Fifth-grade students at East Side Elementary School in East Cobb were sent home early on Wednesday and ordered to learn remotely until Aug. 23 due to a COVID-19 outbreak.
In a message sent to the parents of fifth-graders at 9:35 a.m. Wednesday, East Side said the “ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and high positive case numbers” prompted the decision.
Fifth-grade students were to be picked up by 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, and can return to campus on Monday, Aug. 23, according to the message.
“During this time of quarantine, live instruction will occur following your 5th grade student’s normal daily schedule,” the message said. “At this time, ONLY 5th grade classes are moving to remote learning.”
The message did not indicate why only 5th grade classes are affected, nor did it indicate how many COVID-19 cases and close contacts have been determined.
Nor did a Cobb school district spokeswoman, who provided East Cobb News only with the following message:
“Based on our District protocols, fifth-graders at East Side Elementary School will learn virtually August 12-20. When providing high-quality instruction in a classroom is not possible, due to the number of students or staff in quarantine, we look forward to each student receiving a high quality virtual experience through Cobb teachers and the Cobb Teaching and Learning System (CTLS).”
The East Side developments come a week after the district revised its protocols last week to “strongly encourage” mask use, and requires masks for 10 days for asymptomatic people who have been allowed to return to school after being exposed to the virus.
During the first week of classes, Cobb reported 185 COVID-19 cases, including three at East Side.
Cobb remains one of the few school districts in metro Atlanta without a mask mandate.
Some parents have scheduled a rally at Cobb school district headquarters Thursday afternoon demanding a mask mandate.
Transmission rates of COVID-19 in Cobb County have risen rapidly over the last month, well past the “high community spread” threshold of a 14-day average of 100 cases per 100,000 people.
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Parents demanding that the Cobb County School District issue a mask mandate will be holding a rally Thursday afternoon.
That’s scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the district’s central office (514 Glover St., off Fairground St. in Marietta), and is scheduled to last for two hours.
Attendees are asked to wear masks, practice social-distancing and to bring water and signs.
One of the organizers is parent Shannon Mathers Deisen of East Cobb, and among the messages at the rally will be urging the district to follow recent guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and the American Association of Pediatricians recommending indoor mask usage in schools.
Cobb is one of several school districts in metro Atlanta that have a masks-optional policy (along with Marietta, Paulding, Cherokee and Forsyth).
Cobb and Douglas Public Health director Janet Memark also has been encouraging indoor mask use, including at schools, and her agency issued a separate message last week saying that while it is “committed to being a trusted resource for planning, mitigation, case identification, and contact tracing” the final decision on masking policy rests with local school districts, per state law.
Cobb revised its protocols last week to “strongly encourage” mask use, and requires masks for 10 days for asymptomatic people who have been allowed to return to school after being exposed to the virus.
Cobb students and staff were under a mask mandate for all of the 2020-21 school year, and a group of parents sued the district because of it.
They dropped their suit after superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced in the spring that the mask policy would be optional for 2021-22.
That’s when the COVID-19 transmission rate was considered low (below a 14-day average of 100 cases per 100,000 people.
As Cobb students began their school year last week, that figure had soared to more than 300, and is approaching a 14-day average of 500 cases per 100,000 people, PCR and Antigen tests combined.
A Cobb school district spokeswoman told East Cobb News this week that all but around 2,000 of the district’s estimated enrollment of 109,000 students were signed up for in-person instruction.
Parents had until the late spring to choose virtual or in-person learning options, and are not allowed to change them during the school year.
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As summer draws to a close and children start heading back to school, family life can get hectic. It’s important to remember – and share with your children – some key tips that will help keep them safe and healthy throughout the school year.
Transportation Safety
Whether children walk, ride their bicycle or take the bus to school, it is extremely important that they take proper safety precautions. Here are some tips to make sure your child safely travels to school:
Review your family’s walking safety rules and practice walking to school with your child. Walk on the sidewalk, if one is available; when on a street with no sidewalk, walk facing the traffic. Before you cross the street, stop and look left, right and left again to see if cars are coming. Make eye contact with drivers before crossing and always cross streets at crosswalks or intersections. Stay alert and avoid distracted walking.
Teach your child the rules of the road and practice riding the bike route to school with your child. Ride on the right side of the road, with traffic, and in a single file;
Come to a complete stop before crossing the street; walk bikes across the street
Teach your children school bus safety rules and practice with them. Go to the bus stop with your child to teach them the proper way to get on and off the bus. Teach your children to stand 6 feet (or three giant steps) away from the curb. If your child must cross the street in front of the bus, teach him or her to walk on the side of the road until they are 10 feet ahead of the bus; your child and the bus driver should always be able to see each other. Here are some injury facts on bus safety.
