A total of 32 active cases of COVID-19 are being reported at Addison Elementary School in Northeast Cobb, the largest number for any school this week in the Cobb County School District.
That’s down from the range of around 1K in each of the last three weeks, but it reflects a shortened school week due to the Labor Day holiday on Monday.
Since July 1, there have been 4,402 cases among students and staff. Addison had eight cases prior to this week, and is not the first elementary school in East Cobb with such large numbers.
For 10 days last month the entire 5th grade at East Side Elementary School went to remote learning due to an outbreak.
Rocky Mount Elementary School in Northeast Cobb has 24 active cases, more than doubling its previous cumulative total.
There are 13 cases at Lassiter High School and Dickerson Middle School is reporting 11 active cases this week.
The guidance comes from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and includes several other provisions to combat growing numbers of cases and hospitalizations among school-age children.
Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale, a member of the board of health, abstained from voting, saying the district is following the other protocols, and indicated that “97 percent [of students and staff] are COVID-free.”
In Cobb County, the spread of COVID-19 remains high due to the Delta variant. Cobb and Douglas Public Health report that as of Thursday, there is a 14-day average of just under 800 cases per 100,000 people. “High community spread” is a two-week average of 100/100K.
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Submitted information by the Cobb County School District:
Publix Super Markets recently named the Cobb Schools Foundation a recipient of the “Tools for Schools” campaign. Last week, Bruch Humphries, District Manager of Atlanta Central West Region, and two local store managers delivered over $125,000 in gift cards for Cobb students and teachers.
Anyone who has shopped at Publix and opted to support the Tools for School has helped Cobb students who may not have basic learning materials like pens, markers, crayons, or notebooks. In some classrooms, teachers have been known to use their own money to provide those resources. Thanks to Tools for School, teachers and students can focus on doing what’s most important—teaching and learning. Contributions through the Tools for School campaign support local charities dedicated to helping kids succeed.
“The Cobb Schools Foundation is overjoyed to receive the generosity of our local Publix shoppers. These gift cards will be distributed throughout the county to serve students in need as well as teachers who are doing all that they can to create the best learning experience for students,” shared Frank Wigington, President of Cobb Schools Foundation.
Out of the approximately 107,000 students who are enrolled in the Cobb County School District’s 112 schools, over 40% are considered economically disadvantaged. The gift cards donated by Publix will go directly towards supporting the needs of those students and teachers in the district.
For those interested in working together with the Cobb Schools Foundation to take student success to new heights, go here. The Cobb Schools Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit and is the philanthropic arm for the school district and focuses on family stabilization, learning interventions, scholarships, and career development for students.
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The Cobb Board of Health adopted a statement Tuesday urging schools to follow Centers for Disease Control guidance on mitigating against COVID-19, including masking of all staff, teachers and students over the age of 2.
The eight-member appointed board, called to an emergency meeting late Friday, voted 6-0 to approve what it called a “position statement” for public and private schools in the county.
The statement, read before the vote by chairwoman Dr. Carol Holtz, also encourages all eligible persons in Cobb (age 12 and older) to get vaccinated, and supports a “multi-pronged approach to protect students and staff.”
Cobb’s 14-day average of 845 cases per 100,000 people is several times above the “high community spread” threshold of 100/100K.
During the meeting, health officials noted that Cobb is experiencing “extremely high” transmission due to the Delta variant, and that pediatric case numbers and hospital admissions of children have increased dramatically.
It was clear from comments by board members and Dr. Janet Memark, the director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, that masks were the primary reason for the meeting, and especially regarding the Cobb County School District’s policy.
The health board cannot issue mandates or require policy changes.
Cobb is among the few school districts in metro Atlanta without a mandatory mask policy. Marietta City Schools mandated masks in late August.
“One child’s death is not worth not wearing masks in our schools, public and private,” health board member Wyman Pilcher III said, echoing the comments of several of his colleagues.
They included Cobb Board of Commissioners chairwoman Lisa Cupid, who called the current COVID-19 surge in the county “one of the most troubling issues of our time” that “could do grave harm to our community.”
Abstaining from voting was Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale, who emphasized during the nearly hour-long meeting that the district was following seven of the eight recommended CDC school-related protocols.
Absent from the meeting, which was viewed via Zoom by more than 800 people, was Marietta superintendent Grant Rivera.
“We are doing seven of the eight,” Ragsdale said, stressing that correct usage of masks, especially by elementary school-age children, is a challenge.
Ragsdale—who with Rivera is a member of the health board by virtue of his position—also said the statement read by Holtz was not the text he had received prior to the meeting.
After it was sent to him, he said he didn’t feel comfortable voting for something he hadn’t had a chance to read.
Ragsdale said the Cobb school district—with 107,000 students and 20,000 more teachers and staff—strongly encourages masks and vaccines, and appreciated updated quarantine provisions from Cobb and Douglas Public Health.
Since July 1, there have been 3,744 confirmed COVID-19 cases among students and staff in Cobb schools, representing 3 percent of the district’s population.
“Ninety-seven percent are COVID-free,” Ragsdale said.
For each of the last three weeks, nearly 1,000 cases have been reported in the Cobb school district, and for 10 days the entire 5th grade at East Side Elementary School in East Cobb went to remote learning due to an outbreak.
But Memark—who posted several slides with high transmission and pediatric hospitalization data—said it was important to “use as many of the tools as possible” to curtail the spread of the virus.
She said that since August, roughly 25 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Cobb have been between the ages of 5-17, as well as 136 outbreaks and four pediatric deaths.
