East Cobb Schools Archives

PHOTOS: New Lassiter gym opens for basketball doubleheader

January 8, 2020 2:37 PM by Wendy Parker

Before the first-ever event tipped off at the new Lassiter High School gym on Tuesday, the school’s athletic director stood at midcourt, looked around around them, and took in some history.

Scott Kelly is 1993 Lassiter graduate who recalled his time the school’s first gym, built in 1980.

“We played on a rubber floor,” he said.

The new $15.66 million building features maroon-colored seating for 3,000, as well as locker rooms for basketball and volleyball, and a wrestling practice facility.

For the last year or so, the construction area has been a mess, in addition to taking out parking space.

“I think you’ve got the best gym in the state,” Kelly told the Lassiter student body at a grand opening ceremony that included CCSD officials.

He also thanked the students for their patience: “You finally made it.”

As the Lassiter girls basketball team played Walton in the first game, Kelly paused momentarily near the Lady Trojans’ bench and took in the atmosphere.

He’s been a teacher and administrator at his alma mater for 20 years, including the last five as athletics director, as plans were being made for a new gym.

“It’s something people in this community have been looking forward to for a lot of years,” he said.

It’s state of the art, and part of a continuing wave of new gyms in the Cobb County School District to feature such a large capacity, and with specific space for multiple sports.

New Lassiter Gym

That’s also the case at a new gym that opened in August at Walton and two years ago at Pope. They have combined gym-theatre facilities, unlike Lassiter, whose concert hall opened in 2013 on another part of campus.

Kelly said the Lassiter freshman and JV teams will be playing at the new gym as well, starting with home games on Friday against Roswell.

The wrestling team will have competitions there, and the volleyball team will make its debut at the new gym in the fall of 2020.

On Tuesday, however, Walton played the role of spoiler, winning the girls game 65-37 and the boys game by a 55-50 score.

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Cobb school board Democrats decry vote for electing officers

January 9, 2020 2:24 PMJanuary 7, 2020 2:32 PM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb Board of Education met for only 20 minutes Tuesday to elect officers for the 2020 calendar year, but most of it was taken up with the explosive charge by one member that the process for doing so isn’t above board.

Jaha Howard, Cobb school board member — *Jaha Howard*

“Something stinks,” second-year board member Jaha Howard said after the board’s Republican majority voted 4-2 for fellow party member Brad Wheeler to serve as chairman.

Another Republican, David Banks of East Cobb, was voted vice chairman in a similar fashion and by a similar vote.

Both votes were conducted without any board discussion at its annual organizational meeting.

Howard, who represents the Campbell and Osborne clusters in South Cobb, nominated his fellow Democrat, Charisse Davis, of the Walton and Wheeler clusters. But they were the only two votes for her in a series of votes strictly along party lines.

The board’s other Democrat, David Morgan, was not in attendance.

The four Republicans are all white males and the three Democrats are black. Davis is the only woman on the seven-member board.

Walton, Wheeler rep on Cobb school board seeks chair role

January 4, 2020 2:39 PMJanuary 4, 2020 9:06 AM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb Board of Education meets Tuesday in its 2020 organizational meeting, at which it will select its chair and vice chair for the year.

Charisse Davis, Cobb Board of Edcucation — *Charisse Davis*

Charisse Davis of Post 6, which includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters, said she’s interested in becoming chair.

It’s a duty that includes running meetings and representing the board in an official capacity.

“I’ve expressed my interest to serve as chair, a role that many other board members have held, even in their first term,” Davis noted in her January newsletter.

The first-term Democrat, who lives in the Campbell cluster, was nominated for vice chair last year, shortly after taking office. But the board’s four-member Republican majority voted for two of its own members for the leadership roles after multiple votes.

The 2019 chairman was David Chastain, of the Kell and Sprayberry clusters, and the vice chair was Brad Wheeler of West Cobb. Per board rules, officers cannot serve in the same roles in consecutive years.

New Lassiter gym grand opening before Walton basketball games

January 3, 2020 7:13 PM by Wendy Parker

Lassiter gym grand opening

When Lassiter meets Walton in a varsity basketball doubleheader Tuesday, the games will have more than East Cobb and regional rivalry implications.

The occasion will be the first for the homestanding Trojans in their new gym.

The $15.66 million building, located next to the football stadium, is finally ready to be unveiled.