Stay alert and avoid distracted driving. Obey school zone speed limits and follow your school’s drop-off procedure. Make eye contact with children who are crossing the street. Never pass a bus loading or unloading children. The area 10 feet around a school bus is the most dangerous for children; stop far enough back to allow them to safely enter and exit the bus.
Car crashes are the No. 1 cause of death for teens. Fortunately, there is something we can do. Teens crash because they are inexperienced; practice with new drivers every week, before and after they get their license. Set a good example; drive the way you want your teen to drive. Sign the New Driver Deal, an agreement that helps define expectations for parents and teens.
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!
As first week of the 2021-22 school year in the Cobb County School District comes to a close, the district is reporting 185 new cases of COVID-19.
As it did last year, the district is updating those figures every Friday at this link, which includes a cumulative figure of 235 cases since July 1.
The numbers are not broken down between students and staff.
The school-by-school numbers include a district-high of seven cases each at Sprayberry High School, Hillgrove High School and Lost Mountain Middle School.
Among the provisions is to allow staff or students who are identified as a “close contact” and who are asymptomatic to return to school within 24 hours if they remain asymptomatic and wear a mask on campus for 10 days following exposure.
The Cobb school district’s COVID-19 figures don’t include how many people are quarantined or how many are identified as close contacts.
The district also said it would be “strongly encouraging” but not mandating indoor mask use for everyone, as it did last year.
Cobb, Marietta, Cherokee, Paulding and Forsyth are the only school districts in metro Atlanta that do not have overall mask requirements.
That policy runs counter to recent Centers for Disease Control guidance recommending “universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.”
On Thursday, Cobb and Douglas Public Health released a message saying while it is “committed to being a trusted resource for planning, mitigation, case identification, and contact tracing” that according to a state public health order issued Monday “all schools have local, final authority over their COVID-19 policies and quarantine protocols within certain parameters.”
The CDPH message also linked to the CDC guidance and stated that “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.”
Here’s the case breakdown for schools in East Cobb:
Elementary: Addison 2; Bells Ferry 0; Blackwell 2; Davis 0; East Side 3; Eastvalley 4; Garrison Mill 2; Keheley 1; Kincaid 2; Mt. Bethel 1; Mountain View 2; Murdock 5; Nicholson 0; Powers Ferry 0; Rocky Mount 1; Sedalia Park 0; Sope Creek 0; Timber Ridge 1; Tritt 0.
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Three days into a new academic year, the Cobb County School District has gotten more specific about its quarantine policy.
Before classes resumed on Monday, the original guidance released July 20 required quarantine for “any student or staff member who is identified as a close contact” according to Centers for Disease Control and Cobb and Douglas Public Health guidelines.
Those individuals were to receive a “close contact” letter outlining further instructions.
“Students or staff who are identified as a close contact and are asymptomatic are able to return to class or work the next day if the student or staff member remains asymptomatic and wears a mask while on school district property for ten days after exposure. Students or staff who are identified as a close contact and are symptomatic must follow directions contained in the close contact letter.”
The new guidance issued Wednesday continues the Cobb school district’s masks-optional policy for staff and students outside of quarantine provisions, but said that mask use is “strongly encouraged.”
The changes also come a week after the CDC issued new guidance regarding indoor mask use in general, and “recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.”
Cobb is one of the few school districts in metro Atlanta, along with Marietta City Schools, that does not have a mask mandate.
The transmission of COVID-19 in Cobb County in recent days has surpassed the “high community threshold,” a 14 day average of 100 cases per 100,000 people. That figure is now more than 300, and late last week Cobb and Douglas Public Health director Dr. Janet Memark urged citizens to mask in public and get vaccinated.
The new Cobb policy also limits volunteers on school campuses, and parents and guardians are not allowed to eat lunch in the cafeteria with their children, topics not included in the initial guidelines:
“Non-staff volunteers will be limited in their ability to enter the school and volunteer in roles that involve any degree of proximity to students during the instructional day. At the discretion of the principal, volunteers are allowed to enter the school and work in an isolated location away from students and staff. Volunteers are still welcome on campus for afterschool activities and special school events. Additionally, and until further notice, no parents/guardians will be permitted to eat lunch with their child in the school cafeteria.”
The Cobb school district said as it did last year, it will post weekly updates of COVID-19 cases every Friday at this link.
