East Cobb Schools

Pope students named to Georgia schools advisory council

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Pope High School students Ansley Bruder and Felipe Zimelewicz Pires are among the 74 students selected from across the state to serve on the Georgia Superintendent of Schools 2024-2025 Student Advisory Council.Pope students named to Georgia schools advisory council

According to the Georgia Department of Education, ” these students will meet with Superintendent [Richard] Woods to provide feedback on the impact of state policies in the classroom.

“Members of the Student Advisory Council will also discuss other education-related issues, serve as the Superintendent’s ambassadors to their respective schools, and participate in service projects to benefit schools and students.”

Bruder, a junior, and Pires, a senior, are the only students serving on the council who are from the Cobb County School District. They were chosen from among more than 1,500 applicants.

Council members are from grades 10-12 in Georgia public high schools. Their application process includes writing an essay relating to education issues, “including curriculum and graduation requirements; the impact of federal- and state-mandated assessments in the classroom; the importance of teacher recruitment and retention efforts to students’ classroom experience; and access to opportunities and resources for students in rural areas,” the Georgia DoE said in a release.

“”These young leaders represent the future of Georgia, and their voices are crucial as we continue to shape the direction of education in our state. I look forward to hearing their ideas, insights, and perspectives as we work together to ensure every student has the opportunity to succeed,” Woods said in the release.

The full list of council members can be found by clicking here.

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Cobb-Marietta marching band exhibition set for October dates

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Cobb-Marietta marching band exhibition set for October dates

High school marching bands from the Cobb County School District and Marietta City Schools will be featured on the first two Mondays in October in the Cobb-Marietta Marching Band Exhibition.

The event—which dates back to 1972—takes place Oct. 7 and Oct. 14 at Walter Cantrell Stadium at McEachern High School (2400 New Macland Road, Powder Springs) starting at 7 p.m. each evening.

Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for students, and the Cobb school district will be live-streaming the festivities.

The bands from Kell and Wheeler high schools will be performing on Oct. 7, while the Lassiter, Pope, Sprayberry and Walton bands are scheduled for Oct. 14.

For more information, click here.

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4 East Cobb high schools stand out in 2024 SAT scores

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Pope High School, Cobb SAT scores
Pope’s overall 2024 SAT score was a 15-point improvement from the year before.

Four high schools in East Cobb are among the Top 25 in Georgia in overall Scholastic Aptitude Test results for the Class of 2024, according to data released Wednesday by the Georgia Department of Education.

Walton (1249), Pope (1194), Lassiter (1182) and Wheeler (1167) led the Cobb County School District, whose overall mean score of 1105 was the best for a large school district in metro Atlanta.

The SAT is administered every spring for seniors, who are tested on evidence-based reading and writing and math, and the maximum score is 1,600.

Walton’s “mean score” was fifth in the state, Pope’s was 11th, Lassiter’s was 13th and Wheeler’s was tied for 21st, according to state education figures.

For the most part, those results are only slightly different from the Class of 2023. Pope’s overall mean of 1194 was a 15-point improvement from 2023.

The Cobb school district said in a release that its “average for the evidence-based reading and writing section was 565 out of a maximum of 800, 2 points higher than in 2023. The district average for the math section was 540 out of a maximum of 800, 1 point lower than in 2023.”

The charts below detail the SAT results for East Cobb schools and the Cobb school district, and rank the Top 25 schools in the state for overall mean score.

You can read more about Cobb results by clicking here.

# Taking Test Total Score Mean Reading & Writing Mean Math Mean 2023 Mean
Kell 196 1064 546 517 1063
Lassiter 347 1182 593 589 1183
Pope 321 1194 604 590 1179
Sprayberry 226 1058 546 511 1059
Walton 504 1249 624 625 1255
Wheeler 284 1167 591 576 1255
Cobb 4593 1105 565 508 1104

Total Score Mean
Gwinnett School of Math, Science & Technology 1370
Innovation Academy (Fulton) 1286
Northview (Fulton) 1268
Lambert (Forsyth) 1256
WALTON (Cobb) 1249
Alliance Academy (Forsyth) 1245
South Forsyth (Forsyth) 1221
Johns Creek (Fulton) 1218
Columbus (Muscogee) 1207
Chattahoochee (Fulton) 1197
POPE (Cobb) 1194
Alpharetta (Fulton) 1185
LASSITER (Cobb) 1182
Atlanta Classical Academy (Atlanta) 1181
Denmark (Forsyth) 1180
McIntosh (Fayette) 1180
Chamblee Charter (DeKalb) 1174
North Oconee (Oconee) 1174
Starr's Mill (Fayette) 1170
Decatur (Decatur) 1169
WHEELER (Cobb) 1167
Savannah Arts Academy (Savannah-Chatham) 1167
Midtown (Atlanta) 1166
Cambridge (Fulton) 1165
Heritage (Catoosa) 1162

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Cobb superintendent to make school safety presentation

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Cobb superintendent to make school safety presentation

Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday he will make a detailed school safety presentation to the public in October.

During a Cobb Board of Education meeting Thursday, he said that while “I will not identify systems and structures designed to keep our students, teachers, and staff safe,” additional safety measures will be announced next month.

His comments (full video here) come in the wake of the deadly shootings at Apalachee High School in Winder earlier this month, and following calls from local citizens for more open discussion of safety measures in the Cobb County School District.

Ragsdale was responding in particular to demands that board member Tre’ Hiutchins’ previous attempts to put such a discussion on the agenda be reconsidered.