The girls’ game tips off at 6 p.m., but a grand opening celebration will take place at 5:20 p.m. The varsity boys will play starting at 7:30 p.m.

The 3,000-seat Lassiter facility, which was built with Cobb Ed-SPLOST IV revenues, was originally estimated to cost $10.8 million.

But that was for specifications for seating for 2,500, and was revised to include more capacity and factor in annual construction inflation of six percent.

The building includes varsity locker rooms for the Lassiter girls and boys basketball teams and the Trojans volleyball team, as well as locker rooms for visiting teams and a practice facility for the Lassiter wrestling team.

The Lassiter gym is the second new gym to open for an East Cobb school in recent months.

The new Walton gym was broken in by the Raiders’ state championship volleyball team in the fall.

That’s part of a new $31.7 million project at Walton that includes main and auxiliary gymnasiums, a wrestling room, a weight room, locker rooms, a main theater, a black box theater and band, orchestra and choral suites.

On Jan. 24, Walton will play host to Lassiter in basketball in its new gym.

In January 2018, Pope christened a new $24 million gym-fine arts complex with a basketball doubleheader.

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East Cobb school board post draws another GOP candidate

February 5, 2020 1:02 PMJanuary 2, 2020 8:27 AM by Wendy Parker

Another Republican challenger has emerged as a candidate for the Post 5 seat on the Cobb Board of Education. Shelley O'Malley, Cobb school board candidate

Shelley O’Malley, a Delta Air Lines pilot and U.S. Navy veteran, filed paperwork on Dec. 26 with the Georgia Government and Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission declaring her intent to accept campaign contributions.

She is seeking the seat currently held by third-term GOP incumbent David Banks. Post 5 includes the Pope and Lassiter attendance zones.

O’Malley has been involved as a parent in the Rocky Mount Elementary School, Simpson Middle School and Lassiter High School communities.

Banks has not formally declared whether he’s seeking re-election.

Matt Harper, an IT manager and former Murdock Elementary School teacher, has announced his candidacy as a Republican, as has attorney Rob Madayag, who’s been critical of how the Cobb County School District handles bullying issues.

O’Malley’s community service work includes serving as a vice president of the Cobb Veterans Memorial Foundation, which formed in 2015 to build a memorial to honor veterans in the county.

Her husband Brian is also a Navy veteran and they have three children: Shannon, a former swim captain at the University of Georgia, Lauren, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, and Luke, a freshman at Lassiter.

O’Malley is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where she was the captain of the varsity basketball team and was president of the tennis club while earning a mechanical engineering degree.

She also has volunteered with the Stringrays Swim Team and is a church school co-teacher at Transfiguration Catholic Church.

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A trespasser was quickly apprehended after walking onto the Sprayberry campus with a gun and a Wheeler student was arrested after other students alerted teachers and staff that he had carried a gun on a school bus.

At Walton High School, a student was arrested for making terroristic threats, saying he would shoot up the school when he was taken from a class for having alcohol in a water bottle. He also was charged with battery for kicking a teacher.

An East Cobb parent who helped form a Cobb schools safety group last year acknowledged that the district is taking more concerted steps to ensure safety and communicate better, but still thinks its approach is largely reactive.

She’d like to see the district invest more in mental health counseling and a “social emotional learning” program other school systems have begun.

The Walton incident wasn’t made public for a week, and then only because of news reports, while the Sprayberry and Wheeler cases were made public the day they occurred.

The district has continued to stress its safety resource effort called Cobb Shield, which contains information about its police force, emergency management procedures and code red drills, which are required each semester at all 16 high schools.

District spokesman John Floresta said Cobb schools was “batting 100 percent in the way each incident [at the East Cobb schools] was handled,” from quick actions by school officials to apprehend those posing a threat, to relaying information to the school community.

“We’re being as proactive as any school district I know,” he said.

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That split was evident earlier in the year, when Davis and Howard voiced a desire for the board to consider making some changes, including closing loopholes, in the Cobb school senior tax exemption.

As the board began the budget process, Chastain told an East Cobb audience he was adamant nothing would happen regarding the exemption, eligible for homeowners 62 and older.

School district officials estimate that costs more than $100 million a year. Davis said she doesn’t want to eliminate the exemption, but noted that Cobb is one of only two school districts in metro Atlanta that doesn’t have any conditions to its senior tax exemption.

At a school board retreat in the fall, she and Howard raised the subject again, but it was rejected.