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!
As the school year begins in Cobb County, the Cobb Chamber’s Partners In Education program is looking for businesses to become partners and serve local schools.
The Partners in Education Program is a collective effort of the Cobb Chamber, the Cobb County Public School District and Marietta City Schools that matches businesses and organizations with schools to provide extra funding, unique services and volunteer support. The vision behind the Partners in Education program is to enrich the learning experience of Cobb’s children so that all develop a strong academic foundation, skills and core values that will benefit them in their community life and in a career.
“The Chamber’s Partners in Education program has a long history of connecting businesses with local schools, sourcing Cobb’s schools with much needed resources,” said Sharon Mason. “As partners, businesses can make a positive impact on students by donating supplies and other items and volunteering at the school. These partnerships help schools and students to flourish.”
Participation in the program provides opportunities for businesses to:
Heighten awareness of present and future job needs.
Understand the quality and needs of the public school systems, whose health is vital to the community’s economic well-being.
Be recognized as a community involved company, which adds to public relations efforts.
Improve the education of future employees and customers.
Any business in Cobb County and the surrounding area is eligible to participate as a Partner in Education. Businesses that are also members of the Cobb Chamber receive a special badge and category in the Chamber’s membership directory to help promote their business as a key contributor to the education community.
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The day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control revised indoor mask guidance, including for schools, the Cobb County School District said it is sticking to its announced public health protocols.
Those protocols include a masks-optional policy, making Cobb one of six school districts in metro Atlanta with such a policy.
Cobb schools return for the 2021-22 year on Monday, and the masks-optional policy applies to all activities, including school buses and extracurricular activities.
On Tuesday, the CDC encouraged indoor mask usage, even for vaccinated people and school students, due a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant, and amid questions about the effectiveness of vaccines.
That decision was a quick reversal of CDC guidance issued July 9 saying that “fully vaccinated” people could go maskless indoors.
Tuesday’s new CDC guidance “recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.”
Gwinnett County Public Schools, the largest school district in Georgia, immediately announced Tuesday it was switching from a masks-optional policy to reimpose a mask mandate.
In recent days the transmission of the COVID-19 virus in Cobb County has risen above what’s considered “high community spread,” to a 14-day average of 190 cases per 100,000.
“High spread” is defined as 100 cases per 100,000 or higher, and until recently that figure had dropped into the 30s in Cobb County.
On Wednesday, a Cobb school district spokeswoman told East Cobb News that nothing about its public health protocols for the coming year has changed, issuing this statement:
“Recognizing that Cobb families want to be able to choose the learning environment that best supports the needs of their family, it was important to Superintendent Ragsdale that all Cobb families were given a choice between face-to-face and virtual classrooms for the upcoming school year. Establishing a registration process, and deadlines, has allowed our online learning staff to navigate those challenges while ensuring our face-to-face teachers remain focused on their face-to-face students.
When asked to specifically clarify the masks-optional policy, the spokeswoman said “the most updated health protocols are linked in the statement.”
Cobb is the second-largest school district in Georgia, with nearly 112,000 students. While Gwinnett’s new mask mandate allows parents to change how their children will learn—either in-person or virtual—Cobb’s is not that flexible.
Cobb schools are offering in-person and virtual learning options for the new school year, but parents won’t be able to change like they did last year. And they had to make their decisions last spring, when case figures were lower and a mask mandate was still in place.
This spring Superintendent Chris Ragsdale outlined two separate academic environments that won’t be interchangeable for the 2021-22 school year.
Teachers have been hired exclusively for the virtual option, while teachers on campuses will be working only with “face-to-face” students.
That’s been the subject of concern and complaints from some parents in social media forums and elsewhere.
One of them is Nicole Russo, the mother of a rising 4th grader at Sedalia Park Elementary School in East Cobb.
She said that when the separate learning environments were announced, cases were down and a mask mandate was still in place.
But that was also the time parents had to choose one option or the other, with no ability to switch.
“This is what parents based this tough decision on,” Russo told East Cobb News. “Since then, Cobb County has changed their mask policy. However, Cobb is not allowing parents to change their virtual option choice. Cases are growing exponentially, and Cobb is well above the high transmission threshold.
“It is baffling that Cobb County schools are not following the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics advice of mask mandates. It is unthinkable that given the current COVID transmission rate and Cobb County’s change in safety protocols, they are not allowing the parents to make a safe choice for their kids.”
