors speaking at graduation ceremonies, he mentioned his classmates’ school years being interrupted by COVID, and said that the experience fostered a spirit of resilience.
Kell salutatorian Dylan Brostoff
“We have grown in ways we could never have imagined,” Brostoff said. “Our hard work and determination got us here, but none of us got here alone.”
He paid special tribute to “the teachers who genuinely cared about our success—they made the biggest impact on us.”
Kell’s seniors took active part in community service, logging in more than 3,000 hours and raising $100,000 as part of the Shop With a Longhorn program to help needy younger students enjoy their Christmas holidays.
Those will all be part of this class legacy, Giles said, and serves as an important component of their lives going forward.
He urged them to “find your why,” a purpose to fuel their aspirations, which he said are guaranteed to hit some rough spots.
“Your why keeps you going,” he said. “But your toughest challenges will give your journey its real purpose.
“Failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of it. You’re being redirected, not defeated. You won’t always succeed, but you will always learn.”
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Some severe weather delayed their graduation celebration, so Lassiter High School’s Class of 2026 got to spend some extra last time together on Thursday.
The start of commencement was held up by more than an hour due to thunderstorms at the Kennesaw State University campus, pausing assembly of the 485-student senior class and movement by guests and staff outdoors and between buildings.
“Because the district does not control the venue and the facility was not designed to accommodate graduations, students and staff must stage in a separate building detached from the ceremony space due to limited capacity onsite,” the Cobb County School District told East Cobb News in a statement.
Principal Chris Richie told the graduates that “you have altered the DNA of Lassiter High School forever.”
“When weather conditions worsen, there is no protected way for students, staff, and families to move safely from one location to another, which contributed to the delay.”
Inside the KSU Convocation Center, Lassiter principal Chris Richie thanked everyone for their patience, and rattled off a long list of accomplishments for a class of which 90 percent is college-bound.
That includes four National Merit Scholarship finalists and more than $11 million in college scholarship finding, excluding the Georgia HOPE program, as well as a variety of artistic, athletic and military accomplishments.
Salutatorian Chloe Cummings said the intangibles are what makes this class special, saying their legacy will be determined not by grade-point averages and honors but “by the kind of people we’ve become.
“The world needs good people, people with compassion and discipline. . . This class is full of those kinds of people.”
Richie said as ninth graders, he “saw you as a class that was full of potential. I hoped that you’d find something to be passionate about and find the power of your voice.
“I’m proud to see that dream fulfilled.”
Taking their aspirations into the larger world was the subject of remarks by Valedictorian Evan Buchanan.
“I’ve found that the pursuit of a dream is a truly beautiful endeavor,” said Buchanan, who will be studying aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech.
Whatever you decide to do, Buchanan told his classmates, “throw yourself into that dream.”
Click the middle button below to view more photos.
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Valedictorians Peyton Pace of Sprayberry and Dev Patel of Walton had GPAs above 4.8.
The Cobb County School District on Wednesday announced the Class of 2026 valedictorians and salutatorians.
Overall, the valedictorians in the Cobb school district combined for an average grade-point average of 4.717, with salutatorians at 4.50.
The highest GPAs are all at Campbell High School, which has three valedictorians—Krishna Anand, Amulya Patil and Livia Ross, with 4.848 scores.
Among East Cobb high schools, Sprayberry valedictorian Peyton Pace has the highest GPA, at 4.813.
Sixteen of the vals and sals from the Cobb school district are headed to Georgia Tech, with six others bound for the University of Georgia.
Other college destinations for this year’s vals and sals are Stanford University, Duke University, Princeton University, Columbia University, Rice University, the University of Pennsylvania, the California Institute of Technology, and the United States Air Force Academy.
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— Juan Diego Jimenez Ramirez, 4.750, Rice University, pre-med
Salutatorian—Dylan Brostoff, 4.507, UGA, nursing
Lassiter High School
Valedictorian—Evan Taylor Buchanan, 4.790, Georgia Tech, aerospace engineering
Salutatorian—Chloe Elizabeth Cummings, 4.729, UGA, business
Pope High School
Valedictorian—Kenneth Kim, 4.778, Duke University, biology
Salutatorian—Malachy O’Connor, 4.776, Georgia Tech, computer science
Sprayberry High School
Valedictorian—Peyton Pace, 4.813, Emory University, neuroscience
Salutatorian—Sebastian Ezqueda, 4.646, Georgia Tech, computer science
Walton High School
Valedictorian—Dev Patel, 4.808, Georgia Tech, computer science
Salutatorian—Jerry Xu, 4.803, Princeton University, classics or economics
Wheeler High School
Valedictorian—Vidya Sinha, 4.794, Stanford University, computer science
Salutatorians—Devang Doshi, 4.779, Georgia Tech, computer science
Click the middle button below to view the photo gallery of all the East Cobb vals and sals.
