Some Cobb County School District teachers took part in a special training session at Wheeler High School on Monday on a staff development day to learn about a virtual reality tool for mathematics and science.
The Prism VR headsets were given to more than 300 teachers to illustrate their potential for solving real-world problems in the STEM fields (here are a few examples).
Prisms VR was founded in 2020, by Anurupa Ganguly, an MIT engineer turned educator, who recently briefed the Cobb Board of Education on the concept. She received a National Science Foundation grant to put together a concept geared toward middle- and high school algebra students in particular.
Ganguly found that traditional STEM instruction “over-indexed on abstract representations while neglecting the other ways through which we express our thinking beyond text and symbolic notation.”
Her goal, she pointed out, was to create a learning system in which “every individual, regardless of their past experiences, would have the tools and resources to change their circumstances, fall in love with great problems, and create lives of mind to solve them.”
The Cobb school district in April expanded the use of Prisms VR to 20 schools, including Daniell, Hightower Trail and Simpson middle schools and Pope and Sprayberry high schools.
Among the Cobb teachers taking the training is Ashley Kaplan of Hightower Trail Middle School.
“The kids are going to love this. The fact they do the VR now, at home all the time with their friends and incorporating this in the classroom, this is very, very cool to bring their interest into the classroom,” Kaplan said in a release issued by the Cobb school district.
“With mobile VR/AR, the math and science classroom is no longer a sterile, word problem on a screen, piece of paper, or a video with penguins and sharks,” Ganguly said.
“Our message to students: Your job in school is to fall in love with great problems and discover frameworks of thought to solve them. Not to memorize other’s creations, only.”
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If you were watching the Cobb Board of Education meeting Thursday night, on two occasions the livestream was paused.
That’s because public commenters were reading from sexually explicit books the Cobb County School District has pulled from library shelves.
Earlier on Thursday, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced 13 more removals, following seven books that have been pulled in the last school year, due to graphic and obscene content he said are not age-appropriate for minors.
For the last year, some parents have blasted Ragsdale for “banning” books they allege have more to do with minority and LGBTQ students than adult content, and discourage students from embracing a culture of reading.
Recently, other parents and citizens have begun to respond to those charges, and in explicit fashion to match the content at hand.
One of them is East Cobb resident JoEllen Smith, who went up to the dais and handed out a copy of her remarks, topped by a photocopy of a graphic scene from one of the books, “Gender Queer,” depicting two boys engaging in oral sex.
She started her remarks by saying that “the Democratic candidates running for school board are saying the superintendent is banning books. Not true. The books they’re fighting for are kiddie porn, and probably illegal if owned by an adult.
“Here’s from a book that normalizes pedophilia and and incest. A 12-year-old girl has a baby by her father. Here’s the quote.”
At that point, Cobb school board attorney Suzann Wilcox said she could not let those sequences be aired due to federal regulations that “prohibit certain language and material from being broadcast.”
The district livestreams public meetings on its website, and they are shown on two cable systems—Comcast and Charter.
Wilcox said “we’re not going to stop you from reading, but . . . I’m going to give our technical team a moment to adjust and then you can resume.”
While those in attendance in the board meeting room heard the explicit language, here’s what viewers saw, with no audio, for a few moments:
East Cobb News has obtained a copy of the text and the graphic that Smith, a local Republican activist, gave to board members.
Smith’s verbal remarks are from other books that have been removed in Cobb.
While we are not subject to such regulations, we are not reproducing them fully in this post but linking to them here and here, so discretion is advised if you are interested in what was said.
When the livestream resumed, Smith concluded her remarks by saying that “there are hundreds of pro-LBGT books that don’t include kiddie porn. And it’s unfairly conflating homosexuality to pedophilia which is stigmatizing our gay youth.”
That was first instance of remarks not being aired in Cobb since the school book controversy first flared up last year.
Similar actions have taken place at other school board meetings around the country in recent months.
Sharon Hudson
In April, a pastor was reading from “Push”—one of the books recently removed in Cobb—during a Broward Board of Education meeting in Florida when his microphone was cut off.
Before Smith spoke on Thursday, parent Sharon Hudson—a frequent critic of the book removals—chastised Ragsdale for his latest action.
Wearing a “Read Banned Books” shirt, she described herself as a Christian conservative Republican, but said there hasn’t been porn in Cobb schools.
“If he thinks it’s inappropriate, he’ll ban it and continue his reign of censorship,” she said. “No parent or student rights—just his decision of what they can and cannot read.”
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The first of three “digital learning days” in the Cobb County School District for the current school year takes place Monday, so there won’t be the usual school and bus traffic out on the roads.
These school days are due to professional development for teachers at the schools. There won’t be live face-to-fact instruction; students will work from home with teacher-created assignments uploaded to the district’s online portal, CTLS.
