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.
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 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.
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!
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.
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 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.
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 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
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!
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.
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!
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.”
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!
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.
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!
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.
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 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.”
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!
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.
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!
Jackson Frangos, a rising senior at Wheeler High School, is among 100 students across the country chosen for a virtual internship this summer with the NASA Student Enhancement in Earth and Space Science (SEES) program.
The internships are sponsored by NASA and the Center for Space Research at the University of Texas at Austin. According to a Cobb County School District release, the interns “will work with scientists and engineers to conduct authentic research using data received from NASA’s earth-observing satellites to study air quality, landforms, mosquito-borne diseases, and astronomy.”
More than 2,000 students applied for the internships, which focus on aerospace or space science themes.
“Students work remotely with their project scientist to conduct hands-on activities, field investigations, collaborate with NASA scientists and engineers through science presentations, and work on various NASA missions,” the release said,
The interns will meet virtually in late July for a NASA SEES symposium to present their research findings to NASA engineers, researchers, scientists and others.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Eight recent high school graduates from the East Cobb area were named recipients of National Merit Scholarships this week.
Jay Natu, Pope High School
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced a nationwide list of scholarships provided by the colleges and universities where the recipients will be attending in the fall.
The scholarship amounts range from $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study.
The recent recipients include Jay Natu, the salutatorian at Pope High School, who intends to study biochemistry at the University of Georgia.
Two of his Pope classmates also will be receiving National Merit Scholarships, and also are bound for UGA. They are Simon O’Connor (mathematics) and Michael Soule (business).
Two Wheeler recipients also will be headed to UGA in the fall: Diya A. Garrepally (pharmaceutical science) and Katherine Carter (health care).
Receiving a National Merit Auburn University Scholarship is Sarah Clark of Walton, who is interested in studying environmental engineering.
Zara Khan of East Cobb, who recently graduated from Campbell High School, has received a National Merit Scholarship to attend the University of Southern California, with a probable career field of linguistics.
Claire Petersen of East Cobb, who graduated from Blessed Trinity Catholic High School in Roswell, will be attending Vanderbilt University, where she plans to study applied mathematics.
Applicants had to reach the National Merit Scholarship finalist stage, were required to submit essays and detail extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions.
Their academic records included threshold scores on the SAT or SAT and students had to be recommended by a high school official.
The NMSC awarded scholarships to more than 6,870 high school seniors in 2024 totaling nearly $26 million.
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!
U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk and local legislators are the hosts of a fundraiser next week for three Republicans running for the Cobb Board of Education.
According to a “Cobb County School Board Town Hall Newsletter” sent out Monday by GOP school board member David Chastain, the event, dubbed “Keeping Cobb Schools Strong,” will take place Monday, June 10, at the 1885 Grill (4975 North Main Street, Acworth) from 6:30-8 p.m.
The host committee includes State Sens. Kay Kirkpatrick and John Albers (who have East Cobb constituencies) and Ed Setzler, as well as State Reps. Ginny Ehrhart and Devan Seabaugh.
Chastain is not up for re-election, but the other three school board seats held by Republicans are. The GOP has held a 4-3 majority since 2019 as partisan antagonisms have grown on a number of issues.
That includes Post 5 in East Cobb, where four-term incumbent David Banks is retiring from office. The lone Republican to qualify for the Nov. 8 election is Walton cluster parent John Cristadoro.
Cristadoro will face Democrat Laura Judge, also a Walton parent. Both are first-time candidates and declared their intent to run last spring.
In the May 21 primary, in which they were both unopposed, Cristadoro received 6,369 votes to 5,262 for Judge.
Until the 2018 elections, Republicans held a firm grip on local control in Cobb County government and the school board (6-1 majority) as well as the Cobb legislative delegation.
But the school board is all the GOP controls today.
Monday’s e-mail message from Chastain (from a Google e-mail address outside of the Cobb school district and referencing his Post 4 in Northeast Cobb) alluded to what’s at stake.
Cristadoro appeared in a short video thanking supporters for campaign contributions and noting the legislators who will be in attendance, especially Loudermilk, whose 11th District includes East Cobb.
“We’re bringing out the big guns,” Cristadoro said. “Why? They truly believe, as do I, of the importance of our schools, and what the future holds for our youngsters. That needs to be protected.
“There are lots of outside influences, national groups, that are going to come in and push their political agenda. It’s already being seen.”
He didn’t specify the groups or what those issues might be (East Cobb News has left a message seeking comment), but similar charges were made in 2022 when Chastain defeated Democrat Catherine Pozniak in a bitter campaign.
Two GOP incumbents are seeking re-election. Chairman Randy Scamihorn of Post 1 in North Cobb is being opposed by Vickie Benson in a rematch from the 2020 election, and he received only 96 more votes in their unopposed primary.