But he said that “I fully appreciate the desire to know and the frustration that you cannot. However, law enforcement and school safety experts repeatedly caution that school safety plans should not be discussed in public—ever.”

He said the Cobb school district spends $35 million a year on student and staff safety, including the efforts of an 81-officer district police department.

“Our Board receives briefings in executive session, Ragsdale said, adding that he told the board on Thursday “of expanded threat assessment and abatement measures that we are investigating in a more detailed discussion. Following the Board’s input, I anticipate bringing a PUBLIC presentation on those aspects we can share without endangering students and staff of those measures during next month’s Board meeting.”

In addition to the Apalachee reaction, the district said it has received more than 60 reports of threats, none of which posed an actual threat to a Cobb school campus.

They included Dickerson Middle School last week and at Walton High School on Tuesday, which was on a brief lockdown after a report of a bomb that the district said “was not an active threat.”

In reference to those incidents, Ragsdale said that “we do not consider any threat ‘false’ until we are confident it is false. And also, please know we do not consider these false threats as pranks and every threat is reported to law enforcement and will likely result in both serious school discipline and criminal prosecution.”

Hutchins’ proposal would add non-certified school support officers and install weapons detection devices at schools and for large events.

For parent Melissa Marten, a frequent critic of Cobb school district, Ragsdale’s pledges weren’t satisfactory.

“All we’ve been asking for is an open discussion for you to consider any and all things that could keep our kids safe,” she said during a public comment Thursday night, “and an acknowledgement of the fear we live with every day. But you refuse.”

Marten asked how would a parent know about how the district’s emergency tip line was being monitored and responded to, and she claimed Ragsdale is “incapable” of extending empathy.

“Whose tips would you take seriously, and whose would you blow off?” Whether the reported threats are real or not, she continued, “it’s taking a toll.”

During his prepared remarks, Ragsdale said that “in general terms, our school safety measures are among the most comprehensive and layered in the State of Georgia.”

He added that “in times less troubled than these, this Board has endured loud and organized opposition to police presence on campus, armed police, safety drills, and even crisis response systems. Despite these critics and criticism, this Board has put the safety of students first.”

Before the meeting Thursday, the district said that students taking part in school walkouts to protest gun violence would be facing suspensions. A special assembly was held Friday morning without incident at the Wheeler High School football stadium to honor the Apalachee victims.

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Cobb schools threaten suspensions for walkout protesters

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Wheeler name change

Amid possible protests on Friday in response to a school shooting in Barrow County, the Cobb County School District said that students who disrupt the school day “will, at a minimum, be suspended.”

A message that went out after school was dismissed on Thursday said that “students’ ability to express themselves is important to us, without disrupting school.”

Walkouts have been called around the country following the fatal shooting of two students and two teachers earlier this month at Apalachee High School.

The district said in response to further information from East Cobb News that “through national and local social media campaigns, we are aware some students could be planning to participate in a protest on Friday, September 20th, 2024.”

The response wasn’t more specific except to say that “as a reminder to families, we shared information about the District policy related to school attendance and behavior that causes a disruption to the school day.”

Published reports said some students were planning a protest at the Georgia Capitol Thursday to demand gun safety measures in schools, as legislators were meeting to discuss the subject.

The Cobb school district message to parents said that “as we continue to reflect and process the tragedy in Barrow,” students and staff are “actively invited to participate in school-sponsored memorials and the condolences” for the victims.

But “participating in disruptions to school could impact a student’s ability to participate in sports and other extracurriculars.”

One school that has organized a remembrance is Wheeler High School in East Cobb.

Principal Paul Gillihan said in a message to the school community that the homeroom period on Friday will provide an opportunity to “allow students a chance to have their voices heard and not miss any academic class time.”

He said that “this will also allow them to have a designated place (the football stadium) as a safe place to walk out to. The students who participate in this organized and safe event will not receive consequences as this has been cleared by the administration and will not disrupt any instructional time.”

Gillihan’s message said discussions to coordinate such an event began with student council members last week.

Tensions have been heightened in school districts following the Apalachee shooting, in which a 14-year-old student and his father have been charged.

Cobb school district officials said more than 60 reports of “threats” have been investigated since then, but none of them have been deemed a threat to a school campus.

They include Dickerson Middle School and Walton High School, which was subject to a brief lockdown on Tuesday after a bomb threat was reported.

The Cobb school district said that after multiple law enforcement agencies investigated, it was considered “not an actual threat.”

At a Cobb Board of Education work session Thursday afternoon, some critics urged the district to discuss school safety plans and in particular, a request by school board member Tre’ Hutchins to increase use of technology to detect weapons.

But his concerns have not made it to the school board agenda.

“Apalachee High School has the same systems in place that we have,” said East Cobb resident Heather Tolley-Bauer of Watching the Funds-Cobb, a watchdog group. “And yet, here we are, another tragedy, all because a gun was brought into a school by a student.

“We are not asking you to share everything, we are asking you to consider everything. It is not a lot to ask. Will you be able to say you did enough? Because right now the answer is no.”

In 2018, following a mass school shooting in Florida, students at several high schools in Cobb, including Walton, Wheeler, Lassiter and Pope, took part in a walkout.

Some campuses locked their front gates, and at Walton school officials led an observance before classes began.

The district handed out in-school suspensions then, but in its message Thursday wasn’t more specific than the threats of class and activity suspensions.

It encouraged parents to visit the district’s website for its code of conduct policies.