The district said at the elementary level, teachers “will provide assignments designed to reinforce and extend previously taught standards and learning targets” and assignments will not be graded.
Students in middle school and high school will receive 30-minute assignment for each class “based on standards and learning targets.” Those materials “can include pre-recorded videos, shared articles, questions for reflection, etc.”
The other digital learning days in the 2024-25 school year are scheduled for Oct. 14, 2024, and March 3, 2025.
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Kell High School PTSA has a special invitation to team up with Krispy Kreme to enjoy a simple and sweet fundraiser this August & September 2024.
A Krispy Kreme Digital Dozens fundraiser let’s Kell High School PTSA run a virtual campaign where your community purchases Original Glazed doughnuts online, to redeem for fresh-made dozens whenever they crave (no expiration), at their nearest Krispy Kreme store!
The best part, 50% or more of each sale is donated back to your cause. Learn more & get started below.
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Several months after pulling books from libraries due to sexually explicit content, the Cobb County School District announced Thursday it has removed 13 more from circulation.
They include acclaimed “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said at a Cobb Board of Education work session Thursday that the 13 books were removed after being found to contain sexually explicit and graphic content.
He said the removals were part of a continuing effort to review books and other materials in district libraries and curriculum offerings.
“We are declining to provide access to materials with sexually explicit content in the same way we decline to provide access to rated-R movies and—in compliance with federal law—use internet filters to prevent students from accessing websites with adult content on school district computers,” Ragsdale said, reading from prepared remarks.
“We make no judgment on whether these books have any literary merit or whether some parents do not object to their children being exposed to lewd, vulgar, or sexually graphic content. There are many rated R movies that are award-winning films; however, it would be inappropriate to provide children with unrestricted access to them in a public school.”
Rowling’s 2012 novel “Casual Vacancy” was among those removed in the latest review.
According to Compass Book Ratings, the book has “many sexual references” as well as mentions of pornography and mature discussions of sex, as well as descriptions of sexual activity and scenes of abuse, rape and incest.
The district has come under criticism by some parents and others for removing books with literary merit, but Ragsdale was adamant—as he has been in announcing previous removals—that exposure to such content is a matter best left for parents.
“Cobb parents can decide if and when their children are allowed to view content in their homes that is not appropriate for unrestricted access in our schools,” he said.
The other books removed include the following titles:
“Laid: Young People’s Experiences with Sex in an Easy-Access Culture,” edited by Shannon Boodram
Those decisions have been criticized by parents and others claiming they’re book bans.
At a later school board meeting Thursday, parent Sharon Hudson—who calls herself a conservative Republican—blasted Ragsdale’s latest removals as another example of his “authoritarian rule” while wearing a shirt that said “Read Banned Books.”
She other accused him of removing some books because they have themes featuring minority and LGBTQ students.
Another parent read from a previously removed book, “Flamer,” calling it inappropriate. But as she did so, the district’s live-stream was paused due to what board attorney Suzann Wilcox said were federal regulations due to indecent content.
At the work session Thursday afternoon, Ragsdale defended the latest removals, saying they weren’t taken lightly.
“This is a very surgical process. These are twenty works out of the over one million books in the District’s media centers.
Our team’s mission—a mission it performs exceptionally well—is teaching, not parenting.”
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The Cobb Board of Education will be asked on Thursday to approve spending $1.6 million for a new roof at Sope Creek Elementary School.
An agenda item states that the Cobb County School District will ask the board to award a contract to Roof Technology Partners of Woodstock to do the work, which is expected to be completed by August 2025.
It’s one of several renovation contracts on the board’s agenda that include Cobb Education SPLOST-VI projects at Ford Elementary School, Harrison High School and Kennesaw Mountain High School.
The board also will be asked to approve a contract for $4.535 to purchase 27 school buses and four van mail trucks.
Those items will be presented for discussion at a work session that begins at 2 p.m. Thursday in the board room of the CCSD Central Office, 514 Glover St., Marietta.
The items will be considered for a vote at a 7 p.m. business meeting at the same venue. An executive session will take place in between.
You can view the agenda for the work session and voting session by clicking here.
The executive session, which is limited to land, legal, personnel and student discipline matters, is closed to the public.
The work session agenda says there will be a video presentation of the first day of school and a presentation on student outcomes, but didn’t elaborate on the latter.
At the night meeting, recognitions include Walton High School’s athletics program receiving the Georgia Athletic Directors Association Director’s Cup for overall sports success in the 2023-24 school year.
Also to be recognized by the board will be Misa McFarlin, Tanushri Dhamotharan, and Edore Oseragbaje of Wheeler High School, who are the 2023-2024 SkillsUSA State Leadership Conference State Gold Award Winners for Career Pathway Showcase Business Management and Technology.