Brad Wheeler of Post 7 in West Cobb had a close re-election in 2020. His foe is Democrat Andrew Cole, and in their unopposed primary, Cole 6,637 votes to 5,602 for Wheeler.
Cole is a member of the Cobb Community Care Coalition that is highly critical of the Republican majority and Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale.
Scamihorn, a former Cobb educator who is completing his third term, is pledging his commitment to “keeping our students safe” as well as “keeping inappropriate books out of schools.”
That’s a reference to several books that were removed from Cobb school libraries during the 2023-24 school year due to sexually explicit content.
Wheeler, also a former Cobb teacher, is touting the same priorities.
The only Democrat on the November ballot is Post 3 incumbent Tre’ Hutchins, who is unopposed and had no primary opposition.
In his e-mail Monday, Chastain said that “I urge you to support leaders who embody common sense and a steadfast commitment to our community’s well-being.”
For information and to RSVP contact KeepStrongSchools4Cobb@gmail.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!
At the end of the school year high school leaders in the Cobb County School District round up stories of what they call “inspiring seniors” to highlight around graduation.
Vanessa Washington, Kell High School
These students “stand out for their remarkable stories of perseverance, resilience, and achievement,” according to the district, and a number of them have overcome health obstacles and other hardships, or are recognized for their accomplishments in school and service to others in the community.
The Cobb school district provided information on “inspiring seniors” from every high school, and summaries of those students from schools in East Cobb, Class of 2024, are included below.
Kell High School Vanessa Washington played volleyball and was the yearbook editor, and in the classroom took multiple literature and writing classes. She has committed to play volleyball at the University of North Dakota and will be majoring in journalism.
Washington’s classmate, Ricky Solorzano, was a starting pitcher for the Kell varsity baseball team and assisted the school’s football and baseball athletic trainers. He has overcome learning challenges in his academic career, and according to school leaders, “puts in the extra hours, those optional hours not required by any individual, towards his learning and future.”
Solarzano’s mother is a Cobb elementary school teacher and “is an excellent representation of the CCSD mission statement of what it looks like to work as a team towards a goal for student success.” He plans to attend Andrew College in Cuthbert, Ga. next year on a baseball scholarship and to study health and exercise science.
Lassiter High School Kiara Evans will attend the University of Pittsburgh and was selected as a Chancellor’s Scholar for that research university. At Lassiter, she was involved in varsity basketball, being named an honorable mention selection for the All-Cobb County team, and track and field.
Samantha Marcus battled and overcame leukemia during high school while maintaining academic success with a rigorous AP schedule and earning a 4.45 GPA. She is involved in the Lassiter community and “a source of great pride for Trojan Nation,” according to school leaders.
Jennifer He, Walton High School
Pope High School Sebastian Torres Urzua came to Pope in 10th grade from his native Mexico, and not only learned English fluently, but also taught himself several programming languages – Python, Java, HTML, CSS, and Arduino. “Sebastian has the chops for a highly rigorous higher education and I’m excited to see how he succeeds in the future,” school leaders said.
At Pope, he played varsity tennis and “takes seriously all the activities he takes part in and puts full effort into those things.” His plans include majoring in industrial engineering and working in operations in the corporate world.
Sprayberry High School Jordan Tolliver, the school’s Class of 2024 salutatorian, started the school year undergoing an emergency appendectomy and had complications with the surgery. “We were unsure if Jordan would be able to keep up with his course load of all AP classes or if he would be able to return to school at all with the recovery from the surgeries,” school leaders said.
Tolliver earned all A’s when he returned to school, and is headed to the University of Pennsylvania.
Walton High School Jennifer He was a finalist for the 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholars as a senior, and will be attending Princeton University in the fall. Her last year at Walton included a variety of volunteer activities, including a role providing school supplies to homeless youth. For those efforts, she was awarded a scholarship by the East Cobb County Council of Parent Teacher Association. Her other scholarships include the 2024 InspirASIAN National and Doris L. Kays NJCL scholarships.
Wheeler High School
Jordan Tolliver, Sprayberry High School
Jay Imperatori was awarded one of Georgia Tech’s elite Stamps President’s Scholarships, awarded to the most promising students from across the nation to foster their development as scholars, leaders, and citizens of the greater community through purposeful programming, mentoring, and enhanced educational opportunities.
Marlon Louie endured the loss of his father and the school’s band director within a few weeks, and “has exemplified unwavering strength and optimism, inspiring all who know him,” school leaders said. In addition to music, Louie is involved in drama activities and a math teacher said he “continued to radiate positivity towards his peers and teachers.” According to his drama director, Nicholas Morrett, Louie demonstrated “boundless energy and unwavering positivity.”
Alex Morrisette was told that he would not be able to graduate. He has attended four different schools during his high school career. He took six classes this year and was able to graduate on time, with plans to enlist in the Air Force.