Davis and Howard also have publicly suggested the Cobb school district create a cabinet-level position for equity and diversity in the wake of calls by some parents and school staff in the county for Cobb schools to address what they claim are unaddressed and systemic racial biases.

In May, the board did come to a consensus on another major matter by voting 7-0 to approve the district’s fiscal year 2020 budget of $1.17 billion, which included teacher and staff pay raises between 8 and 12.6 percent, including bus drivers, cafeteria workers, school nurses, paraprofessionals and counselors.

In 2020, four board members will be up for re-election, including David Banks of Post 4. He’s finishing his third term representing the Pope and Lassiter districts, and has drawn two Republican opponents.

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GRACEPOINT School earns accreditation for dyslexic programs

December 23, 2019 1:03 PMDecember 23, 2019 8:57 AM by Wendy Parker

GRACEPOINT School accreditation

Submitted information and photo:

GRACEPOINT School for dyslexic learners announced today their accreditation received for the school’s Orton-Gillingham program by the AOGPE (Academy of Orton Gillingham Practitioners and Educators). The Orton–Gillingham Approach is a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive way to teach literacy when reading, writing, and spelling does not come easily to individuals, such as those with dyslexia. All academic teachers at GRACEPOINT are trained as Orton-Gillingham Classroom Educators. Training involves methods to teach and Enremediate all areas of literacy, not just reading and spelling and to provide this instruction one-on-one, in a classroom, or with any size group.

Students at GRACEPOINT receive 90 minutes of explicit Orton-Gillingham reading instruction each day.

GRACEPOINT’s instructional program is now 1 of only 16 programs in the nation to receive this accreditation.

“To have your OG instruction endorsed by the Academy is such a high honor,” shared Joy Wood, GRACEPOINT Head of School. “I am very proud of the teachers and staff at GRACEPOINT that are so dedicated to restoring hope to the brilliant dyslexic minds we serve each day. There is incredible reward in seeing realize they are not ”

This news comes in the wake of many recent initiatives and accomplishments of the company, including:

Enrollment growth from 4 to 124 students since the school’s beginning in 2012

Accreditation by the SAIS (Southern Association of Independent Schools)

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REMINDER: Early release for Cobb schools on Thursday and Friday

December 18, 2019 3:43 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb school bus safety

The last two school days before the holiday break in the Cobb County School District will be shortened days.

On Thursday and Friday, schools will be releasing early for local school professional learning sessions, so the buses will be out and about around the lunchtime hours.

Students will be served lunch at school before they’re released.

Here’s the early release chedule, and it’s the same for both days, two hours earlier than usual.

11:30 a.m. – High School
12:30 p.m. – Elementary School
1:30 p.m. – Middle School

The first day of the second semester is Monday, Jan. 6.

More Cobb school news

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Cobb school board members pay raise request rejected

December 14, 2019 11:59 AM by Wendy Parker

*David Banks suggested board pay raises at the same time staff and teachers get them.*

Cobb Board of Education members haven’t had a pay raise since 2003, and they won’t be getting another one anytime soon.

The board voted 4-3 Thursday against a proposal by school board member David Morgan of South Cobb to ask the legislature for a $3,800 annual boost in their salaries.

Voting with Morgan was Charisse Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, and David Banks, who represents the Pope and Lassiter clusters.

School board members receive $19,000 a year in compensation; the board chairman, who has additional duties on behalf of the board, is paid $22,800.

Morgan was seeking requests to push pay to $22,800 for board members and $26,600 for the chairman.

“We deserve a pay raise,” Morgan said, rattling off increased responsibilities, duties and appearances for board members. “I believe this in the bottom of my heart.”

Morgan’s comments came at a school board work session Thursday afternoon, where Banks suggested that board pay raises occur as they are given to Cobb County School District staff and teachers.

No other board member engaged him on that subject, and Banks didn’t bring it up again at the Thursday night business meeting before the vote.

The Georgia General Assembly must approve salary increases for school board members, and Morgan’s proposal was a “one-time” matter he wanted the board to take to State Sen. David Wilkerson, chairman of the Cobb legislative delegation.

Information presented at the work session indicated that in the metro Atlanta area, only DeKalb County school board members are paid more than Cobb, whose scale is on par with Fulton County.

Voting against the pay raise resolution was David Chastain, the outgoing board chairman who represents the Kell and Sprayberry clusters.