“There is a lot of significant transmission happening in those groups,” she said.
The health board’s statement in part addressed that as follows:
“Hospitalizations in school-aged children are also the highest since the beginning of the pandemic. The fact that many of these children are not eligible to be vaccinated and have been shown to spread the virus to others has been concerning since the beginning of this school year.”
“Each school system has their own unique challenges to meet the needs of students and faculty and we respect their authority to make the final decisions. All questions regarding school protocols should be directed to the relevant school district.”
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They include double-figure cases at quite a few schools, including several in East Cobb.
They’re not as high as last week’s report of 69 active cases at Sprayberry High School, which is reporting 26 this week.
Since July 1 there have been 3,744 cases reported in the Cobb school district, both for students and staff, but the figures aren’t broken down further.
They also don’t divulge how many people are being quarantined.
What follows are active case counts at schools in East Cobb, with cumulative totals in parenthesis:
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Beth Foster thought she was attending the August Board of Education meeting to be recognized as the Cobb Schools High School Teacher of the Year, but she was in for a big surprise.
Instead of solely recognizing her accomplishment as High School TOTY, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced that she had been selected as the District Level Teacher of the Year!
“Beth Foster is an example of Cobb’s high-quality educators who help students overcome obstacles and succeed in school and beyond. Teachers like her are the reason why 91% of Cobb students reach the graduation stage when they attend a Cobb high school all four years,” said Superintendent Ragsdale.
Beth Foster, a graduate of Pope High School, teaches ESOL and History/Civics classes at Osborne High School, where she has helped students succeed for 13+ years. Cobb’s Teacher of the Year has taught students from all around the world and serves as a daily encouragement to both her students and her fellow educators.
“I love teaching at Osborne because we work as a team to help our students. Every single person in our building contributes – teachers, staff, administrators, parent facilitators, department chairs, the social worker, our cafeteria staff, and academic coaches,” Ms. Foster explained.
Osborne Principal Josh Morreale describes Ms. Foster as a dynamic teacher who consistently meets the needs of all of her students. Principal Morreale also praised the District’s top teacher for building strong relationships with her students.
She maintains some of those relationships long after graduation. One of those relationships also makes up one of her favorite memories as an educator.
“It is difficult to pinpoint one favorite memory as an educator, but one that stands out is a former student who faced a lot of adversity throughout high school. He relied heavily on my husband and I for support, and he eventually went on to graduate and pursue higher education. He now owns his own business, and he has a beautiful family. It has been a joy to see him flourish,” said the veteran Osborne educator.
The success of her student epitomizes why she serves as a teacher.
“I love seeing students happy, learning, and finding success in challenging situations,” Cobb’s TOTY added.
In addition to recognizing Beth Foster, Superintendent Ragsdale and Cobb’s Board Members also congratulate Cobb’s Elementary Level TOTY, Dr. Darline Douangvilay, City View Elementary School; and Middle School Level TOTY, Michelle Gottenberg, Mabry Middle School.
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Submitted information from the Cobb County School District:
Substitutes in Cobb Schools will soon have an extra reason to smile when they see their paychecks. Effective September 6, substitute teachers, supply teachers, substitute nurses, and supply nurses in Cobb Schools will be eligible for pay increases temporarily through May 2022. The increase will reflect in the employees’ October 29 paycheck.
“Whether they are part-time, temporary, or full time, every Team member can change a student’s life. This raise is another example of Superintendent Ragsdale’s priority of putting CARES Act relief dollars as close to the classroom as possible,” said Chief Human Resources Officer Keeli Bowen.
The daily rate for substitute teachers in Cobb will increase to $189 temporarily, while the rate for supply teachers will increase to $212 temporarily. Both substitute and supply nurses in Cobb Schools will also see a temporary hourly rate increase by $4 per hour. For example, the hourly rate for an RN nurse supply position will increase to $27.89 temporarily.
Those interested in joining the Cobb Schools team should visit here.
Cobb Schools teacher substitutes and nurses are not the only ones this year to see a monetary thank you.
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After reporting nearly 1,000 new active COVID cases last week, the Cobb County School District went over that threshold with 1,033 being reported in its weekly update on Friday.
Several schools are reporting high numbers of cases this week, including Sprayberry High School in East Cobb, where there are 69 active cases, and 120 overall since July 1.
Those are the highest weekly and overall totals in the district since the new school year began.
The first two games of the Sprayberry football season have been cancelled, although an official reason for those decisions has not been announced.
The figures in Cobb, which doesn’t require mask use, are similar to those in Gwinnett, which has a mask mandate.
Gwinnett, the largest school district in Georgia with 180,000 students, reported 1,041 cases this week and 1,548 close contacts.
The Cobb school district doesn’t break down the numbers of cases between staff and students, nor does it disclose how many people are out due to quarantine policy or how many individuals are tested.
The Cobb statistics also do not indicate how many serious illnesses and hospitalizations may stem from infections at the schools.
Fifth graders at East Side Elementary School in East Cobb did virtual learning for a week and a half after an outbreak there; this week 22 more cases were reporting, for a cumulative total of 106.
At Sope Creek Elementary School there were 18 new cases reported; 17 each at McCleskey Middle School, Walton High School and Wheeler High School; 15 at Kell High School; and 14 at Lassiter High School.
Since July 1, there have been 2,797 cases reported in the Cobb school district, which has 109,000 students and 18,000 teachers and staff and is the second-largest in the state.