Russo said she chose in-person learning for her daughter, who “will be masked, but we all know that masks are not nearly as effective if they are not universally worn.”
Cobb, Marietta, Paulding, Cherokee, Forsyth and Fulton schools are the only school districts with masks-optional policies in metro Atlanta.
Cobb had a mask mandate last year, and the district was sued by a group of parents. That suit was dropped when Ragsdale announced in May masks would be optional starting with the summer sessions.
When asked by East Cobb News if the Cobb masks-optional policy could be changed, and what factors might prompt such a change, the district spokeswoman did not respond.
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!
Cobb residents Natalie Ajemian, a rising Junior at Wheeler Magnet, and Elly Kang, a rising Junior at the Marist School, co-founded EPiCS Ignite! with the goals of sharing computer science resources and holding events so they can help to bridge the educational digital divide. They’re holding a free online coding workshop and project competition for rising 3rd – 6th graders on Saturday, August 7, and Sunday, August, 8 (from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. each day). Students from various local high schools will be teaching at the event. For more information and registration, go to www.epics-ignite.weebly.com.
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!
Several PTA organizations at East Cobb public schools were recently recognized at the Georgia PTA Convention Leadership Training and Awards banquet.
The PTAs include those at Lassiter High School, Hightower Trail Middle School, Kincaid ES, Sope Creek ES, Davis ES, Mountain View ES and Timber Ridge ES.
Individually, Lassiter principal Chris Richie was honored with the Outstanding Principal Award, and Molly Henson of the Kincaid PTA was presented with the Birney Butler Outstanding Educator Award.
Tammy Andress, the co-president of the East Cobb County Council of PTAs, announced the recognitions at the July 15 Cobb Board of Education meeting.
She encouraged school board members to “embrace and invite PTAs back into your schools” with a new academic year beginning, and as COVID-19 restrictions are easing.
You can learn more about the ECCC PTA by clicking here; the organization represents six clusters of schools at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
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!
Public health protocols released Tuesday by the Cobb County School District include a masks-optional policy for all activities and self-isolation requirements for anyone testing positive for COVID-19.
The protocols also state that any student or staff member who “is identified as a close contact will be required to quarantine” in accordance with Cobb and Douglas Public Health and Georgia Department of Public Health guidelines.
The last update for that by CDPH was in December, and that can be found here.
Georgia DPH guidelines about quarantine (read them here) were last revised in May.
(You can read through all the Cobb public health protocols by clicking here.)
In the guidelines issued Tuesday, the Cobb school district said face coverings that were required for in-person learning for most of the last school year will be “optional for students and staff in school buildings, on school buses, and at extracurricular activities.”
At a Cobb Board of Education meeting last week, parents and students spoke on both sides of the mask issue.
Some other metro Atlanta school districts are continuing mask mandates from last year, but Cobb and Marietta schools are allowing for a choice.
The Cobb policy allows students and staff who wish to wear masks to continue to do so.
The new protocols come out less than two weeks before the start of a new school year.
The Cobb school district said that contract/tracing team members at schools will contact the parents/guardians of students who are identified as a close contact. Parents and guardians also will be contacted via e-mail “if a positive COVID-19 case is identified in their student’s classroom, school bus, or athletic team.”
The district said it will continue to provide weekly updates on COVID-19 cases in the district as it did during the 2020-21 school year.
The Cobb policies call for social distancing indoors “when appropriate and feasible” and will provide hand sanitizer in all classrooms, common areas and school buses.
High-touch surfaces will be cleaned daily and buses will be cleaned and disinfected after both morning and afternoon runs.
In a release, the Cobb school district acknowledged that “students, staff members, or parents may have additional health questions which are unique to you. As a student, please direct those questions to your school nurse. As a staff member, please direct those questions to your supervisor. As a parent, please direct those questions to your local school.”
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Former Wheeler High School basketball star D.A. Layne and his In The Layne Sports is holding the 3rd annual Back 2 School Bags ‘N Swag Giveaway right before the start of the school year.
The date is Saturday, July 31, from 2-6 p.m. at Terrell Mill Park (480 Terrell Mill Road), and there will be free food, prizes, games, music and other events.
Admission is also free, and all children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
More information is included in the flyer below, and the link to register can be found by clicking here.
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Austin Heller, a rising senior at Kennesaw State University, announced this week he’s running for a seat on the Cobb Board of Education in 2022.
Heller, a political science major who is 20 years old, is running as a Democrat for the Post 4 seat held by Republican incumbent David Chastain.