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Mountain View Elementary School students turned in solid Milestones scores in 2023-24.
With dozens of data points, the Georgia Milestones testing results for the 2023-24 academic year present a variety of perspectives on how students at all grade levels performed.
The Georgia Department of Education on Thursday released the comprehensive assessments, which didn’t differ all that much from last year for the 36 public schools in East Cobb.
Students at schools with a pattern of high performance results continued to test well in the End of Grade (elementary and middle) and End of Course (high school) metrics.
Others that have had struggling figures over the years also continued to lag, although there was some progress in spots.
A total of 13 different assessments are measured at the end of each semester, as well as the end of the school year.
Georgia Milestones test students in grades 3-8 in English Language Arts and math, in grades 5-8 in those subjects plus science, and those areas plus social studies in grade 8. High school students are tested in American Literature, algebra, biology and U.S. history.
Students are categorized in one of four levels, based on those test scores: Level 1 is Beginning Learner, Level 2 is a Developing Learner, Level 3 is a Proficient Learner and Level 4 is Distinguished Learner.
The Georgia DOE said in a release that math scores will be released in the fall, after new math standards were implemented during the 2023-24 school year.
Across the state, ELA, reading and science scores were up modestly, according to a release. More:
“The percentage of students achieving the Proficient Learner level or above increased or held steady on 10 of 13 End of Grade (EOG) and End of Course (EOC) assessments.”
Those are among metrics that we’re highlighting in the tables below from East Cobb schools. Another key indicator that’s getting extra emphasis since COVID-19 are third-grade reading scores.
The Cobb County School District said in a release Thursday that 78.2 percent of students tested at all grade levels and across all subjects surpassed their peers in other metro Atlanta school districts.
The district said reading levels “increased substantially” in third, fifth, sixth and eighth grades, while English Language Arts grades were also up modestly from 2023.
Cobb high school students outperformed the state average in U.S. History testing by 17 percent, and in biology by 13.9 percent.
What follows is a sampling of only a few metrics lines that comprise Milestones. Another link to the full dashboard can be found here, and where you can download spreadsheets and other data by school, school district and the state.
Cobb Youth Leadership (CYL), a development program for high school juniors and sponsored by the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, has announced the members of its 2024-2025 class.
A total of 54 students have been selected, including the following from high schools in East Cobb:
Amol Balakrishnan, Lassiter High School
Arvind Balakrishnan, Wheeler High School
Anya Dhir, Walton High School
Lila Fraley, Wheeler High School
Marie Hable, Wheeler High School
Sophie Hortman, Lassiter High School
Thomas Linton, Pope High School
Madison Lockhart, Pope High School
Sameel Mistri, Wheeler High School
Brody Tanner, Johnson Ferry Christian Adcemy
Leo Waldron, Walton High School
Orientation begins on Monday, followed by a fall retreat in August and monthly program activities until graduation in April, 2025.
Here’s more from the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, which oversees CYL, about the program:
Created in 1989, the program provides students a unique opportunity to learn about their community, develop leadership skills, as well as meet and interact with students from other high schools. Students attending public or private high schools or home-school students must complete and submit an application for CYL in the spring of their sophomore year. Students participate in the program during their junior year of high school.
Allan Bishop, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Julie Peck, Hub International, will be Co-Chairs for the 2024-2025 program year. Tripp Boyer, Boyer Ramey Wealth Management, and Luci Hogue, Scotland Wright Associates, will be the Vice Co-Chairs for the 2024-2025 program year. The 2024-2025 class theme is “Connected in Leadership.”
Thank you to Yearlong Presenting Sponsor, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Youth Champion Sponsor, Six Flags Over Georgia.
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The Cobb County School District’s 2024-25 academic year begins on Thursday, and both the district and Cobb County government have been rounding up information related to bus transportation.
Foremost among those reminders is a new Georgia law that went into effect July 1 that makes it a “high and aggravated misdemeanor” to pass a stopped school bus.
The minimum fine is $1,000 and the maximum penalty is up to 12 months in jail.
“When the violation is caught by school bus-mounted cameras it is punishable by a civil fine of not less than $1,000,” according to information released this week by Cobb County government.
Some other tips to remember as buses will be back out on the roads:
Yellow flashing lights mean the school bus is slowing down and about to stop.
Red flashing lights and the extended stop arm mean children are boarding or exiting the bus. Motorists must come to a complete stop a safe distance from the bus. They must wait until the red lights stop flashing, the stop arm is retracted, and the bus starts moving again before they return to their drive.
Children alongside the road might dart into traffic without looking. Motorists are responsible for watching out for them and preparing for an emergency stop.
Motorists should drive more slowly if they see children beside the road or a bus nearby.