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Cobb schools remove six more sexually explicit books

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The Cobb County School District announced Thursday that six more sexually explicit books have been removed from library shelves, bringing to 26 the number of titles that have been withdrawn over the last year.Cobb schools remove six more books from libraries; 26 in all

Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said during a Cobb Board of Education work session Thursday that the most recent removals, like the others, were deemed inappropriate for school children.

They include five books by fantasy author Sarah J. Maas:

  • “A Court of Wings and Ruin”
  • “A Court of Thorns and Roses”
  • “A Court of Mist and Fury”
  • “A Court of Frost and Starlight
  • “A Court of Silver Flames”

The other book is “Iron Fire” by David Ball, who writes historical fiction.

The work of both authors is aimed at young adult readers, although Maas’ books are also read by teenagers.

A Maas book was temporarily banned in Charlotte-Mecklenberg (N.C.) schools in late 2023 after a parental complaint.

“A Court of Mist and Fury” was among the 10 “most challenged books” for 2022 according to the American Library Association, covering library, school, and university materials and services.

A recent review of Maas’ work at Entertainment Weekly acknowledged the amount of sexual content in her books, but argues that “the reality of life is that passion, desire, lust, and love all occur alongside sadness, death, and war. Why are so many hell-bent on framing books that acknowledge that reality as lesser titles just because they’re popular with teenage girls (who, frankly, deserve more credit for driving pop culture and taste)?”

Ragsdale’s announcement came just before takingAstandcobb, a local citizens group, held a press conference “about pornography in Cobb schools.”

“I encourage you, especially those who defend this content, to read the excerpts before doing so,” he said in prepared remarks at the work session.

“Google them. Use community web sites. Go to the book store. Go to the public library. I trust you will conclude that like rated R movies children should not be provided unrestricted access to all media.”

He said the Cobb school district has more than a million total media assets and “will remain broadly inclusive of the diverse individuals, groups, stories, and experiences of our nation.

If parents wish to introduce their children to such subjects outside of schooltime, Ragsdale said, they are free to do so.

But as “a public school serving over 100,000 students, we are not going to impose that choice on other people’s children.”

At a board meeting Thursday night, several parents objected to the continuing book removals, and some wore purple shirts saying “Ban Bias Not Books.”

One of them is Mary Davis, mother of a middle-school student, who read from an author, Emma Kress, who said that “when we ban books, we teach them that some people, possibly even them, can and should be made invisible.”

Quoting Kress again, Davis said that that “in my experience, people, young ones included, a quite good about making choices about what to read.

“It’s a powerful thing that a child can sit down with a book they’re not yet ready for or do not need. It’s a powerful thing for a child to know that the adults surrounding them enough to trust that they can choose books for themselves.

“You can put the books back. You can open the doors to the library and invite children into the joy of reading.”

The Kress book that Davis held up, “Dangerous Play,” is not among those removed from Cobb school libraries.

On Friday, takingAstandcobb said that “our county saw over 40 parents, students, men, women, gay, straight, of faith and not, defend Cobb’s children. We’re supporting a Board that is removing porn from schools and calling out those who support the sexual exploitation of children.”

The group’s leaders are Francisco Vega, a pastor at A.R.C. City Church in West Cobb and parent Arielle Kurtz.

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Cobb citizens group to protest ‘pornography in Cobb schools’

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A group of citizens who say they’re “taking a stand against pornography in Cobb schools” will hold a press conference Thursday before a Cobb Board of Education meeting.Cobb school district pulls sexually explicit books

An e-mail from an account called “takingAstandcobb” said the press conference will start at 5 p.m. at the Cobb County School District Central Office, 514 Glover Street, in Marietta and that two school board members will be present.

A follow-up message in response to a question from East Cobb News identified those school board members as Randy Scamihorn and Brad Wheeler, the current and most recent chairmen. Both are Republicans who are up for re-election in November.

When East Cobb News asked for information about “takingAstandcobb,” the response indicated that “we are a group of Cobb Citizens that have fully researched the book contents, and believe the public has a right to be fully informed.”

No names were disclosed.

The message also said that a representative from Gays Against Groomers will be on hand for the press conference.

It’s a national organization that is “fighting back from inside the community against the sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children happening under the guise of “LGBTQIA+,” according to its website.

That also includes opposition to “queer theory and gender ideology being taught in the classroom.”

Those issues have been the subject of controversy in the Cobb school district for the last year.

The district has removed 20 books because of what Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said include sexually explicit, lewd, obscene and vulgar content that aren’t appropriate for children.

Cobb schools also fired a Due West Elementary School teacher last year for reading a book to her fifth-grade students about a boy who questions his gender identity. The district said that was a violation of a new “divisive concepts” law in education in Georgia.

The teacher, Katie Rinderle, is suing the district.

At the same time, those protesting the book removals have said the objections from the district are largely due to LGBTQ content.

But at a school board meeting in August, East Cobb resident JoEllen Smith read from books that complained explicit content.

Her remarks were not aired on the district’s livestream due to “federal regulations” because of their explicit nature.

Later, Smith said that “there are hundreds of pro-LBGT books that don’t include kiddie porn. And it’s unfairly conflating homosexuality to pedophilia which is stigmatizing our gay youth.”

The Cobb school board will hold a work session at 3 p.m. Thursday and a voting meeting at 7 p.m., with an executive session in between.

You can view the agendas for the public meetings by clicking here.

The open meetings also will be live-streamed on the Cobb County School District’s BoxCast channel and on CobbEdTV, Comcast Channel 24.