Morgan and Banks, who are nearing the end of their third terms, have the most seniority on the board. Both will be up for re-election in 2020 and they have drawn primary opposition.

South Cobb community activist Tre Hutchins has declared his Democratic candidacy for the Post 3 seat held by Morgan.

In Banks’ Post 5, Republican candidates Robert Madayag and Matt Harper have said they’re running.

Also on Thursday, the school board voted 7-0 to approve a resolution asking district officials to prepare a $100 million short-term loan against SPLOST collections for 2020 construction, maintenance and technology projects.

The board is expected to finalize the loan request at its January meeting.

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Critic of Cobb schools on bullying issues running for school board

December 12, 2019 2:10 PMDecember 12, 2019 9:16 AM by Wendy Parker

An East Cobb attorney who has been critical of the Cobb County School District on bullying issues is running for Post 5 on the Cobb Board of Education in 2020. Robert Madayag, Cobb school board candidate

Robert Madayag is seeking the seat currently held by David Banks, whose third term ends next year. Post 5 includes most of the Pope and Lassiter high school attendance zones, as well as part of the Sprayberry cluster (see map at the bottom).

Madayag is the father of students at Sprayberry, Simpson Middle School and Kincaid Elementary School.

(For his campaign website, click here.)

Earlier this year, Madayag assisted parents, including some at Walton High School, who complained about how the district responded to their claims about their children being bullied. He thinks the district underreports data on the number of students who report bullying.

Madayag said in his announcement that “there is no doubt that the CCSD has done a great job of helping those students at the top,” but said he’s heard from “countless parents about how their kids were bullied, suffered racially charged language, and were forced to fight the school district to have their kids provided basic needs.”

His priorities include doing a countywide assessment about how bullying cases are handled, providing transparency to the public on how much the district spends on legal fees and creating the position of Chief Equity Officer.

Madayag also wants to address what he says are “stories upon stories of parents with special needs kids that have had to fight and fight with the CCSD, at their own great expense, just to get treatment that other school districts provide without fighting.”

East Cobb News has left a message with Madayag seeking more information about his candidacy.

Madayag, who is running as a Republican, is a former chairman of the Modern Whig Party of Georgia, which formed in 2009 with a centrist platform aimed at those disaffected with both Democrats and Republicans.

Currently the seven-member school board has four Republicans and three Democrats. Four seats are up next year, including Post 1 (North Cobb), Post 3 (South Cobb) and Post 7 (West Cobb).

Madayag is a U.S. Navy veteran who earned an engineering degree from Georgia Tech, then earned a law degree from Villanova University. He practices patent and corporate law in the Atlanta office of Lee & Hayes, a national firm.

He and his family have been involved in school and youth sports and music activities in their community. His wife Rebecca has been a member of the PTSA board at Simpson, and he has coached and served as an emcee for his sons’ football teams and at Sprayberry freshman and JV football games.

Banks, a Republican, has not indicated whether he’s running again. Matt Harper, an IT project manager, has announced his candidacy in the GOP primary (campaign website).

Harper taught science for three years at Murdock Elementary School and he and his wife Sharon have two daughters who attend Cobb schools. He also has served on the Murdock School Council.

Post 5 includes all or part of the following school zones:

High Schools: Pope, Lassiter, Sprayberry
Middle Schools: Hightower Trail, Mabry, Simpson
Elementary Schools: Davis, East Side, Eastvalley, Garrison Mill, Mountain View, Murdock, Powers Ferry, Sedalia Park, Shallowford Falls, Tritt

Cobb BOE Post 5 — *For larger map, **click here**.*

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Cobb school board may borrow $100M for 2020 SPLOST projects

December 10, 2019 2:11 PMDecember 10, 2019 10:09 AM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb County School District is nearing the end of the first year of a new SPLOST collection period, and the school board on Thursday will be asked to consider taking out $100 million in short-term construction notes for the calendar year 2020.

The request is scheduled to be discussed at the board’s work session that begins at 4 p.m., and to formalize a resolution at its 7 p.m. business meeting. Both meetings will be held in board meeting room at the CCSD’s Central Office, 514 Glover St., Marietta.

(You can view the agendas for both meetings by clicking here.)

The loans are taken out as advances against SPLOST collections during the year, and have become an annual action by the Cobb school board.

The district borrowed $90 million for 2019 and a similar amount in 2018. The loans are repaid by the end of each year, as sales-tax revenues are collected.