Cobb government also has provided links to new videos showing motorists how to stop for buses, depending on the type of road:
The Cobb school district has more specific information about finding bus routes, downloading its “Here Comes the Bus” mobile app and other transportation details to follow throughout the school year.
One other handy tip for the start of the school year: Students are allowed to bring water bottles on the buses in August and September, in containers with a screw-on lid.
For more information contact the Cobb school district’s transportation department at 678-594-8000.
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The Cobb Board of Education voted Thursday night to hold the property tax millage rate for schools added reserve funds to the adopted fiscal year 2025 budget.
Despite public speakers asking for a rollback, the board voted 6-0 without discussion—with vice chairman David Banks of East Cobb voted present—to maintain a tax rate of 18.7 mills.
The motion included a provision to add $1.258 million to the previously adopted fiscal year 2025 budget of $1.8 billion due to less-than-anticipated growth in the 2024 Cobb tax digest.
During a work session Thursday, Brad Johnson, the chief financial officer for the Cobb County School District, asked board members for the additional funding to reach a balanced budget.
The new budget, which went into effect July 1, is up 8.73 percent increase from fiscal year 2024 (nearly $55 million) and includes across-the-board staff pay raises.
Johnson said the initial estimate for tax digest growth from the Cobb Tax Assessor’s Office was 7.56 percent higher than 2023, but the final estimate turned out to be 7.32 million.
The $1.258 million, taken from the general fund balance, represents the difference in those two figures.
He and Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said during the work session the district is preparing for the effects of a possible recession in the coming months, and using fund balance may be necessary.
It’s why Ragsdale last week asked the board to cancel a planned $50 million special-events facility that would have been paid for in part with fund balance dollars.
“We have to make sure we have the fund balance to last through a recession,” Ragsdale said, recounting how those monies were used during the recession in 2008-9.
Even then, there were staffing cuts and hiring and salary freezes he said he didn’t want to repeat should there be another recession.
District officials said cutting back the millage rate would lead to layoffs in what they have termed an “employee-centric” budget.
At the final tax digest hearing before Thursday night’s vote, four citizens spoke in favor of rolling back the millage rate to meet fiscal year 2024 revenues, a “rollback rate” of 17.199 mills.
Eliza Consliglio, the parent of a son in the Cobb school district, was among them.
She said her property tax assessments and those of others she knows are up 25-30 percent over last year.
“I know the schools need money,” she said, “but there are people who are hurting more than we are.”
Patricia Hay agreed.
“People are hurting, the economy is bad, and prices are up,” she said. “You know all this. I’m just asking to do the right thing.”
In 2024, the board reduced the millage rate to 18.7 mills, after the Cobb school district levied a millage rate of 18.9 mills from 2007-23.
That was done to offset rising assessments. Banks, who is retiring from office at the end of 2024, voted present last year, saying he wanted a larger millage rate reduction.
He didn’t explain his reason for voting present on Thursday.
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We accept metal, electronics, appliances, glass, and paper shredding while you watch!! DONATION $15 per car + disposal fees. Metal items are FREE w/donation (excluding large items). A complete list of fees + more details can be found on our website: http://www.popeband.com/recycle.html
Onsite Payment can be made in cash, credit card, or check payable to PBPA.
Pick-Up services may be offered, WITH ADVANCE RESERVATION, within a 5-mile radius of Pope HS, based on truck and volunteer availability. (Sorry, for your security – NO document pick-ups)!
**RESERVATION IS REQUIRED** for pick up and payment must be made in full by cash or check (no credit cards) at time of pick up. These slots are very limited. To make a reservation for residential or business pick up, please visit our website at http://www.popeband.com/recycle.html
Business Pick-Up Fee: $100 plus any TV, monitor, laptop, large item or paint charges.
Residential Pick-Up Fee. $50 plus any TV, monitor, laptop, large item or paint charges.
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The Cobb Board of Education will discuss some academic subjects on Thursday as part of a long day and night of public meetings.
According to an agenda item, the board will meet for a retreat Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to receive presentations on literacy, dyslexia and prisms math.
The agenda also calls for a board policy process update, if time allows, but the agenda item wasn’t more specific.
That meeting takes place in the board room of the Cobb County School District’s central office (514 Glover St., Marietta).
The retreat will be followed by a work session at 2:30, an executive session and a final public hearing on the millage rate for the fiscal year 2025 budget.
That public hearing starts at 6:30, and a voting session with millage rate adoption scheduled for 7 p.m. (agenda for all public meetings here).
The board in May adopted a fiscal year 2025 budget of $1.8 billion, but must adopt a millage rate after the Cobb Tax Digest is revealed in July.
An agenda item notes that the board will be asked to “adjust” the adopted budget figure because the final tax digest was less than anticipated.