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Cobb schools: Walton HS bomb report ‘not an active threat’

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Walton HS sports complex pedestrian bridge

A bomb threat was reported at Walton High School on Tuesday, according to a message that went out to the school community.

But the Cobb County School District said late Tuesday afternoon in response for information from East Cobb News that “there is not an active threat to Walton High School.”

A message from Principal Stephanie Santoro that was sent out around 3 p.m. said that the threat was called into 911, and “our team immediately reported the threat to multiple law enforcement agencies.”

She said in the message those agencies are now conducting an investigation.

“Currently, while there is an increased law enforcement presence, there has been no interruption to the school day, and dismissal is on schedule,” according to the message, which was not more specific.

There were social media reports of a lockdown at Walton that the district did not confirm nor deny when asked by East Cobb News.

It’s the second time an East Cobb school has been what appears to be the subject of false threats in as many weeks, two weeks after a deadly shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder.

Last week, the Cobb County School District said a student at Dickerson Middle School was charged with making threats, but said the student is “not a threat to the school.”

It was among the more than 50 such incidents the district said it has received since the Apalachee shootings that have “not been proven to be actual threats to a Cobb school.”

WSB-TV reported Tuesday afternoon that in addition to the Walton incident, Northview High School in North Fulton went on lockdown, and that a sweep of that campus by police “determined that there was no threat.”

The Cobb school district said that there was no evacuation at Walton.

“We take each reported threat very seriously, including increased law enforcement so the school day can continue without disruption,” a district spokesperson told East Cobb News in a statement.

On Tuesday, the message that went out to the Walton school community said the number of reported threats in the Cobb school district has now grown to more than 60, and that “almost all these incidents were the result of bad behavior on the part of people who are seeking to disrupt the school day.

“Our administration, the District, and law enforcement take every rumored threat seriously and are thoroughly investigating. Once we have an update, we will update you.”

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Cobb school board chairman responds to safety concerns

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The chairman of the Cobb Board of Education responded to concerns from parents and students following a deadly school shooting in Georgia last week by saying the board and Cobb County School District “have doubled and tripled down on keeping your children and grandchildren safe” over the long term. Randy Scamihorn, Cobb school board

Republican Randy Scamihorn, who is up for re-election in November, said in a “Just the Facts” newsletter issued by the district that he’s heard from parents and students since four people were killed at Apalachee High School in Winder.

He reiterated that parents should visit the district’s Cobb Shield vertical devoted to safety issues, and that includes information about a tip line and the district’s public safety staff.

Scamihorn said the mother of high school twins wrote to ask “can we do something about treating schools so they do not seem like prisons?” 

A retired Cobb educator, Scamihorn replied that “we know some of our safety decisions are inconvenient. Some of my family members are teachers, and yes, I am required to check in just like everyone else. If we have to choose between convenience and keeping your children safer, we choose safety every time.”

In his newsletter, Scamihorn didn’t reference an incident this week that led to criminal charges against a Dickerson Middle School student for making threatening statements toward another student.

The district said the student is not considered a threat to the school, and that’s one of more than 50 reported incidents that have “not been proven to be actual threats to a Cobb school.”

Nor did Scamihorn indicate if the school board, which meets next week, would take up a proposal by colleague Tre’ Hutchins to implement further safety measures.

They include implementing a School Support Officers program of non-post certified personnel to assist the district’s 81-member police force, and asking for technological assistance for detecting weapons at schools and at events, games and other functions in the district.

Hutchins also is asking for a financial analysis of those three items.

He proposed those measures following the shootings of former students at the McEachern High School parking lot in February (and a stabbing incident at Sprayberry in March), but couldn’t get a discussion placed on the board meeting agenda. 

That’s because board policy requires either the superintendent, chairman or a four-member board majority to add agenda items. 

Earlier this week, Heather Tolley-Bauer of Watching the Funds-Cobb, a school watchdog group, said the policy “is the worst example of representative democracy that you will ever see. . . . We are talking about enhancing the safety and security of our schools and they want to call us the activists?”

At the end of his newsletter Friday, Scamihorn countered critics who “have argued for ‘defunding the police,’ taking guns out of school police officers’ hands, moving money from safety to other areas of interest, blaming community crime on the schools, criticized safety drills, and fought against money spent on the crisis response system in our schools.

“Instead, the School Board and Superintendent have doubled and tripled down on keeping your children and grandchildren safe. Because of these and other safety investments we have made, the ‘feeling’ our students and parents have is one of security, not fear.”

The board will hold a work session next Thursday afternoon and a voting meeting Thursday night but agendas have not been published. 

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Dickerson MS student facing ‘criminal’ charges for threats

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Dickerson MS

The Cobb County School District said Wednesday that a Dickerson Middle School student is facing criminal charges for “making threatening statements.”

A “Dickerson safety message” that was sent to the school community didn’t specify what those statements were, but said that the student is “not a threat to the school.”

The message said that the Cobb school district’s police department and administrators investigated the statements of the Dickerson student in the wake of last week’s fatal school shooting in Winder.

The Cobb school district said in response to a request for comment and further information from East Cobb News that the Dickerson administration learned of the threat “from one student to another.”

But “the details of those charges and the serious, disciplinary consequences are not publicly available,” according to a district spokeswoman, due to state and federal student privacy laws.

She said in a statement to East Cobb News that the district has received more than 50 reported threats in the last six days—since the deaths of two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder.