Cobb remains one of the few school districts in metro Atlanta that doesn’t require universal mask usage. Marietta City Schools issued a mask mandate that began this week, and as community spread metrics continued to rise.
The 14-day average of cases per 100,000 people in Cobb was nearing 800, several times above the “high community spread” threshold of 100 cases per 100,000.
Cobb and Douglas Public Health director Dr. Janet Memark sent out another urgent message Thursday, imploring the public to wear masks and get vaccinated.
“We are also seeing concerning numbers of children being infected with COVID-19,” she said. “In children 5-17 years-old, there has been a 60% increase in cases since last week, and we have seen numbers double for children aged 11-17. The number of cases and outbreaks reported in schools is also very high.”
She didn’t provide numbers on how many more cases overall are being reported for children. Memark has urged the schools to follow current CDC guidance recommending mask usage in schools.
“I know that we are all struggling through this Delta surge. For the next few weeks, I advise everyone to be cautious,” Memark said. “The virus is around you EVERYWHERE. Your best defense is getting vaccinated and wearing your masks. Until numbers come down, I would not gather in large groups. We can only get through this by working together. That being said, do what you can to keep yourselves and your families safe.”
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David Banks is the only sitting member of the Cobb Board of Education who’s gone through a previous reapportionment process.
The Cobb Board of Education last week voted to hire a high-profile law firm in Cobb County to draw a map of school board posts for reapportionment.
While the board’s three Democrats were in the minority of a 4-3 vote, David Banks of East Cobb, part of the four-member Republican majority, initially said he couldn’t support the hiring of Taylor English Duma LLP, based in the Cumberland area.
Banks, the only sitting board member to go through reapportionment from the 2010 Census, said at a board work session last Thursday that he didn’t think hiring a third party was appropriate and that the maps would be “whatever the legislature decides it looks like.”
But he joined his GOP colleagues later in approving the hiring of Taylor English Duma to draw the board’s political lines based on 2020 Census results.
The board will be asked later to approve a contract for Taylor English Duma after a cost estimate is determined.
(PLEASE NOTE: These lines are for the seven posts, or districts, for elected Cobb school board seats, which are determined by the Georgia General Assembly. They have no bearing on specific school attendance zones, which are drawn administratively by the Cobb County School District staff.)
Board chairman Randy Scamihorn said he wanted Taylor English Duma because of what he said was a bipartisan track record of reapportionment work. He presented no other bidders.
The Democrats objected on other grounds, saying they weren’t given much information beforehand, including how much the mapping work will cost.
They also wanted to consider additional bidders, and didn’t like that former State Rep. Earl Ehrart of West Cobb, a staunch Republican, is the CEO of Taylor English Decisions, a government and economic development consulting arm of Taylor English Duma.
Taylor English Decisions—whose staff includes noted Cobb zoning attorney James Balli and former Cobb County Manager Rob Hosack—is not involved in reapportionment matters.
For a more detailed view, click here. The area in white is the map for Marietta City Schools.
The map forwarded to the Cobb legislative delegation from the school board would only be advisory. While Democrats hold a one-seat majority in the county delegation, the final decision on the map would come from the Republican-dominated legislature.
So how those boundaries may change figures to be a subject of intense scrutiny, given the board’s partisan divide.
Until 2018, the board held a 6-1 Republican majority. That’s when Democrats Charisse Davis and Jaha Howard were elected to seats held by Republicans.
They’ve vocally and openly clashed with the Republicans on a number of issues in their nearly three years on the board.
And both of their seats will be up in the 2022 elections, after the new map takes effect. How Post 6, represented by Davis, may change could prove worth watching.
That post includes most of the Walton and Wheeler clusters, but Davis, who lives in the Campbell High School cluster, edged Republican incumbent Scott Sweeney of East Cobb due to a high turnout in her part of the post.
Also up for election in 2022 will be the seat of Republican David Chastain of Post 4 in Northeast Cobb, which includes the Kell and Sprayberry clusters.
He’s indicating he will seek a fourth term; Howard and Davis have not announced their plans.
Democrats missed a golden chance to swing the majority in their favor with the other three Republicans on the ballot in the 2020 elections. Scamihorn won easily in Post 1 in Northwest Cobb, while Brad Wheeler foiled a Democratic challenger by fewer than 2,000 votes in his West Cobb Post 5.
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Among the measures Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced last week about COVID-19 protocols was a forthcoming survey for parents to gauge their interest in voluntary testing of their children.
“We believe keeping students in face to face classrooms is critical for both students and families,” the Cobb County School District said in a message issued at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
The message, sent through its ParentVUE portal, indicated that the survey period would last last until 5 p.m. Thursday.
If parents agree, their children would be tested as a means of reducing “the time students are not in a face-to-face classroom.”
Only enrolling parents have access to the survey, which the district said would be part of a “local and state public health” partnership. The single question on the survey asks parents if they would participate in such a testing program for their students.
In addition to maintaining a masks-optional policy, Ragsdale said last week that the district was altering its quarantine protocols regarding close contacts. Students who are quarantining at home for three days can return after that, as long as they are asymptomatic.
That policy took effect Monday, just after the district announced 942 new active COVID-19 cases among students and staff last week, double the previous week’s total.
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The Heisman Trophy Trust opened applications for the 2021 Heisman High School Scholarship program, presented by Acceptance Insurance. The program honors hundreds of the nation’s most accomplished, community-minded high school senior athletes each year. This year, the college scholarship amounts have been doubled, increasing support for each student-athlete’s education.