“Specifically, the total revenue is decreasing and budgeted expenditures are unchanged,” the agenda item states. “The difference will be funded from the district’s fund balance.”
That budget was based on a proposed property tax rate of 18.7 mills, the same as last year. But because the budget is an 8.73 percent increase from fiscal year 2024, that constitutes a tax increase under state law, and the board is required to hold public hearings.
Only two speakers turned out for last week’s public hearings, with one of them noting that the Republican board members are not paying school taxes. They are eligible for the senior tax exemption from Cobb school taxes.
The rollback millage rate to match FY 2024 spending would be 17.199 mills.
The work session agenda includes a review of a report by Cognia, the school district’s accrediting agency, but an agenda item didn’t disclose any details.
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The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced over 800 additional winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by colleges and universities. These Merit Scholar designees join more than 2,900 other college-sponsored award recipients who were announced in June.
Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution. College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.
This year, 149 colleges and universities are sponsoring approximately 3,700 Merit Scholarship awards. Sponsor colleges include 77 private and 72 public institutions located in 42 states and the District of Columbia.
This final group of winners brings the number of 2024 National Merit Scholars to more than 6,900. These distinguished high school graduates will receive scholarships for undergraduate study worth a total of nearly $26 million. In addition to college-sponsored awards, two other types of National Merit Scholarships were offered—2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships, for which all Finalists competed, and about 770 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who met criteria specified by their grantor organizations.
East Cobb students include the following:
Benjamin Priest, Walton HS: National Merit Northeastern University Scholarship. Probable career field: Computer Science
Hunter J. Buchheit, Walton HS: National Merit Emory University Scholarship. Probable career field: Law
Paul W. Trotti III, Pope HS: National Merit University of Georgia Scholarship. Probable career field: Information Systems Management
Emma J. Webb, Walton HS: National Merit University of Georgia Scholarship. Probable career field: Chemistry
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Dogden Middle School student Akshadha Mehta was named among the recipients of the 3M Young Scientist Challenge.
The 8th grader was the only merit winner from Georgia and one of 30 nationwide honored for “exemplifying a passion for using science to solve everyday problems and improve the world around her,” according to a Cobb County School District release.
“The innovative idea she pitched to the judges is FAP-BRIX: A Practical solution to lessen plastic pollution.”
She submitted a one-to-two minute video explaining an original idea using science to help solve an everyday problem.
Other topics in the challenge include robotics, home improvement, automotive safety, AR/VR and climate technology.
The release said that the entries were evaluated “on their creativity, scientific knowledge, and communication skills.”
The 3M Young Scientist Challenge is in its 17th year and is offered to students in grades 5-8. Each state merit winner receives special recognition on the challenge website and a prize pack.
“The projects submitted to the 3M Young Scientist Challenge showcase how science is critical to driving progress and delivering sustainable solutions. All these students are already making the world a better place through science, and we applaud each for their innovations,” said Torie Clarke, EVP & Chief Public Affairs Officer at 3M.
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Watching the Funds-Cobb last month released renderings of a $50M special events facility that the Cobb County School District had not previously detailed.
After hearing public criticism for months, the Cobb Board of Education on Tuesday voted to cancel plans for a $50 million special events facility for the Cobb County School District.
During a special-called meeting, the board voted 6-0 to halt the project, less than a month after blueprints and other details were publicly revealed by a watchdog group opposed to it.
The decision also comes two days before the school board conducts legally required hearings on the millage rate for the fiscal year 2025 budget.
While the millage rate is projected to hold at 18.7 mills, the new $1.8 billion budget technically includes a tax increase because the spending total is 8.73 percent higher than last year. The board will formally adopt the millage rate next week, following a third public hearing.
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale cited economic concerns for pulling the plug on the special events center, including inflationary costs and the possibility of a recession.
“For the last five years, as we have been planning for the multipurpose center, the economy across the country was growing,” Ragsdale said. “Fast forward to the middle of 2024, and the economy has slowed to a crawl.”
He said “this recommendation does not negate the dire need for this facility, but a facility can never take priority over our employees.”
There was little discussion during the brief meeting, which was announced Monday afternoon, ostensibly “to discuss strengthening fund balance.”
“This is a good day for taxpayers in Cobb County,” said Heather Tolley-Bauer of Watching the Funds-Cobb.
But that turned out not to be the case. The meeting was not live-streamed and there was not a public comment session, as is usual at school board public meetings.
While the funding for the center would not have come from the district’s general fund budget—the sources were from special-purpose local-option sales tax revenues and the sale of other school properties—financial critics were vocal from the start.
Members of that group and others had spoken at board meetings for several months, claiming that the special events center wasn’t needed, and that the $50 million represented skewed priorities.
The board voted last fall to approve what was to have been a 190,000-square-foot building housing an 8,000-seat arena for graduations and other major events, as well as conference and banquet space and 1,500 parking spaces.