But all of them have “not been proven to be actual threats to a Cobb school,” the district said.

“All applicable policy, and the law, have been strongly enforced and we can confirm there is no active threat to Dickerson’s students or staff,” the spokeswoman said.

She also included a link to the district’s “A Parent’s Guide to School Safety.”

The message sent to Dickerson families urged them to help “by talking to your children” about the district’s Cobb Shield safety resource page and the district’s tipline to report incidents.

School districts around metro Atlanta and north Georgia have been pressing charges in similar incidents since the Apalachee incident. A 14-year-old student, Colt Gray, has been charged with four counts of murder, accused to taking an assault rifle to the Winder campus.

His father has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and child cruelty after Barrow County authorities said he bought an AR-15 rifle.

According to a family member, the boy’s mother called the school to warn a counselor less than an hour before the shooting about her son’s mental health issues, according to published reports.

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2025 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists announced

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Students from five high schools in East Cobb are among the more than 16,000 semifinalists for the 2025 National Merit Scholarships.East Cobb National Merit Scholarship Program

It’s the first phase of a multi-step process to award college scholarships to 6,870 high school seniors totalling more than $26 million.

According to a release, “semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

“To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.

“A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.”

JOHNSON FERRY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

  • Abigail Fisher

LASSITER H. S.

  • Ella Arnett, Elizabeth Ballenger, Obadia Cao, Wilson Coombs, Samuel Garrow, Elizabeth George, Jack Hansen, Isaac Hoshide, Andrea Joya; Annika Le, Vikram Sharma, Nanea Trask, Caroline Young

POPE H. S.

  • Aanchal Acharya, Elizabeth Jones, Ariel Sadan, Duncan Wilson, Anna Wright

WALTON H. S.

  • Vipul Bansal, Adam Bethea, Jack Brawner, Christopher Chen, Michelle Gu, Madeline Halloran, Nathan Hsu, Sean Jiao, Medha Krishna, Navya Kumar, Hung Le, Eugene Li, Spencer Lieth, Eric Mo, Owen Murphy, Madeline Painter, Chloe Park, Connor Park, Dhriti Raguram, Carter Ray, Riley Rice, Sanjeev Shankar, Yaocen Shen, Siddhant Singh, Grayson Snow, Tyler Sprague, Nikhil Srinivasan, Christina Strakes, Rashidul Sultan, Ryan Tan, Simon Teh, Rishab Thiyagarajan, Theodore Thomas; Ella Tse, Isha Varughese, Adam Wang, Owen Wu, Grace Xie, Edward Yao, Tiffany Yao, William Zhao

WHEELER H. S.

  • Declan Amerault, Adele N. Ballantyne, Chauhan Abhay, Jaden Choi, Shachi Deo, Aishi Dev, Prisha Dev, Dagmawi Fasika, Jackson Frangos, John Hovsepian, Nathan Kiesel, Prajna Malla, Sidhartha Malla, Dhriti Naik, Fiona Peterson, Kavin Prabhakar, Aarnav Sadaria, Akash Singh, Kaushik Valiveti, Arshiya Vyas, Fredrick Wu, Julia Yu, Ethan Zhang

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Tritt ES staff member hospitalized after HVAC fire at school

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Tritt Elementary School in East Cobb was evacuated early Wednesday after a fire broke out in an HVAC unit, according to the Cobb County School District.Tritt ES fire

The district said that students weren’t in the school building (4355 Post Oak Tritt Road) and everyone is safe after Cobb Fire units responded.

Cobb Fire said the fire is considered minor but an adult inside the building was hospitalized for smoke inhalation and no firefighters were injured.

Chris Smith, the Cobb Fire public information officer, said a call reporting smoke at the school was received shortly after 7 a.m. and units arrived at 7:12 a.m. to find smoke coming from a wall HVAC unit at the front of the school building and in a hallway.

He said the fire was contained by 7:16 a.m. and crews then used pressurized ventilation fans to remove smoke from hallways.

Fire units left the scene by 8:15 a.m., Smith said.

“We are currently assessing the building and any necessary changes to the schedule,” the Cobb school district said in a statement.

School buses were diverted to Hightower Trail Middle School, where Tritt classes are being conducted Wednesday, according to a district spokeswoman.

She said classes are expected to resume at Tritt on Thursday.

The person taken to a hospital was identified as a staff member, not a teacher or a student, “and is recovering well without significant injuries,” the spokeswoman said.

Joe Ovbey, who has two children who attend Tritt, told East Cobb News he tried to drop them off at 7:15 a.m. but was turned away.

He said he brought his children home as buses were taking students to Hightower Trail.

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Cobb teachers train on virtual STEM ‘Prisms’ tool at Wheeler

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Cobb teachers train on math-science 'PRISM' tool at Wheeler
CCSD photo

Some Cobb County School District teachers took part in a special training session at Wheeler High School on Monday on a staff development day to learn about a virtual reality tool for mathematics and science.

The Prism VR headsets were given to more than 300 teachers to illustrate their potential for solving real-world problems in the STEM fields (here are a few examples).

Prisms VR was founded in 2020, by Anurupa Ganguly, an MIT engineer turned educator, who recently briefed the Cobb Board of Education on the concept. She received a National Science Foundation grant to put together a concept geared toward middle- and high school algebra students in particular.

Ganguly found that traditional STEM instruction “over-indexed on abstract representations while neglecting the other ways through which we express our thinking beyond text and symbolic notation.”