That post includes the Kell and Sprayberry clusters and also covers the KSU campus area. Heller is a graduate of the Hardaway School in Columbus, and initially majored in elementary education at KSU. He also is a senior resident assistant for housing and as a member of the school’s Civic Engagement team he encourages students “on their right to vote and community engagement opportunities.”
Heller, who made his announcement after the Cobb school board meeting Thursday, said he’s running because “I see a desperate need for our county and our Board to lead with empathy and pass equitable policies that uplift all our students.”
He referenced his youth as a “military brat” for being exposed to different cultures and said “I believe our community deserves to be fully represented as we are all important to creating a Cobb that we are proud of.”
He said he is running on a platform of “empathy, equity, and advocacy,” and mentioned the three Democrats on the board—Jaha Howard, Charisse Davis and Tre’ Hutchins—for doing “amazing” work for Cobb school students.
” I would be honored and humbled to join them on the Board fighting for Cobb families,” Heller said.
Heller said he opposes the Cobb school board’s recent vote to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory in the Cobb County School District. That was a 4-3 vote on party lines, with Chastain voting in favor and the three Democrats against.
“Honest and comprehensive history is crucial to understanding where we are today,” Heller said in his campaign announcement. “I believe in our trained educators to have hard conversations with our students in safe spaces inside the classroom. I also know and understand how important it is to see yourself represented in and out of the classroom. Every student in our county matters and I am ready to help them be the most successful and healthy individuals they can be.”
Heller doesn’t have a campaign website for now but his e-mail address is: austin4cobb@outlook.com. He also is on Instagram and Twitter.
Chastain, a systems engineer at Lockheed-Martin, has indicated he will be seeking a third term. In his most recent filings with Cobb Elections in May, he filed a personal financial disclosure report.
He won re-election in 2018 over Democrat Cynthia Parr with 53 percent of the vote.
Another East Cobb seat on the school board, held by Davis in Post 6, also will be up in 2022. That includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters.
Post 2 in the Smyrna area also will be on the ballot next year. Howard, like Davis, will be completing his first term.
Before those elections, however, all seven posts on the Cobb school board will be redrawn by the county legislative delegation in reapporionment.
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!
Stephanie Smith, of the publicity committee for the Lassiter High School Class of 1996, sends along word of a 25th reunion that’s being planned for Aug. 28 at Scofflaw Brewing (1738 MacArthur Blvd NW, Atlanta):
Join us to celebrate, reconnect, and catch up with your classmates from the LHS class of 1996.
The event will be held at Scofflaw Brewery and will be catered by DAS BBQ (www.dasbbq.com). Please note that vegetarian options will be included.
Food and two drink vouchers will be included per ticket. Please note that Scofflaw will be offering several drink options that are both nonalcoholic and not beer.
More information (including menu items) and ticket purchases—the cost is $35 per person—can be found by clicking here.
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Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday voted to call for a November special election to extend the Cobb Ed-SPLOST sales tax and approved spending $307,000 to bring the Walton Robotics Lab back to campus.
On a 6-1 vote, the school board adopted a resolution calling for the SPLOST referendum, which if approved by voters would collect a one-percent sales tax from 2024-29, an estimated $894 million.
The funds would be used for facility construction and maintenance, similar to the Cobb government SPLOST.
Among the major projects of SPLOST VI would be a rebuild of the main Sprayberry High School classroom building and new annexes at Kincaid, Mt. Bethel, Murdock, Sope Creek and Tritt elementary schools in East Cobb.
The board did vote to remove another major project on that list, a special events center for the school district designed for graduations and proms.
For the last two years the Cobb school district has held graduations at McEachern High School due to COVID-19 restrictions. Most graduations in recent years have taken place at the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center, but that facility was not available for the last two years.
During a work session Thursday afternoon, board members Charisse Davis of Post 6 (Walton, Wheeler clusters) and Jaha Howard of Post 2 (Campbell, Osborne), pointed out that district officials have said there are at least $2 billion in facilities and maintenance needs, and a new SPLOST would fund less than half of that amount.
Marc Smith, the district’s chief technology and operations officer, said in response to a question from Howard that the estimated cost for a special events center would be $40 million.
Howard said of the special events center that “I love it, but not now” and urged his colleagues “to do the fiscally conservative thing.”
He said the district has numerous schools that are in disrepair, and that there are more important facilities priorities.
Board chairman Randy Scamihorn countered by asking “if not now, when?” regarding the issue of whether the Cobb school district would “ever control our own destiny.”