In March, the board approved the hiring of a construction manager for the facility, which was to have been located adjacent to the Cobb school district headquarters on Glover Street in Marietta.
There was very little public discussion among board members during those meetings, except from Post 2 Democrat Becky Sayler, who said she wasn’t getting many details about the project.
Following Tuesday’s meeting, Heather Tolley-Bauer, a leader of Watching the Funds-Cobb and an East Cobb resident, issued a brief video response delighted with the reversal from the school board.
“This is a good day,” she said. “This is a good day for taxpayers in Cobb County.
“We don’t care what their motivation is. We have our ideas, we have our theories, but we are going to take this win.”
East Cobb resident Stacy Efrat was a founding member of Watching the Funds-Cobb founding member and is now a member of the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, appointed by the Cobb Democratic Party.
She said in response to a Facebook post on Tuesday’s school board decision that “they figured out that raising the millage rate and planning an unnecessary $50 million event center while ignoring the public outcry is a bad look going into elections.”
In a release issued by the district after the meeting Tuesday, board member Brad Wheeler echoed Ragsdale’s remarks about the economy.
“The real cost of buying groceries, paying for gasoline, and paying for necessary living items made this decision a wise one for all Cobb families,” Wheeler said.
“I will always present a budget that prioritizes our people over facilities,” Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said. “Nothing is more important.”
He is one of two Republican incumbents up for re-election in November, and who have Democratic challengers. The GOP holds a 4-3 majority and three of its four currently held seats expire at the end of the year.
Another is in Post 5 in East Cobb, where four-term Republican vice chairman David Banks is retiring.
Republican John Cristadoro, who is seeking the open Post 5 seat, also referenced economic issues in response to a request for comment from East Cobb News about Tuesday’s board decision.
“The fact is that inflation has increased, our purchasing power has gone down and and our students families and teachers are struggling more to put food on the table,” he said.
“We need to be willing to make choices that are in the district’s best interest and not lock into a decision made in better economic times.”
Cristadoro’s Democratic opponent, Laura Judge, said on her social media platforms that “this decision highlights the importance of community involvement and transparency.
“Thank you to everyone who spoke up and shared their views—this victory is yours. Let’s keep this momentum going. Stay engaged and informed about the decisions affecting our district.”
Before launching her candidacy, Judge was a member of Watching the Funds-Cobb, which formed in 2021 (our profile of the group here) over concerns about COVID-related spending.
Watching the Funds-Cobb has been critical of the district’s purchase of hand-washing machines and UV lights that malfunctioned, leading the district to cancel a vendor contract in 2021.
Watching the Funds-Cobb also questioned the district’s purchase of AlertPoint, an emergency alert system, that was accidentally set off at all schools in the spring of 2021 and prompted a brief lockdown.
The special events center dispute emerged after the board initially voted to remove the project from the SPLOST VI list, citing more pressing priorities.
Ragsdale brought the project back before the board last year, declining to provide Sayler with details she asked about feasibility, cost savings, budget impact, maintenance and staffing costs, saying that “all that information was covered.”
He said the need for an expanded, dedicated venue for graduation was a high priority that would ultimately save money.
The Cobb school district pays Kennesaw State University to hold graduations at its Convocation Center, which has a capacity of 4,500.
That’s not enough for extended family to attend graduations, Ragsdale has said.
“For far too long, we have had families that cannot have grandparents on both sides attend a once-in-a-lifetime event,” he said in March 2023.
“I think it’s very pressing. Literally, we owe this to the parents. We have tried to find a solution for this for years.”
An open-records request by a citizen revealed that Cobb spent $45,000 to rent out the KSU facility last year.
Tolley-Bauer claimed at a board meeting last month that the special events facility the Cobb school district was planning could be a money-loser.
“Are you here to educate our kids or run an events management business? Because one has a high return on our investment and the other will cost us and our children millions in tax dollars for years to come.”
In the district’s release after Tuesday’s meeting, Ragsdale said that “I will always present a budget that prioritizes our people over facilities. Nothing is more important.”
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Two days before it conducts required public hearings on the millage rate, the Cobb Board of Education will hold a special called meeting on the budget.
According to a notice on the Cobb County School District website, the meeting will take place at 11 a.m. “to discuss strengthening fund balance.”
The message wasn’t more specific, and there’s nothing posted under the board agenda items except listing an item “for potential action.”
The board adopted a $1.8 billion fiscal year 2025 budget in May that holds the line on the property tax rate at 18.7 mills.
Due to spending increases in the budget, however, that constitutes a tax increase under state law, since there wouldn’t be a “rollback” of the millage rate to match FY 2024 spending.
Two hearings on the millage rate, required by law, are set for Thursday. A third will be held on July 18.