“We would like to thank our partners at Acceptance Insurance for sponsoring this tremendous program which extends the Heisman prestige to the nation’s most esteemed high school seniors,” stated Michael Comerford, President of the Heisman Trust. “We are very excited to announce that we have doubled the scholarship amounts this year. We look forward to recognizing the most deserving, community-minded scholar athletes and rewarding them with additional funds to help offset their college tuition.”
The Heisman High School Scholarship program will recognize a winner from each high school in the nation that has student participation in the Program by way of application. The top male and female applicants from each state will be awarded $1,000. Among the top male and female applicants from each state, the twelve (12) most outstanding will be identified as national finalists and win at least $2,000. Of the national finalists, a male and a female winner will be selected as the winner of the $10,000 National Heisman High School Scholarship.
By inviting students from schools across the country to share their stories of leadership and impact, the program aims to inspire all students to harness their potential, push their limits, and use their talents not only to advance their own futures but to improve the communities and world around them. Over the past 27 years, the program has honored more than 600,000 of the nation’s most esteemed high school seniors and provided over a million dollars in college scholarships to students throughout the United States.
“The values we promote at Acceptance Insurance – integrity, excellence, and service – are the values embodied by the students earning this recognition. Helping them realize their visions for stronger communities and greater achievement along with the Heisman Trophy Trust is an honor and a privilege,” says Larry Willeford, President and COO of Acceptance Insurance.
The 2021 application for The Heisman High School Scholarship program presented by Acceptance Insurance is currently open. All high school students graduating as part of the class of 2022 are encouraged to apply. The deadline to submit applications is October 19, 2021. Applicants will have the chance to win a college scholarship valued up to $10,000 and the possibility of attending and being highlighted during the ESPN televised Heisman Trophy Presentation Ceremony.
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East Side ES has reported 84 cases of COVID-19 since the school year began, the most in the Cobb County School District.
The day after the Cobb County School District announced quarantine policy changes and said it would maintain its masks-optional policy, nearly 1,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the schools.
The district’s weekly Friday update showed 942 new cases, a big jump from 569 cases a week ago. There were 185 cases during the first week of school at the start of August, during which the district “strongly encouraged” mask use and changed some other prootocls.
Since July 1, there have been 1,764 cases among students and staff in the Cobb school district, which has 109,000 students and around 13,000 staff.
The numbers at East Side Elementary School continue to mount, with 35 new cases and 84 in the three weeks since the school year began.
That’s by far the highest total in the 112-school system. East Side fifth-graders have been learning remotely since the middle of last week and were to be allowed to return to campus on Monday.
Walton High School had 33 cases this week, and there were 32 at Sprayberry High School.
Also in East Cobb, there were 15 new cases at Sedalia Park ES, Garrison Mill ES reported 14 new cases, there were 11 at East Cobb MS and Dodgen MS and 10 at Daniell MS.
On Thursday Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced new quarantine provisions for students who are identified as close contacts and whose exposure took place in school.
Those students will have to be quarantined for three days, following a new order from the Georgia Department of Public Health. They can return after those three days, as long as they are asymptomatic, and they must wear a mask on their campus for seven more days after exposure.
The policy also states the following:
“Students who are identified as a close contact where the point of exposure occurred in the school setting and are symptomatic must follow the isolation guidance contained in the close contact letter.”
More health protocols can be found here; Ragsdale also said Thursday that the district’s online learning options will be expanded for the second semester via lottery process.
He said the window for that process will open in October, and those students chosen through the lottery will be notified in November.
That doesn’t address the immediate concerns of parents who cannot switch their children from face-to-face to remote learning. That option was available last year but parents had to make their choice for the current school year in May, when COVID-19 spread was low.
Only 2,000 of the district’s students were enrolled in the Elementary Virtual Program and Cobb Online Academy for the fall semester.
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The old East Cobb Middle School campus will be giving way soon for a rebuild of Eastvalley Elementary School.
As noted earlier this week, the district is planning to demolish the Holt Road buildings, and on Thursday the Cobb Board of Education approved the project by a 7-0 vote.
Marc Smith, the district’s chief technology and operations officer, said the $348,000 project is expected to be finished by Dec. 20.
A bit tongue-in-cheek, board member David Chastain, who attended the school when it was known as East Cobb Junior High School, expressed an interest in getting bricks from the demolition.
“Yes sir, we can make that happen,” Smith told Chastain, who broke out into a grin.
Board member Tre’ Hutchins, who attended East Cobb Middle School in the late 1980s, made the same request.
East Cobb Middle School opened on Holt Road in 1963, and reopened in a new venue on Terrell Mill Road in 2018, next to the relocated campus of Brumby Elementary School.
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Superintendent Chris Ragsdale reading a written statement about COVID-19 changes; but he said he will not mandate masks.
Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday night that the Cobb County School District will not issue a mask mandate, although their use is “strongly encouraged.”
His remarks came after a public comment period in which he was emotionally urged by parents to impose a mask mandate, and on the same day that Marietta City Schools said it would begin requiring masks.
Before a Cobb Board of Education meeting there also was a rally organized by parents who want a mask mandate.
Ragsdale said that some areas with mandated masks in schools have no lower COVID-19 figures than those without mandates, and that he wanted to leave it to parents to decide what is best for their families.
Applause broke out in the meeting room when he said that.
There also is not a vaccine mandate in the Cobb school district, and Ragsdale said it’s “not appropriate” to mandate that as well.