Her goal, she pointed out, was to create a learning system in which “every individual, regardless of their past experiences, would have the tools and resources to change their circumstances, fall in love with great problems, and create lives of mind to solve them.”

The Cobb school district in April expanded the use of Prisms VR to 20 schools, including Daniell, Hightower Trail and Simpson middle schools and Pope and Sprayberry high schools.

Among the Cobb teachers taking the training is Ashley Kaplan of Hightower Trail Middle School.

“The kids are going to love this. The fact they do the VR now, at home all the time with their friends and incorporating this in the classroom, this is very, very cool to bring their interest into the classroom,” Kaplan said in a release issued by the Cobb school district.

“With mobile VR/AR, the math and science classroom is no longer a sterile, word problem on a screen, piece of paper, or a video with penguins and sharks,” Ganguly said.

“Our message to students: Your job in school is to fall in love with great problems and discover frameworks of thought to solve them. Not to memorize other’s creations, only.”

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Here’s what you didn’t hear about Cobb school book removals

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Here's what you didn't hear about Cobb school book removals
JoEllen Smith

If you were watching the Cobb Board of Education meeting Thursday night, on two occasions the livestream was paused.

That’s because public commenters were reading from sexually explicit books the Cobb County School District has pulled from library shelves.

Earlier on Thursday, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced 13 more removals, following seven books that have been pulled in the last school year, due to graphic and obscene content he said are not age-appropriate for minors.

For the last year, some parents have blasted Ragsdale for “banning” books they allege have more to do with minority and LGBTQ students than adult content, and discourage students from embracing a culture of reading.

Recently, other parents and citizens have begun to respond to those charges, and in explicit fashion to match the content at hand.

One of them is East Cobb resident JoEllen Smith, who went up to the dais and handed out a copy of her remarks, topped by a photocopy of a graphic scene from one of the books, “Gender Queer,” depicting two boys engaging in oral sex.

She started her remarks by saying that “the Democratic candidates running for school board are saying the superintendent is banning books. Not true. The books they’re fighting for are kiddie porn, and probably illegal if owned by an adult.

“Here’s from a book that normalizes pedophilia and and incest. A 12-year-old girl has a baby by her father. Here’s the quote.”

At that point, Cobb school board attorney Suzann Wilcox said she could not let those sequences be aired due to federal regulations that “prohibit certain language and material from being broadcast.”

The district livestreams public meetings on its website, and they are shown on two cable systems—Comcast and Charter.

Wilcox said “we’re not going to stop you from reading, but . . . I’m going to give our technical team a moment to adjust and then you can resume.”

While those in attendance in the board meeting room heard the explicit language, here’s what viewers saw, with no audio, for a few moments:

Here's what you didn't hear about Cobb school book removals

East Cobb News has obtained a copy of the text and the graphic that Smith, a local Republican activist, gave to board members.

Smith’s verbal remarks are from other books that have been removed in Cobb.

While we are not subject to such regulations, we are not reproducing them fully in this post but linking to them here and here, so discretion is advised if you are interested in what was said.

When the livestream resumed, Smith concluded her remarks by saying that “there are hundreds of pro-LBGT books that don’t include kiddie porn. And it’s unfairly conflating homosexuality to pedophilia which is stigmatizing our gay youth.”

That was first instance of remarks not being aired in Cobb since the school book controversy first flared up last year.

Similar actions have taken place at other school board meetings around the country in recent months.

Sharon Hudson

In April, a pastor was reading from “Push”—one of the books recently removed in Cobb—during a Broward Board of Education meeting in Florida when his microphone was cut off. 

Last year, the Forsyth County School District was ordered to pay more than $100,000 in legal fees for trying to ban parents from reading from explicit books during school board meetings in 2022. 

Before Smith spoke on Thursday, parent Sharon Hudson—a frequent critic of the book removals—chastised Ragsdale for his latest action.

Wearing a “Read Banned Books” shirt, she described herself as a Christian conservative Republican, but said there hasn’t been porn in Cobb schools. 

“If he thinks it’s inappropriate, he’ll ban it and continue his reign of censorship,” she said. “No parent or student rights—just his decision of what they can and cannot read.”

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Cobb schools to hold ‘digital learning’ day on Monday

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The first of three “digital learning days” in the Cobb County School District for the current school year takes place Monday, so there won’t be the usual school and bus traffic out on the roads.Campbell High School lockdown

These school days are due to professional development for teachers at the schools. There won’t be live face-to-fact instruction; students will work from home with teacher-created assignments uploaded to the district’s online portal, CTLS.

The district said at the elementary level, teachers “will provide assignments designed to reinforce and extend previously taught standards and learning targets” and assignments will not be graded.

Students in middle school and high school will receive 30-minute assignment for each class “based on standards and learning targets.” Those materials “can include pre-recorded videos, shared articles, questions for reflection, etc.”

The other digital learning days in the 2024-25 school year are scheduled for Oct. 14, 2024, and March 3, 2025.

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Kell PTSA holding Krispy Kreme fundraiser through September

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Submitted information:Kell PTSA holding Krispy Kreme fundraiser through September

Kell High School PTSA has a special invitation to team up with Krispy Kreme to enjoy a simple and sweet fundraiser this August & September 2024.
A Krispy Kreme Digital Dozens fundraiser let’s Kell High School PTSA run a virtual campaign where your community purchases Original Glazed doughnuts online, to redeem for fresh-made dozens whenever they crave (no expiration), at their nearest Krispy Kreme store!
The best part, 50% or more of each sale is donated back to your cause. Learn more & get started below. 