Addison Kowall “excels in everything that she does, a Wheeler teacher said. “She is an incredible dancer, student and friends. She lost her father at a young age, but she remains positive. She loves teaching dance to young students at Rhythm Dance Center.”
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!
(Front) Margy Rogers, Kiwanis Club Marietta Golden K; Mila Kornuth, Silver Peb award winner and Dana Popovich, Kiwanis. (Back) Jim Perry and Paul Smith, Kiwanis
Submitted information and photos:
In May of 2024, The Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K proudly presented the coveted Silver Pen award to students from 5 Cobb County Elementary Schools. Fourth graders from Acworth, Addison, Powers Ferry, Rocky Mount and Tritt Elementary Schools were presented with the award. In addition, a FIFTH GRADE Silver Pen award was presented to a student from Powers Ferry Elementary School.
The awards included: A Silver Pen; $25 dollars in cash in the form of uncirculated 1 dollar coins from a US mint and an engraved plaque
The topic of the essays that the 4th grade (and 5th grade) students wrote about this year was “What They Want to be When When Grow Up.” The essays were submitted for judging at the school level, then winning essays from each school were further submitted for judging by a team of Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K judges. After the rigorous judging process was completed, final Silver Pen award winners from each school were announced.
As Jim Perry, past president of Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K stated, “There were some first this year that are worthy of note:
We presented six awards this year, which is an all time record, adding two new schools: Addison and Powers Ferry.
We presented the first Fifth Grade Silver Pen Award ever anywhere in the Georgia District of Kiwanis at Powers Ferry Elementary School.
The winning student at Acworth Elementary School has been taught by a teacher who has now had four Silver Pen Award Winners!
The mother of the winning student at Acworth Elementary School was a Key Club member when she attended North Cobb High School!
Parents, faculty, staff, and Kiwanis members were privileged to recognize these talented students who displayed their respective thinking and writing skills.
Acworth – Elias Nunez – Pilot
Addison – Mila Kornuth – Pro Golfer
Powers Ferry – 4th Grade – Isaque Fernandes – Professional Soccer Player
The Silver Pen award is a national award and everyone is extremely proud of these exceptional writers. We wholeheartedly congratulate them and we are confident that these talented writers will be successful in whatever professions they choose.
(L-R) Paul Smith, president of Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K; Jim Perry, Kiwanis; Gitma Davis (mom), Quinnlyn Davis, Silver Pen award winner; Nate Davis (dad) and Dana Popovich, Kiwanis.
Paul Smith, Kiwanis; Lucy Hostetler, Silver Pen award winner: Jim Perry and Dana Popovich, Kiwanis.
(L-R) Jim Perry, Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K; Paul Smith, President Kiwanis; Jaden Artiga Hernandez, 5th grade Silver Pen winner; Isaque Fernandes, 4th grade Silver Pen winner, Rosie Teague and Dana Popovich, Kiwanis.
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 sexualization of children can never become normalized,” Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday, and not for the first time during a contentious 2023-24 school year.
The 2023-24 academic year in the Cobb County School District ended just as the way it started on a key cultural issue that has been roiling public schools around the country:
The removal of books from school libraries and classrooms that contain sexually explicit and adult-themed material.
What critics have called “book bans” that amount to censorship, Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale insists are measures to protect students from harmful materials and prioritize parental rights.
At a Cobb Board of Education meeting last week, Ragsdale fired back at his critics for a third time since the flap began last September.
During his monthly remarks, Ragsdale blasted a civil rights complaint filed against the Cobb school district by the National Women’s Law Center, saying the removals have created a hostile environment for students of color, as well as from the LGBTQ community and other groups.
“Flamer”—which features a gay youth coming to terms with his sexuality—is one of the books pulled from Cobb school district shelves.
The NWLC action was filed with the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Education, and includes allegations that the Cobb school district shut down attempts to create a gay-student alliance at Walton High School.
The complaint asks for the removed books to be restored to Cobb school library shelves and for future removals to be halted.
The complaint also wants the Cobb school district to create clear mission statements and policies that “value diversity and are committed to ensuring safe, inclusive, and supportive campuses free from discrimination.”
But Ragsdale said the allegations are “lies …. spread by an out-of-state political action group that seeks to impose their political agenda on our children.”
Cobb has removed seven titles from school bookshelves during the past school year, out of more than a million pieces of materials that he said represent a wide variety of diverse elements and perspectives.
Following complaints by parents about the books, Ragsdale said the district found them to be lewd, vulgar and sexually explicit.
“This complaint isn’t about any facts, but an attempt to push a specific political agenda of a D.C.-based advocacy group on the students and citizens of Cobb County,” Ragsdale said.
“We will not bow to their demands to break the law, and we will always protect the students of Cobb County no matter their gender, race, nationality, religion or any other protected class.