Here are more of his remarks:
“Mandatory masking is not without a cost. We recognize that there are negative impacts to school-age children properly wearing a mask during the duration of the school day. The data analysis is obviously very complex during this pandemic.
“We have made a continuous effort to allow families to have a choice, both in the type of instruction, whether it be face to face or virtual, and in the decision about what is best for their families in regards to masks. We have also encouraged vaccinations but believe it’s also a personal choice for each employee, student, and family to make based on their individual situation. At this time, I do not believe it is appropriate to mandate either decision, which would remove the ability for each family to make the best decision for them as a family.
“Some parents who spoke in favor of the mandate also wanted to be able to switch to virtual learning, an option that had not been allowed for the new school year.”
Cobb’s decision runs counter to recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, which is urging indoor mask usage in schools, as well as Cobb and Douglas Public Health.
Among the parents pleading for a mask mandate was Tim Philbin, father of a fifth-grade student at Eastvalley Elementary School.
He said that “our students need in-person learning, and masks are one of the things that can keep them there.”
Ragsdale said that the district’s all-online learning environments will be expanding for a lottery for the second semester. Those are the Elementary Virtual Program (EVP) and Cobb Online Learning Academy (COLA) for middle school and high school students.
He didn’t indicate how many spaces will open, but anticipates the window for applying for the lottery to open in mid- to late October.
A Cobb school district spokeswoman told East Cobb News last week that only around 2,000 of the district’s 109,000 students are in all-online learning this year.
Unlike last year, students learning in a virtual setting are not being taught by in-person classroom teachers.
Ragsdale also said the district would be modifying its quarantine policy regarding close contacts. Students who are quarantining at home for three days can return after that, as long as they are asymptomatic.
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Near the end of a Thursday work session, members of the Cobb Board of Education tore into one another when one of them tried to add a discussion about COVID-19 protocols to the Thursday night business meeting.
COVID-19 issues were not included on the agenda for either meeting, although most of the citizens who signed up to speak at the work session’s public comment session were there to talk about those topics.
There also was a protest planned for 6:30 p.m., a half-hour before the evening session, on the mask issue.
The arguments blew up when board chairman Randy Scamihorn asked his colleagues to approve the night meeting agenda as amended. At that point, board member Tre’ Hutchins made a motion to add a discussion item about COVID-19 protocols.
Some parents have demanded a mask mandate, and the district recently revised its quarantine protocols with the start of the school year.
Nina Gupta, the Cobb school board attorney and the meeting parliamentarian, said the board could add an agenda item if it’s considered an emergency that’s arisen since the last meeting.
Hutchins, who was attending the meeting via Zoom, said he thought the COVID-19 measures and the district’s rising case totals constituted an emergency.
Cobb school board chairman Randy Scamihorn
“That’s why I’m asking,” said Hutchins, one of three Democrats on the seven-member board.
But Scamihorn immediately said there’s not an emergency, and the district’s protocols have “never been presented as such.”
He denied Hutchins’ request, and board member Jaha Howard, another Democrat, asked: “Are we not in an emergency?”
Scamihorn ruled that he was out of order, then called the question and over objections announced that the vote to deny adding the COVID-19 discussion was 4-3, with the board’s four Republicans in the majority.
Hutchins objected from his remote location that “I made a motion but did not vote.”
Howard, a pediatric dentist who has clashed openly with Scamihorn several times this year, interrupted the chairman, who growled at him: “Dr. Howard, do you have no manners!”
The board then adjourned to an executive session.
Scamihorn also attempted to get his colleagues to approve the hiring of Taylor English, a Cobb law firm, to draw a map of Cobb school board posts to present for reapportionment.
The three Democrats objected, especially when Scamihorn hadn’t provided a cost estimate. So did Republican vice chairman David Banks of East Cobb, who said he didn’t think hiring a third party was appropriate and that the maps would be “whatever the legislature decides it looks like.”
Scamihorn, who said hiring the firm was only to get the process started, decided to table the measure until the evening meeting.
Cobb is one of the few school districts in metro Atlanta without a mask mandate. Earlier Thursday, Marietta City Schools announced a mask mandate starting on Monday.
East Cobb resident Stacy Efrat
But COVID-19 topic came up at the Cobb work session only from members of the public.
East Cobb resident Caryn Sonderman thanked the district for keeping masks optional, saying “you are following the science and the facts.”
Stacy Efrat of East Cobb, whose family has tested positive for COVID-19 and whose children are home in quarantine, bemoaned the lack of academic support for students who cannot be in school.
Unlike last school year, Cobb is not offering simultaneous instruction in classes and for remote students.
“You are encouraging parents to send their kids to school sick,” she said.
Connie Jackson of the Cobb County Association of Educators may have prefigured the melee at the end of the meeting when she said that in her 20 years associated with the Cobb school district, “I have never seen a debacle like [what] our current school board is.”
She was referring to a lack of respect she said some have shown to others, although she didn’t name names.
Over the last three years, Jackson said, “we have lost so many of the things that have made us great.”
She complained that “nearly half the school board”—a reference to the three Democrats in the minority—has been silenced.
In order for agenda items to be discussed at meetings, members must get a majority of their colleagues to agree.
But the Democrats could not get one of the Republicans to put COVID-19 topics on the agenda.
Instead, the board heard presentations about student outcomes, a tax abatement involving the South Cobb Redevelopment Authority and the demolition of the former East Cobb Middle School campus.
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale also has the ability to bring agenda items unilaterally, but he did not mention COVID-19 protocols at the work session.