The budget includes employee pay raises of between 4.4 percent to 9 percent.
It includes using $57.58 million in fund balance reserves, with the raises costing $54 million.
According to district budget documents, $110 million in those reserves was added to the fiscal year 2024 budget that expired June 30.
The board meeting Tuesday takes place in the CCSD central office board room (514 Glover St., Marietta).
The Cobb Board of Education next week will conduct two public hearings about the millage rate for the Cobb County School District for fiscal year 2025.
The first public hearing is next Thursday, July 11, at 11:30 a.m., followed by a second hearing the same day at 6:05 p.m., in the board meeting of the Cobb school district’s Central Office, 514 Glover St., Marietta.
A third public hearing is scheduled for the same venue on Thursday, July 18, at 6:30 p.m.
That precedes a school board general meeting at which the millage rate is set to be adopted. FY 2025 began on Monday in the Cobb school district.
Due to spending increases in the budget, however, that constitutes a tax increase under state law, since there wouldn’t be a “rollback” of the millage rate to match FY 2024 spending.
(Cobb commissioners also are holding similar hearings starting next week, since the proposed county FY 2025 budget doesn’t include a rollback rate.)
The Cobb school district, which is required to advertise the hearings as a proposed tax increase, said the rollback rate for FY 2024 would be 17.199 mills.
The tax increase, as advertised, would be 8.73 percent.
Last year, the Cobb school board rolled back the millage rate slightly, to offset rising property tax assessments. The majority of property tax bills goes for public education.
The FY 2025 Cobb schools budget includes employee pay raises of between 4.4 percent to 9 percent.
The Cobb tax digest also is formally announced in July. In April, Cobb Tax Assessor Stephen White forecast a record digest of $60 billion, following a record $55 billion in 2023.
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A special needs student who was left out of the main portion of Sprayberry High School’s graduation ceremony last month pleaded with Cobb Board of Education members Thursday to make sure something like that doesn’t happen to anyone else.
Ashlynn Rich, an honor student and varsity athlete at Sprayberry, spoke during a public comment period Thursday night at school board meeting.
Shortly after her remarks and those of her mother, Linda Ramirez, who had filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale issued a formal apology.
Rich, who has Down Syndrome, was given her diploma with several other special-needs students before Sprayberry’s ceremony began. During the formal commencement, however, they waited in a hallway and were escorted out of the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center before the event had concluded.
“Graduation is a special moment and I wanted to share it with my friends, just like everyone else,” she said. “I don’t want any other student to go through what I did.”
Ragsdale said that Rich’s exclusion from Sprayberry’s commencement was “not a policy issue but a personnel issue” and he could not elaborate more. He said that “it appears to be a decision made by an individual employee, perhaps with the best intentions, that should have been made by a parent.
“On behalf of the district, I apologize to Ashlynn and her family,” Ragsdale said, as the audience broke out into applause. “What happened should not have happened.”
The Cobb school district gives parents of special-needs students options for how they want their children to participate in graduation ceremonies. Ramirez was told that Ashlynn could graduate with a small group of peers at the school, with her full class at KSU or both.
Ramirez has said she wanted her daughter to take full part in graduation at KSU, but learned about different plans right before the ceremony.
“Her exclusion was not just an oversight,” Ramirez said at Thursday’s meeting. “It was a significant and painful moment of discrimination.
“My daughter was made to feel different, separated from her peers, in a moment that she had earned. The act of segregation not only hurt Ashlynn but also sent troubling messages about how we value our students with disabilities.”
Ragsdale did say new measures were being put into place to ensure that the parents of special-needs students have input into their child’s graduation. That process will include a written agreement between school staff and parents before the ceremony.
In the aftermath of Sprayberry’s graduation, the Cobb school district initially responded to outcries on social media, saying that’s “the worst place to find accurate information about students and schools.”
But a few days later, the district acknowledged what had happened with Rich, and said that it didn’t meet the district’s standards for graduation.
During his remarks Thursday, Ragsdale said that his staff began investigating the incident following concerns from board members and the administration.
He said the new consultation process will be “ensuring there are no misunderstandings, and no employee is making a decision without the clear input of a parent or guardian of a student with an exceptionality.”
At the meeting Thursday, Ragsdale and board chairman Randy Scamihorn met with Rich and Ramirez and other supporters, who wore red in support of Rich’s favorite color.
Rich, who also operates a homemade baked goods business, intends to go to college and study culinary arts.
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The planned special events facility (in dark brown) would be located adjacent to the Cobb County School District central office in Marietta. For a larger view click here.
A citizens group that scrutinizes Cobb County School District finances on Thursday released a rendering of a planned $50 million special events center and criticized Superintendent Chris Ragsdale again for a lack of details.