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Wheeler graduates celebrate after getting their diplomas Tuesday. CCSD screenshots.
More than 300 students at Wheeler High School received their diplomas on Tuesday.
The Class of 2026 held commencement exercises at the KSU Convocation Center with plenty of plaudits.
Principal Sara Fetterman said that the seniors will be receiving nearly $20 million in scholarship money, and a majority of them graduated with honors.
Another 14 will be entering the ranks of the military or the National Guard after high school.
“This class exemplifies a true sense of community,” said Fetterman, in her first year at Wheeler after coming from Sprayberry, and recalling its commitment to community service.
Those distinguishing marks may be many, but seniors speaking to their classmates offered some sobering reminders of what they’ve gone through, and how to remember their days in high school.
Wheeler senior class president Kassidy Sweeney
Senior class president Kassidy Sweeney recalled that at times, the rigors of being a high school student can make them feel “overwhelmed,” and not just academically.
“We still pushed through, and we made it through,” Sweeney said, applauding her classmates’ demonstration of patience and resilience “that has made us stronger people.
“Remember these lessons and take them with you.”
Valedictorian Vidya Sinha, who will be attending Stanford University, expanded on that theme and asked the graduates to consider how their experiences now will be remembered in the years to come.
“There’s something special, the feeling you can come out together in the confines of a classroom,” she said.
But this class, she added, has had to endure experiences that go far beyond an academic setting.
Halfway through their education, they experienced the closures and disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is no certainty about anything,” Sinha said, adding that perhaps the greatest lesson the Wheeler seniors have learned is that “we’re willing to look uncertainty straight in the eye and keep going.
“In a few years, these memories will belong to strangers,” she added. “But for now, they belong to us.”
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Pope graduates flash their cell phone flashlights to celebrate getting their diplomas. CCSD screenshots.
Pope High School led off a week-long schedule of Cobb County School District graduations on Monday night, and its Class of 2026 had much to celebrate.
As seniors listened during commencement exercises at the KSU Convocation Center, they were told by Principal Matthew Bradford that they set some school records along the way, especially when it came to community service.
He said that this class exemplified the “characteristics of greatness” that included excellence, respect, integrity and toughness.
Among the notables were 17,000 hours of community service, “the most in school history,” as well as raising more than $25,000 for cancer research in the name of former Pope student Matt Hobby.
Pope students also raised $40,000 as part of its Shop With a Greyhound program to assist Brumby Elementary School students during the holidays.
As far as class legacies go, Bradford said, “you have not just met” such a high standard, “you have surpassed it.”
Nearly a half of Pope’s seniors graduated with honors, and its college-bound graduates have accrued more than $12.5 million in scholarship assistance, excluding the Georgia HOPE program.
“Wherever your journey takes you, know that your Pope family will always be behind you,” Bradford said.
The student speakers included valedictorian Kenneth Kim, who will be attending Duke University, and salutatorian Malachy O’Connor, who is bound for Georgia Tech.
Cobb Board of Education member John Cristadoro urged all the graduates to become influencers, not on social media, but in their communities and with people in their lives on a daily basis.
He cited a figure that some people could influence more than 80,000 others—enough to fill a football stadium—during the course of their lives, and that as they will be remembered at the end of their lives, to consider “what the reaction will be.
“Make those moments of influence count,” Cristadoro said. “Leave every situation better than when you found it.”
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Pope High School kicks off Cobb County School District commencement exercises on Monday.
Seven days of commencement ceremonies in the Cobb County School District begin on Monday and end next Sunday, and East Cobb high schools will be bookending the schedule.
The first school to hold graduation will be Pope High School, starting at 7 p.m. Monday, and will conclude on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. with Sprayberry High School’s graduation.
All commencement exercises will take place at the KSU Convocation Center, and all will be shown live at this link. There won’t be a replay, but DVD and USB drive copies of the high-definition broadcast will be available for sale at this link.
Here’s the schedule for East Cobb high schools:
Pope: Monday, May 18, 7 p.m.
Wheeler: Tuesday, May 19, 7:30 p.m.
Lassiter: Thursday, May 21, 2:30 p.m.
Kell: Friday, May 22, 7 p.m.
Walton: Sunday, May 24, 3 p.m.
Sprayberry: Sunday, May 24, 7:30 p.m.
The Cobb school district class of 2026 is nearly 8,800 graduates strong, and according to district figures, seniors have earned more than $110 million in college scholarship offers and have been accepted to colleges and universities in 45 states, including every Ivy League institution and all U.S. military academies.
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By a 7-0 vote Thursday, the Cobb Board of Education adopted a fiscal year 2027 budget of nearly $1.9 billion.