Board governance issues are among the topics that prompted a special review by Cognia, the board’s accrediting agency, earlier this week. Those results are expected to be released this fall.
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A deer wanders around a former homesite on Providence Road where new Walton High School tennis courts will be located.
After several months of trying to get information from the Cobb County School District about the proposed Walton High School sports complex, residents in neighboring subdivisions are airing their concerns publicly.
A construction contract to build tennis courts and a baseball field on nearly 20 acres of land on Providence Road and Pine Road is slated to go before the Cobb Board of Education in September.
Over the summer, the district has been developing a site plan and completing work on relocating the Walton softball team back to an on-campus location.
But residents living near the new baseball field—which is moving from its “Raider Mountain” site at the back of the Walton campus to the new venue—are worried that it’s too close to their homes.
They’ve asked the district to reconfigure the bleachers and concession stands, which they say will be built 50-70 feet from their homes. Resident Jennifer Sunderland, whose home at the end of a cul-de-sac on Mulberry Lane is among them, told East Cobb News earlier this week that she’s been told “flipping” the field is not possible.
But she said she heard Tuesday from James Wilson, a school district consultant who’s been asked to work with neighbors from Independence Square and other subdivisions, that he would try “to make this happen.”
Sunderland is scheduled to address the topic at a public comment session Thursday night before the Cobb school board.
The mother of a Dodgen Middle School student, she said she’s not against the Walton sports complex and is not used to speaking in public.
“But we fear that the current plan will greatly diminish the enjoyment of our properties and negatively affect our property values,” Sunderland said, speaking on behalf of other neighbors whom she said didn’t want to be identified.
“Receipt of our concerns have been acknowledged and neighbors including myself are awaiting detailed answers.”
A site plan for the new Walton baseball field includes bleacher seating close to the Independence Square subdivision.
Access to the baseball field would be on Pine Road, near a former homesite that has been demolished. So have two homesites near the intersection of Providence Road and Pine Road, where the tennis courts would be located.
Those demolitions, as well as the site plan work and the softball relocation project, are all part of an estimated $3 million Walton sports complex project.
But those tasks apparently were undertaken without formal funding approval by the Cobb school board. Initially, the new complex was to have housed tennis and softball facilities. Walton’s teams in those sports have played at Terrell Mill Park since 2014 to make way for a new Walton classroom building.
The district has not explained the decision to switch out the baseball and softball venues, or to proceed with some of the construction project before formal approval.
The Walton softball team is beginning its current season on the road and according to the team’s schedule, will be playing at its new venue at Raider Mountain, where the baseball field once stood, starting Sept. 7.
When East Cobb News asked the district to explain those actions, as well as the concerns of Independence Square residents, a spokeswoman said that “all available details will be provided [Thursday] during the Board meeting.”
She didn’t elaborate; the board has afternoon and evening meetings Thursday, and there is nothing on the agenda for either meeting about the Walton sports complex.
New Walton High School tennis courts would be located at Providence and Pine roads.
The Cobb school board approved $5.65 million in land purchases for the new Walton sports complex. Site plan renderings show that the part of the land along Bill Murdock Road, across from the main campus, won’t be developed at all.
That was part of a 20-acre tract formerly owned by Thelma McClure, who sold in November 2019 for $3 million after the Cobb school district threatened eminent domain.
In August 2020, the school board approved the purchases of 3.5 acres on Pine Road for $2 million, and 1.2 acres on Providence Road for $650,000 for the sports complex.
Shortly after that, Sunderland said the district notified nearby residents that Wilson, a former Cobb superintendent who runs Education Planners, a Marietta-based school demographics and planning firm, that he would be their contact point.
She said there have been some Zoom calls and some e-mail exchanges since then, but she said until now there’s been no response to their concerns about the baseball field.
Among the requests she said she will be asking Thursday is for the district to delay approving funding for construction “until you have written confirmation from myself that reasonable modifications and accommodations have occurred.”
Homes on Mulberry Lane in Independence Square would be as close as 50 feet from the new Walton baseball field.
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Cobb Schools bus drivers and monitors will soon have an extra reason to love their jobs. Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced today that the District is offering a $1,200 retention bonus to all bus drivers and monitors payable in their December payroll. To be eligible for the retention bonus, each driver and monitor must be employed by September 24th.
“Superintendent Ragsdale talks a lot about our Team. Our bus drivers and monitors are the first Team member many of our students and parents see every day. We want to do everything we can to hire the best and keep the best,” said Chief Operations Officer Marc Smith.
Safety-minded professionals interested in joining the Cobb Schools team as a bus driver or monitor should apply here. Specific questions about the bonus should be directed to the Payroll Department.
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When Sara Cavorley registered five of her children for in-person learning at public schools in East Cobb last spring, she wasn’t aware at the time she couldn’t change that decision.
As it turns out, she wasn’t alone in expressing frustration about not having an option to go virtual, especially as transmission of COVID-19 has rapidly increased in Cobb County in recent weeks.
When she showed up for meet-and-greet events at Kincaid Elementary School and Sprayberry High School last month, Cavorley also was upset that masks would not be required for students and staff, as they were on campuses last year.
“Nobody was wearing masks,” she said about the orientation events.
Cavorley is among those parents who want the district to reimpose a mandate just three weeks into the school year. The Cobb school district has reported 822 staff and student COVID-19 cases since July 1, and nearly 600 last week alone.
The entire fifth-grade class at East Side Elementary School is learning remotely through the end of this week due to an outbreak at that East Cobb campus.