“I will not be moved. The sexualization of children can never become normalized.”
Laura Judge
Om Sunday, the district reiterated the message on its social media channels, pledging to update parents when books are removed for explicit and graphic content.
“Some will continue to fight for sexually explicit content in schools, to flip our Board majority in November, and to remove our Superintendent and staff.”
A part of that message prompted a response from a school board candidate from East Cobb.
Democrat Laura Judge posted on her candidate Facebook page Monday that “it’s problematic that we have a district communication team that continues to lean politically one way with posting their fear of ‘flipping the board majority.’ “
Judge is seeking the Post 5 seat being vacated by Republican David Banks. Republicans have a 4-3 majority on the school board, and three of those seats are on the November ballot. She and Republican John Cristadoro, both parents in the Walton cluster, will be facing off in the general election.
That partisan wrangling has been at the heart of a number of school board disputes in recent years, and the book removals are no exception.
The Cobb school district’s social media thread on Sunday referenced a partisan 4-3 vote by the board to extend Ragsdale’s contract in February, calling it an attempt to “heighten political pressure” against the Republican majority and the superintendent.
Parents critical of Ragsdale and who regularly address the board at meetings have started an informal “public comment book club” in a social media group to read the titles that have been removed in Cobb schools. A few wondered if the Bible also has been removed, in tongue-in-cheek fashion.
“All that talk about incest, rape, prostitution, nudity and the like. Lewd, lewd, lewd!” said one parent, with another linking to just such a decision in schools in Utah, and with passages from the Old Testament.
But other parents said that they found the books inappropriate for the schools, with one saying that “perhaps you could show your children this material if it is important to you, rather than fight to get it disseminated to others’ children.”
Judge, who has said occasionally that the school board composition shouldn’t be partisan, said in her Facebook post Monday that “until we have a board that is willing to hold the superintendent accountable for actual problems we have within our schools, rather than this manufactured one that has happened under the current majority and/or leadership, we will continue to see our students and schools treated as political pawns by this district on their social posts or through our CTLS platform.”
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 graduation ceremonies take place this week, the Cobb County School District on Tuesday announced the Class of 2024 valedictorians and salutatorians.
Overall, the valedictorians in the Cobb school district combined for an average grade-point average of 4.697, with salutatorians at 4.659.
Nine seniors from high schools in East Cobb had grade-point averages above 4.7, and two were above 4.8, both from Walton: Valedictorian Ethan Ju and salutatorian Xiyuan Li.
Ju’s grade-point-average of 4.86 is the highest for a student in the Cobb school district, which has announced a Class of 2024 of around 8,000 seniors.
What follows are the vals and sals from the six East Cobb high schools, their GPAs, college choices and intended majors.
Seven of the vals and sals from East Cobb are headed to Georgia Tech, with others bound for UGA, Penn, Cornell, Rice, and MIT.
Kell High School
Valedictorian— Claire Lanaghan, 4.703, Georgia Tech, physics
Salutatorian—Ajanay Butts, 4.648, Rice University, biology
Lassiter High School
Valedictorian—Kelly Wu, 4.768, Georgia Tech, biomedical engineering
Salutatorian—Ruhi Datar, 4.75, Cornell University, history
Pope High School
Valedictorian—Bryce Chapin, 4.796, Georgia Tech, industrial engineering
Salutatorian—Jay Natu, 4.779, Georgia Tech, biochemistry
Sprayberry High School
Valedictorian—Isabella Sternagle, 4.692, University of Georgia, biology
Salutatorian—Jordan Toliver, 4.656, University of Pennsylvania, economics and computer science
Walton High School
Valedictorian—Ethan Ju, 4.86, Georgia Tech, computer science
Salutatorian—Xijuan Li, 4.821, Georgia Tech, industrial engineering
Wheeler High School
Valedictorian—Zachary Tong, 4.766, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, computer science
Salutatorian—Richard Kang, 4.758, Georgia Tech, electrical engineering
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!
More than 8,000 high school seniors in the Cobb County School District will be graduating this week.
The Class of 2024 will have commencement exercises from Monday-Saturday, mostly at the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center, including all six high schools in East Cobb:
More graduation information can be found here; it includes more details about each school’s commencement and venue information, including directions and a KSU campus map, tickets and a graduation contract.
In 2023, the Cobb County School District’s graduation rate was 87.7 percent, second in metro Atlanta to Fulton County (90.3 percent).
Those are federally-calculated figures that include students enrolled for a single day of high school. Walton’s 96.3 percent was fourth in the Cobb, behind 98.4 percent at Lassiter, and 97 percent at Harrison and Hillgrove.
Pope’s graduation rate was 95.6 last year, followed by Kell (93.8), Wheeler (90.7) and Sprayberry 87.5.
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!