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Cobb school district removes 13 more sexually explicit books

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Several months after pulling books from libraries due to sexually explicit content, the Cobb County School District announced Thursday it has removed 13 more from circulation.Cobb school district removes 13 more sexually explicit books

They include acclaimed “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.

Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said at a Cobb Board of Education work session Thursday that the 13 books were removed after being found to contain sexually explicit and graphic content.

He said the removals were part of a continuing effort to review books and other materials in district libraries and curriculum offerings.

“We are declining to provide access to materials with sexually explicit content in the same way we decline to provide access to rated-R movies and—in compliance with federal law—use internet filters to prevent students from accessing websites with adult content on school district computers,” Ragsdale said, reading from prepared remarks.

“We make no judgment on whether these books have any literary merit or whether some parents do not object to their children being exposed to lewd, vulgar, or sexually graphic content. There are many rated R movies that are award-winning films; however, it would be inappropriate to provide children with unrestricted access to them in a public school.”

Rowling’s 2012 novel “Casual Vacancy” was among those removed in the latest review.

According to Compass Book Ratings, the book has “many sexual references” as well as mentions of pornography and mature discussions of sex, as well as descriptions of sexual activity and scenes of abuse, rape and incest.

The district has come under criticism by some parents and others for removing books with literary merit, but Ragsdale was adamant—as he has been in announcing previous removals—that exposure to such content is a matter best left for parents.

“Cobb parents can decide if and when their children are allowed to view content in their homes that is not appropriate for unrestricted access in our schools,” he said.

The other books removed include the following titles:

  • “Laid: Young People’s Experiences with Sex in an Easy-Access Culture,” edited by Shannon Boodram
  • “Crank,” by Ellen Hopkins
  • “Tricks,” by Ellen Hopkins
  • “Push,” by Sapphire
  • “Milk and Honey,” by Rupi Kaur
  • “It Starts with Us,” by Colleen Hoover
  • “The Infinite Moment of Us,” by Lauren Myracle
  • “Identical,” by Ellen Hopkins
  • “Boys Aren’t Blue,” by George M. Johnson
  • “Juliet Takes a Breath,” by Gabby Rivera
  • “Monday’s Not Coming,” by Tiffany Jackson
  • “City of Thieves,” by David Benioff

Those books were added to another seven that have been pulled in the last year, including in April and August 2023.

Those decisions have been criticized by parents and others claiming they’re book bans.

At a later school board meeting Thursday, parent Sharon Hudson—who calls herself a conservative Republican—blasted Ragsdale’s latest removals as another example of his “authoritarian rule” while wearing a shirt that said “Read Banned Books.”

She other accused him of removing some books because they have themes featuring minority and LGBTQ students.

Another parent read from a previously removed book, “Flamer,” calling it inappropriate. But as she did so, the district’s live-stream was paused due to what board attorney Suzann Wilcox said were federal regulations due to indecent content.

At the work session Thursday afternoon, Ragsdale defended the latest removals, saying they weren’t taken lightly.

“This is a very surgical process. These are twenty works out of the over one million books in the District’s media centers.

Our team’s mission—a mission it performs exceptionally well—is teaching, not parenting.”

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Sope Creek ES roof replacement on Cobb school board agenda

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The Cobb Board of Education will be asked on Thursday to approve spending $1.6 million for a new roof at Sope Creek Elementary School.Campbell High School lockdown

An agenda item states that the Cobb County School District will ask the board to award a contract to Roof Technology Partners of Woodstock to do the work, which is expected to be completed by August 2025.

It’s one of several renovation contracts on the board’s agenda that include Cobb Education SPLOST-VI projects at Ford Elementary School, Harrison High School and Kennesaw Mountain High School.

The board also will be asked to approve a contract for $4.535 to purchase 27 school buses and four van mail trucks.

Those items will be presented for discussion at a work session that begins at 2 p.m. Thursday in the board room of the CCSD Central Office, 514 Glover St., Marietta.

The items will be considered for a vote at a 7 p.m. business meeting at the same venue. An executive session will take place in between.

You can view the agenda for the work session and voting session by clicking here.

The open meetings also will be live-streamed on the Cobb County School District’s BoxCast channel and on CobbEdTV, Comcast Channel 24.

The executive session, which is limited to land, legal, personnel and student discipline matters, is closed to the public.

The work session agenda says there will be a video presentation of the first day of school and a presentation on student outcomes, but didn’t elaborate on the latter.

At the night meeting, recognitions include Walton High School’s athletics program receiving the Georgia Athletic Directors Association Director’s Cup for overall sports success in the 2023-24 school year.

Also to be recognized by the board will be Misa McFarlin, Tanushri Dhamotharan, and Edore Oseragbaje of Wheeler High School, who are the 2023-2024 SkillsUSA State Leadership Conference State Gold Award Winners for Career Pathway Showcase Business Management and Technology.

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East Cobb schools show gains in 2024 Milestones tests

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Mountain View Elementary School
Mountain View Elementary School students turned in solid Milestones scores in 2023-24.

With dozens of data points, the Georgia Milestones testing results for the 2023-24 academic year present a variety of perspectives on how students at all grade levels performed.

The Georgia Department of Education on Thursday released the comprehensive assessments, which didn’t differ all that much from last year for the 36 public schools in East Cobb.

Students at schools with a pattern of high performance results continued to test well in the End of Grade (elementary and middle) and End of Course (high school) metrics.