In speaking to East Cobb News last weekend, a few days after a pro-mandate rally at Cobb County School District headquarters, Cavorley said she was thinking of taking her children out of the schools.
Her oldest son, Leland, 13, is enrolled at Simpson Middle School but continues to learn from home. He’s been getting infusions since the age of two due to a rare form of cancer called AML, and as a result lacks a strong immune system.
“If Leland gets it, we are in trouble,” she said of the virus.
Her oldest son, who attends Sprayberry and is autistic, panicked at the sight of students and staff not wearing masks, she said.
On Monday, Cavorley said she had withdrawn her children to protect Leland from getting COVID-19.
Leland Cavorley in a virtual learning environment at his home last school year.
She said she’s undecided about her next move, including the option of home-schooling, since virtual is not an option.
“Children are literally dropping like flies out of school as the numbers soar,” she said. “What is a parent to do, choose between life, or school. It’s a no-brainer, we choose life!”
For the time being, Cavorley said she will be among those attending a rally before a Cobb Board of Education meeting Thursday in favor of a mask mandate.
“If everyone wears them, they will make a difference,” Cavorley said.
The rally is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.,. before a 7 p.m. board voting meeting, at which parents are expected to speak about the mask issue.
Last week, around 100 mask mandate advocates were met by counter-protesters at CCSD headquarters in what occasionally became a contentious event.
The school board also meets at 2:30 p.m. for a work session, although there’s nothing on the agenda mentioning the district’s COVID-19 response.
But Cavorley said this isn’t just about masks.
“We want all the protocols from last year,” said, including social-distancing, classroom lunches and plexiglass barriers, and she provided a photo of what took place at Kincaid, where she has two children enrolled.
After struggling to oversee the virtual learning of her six children last year—her oldest, a daughter, is now attending Kennesaw State University—Cavorley was initially glad for them to go back to their schools.
A Zoom screenshot from Kincaid ES in the 2020-21 school year showing social-distancing protocols in place.
She and her family bunkered down at home for months, including her husband Sean, a technology executive. While they settled in, she went out do to the shopping, wearing extra protective gear.
“I had to be the one to do it,” said Cavorley, who got some help from her mother, who’s retired from the state public health department.
Her husband boosted the household WiFi capacity to cover seven computers. Two of her children, Makana and Saoirse, were set up the kitchen, her son Seamus was in a home office and two other children, Eliana and Jayden, learned in a basement.
Leland was upstairs in his room, and her husband worked in the master bedroom.
“Everyone stayed put but me,” Cavorley said. “And no one got sick. None of us even had a cold.”
Her four oldest children have been vaccinated (children 12 and under are not eligible for the vaccines).
Cavorley said she can’t understand why the Cobb school district isn’t following recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control recommending universal mask-wearing in schools.
The district has upgraded its protocols to “strongly encourage” masks, but remains one of the few in metro Atlanta not to require them.
“We’re in a mass pandemic,” she said. “We’re trying to protect people as a whole.”
While she “feels for parents who feel their rights are being taken away” with a mask mandate, Cavorley wondered “if they could just see it from a different point of view.”
She said she’s hoping at the very least that parents like her who’ve chosen in-person learning could switch to virtual.
But the district has set up two different learning environments, unlike last year, and hired limited teachers and staff dedicated for the virtual option.
A Cobb school district spokeswoman told East Cobb News last week that around 2,000 of the district’s estimated 109,000 enrolled students were in the full-time virtual options, the elementary virtual program (EVP) and the Cobb Online Learning Academy (COLA).
“We have to get rid of this nasty thing [COVID-19],” Cavorley said. “This saddens me, that parents aren’t being given any good options.”
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Another major step toward the rebuilding of Eastvalley Elementary School will go before the Cobb Board of Education on Thursday.
The board will be asked to spend $348,000 to demolish the former campus of East Cobb Middle School on Holt Road.
That’s across the street from Wheeler High School, and where the new Eastvalley campus will be relocated.
That item will be presented to the board at a 2:30 p.m. work session, with action scheduled for a 7 p.m. voting meeting Thursday.
Both meetings will take place at the Cobb County School District central office (514 Glover St., Marietta), and you can read through the agendas by clicking here.
An executive session will take place between the two public meetings.
The board is being asked to award the East Cobb MS demolition contract to Chaplin and Sons Clearing and Demolition, Inc. of Augusta.
The funding for the demolition and reconstruction of Eastvalley on the Holt Road site comes from Cobb Ed-SPLOST V.
According to the agenda item, the estimated time for completion of the demolition project is December. There isn’t a timeline that’s been announced for Eastvalley, which has been located on Lower Roswell Road since the early 1960s.
East Cobb Middle School opened on Holt Road in 1963, and opened in a new venue on Terrell Mill Road in 2018, next to the relocated campus of Brumby Elementary School.
Eastvalley parents have been complaining to the board about the conditions of trailers that are being used to accommodate the over-capacity enrollment of around 700, more than double what the main school building holds.
An architect for the Eastvalley rebuild project was approved by the Cobb Board of Education in February 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic, at a cost of $1.6 million. The project is expected to cost $31.6 million.
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Submitted information from the Cobb County School District:
In Spring 2021, Cobb’s fourth-graders sat down to take the Georgia Milestones for the first time. If 2020 had been a typical year, those students would have already taken the state assessment in third grade. However, due to the COVID-19, the Georgia Milestones was not administered in 2020, and even with the opportunity to test reinstated student participation in 2021 lagged below the number of students who took Milestones in 2019.