In remarks at a Cobb Board of Education work session, Watching the Funds-Cobb leader Heather Tolley-Bauer said that her group has been asking for details for more than a year, to no avail.
“Now we know why they wanted to keep the details a secret,” she said in disclosing a 190,000-square-foot building near the district’s central office in Marietta that includes 148,000 square feet of space for an 8,000-seat basketball arena, as well as two hospitality suites.
Those details have not been previously acknowledged by the district.
In addition, there will be 41,000 square feet of space for conferences and banquets, and more than 1,500 parking spaces.
Watching the Funds-Cobb posted the above rendering on its Facebook page after the work session, saying it came from an unidentified “concerned citizen.”
Tolley-Bauer said the new details reveal what she claims are skewed priorities.
She said that the taxpayer-funded Macon Centreplex, which is the host of state high school basketball championships, was losing more than $2 million a year in recent years when a third-party management company was brought in, and while it’s cut some of those losses, the facility still operates in the red.
“We don’t understand why you prioritize conference rooms and suites over classrooms and labs,” Tolley-Bauer said. “Are you here to educate our kids or run an events management business? Because one has a high return on our investment and the other will cost us and our children millions in tax dollars for years to come.”
Ragsdale and the board did not respond to Tolley-Bauer’s comments during the work session—they typically don’t engage in public comment.
In response to a request from East Cobb News seeking comment, a district spokeswoman provided the following statement:
“The District is excited to share more details, once design possibilities become confirmed and construction plans and shovels hit the ground. For now, imagine possibilities like graduations with enough space for everyone, science fairs, robotics competitions, band performances, academic competitions, 5th grade graduations, sporting competitions, staff recognitions, and other events–all with enough space for student and staff families and friends.
“Whatever the final design of the facility, it won’t use classroom dollars and will be one of the best multi-purpose values in the state.”
Cobb currently holds graduations and some large-scale events such as teacher of the year luncheons by renting space from other entities.
Board member Becky Sayler of Post 2 in South Cobb pressed for details of the planned facility in March, when the board was asked to hire a construction manager, saying that “I remember getting big-picture ideas, but I still have not seen details for an expense of this magnitude.”
She voted against that hire, as well as the decision to proceed with the facility in a 2023 vote. Sayler said she wanted to see feasibility, cost savings, budget impact, maintenance and staffing costs, but Ragsdale said that ““all that information was covered.”
Watching the Funds-Cobb, which disputes the need for a facility at all, has cited information from an open records request showing that the Cobb school district spent $45,000 last year to rent the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center, where most graduations are held.
Ragsdale has said repeatedly that the KSU arena—which seats around 4,000—isn’t big enough to accommodate the people who want to attend graduations.
“For far too long, we have had families that cannot have grandparents on both sides attend a once-in-a-lifetime event,” he said in March 2023.
“I think it’s very pressing. Literally, we owe this to the parents. We have tried to find a solution for this for years.”
He initially asked for the special events center to be on a project list for the current Cobb Education SPLOST (Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax) in 2021.
Two years later, Ragsdale proposed the special events center again, with funding to come from the proceeds of property sales of former school properties, including the original campuses of Mountain View and Brumby elementary schools in East Cobb, as well as capital outlay reimbursements.
A previous board also approved spending $3 million to purchase two parcels of land next to the district’s headquarters on Glover Street in Marietta where the special events center will be located.
But Watching the Funds-Cobb also expressed concerns about traffic issues for major events. In a release sent out after the work session the group said it obtained a letter “on the condition it not be shared” that “reveals that the district plans to use shuttle buses to transport visitors to the event and conference center.”
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Richard Tischler, who has been the principal at Walton High School the last two years, has been named an assistant principal at Hightower Trail Middle School in East Cobb.
That appointment was one of several confirmed by the Cobb Board of Education in May. A number of those changes were made public during the May board meeting, including the appointment of Walton assistant principal Dr. Stephanie Santoro to succeed Tischler.
At Hightower Trail, Tischler will succeed Eric Gray, who was named assistant principal at Awtrey Middle School.
As previously noted, Simpson Middle School, Bells Ferry Elementary School and Murdock Elementary School also will be getting new principals for the 2024-25 academic year.
Classes begin Aug. 1, and the 2024-25 fiscal year begins on July 1.
Cobb school board minutes from May include the following appointments below principal level involving East Cobb schools, and all are effective July 9:
Elementary School
Michael Cappucci, reassignment to Assistant Principal, Brumby Elementary School from Assistant Principal, Clarkdale Elementary School
Middle School
Brittny Jones, reassignment to Assistant Principal, Smitha Middle School from Assistant Principal, Wheeler High School
High School
Dr. Amanda Shaw, reassignment to Assistant Principal, Wheeler High School from Assistant Principal, Smitha Middle School.
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