Kristi Lankford
The budget was adopted as presented last month with little discussion, either from the board or the public; the budget adoption measure was placed on the board’s consent agenda Thursday.
The budget—which would go into effect on July 1—is based on holding the property tax rate at 18.7 mills and four percent growth in the Cobb tax digest (budget filings can be found at this link).
To address the lack of raises in the FY 2027 proposal, the school board last month voted to to take more than $7 million from its current fund balance to pay for one-time bonuses for non-temporary employees.
Those $2,000 bonuses were approved by the Georgia legislature earlier this year. The total cost to the Cobb school district is around $30 million, with the state providing $22 million in the current fiscal year budget.
“We’re not in a confetti-dropping, champagne-popping situation. But we’re not the alternative either,” Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said in April, calling this a “catch-up” budget following employee raises last year.
Employees eligible for “STEP” increases as part of their employment contracts will still get those, to the tune of $16 million.
Another line item of $3.5 million will go to hire literacy coaches across the district, but it’s unclear now how that money will be used pending state guidance.
The budget also factors in the reduction of 185 teaching allotment positions due to lower enrollment and to balance the budget. No teaching layoffs will occur, but the cuts would be made through attrition and reassignments.
Lost positions include some media specialists, with schools being limited to one each.
Losing those allotments will result in a budget decrease of nearly $22 million.
The fiscal year 2027 budget begins on July 1.
Staff changes announced
Kevin Carpenter
Also on Thursday, the school board signed off on new major administrative and principal assignments.
They include Dr. Kristi Lankford, who will be the new principal at Timber Ridge Elementary School starting July 1.
She is an assistant principal at Pearson Middle School and will be succeeding Shannon McGill, who is retiring.
The Cobb school district’s new chief of staff will be Matt Moody, an assistant superintendent for high schools. He will replace Sheri Hill, who is retiring.
The district’s new chief academic officer will be Kevin Carpenter, who for the last two years has been an assistant superintendent for 23 elementary schools, most of them in East Cobb.
He will start on July 1 following the retirement of Catherine Mallanda, a former Walton High School principal.
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Information and photos submitted by Cobb County School District:
Talent, creativity, and dedication were on full display this spring as Kell High School students earned national recognition for their work in the performing arts. Randy Yousif and Gavin Placencia took center stage at the 2026 NATAS Student Production Awards, where they were honored as Student Emmy Award winners.
Competing against strong entries from across the region, the duo impressed judges with a dynamic compilation of their acting performances. Their submission stood out for its energy, thoughtful scriptwriting, and strong on-screen presence.
The award marks Kell High School’s first win in the “Commercial” category and continues a growing tradition of excellence, making it the second Student Emmy win for the program in as many years. Their achievement reflects more than talent alone. It highlights the dedication and persistence required to refine a craft and perform at a high level. As Broadcast Video Production Teacher, Ed Cook, shared, success begins with taking the opportunity: “You can’t win if you don’t enter.”
The celebrations at Kell High School don’t stop there. Teacher Ed Cook is also earning well-deserved recognition. Cook was recently named a finalist in the High 5 for Teachers contest, earning $500 for his achievement. This recognition speaks to the impact educators like Cook have every day. His commitment to students, both in and out of the classroom, helps create an environment where achievements like a Student Emmy win can happen.
Together, these accomplishments reflect the heart of Cobb Schools — a community where students are encouraged to dream big, teachers are celebrated for their dedication, and success is built through hard work and support.
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Hightower Trail Middle School has been named a 2026 Georgia Military Flagship School, recognizing the school’s strong commitment to supporting military-connected students and families.
The designation highlights schools that create welcoming, supportive environments for students navigating the unique challenges of military life, including frequent relocations, deployments, and transitions. Nearly 80 military-connected students attend Hightower Trail, where staff members work intentionally to ensure every student feels connected and supported.
“At Hightower Trail, we work every day to ensure our school is a place of consistency, care, and belonging,” Principal Dr. Hannah Polk said during the recognition ceremony.
The school provides wraparound counseling services, staff training focused on military family experiences, and programs that connect students with future service-related opportunities, including JROTC pathways at feeder high schools. Hightower Trail also hosts community events honoring military members, veterans, and first responders while offering additional support for families during the holidays and other times of need.
“This recognition is not just about programs,” counselor Lara Salzman said. “It is about families who live the reality of service every single day.”
Parents of military-connected students praised the school’s welcoming culture and strong sense of community, especially during deployments and periods of transition.
The Georgia Department of Education’s Military Flagship School award recognizes schools that go beyond academics to ensure military-connected students feel safe, valued, and supported from the moment they arrive on campus.
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The 40th anniversary year of Pope High School also will be recognized during the coming months, starting with a “Popefest” celebration on Aug. 14.