Others that have had struggling figures over the years also continued to lag, although there was some progress in spots.

A total of 13 different assessments are measured at the end of each semester, as well as the end of the school year.

(You can read through all the figures at the state education Milestones dashboard).

Georgia Milestones test students in grades 3-8 in English Language Arts and math, in grades 5-8 in those subjects plus science, and those areas plus social studies in grade 8. High school students are tested in American Literature, algebra, biology and U.S. history.

Students are categorized in one of four levels, based on those test scores: Level 1 is Beginning Learner, Level 2 is a Developing Learner, Level 3 is a Proficient Learner and Level 4 is Distinguished Learner.

The Georgia DOE said in a release that math scores will be released in the fall, after new math standards were implemented during the 2023-24 school year.

Across the state, ELA, reading and science scores were up modestly, according to a release. More:

“The percentage of students achieving the Proficient Learner level or above increased or held steady on 10 of 13 End of Grade (EOG) and End of Course (EOC) assessments.”

Those are among metrics that we’re highlighting in the tables below from East Cobb schools. Another key indicator that’s getting extra emphasis since COVID-19 are third-grade reading scores.

The Cobb County School District said in a release Thursday that 78.2 percent of students tested at all grade levels  and across all subjects surpassed their peers in other metro Atlanta school districts.

The district said reading levels “increased substantially” in third, fifth, sixth and eighth grades, while English Language Arts grades were also up modestly from 2023.

Cobb high school students outperformed the state average in U.S. History testing by 17 percent, and in biology by 13.9 percent.

What follows is a sampling of only a few metrics lines that comprise Milestones. Another link to the full dashboard can be found here, and where you can download spreadsheets and other data by school, school district and the state.

3rd Grade Reading

# Students Tested % Grade Level or Above
Addison 99 86.9
Bells Ferry 146 67.8
Blackwell 101 64.6
Brumby 104 59.9
Davis 105 90.5
East Side 181 92.8
Eastvalley 96 70.8
Garrison Mill 122 90.2
Keheley 52 86.5
Kincaid 112 83.0
Mt. Bethel 174 92.5
Mountain View 116 91.4
Murdock 158 93.0
Nicholson 51 82.4
Powers Ferry 76 57.9
Rocky Mount 87 96.2
Sedalia Park 107 54.2
Shallowford Falls 104 93.3
Sope Creek 187 93.6
Timber Ridge 82 96.3
Tritt 146 91.8

8th grade English Language Arts

# Tested % Proficient Learners + Above % Distinguished Learners
Daniell 297 47.8 10.4
Dickerson 359 81.9 43.7
Dodgen 419 75.9 32.0
East Cobb 460 42.6 10.9
Hightower Trail 334 76.9 32.0
Mabry 298 72.8 28.9
McCleskey 188 59.0 20.7
Simpson 273 73.6 30.4

High School American Lit & Comp

# Tested % Proficient Learners + Above % Distinguished Learners
Kell 409 60.1 13.9
Lassiter 489 81.0 29.9
Pope 432 80.1 29.2
Sprayberry 481 52.0 10.6
Walton 683 89.9 37.3
Wheeler 630 57.8 23.0

High School Biology

# Tested % Proficient Learners + Above % Distinguished Learners
Kell 432 61.6 13.7
Lassiter 516 84.7 41.3
Pope 419 82.8 28.2
Sprayberry 392 57.1 13.3
Walton 1,119 86.7 39.5
Wheeler 555 61.1 30.8

High School U.S. History

# Tested % Proficient Learners & Above % Distinguished Learners
Kell 328 67.1 17.7
Lassiter 333 82.0 37.8
Pope 227 80.2 25.1
Sprayberry 389 58.1 16.5
Walton 413 87.9 34.1
Wheeler 468 53.0 16.0

Cobb Youth Leadership announces 2024-25 class members

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Cobb Youth Leadership (CYL), a development program for high school juniors and sponsored by the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, has announced the members of its 2024-2025 class.Cobb Chamber of Commerce

A total of 54 students have been selected, including the following from high schools in East Cobb:

  • Amol Balakrishnan, Lassiter High School
  • Arvind Balakrishnan, Wheeler High School
  • Anya Dhir, Walton High School
  • Lila Fraley, Wheeler High School
  • Marie Hable, Wheeler High School
  • Sophie Hortman, Lassiter High School
  • Thomas Linton, Pope High School
  • Madison Lockhart, Pope High School
  • Sameel Mistri, Wheeler High School
  • Brody Tanner, Johnson Ferry Christian Adcemy
  • Leo Waldron, Walton High School

Orientation begins on Monday, followed by a fall retreat in August and monthly program activities until graduation in April, 2025.

Here’s more from the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, which oversees CYL, about the program:

Created in 1989, the program provides students a unique opportunity to learn about their community, develop leadership skills, as well as meet and interact with students from other high schools. Students attending public or private high schools or home-school students must complete and submit an application for CYL in the spring of their sophomore year. Students participate in the program during their junior year of high school.

Allan Bishop, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Julie Peck, Hub International, will be Co-Chairs for the 2024-2025 program year. Tripp Boyer, Boyer Ramey Wealth Management, and Luci Hogue, Scotland Wright Associates, will be the Vice Co-Chairs for the 2024-2025 program year. The 2024-2025 class theme is “Connected in Leadership.”

Thank you to Yearlong Presenting Sponsor, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Youth Champion Sponsor, Six Flags Over Georgia.

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