He voted for the resolution (David Banks of East Cobb’s Post 4 was the only vote against). The board voted 7-0 for a contract to have the referendum included in the November elections, which in Cobb this year are in municipalities.
The cost for the SPLOST special election is to be determined and will be acted upon later.
The board was unanimous in a 7-0 vote to spend $307,000 to create space at Walton High School for a robotics lab. That lab has been located in recent years at East Cobb Middle School after the Walton campus underwent a rebuild.
Several robotics parents spoke to the board at the start of Thursday night’s board meeting to request approval of the project, which will take place during the renovation of practice gymnasium space at Walton.
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Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday the Cobb County School District will unveil updated protocols related to COVID-19, including revised quarantine guidelines, next week.
He wasn’t specific about those measures except to reiterate that the district will have a masks-optional policy for students, teachers and staff.
“Our intent is going to be to back normal as much as possible,” he said during a Cobb Board of Education work session.
“But it’s not going to be back to normal.”
He cited continuing virtual learning options for students whose parents do not wish for them to attend in person “as we look forward to a more traditional school year.”
Ragsdale said the updated protocols will go out via e-mail, social media and other regular district communications channels by the middle of next week at the latest.
The Cobb 2021-22 school year begins Aug. 2, one of the earliest returns for a school district in metro Atlanta.
Ragsdale said Cobb wants to work in tandem with other school districts about the measures.
Some nearby districts are continuing mask mandates that they used all of the last school year, including Atlanta, Clayton Decatur and DeKalb, regardless of vaccination status. Fulton and Gwinnett have announced masks-optional policies.
Cobb had a mask mandate for most of the 2020-21 school year, dropping the requirement for “fully vaccinated” individuals in the final weeks.
Students and staff who wish to wear masks on campuses will be allowed to do so.
The Cobb school district was briefly sued by parents opposed to the mask mandate but they dropped that suit when the masks-optional policy was announced.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb Board of Education will consider a resolution to establish a November referendum for another Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax extension when it meets on Thursday.
The board also will be asked to fund more than $300,000 toward the completion of a robotics lab at Walton High School in East Cobb.
The board has two public meetings Thursday, a work session starting at 12:30 p.m., and a voting meeting at 7 p.m.
Public comment periods will take place at the start of both meetings.
There also will be a closed executive session and public tax digest hearing starting at 6:30 p.m.
All the meetings will take place in the board room of the Cobb County School District central office (514 Glover St., Marietta). They also will be live-streamed on the district’s BoxCast channel and on CobbEdTV, Comcast Channel 24.
Earlier this year Cobb schools superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced he wanted the board to call for a SPLOST extension, Cobb Ed-SPLOST VI.
If a resolution is adopted and voters approve a referendum in November, the current one-percent sales tax that would begin anew in 2024 and collect nearly $900 million over five years.
Among the major projects would be a rebuild of the main Sprayberry High School classroom building, the construction of a special events center for the Cobb school district and new annexes at Kincaid, Mt. Bethel, Murdock, Sope Creek and Tritt elementary schools in East Cobb.
An addition and modifications are being proposed for Bells Ferry Elementary School on the draft project list released in May.
Ragsdale also is recommending an expenditure of $307,007 in current SPLOST V funds for the construction of a robotics lab at Walton High School to Prime Contractors Inc. of Powder Springs. The completion date is slated for November.
The board also will hear more details about the American Recovery Plan.
Thursday’s meetings will be the first for the Cobb school board in which the public will be fully invited to attend in-person.
The board has been meeting in person since last fall, with only superintendent’s cabinet staffers allowed to attend, and only one person speaking during public comment at a time.
Thursday’s meetings also will be the first in which members of the public wishing to speak during public comment will be required to sign-up online in advance.
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East Cobb residents (L-r) Stacy Efrat Butler, Heather Tolley-Bauer and Kris Hale before a Cobb Board of Education meeting in June.
Several emotionally wrenching issues facing the Cobb County School District sparked parents, teachers and others into action, or at least to speak out, during an unconventional 2021-22 school year.
Many of those issues revolved around the district’s COVID-19 response—including the deaths of three educators—as well as continuing battles over racial and cultural matters.
However, for five women who didn’t know each other previously, the red flag that caught their attention was an emergency request last December to spend $12 million for UV disinfecting lights and handwashing stations.
That money was part of the district’s COVID response as cases were on the rise, and just before the tragic deaths of three of its educators.
It wasn’t just spending the money on such short notice that bothered them, said Heather Tolley-Bauer, whose son is a rising 7th grader at Hightower Trail Middle School.