More than 95% of Cobb students enrolled in grades 3–8 and in EOC courses took one or more Milestones tests in the years before the pandemic. In 2020-2021, approximately 68% of Cobb students enrolled in those grades and courses took a Milestones test. The difference in participation rates, among other factors related to COVID-19, makes a comparison between school years ill-advised according to the Georgia Department of Education.
This was primarily due to conditions created by the pandemic. The State Board of Education approved Superintendent Woods’ proposal to temporarily lower the EOC course grade weight to .01%, which may have also contributed to the lower participation rate.
Guidance issued by State School Superintendent Richard Woods made clear, in line with federal guidance, that school districts could not require virtual students to come into the building solely for the purpose of taking Georgia Milestones if they were uncomfortable doing so due to the pandemic. The Georgia Department of Education applied to the U.S. Department of Education (USED) for a waiver of high-stakes testing requirements for the 2020-2021 school year, but USED denied Georgia’s request for a waiver.
As was the case across Georgia, student participation at Cobb schools varied widely, and no Cobb school had an overall participation rate of 95% or higher. Thirty Cobb schools posted participation rates between 85-94%, followed by 43 schools with 70-85% participation.
As a result, the Georgia Department of Education is encouraging educators, parents, and communities to remember that the Georgia Milestones tests were designed to measure the performance of students in a typical educational environment, so results should be interpreted in the context of the pandemic and associated learning disruptions, along with varying access to instruction. The scores were released along with participation data since some students did not participate in testing last year due to the pandemic.
“Georgia Milestones was designed to measure instruction during a typical school year, and 2020-2021 was anything but,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “Rolling quarantines, rising case counts, and shifting instructional models impacted the educational experience for students throughout the state.”
Despite the wide-ranging challenges of 2020 and 2021, Cobb students demonstrated their ability to lead the way. More Cobb students (73.8%) scored in levels 2–4 than their metro Atlanta (69.2%) and Georgia (68.2%) peers.
Cobb students scored higher than students in the 12 other school districts located in metro Atlanta and Georgia students overall, both in all subjects and in the percent of students reading on grade level.
The student participation rate on the Georgia Milestones may have dropped, but Cobb educators do not rely solely on end-of-year assessments. Cobb teachers conduct formative assessments throughout the school year to determine what students know so they can tailor instruction to meet the learning needs of each student. Those assessments occur for every student in the District, regardless of whether they are learning in-person or virtually.
So, Cobb teachers did not have to wait for the results from Georgia Milestones to know where students needed learning support. To help students with any learning loss they experienced due to the pandemic, Cobb Schools expanded summer enrichment opportunities through programs like Summer Learning Quest and the Summer Enrichment Academy. Cobb educators will continue to monitor student progress this year so they can respond promptly to student needs and adjust instruction as necessary.
District leaders also recognized the importance of providing options that support safe, high-quality learning environments for all 110,000 of our students, their families, and our staff. For most Cobb families, that meant a return to in-person learning.
Starting in Fall 2020, Cobb families had the opportunity to choose the learning environment that worked best for their student. Families were given more options in Spring 2021 to choose whether their student would be best served by in-person or virtual learning. All students and families were also able to choose the classroom that was best for their student and family for the 2020-2021 school year.
An example of the wild fluctuations in testing: The six high schools in East Cobb had vastly different participation rates, with Sprayberry, Kell and Wheeler testing at 79 percent of their student bodies or higher, while Walton, Pope and Lassiter students tested at 28 percent or lower.
Here’s a summary report from the Georgia Department of Education describing the Milestones date; we’ll look at more school-by-school breakdowns in East Cobb in a separate post.
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A total of 587 new COVID-19 cases were reported this week by the Cobb County School District, including a district-high 46 cases at East Side Elementary School in East Cobb.
The district’s weekly COVID case update, issued every Friday, includes school-by-school breakdowns.
Last week, as a new school year began, there were 185 cases among staff and students. Since July 1, there have been 822 cumulative cases, including 50 reported before classes began.
Several other schools had double-digit figures this week, including Walton and Wheeler (13 each) and Sprayberry (12) high schools in East Cobb.
When acknowledging the East Side outbreak earlier this week, a district spokeswoman did not explain how the outbreak occurred there, and why the switch to remote instruction was limited only to the 5th grade.
Cobb is among a handful of school districts in metro Atlanta that has a masks-optional policy. Another is Marietta City Schools, which said this week it would increase contact tracing procedures.
Last week Cobb updated protocols specifying quarantine policies that include a mandated 10-day mask-wearing period for asymptomatic staff and students who are exposed.
However, the district has not responded to increasing calls for a mask mandate, which is what is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control.
On Thursday, nearly 100 people favoring a school mandate protested in front of Cobb school district headquarters in Marietta, and they were met by counter-protestors.
Earlier this week, Dr. Janet Memark, director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, urged indoor mask usage in the county, including schools, as transmission metrics continued to climb well past the high community spread level.
On Friday, she issued an even more urgent message, as the 14-day average of cases per 100,000 people approached 500 (100 cases per 100,000 is considered high community spread) and as hospitals were reporting a shortage of critical beds.
“I leave you with the facts of our current state of affairs and implore that each of you make your individual decisions not just for your individual rights, but for the good of our community,” Memark said. “Make sure your facts are from reputable sources and not social media sites. Wear your mask in public and get vaccinated. These are two of the only weapons that we have against this pandemic, but remain two of the strongest.”
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!