“We were outraged at how the school board works,” Tolley-Bauer said.
On social media, she found another East Cobb parent, Stacy Efrat Butler, who expressed similar concerns, and wanted to organize around monitoring school board activities.
Three other women signed on at the start, including East Cobb resident Kris Hale, who had recently retired as a teacher in Fulton County Schools.
They decided to focus on following the money—the Cobb school district budget is roughly $1.5 billion—and created a group they call “Watching the Funds—Cobb.”
Their main means of communication is a Facebook group with nearly 1,500 followers, and group members have spoken frequently during public comment sessions at school board meetings.
“We’re a rag-tag group of amazing women,” Tolley-Bauer said.
Butler stressed the broader appeal the group is trying to make, regardless of political views or where people live in Cobb County.
“Our issues should matter to everybody,” she said.
Tolley-Bauer said that while “the money is not always that exciting, it is something that unifies people who might not agree on other things.”
More importantly, Hale said, “by having somebody looking at the money, they can’t ignore the community.”
The UV lights malfunctioned at Argyle Elementary School in March. The district quickly canceled that portion of the contract that represented roughly $6 million of the purchase.
A month before, Watching the Funds—Cobb questioned the district’s purchase of AlertPoint, an emergency alert system, that was set off at all schools and prompted a brief lockdown.
Like the UV lights and handwashing stations, AlertPoint was purchased by the school board with little discussion from a sole vendor that had not sold that product previously.
“We did a deep dive and asked, ‘Why did we approve this?’ ” Tolley-Bauer said. “What was the vetting process. We got zero answers.”
The information they had assembled and their vocal comments at public meetings garnered media attention, especially when a former AlertPoint employee was indicted for alleged bid-rigging for a technology contract at a school district in Florida.
The $12 million COVID-related purchases are among the 50 complaints against the Cobb school district directed at Cognia, its accrediting agency, which is conducting a special review next month.
Tolley-Bauer and Butler said that no one from Watching the Funds—Cobb filed any of those complaints.
‘It’s not a functioning board’
They describe the group as non-partisan, although Tolley-Bauer was part of a fundraiser last fall for Democrat Julia Hurtado, who unsuccessfully challenged Republican incumbent board member David Banks of Post 5 in East Cobb.
“It’s all about sharing facts and not opinions,” said Butler, who also lives in Post 5 and who has children attending East Side Elementary School, Dodgen Middle School and Walton High School.
A risk manager in the financial industry, Butler expressed the same frustration as Tolley-Bauer, saying that “it doesn’t seem like anybody was doing anything to hold the school board accountable.”
She said in starting such a group, the original intent wasn’t financial, “but it seemed like everything kept coming back to the money.”
AlertPoint was installed in all Cobb schools starting in 2017, but Watching the Funds—Cobb began asking about the system’s effectiveness.
“It might not be a waste of money if it worked,” Butler said. “We are pushing for transparency and communication, but board members don’t respond much. It’s not a functioning board.”
Cobb school board chairman Randy Scamihorn acknowledged Watching the Funds—Cobb’s public comments, “and I don’t have a problem with what they’re saying. I’m a fiscal conservative, so I’m willing to work with them.”
But he defended the board’s $12 million emergency purchase, saying the district needed to act fast to address a strong surge of COVID-19 cases as the Cobb school district returned to in-person learning last fall.
“How do we keep our students, faculty and staff safe?” he said. “Hindsight is always 20/20, but there was nothing nefarious going on.”
Scamihorn said the UV lights “had to be failsafe,” and when they malfunctioned at just one school, “they violated the contract. I told the superintendent that there’s no way I can continue to support this.”
He also said the board majority’s decision to limit the placing of meeting agenda items was a good one, because “we have some board members who want to have endless conversation. We would be there forever.”
(Scamihorn has clashed openly several times at school board meetings with Jaha Howard, who along with Charisse Davis of Post 6 in East Cobb voted against the $12 million UV lights/handwashing contract.)
Heather Tolley-Bauer and other members of Watching the Funds—Cobb have been addressing the Cobb Board of Education in recent months.
Continuing to ‘provide a watchful eye’
After retiring as a Fulton County teacher last fall, Hale wanted to get involved in her community, especially as COVID-related actions gained more scrutiny than usual.
“Not many people were paying attention to the school board until COVID,” she said. “COVID brought it all out.”
Watching the Funds—Cobb did a teacher survey, and got 213 responses from educators on such subjects as safety, resources, CARES ACT funding, technology, equity issues and support from the district (you can read the details here).
“One of the things that I know is that teachers have no voice,” said Hale, who taught in Fulton for nearly 30 years. “I wanted to be that voice.”
Hale said the differing backgrounds and perspectives within the group have been beneficial.
“We can use our strengths,” she said. “I know what’s going on in the classroom.”
Tolley-Bauer said Watching the Funds—Cobb is continuing to look over the finances in other areas of the school district’s finances, and most recently posted about its “Fueling Student Success” food program providing meal kits to families in need.
How the district might address American Rescue Plan funds also figures to be part of the group’s focus in the coming months.
At last month’s school board meeting, Tolley-Bauer said her group “will continue to provide a watchful eye” not only on the budget, but federal funding sources, SPLOST spending “and every single expense.
“Because no matter what, funds used to make purchases all come from the taxpayers, many of whom support our work.”
Scamihorn pointed out that the district’s entire budget is posted on its website, and that he’s willing to listen to anyone in the public.
“We are so transparent that some people can’t believe it,” he said. “All they have to do is call us. I’ll listen to anybody.”
He said he approached Tolley-Bauer after the June school board meeting to have a formal discussion, and she’s accepted.
The experience has been an illuminating one for Tolley-Bauer, who among her other activities is a stand-up comedian.
“I don’t make many jokes about what’s going on in our schools,” she said. “We love our schools at the local level. With leadership [at the district level], there’s room for improvement.”
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Dodgen Middle School math teacher Fred Veeder embraced by his mother Wende, after being named Cobb’s teacher of the year in 2018. ECN file.
We posted back in April about the multiple hospitalizations of Fred Veeder, a longtime math teacher at Dodgen Middle School who was named the Cobb County School District Teacher of the Year in 2018.
Veeder had been suffering from congestive heart failure and he died on June 23 at the age of 65, according to his obituary, which said he had been in hospice care.
Dodgen teacher Kari Viland, who organized an online fundraiser to help pay for Veeder’s medical expenses, said that “he was with his beloved family and was not in pain. We take comfort in knowing that his legacy will live on in the minds and hearts of so many. Please know that he so enjoyed receiving and reading all of your messages.”
She said there will be a memorial service for Veeder July 28 at Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church (4385 Lower Roswell Road) at 2 p.m.
In honor of his memory donations may be made to the Atlanta Humane Society or any other charity.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb Board of Education will conduct required public hearings on July 8 regarding the Cobb County Tax Digest for 2021.
The hearings will take place at 11:30 a.m. and 6:05 p.m. in the board room of the CCSD Central Office, 514 Glover St., in Marietta.
Earlier this month the Cobb school board adopted a fiscal year 2022 budget of nearly $1.5 billion that takes effect on Thursday (details here), keeping the property tax millage rate at 18.9 mills.
The board also is obligated to conduct public hearings on the tax digest, which is finalized in July.
The preliminary projection of the 2021 Cobb tax digest, and that was worked into the adopted budget, is for growth of 5.5 percent.
Here’s more about how public commenters can address the board:
The Board requests that speakers maintain appropriate decorum and that comments remain focused and respectful. See Board Policy BCBI. Any person who willfully violates the guidelines found in Board Policy BCBI may forfeit the remainder of their speaking time and may face additional sanctions. Public commentary may be filmed, photographed, recorded and/or edited by the District or other non-District media sources.
Individuals desiring to appear before the Board MUST sign-in and present a valid ID proving residency or property ownership in Cobb County. The sign-in session begins 40 minutes prior to the posted board meeting start times and closes exactly 10 minutes before the meeting starts with NO exceptions.
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!
Cobb County School District was recently awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). The school district was recognized for its year-end financial report submitted for fiscal year 2020.
The Certificate of Achievement (COA) was established in 1945 and is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting. Its attainment represents a significant accomplishment for Cobb Schools and its leadership.
GFOA advances excellence in government finance by providing best practices, professional development, resources, and practical research for more than 21,000 members and the communities they serve.
The COA recognizes local and state governments that go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to prepare comprehensive annual financial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure. GFOA’s review process is extensive and generally takes about six months to complete.
Cobb School’s Chief Financial Officer Brad Johnson was happy for his team’s recognition by GFOA. “I couldn’t be prouder of our Finance team as they manage the budget wisely and transparently at the direction of our Board and Superintendent,” Mr. Johnson said. “The Finance Department pays close attention to every detail and makes sure that we are financially sound and completely forthright and transparent about how we spend our money.”
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!