This year, the loans were being paid back at an interest rate of 1.72 percent. District officials say the borrowing helps them issue bids and start projects earlier in the calendar year and to get savings against interest rates that are around 4-5 percent a year.

If the resolution is adopted Thursday night, a formal proposal with a details about the sale of the loans would be presented to the board for final approval in January.

The Cobb Ed-SPLOST V is expected to collect around $797 million in sales tax revenues through the end of 2023.

Among the primary projects on the SPLOST V list (here’s the full notebook) is rebuilding and relocating Eastvalley Elementary School to the former site of East Cobb Middle School on Holt Road.

A timetable for that project has not been indicated by the district. Earlier this fall, Eastvalley parents demanded that the school board provide newer trailers to replace aging portable classrooms while a new school is built, but no action has been taken.

Among the other major projects at East Cobb schools in SPLOST V are planned for Lassiter HS (theater renovation), Sprayberry HS (CTAE building renovation), Walton HS (new tennis courts and softball field) and Wheeler HS (Magnet School renovation).

Dickerson and Dodgen middle schools also are slated for major classroom additions.

SPLOST funds also are used for technology upgrades at every school, including for security measures, and for general maintenance of facilities and equipment.

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Ga. Crossing Guard of the Year is Rocky Mount’s Alice Medlin

December 9, 2019 5:38 PM by Wendy Parker

Alice Medlin, Georgia crossing guard of the year

Story and photo submitted by Cobb County School District:

Those who drive by Rocky Mount Elementary see Alice Medlin every day, sometimes twice a day. They may even spot her out front of Simpson Middle School or near Lassiter High School. Parents wave. Students smile at the friendly crossing guard that greets them as they walk to school. Some parents stop to chat and laugh with her after walking their students to school.

What they do not always see are the times when “Ms. Alice” steps in front of a whizzing car to pull a student to safety. They may not see her step off the curb into the path of a speeding car, all to protect a Cobb County student in harm’s way.

They may not know that some drivers are quite disrespectful as they pass the almost-84 years-young crossing guard. They just see her smile because that’s what she does. She waves to the ill-mannered drivers and returns her attention to the children.

“I love these children. They are like mine,” gushed the beloved crossing guard.

For her dedication to student safety, commitment to serving the Cobb Schools community, and consistently doing it all with a positive attitude and a warm smile, “Ms. Alice” was recently named the North Georgia Outstanding Crossing Guard of the Year by the Georgia Safe Routes to School.

She is one of only four in the entire state of Georgia to receive the title of Crossing Guard of the Year and is the only one in the 39-county area of North Georgia.

“Ms. Alice” was standing in the crosswalk in front of Rocky Mount Elementary when she learned that she had been named Crossing Guard of the Year, a moment that brought tears to her eyes. Rocky Mount Principal Peggy Fleming, Assistant Principal Dr. Sage Doolittle, and Georgia Safe Routes representative Patti Pittman surprised her during Crossing Guard Appreciation Week.

Rocky Mount, Simpson, and Lassiter parents pushed for her to win the recognition.

Here’s what some of them said:

“Miss Alice makes sure you always a walk away with a smile. She adores all of her students and their families, and their safety is her top priority always.”

“She is out there in the rain, wind, snow, and heat at all times to help the walkers cross safely during the busiest times of the day.”

“We trust her with our kids’ lives.”

“Ms. Alice is amazing! She knows the kids by name. She loves and treats them like they are her grandkids.”

After giving birth to 9 children and loving 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren of her own, “Ms. Alice” has a lifetime of experience with children, and it shows.

“Ms. Alice loves giving out special treats for the kids before long weekends and vacations,” one parent wrote in their nomination. “She greets every walker with love and even shares personal stories with us! She has such a big heart for all of the children and sees them as her own grandchildren!”

Her oldest child, who attended Cobb Schools, is 65. One of her great-grandchildren has already graduated high school.

I don’t look it and don’t act it, she said as she did a little dance outside Rocky Mount.

“Ms. Alice” first pulled on the yellow vest of a Cobb Schools crossing guard about 5 years ago when she was a mere 79. She doesn’t plan to retire until she reaches 90.

Some of the adored crossing guard’s friends ask her why she chooses to wake up early every morning and stand in the bitter cold and show up each afternoon to watch over students in the intense Georgia heat.

“It makes it worth living to get up and come here every day,” she tells them.

She stands in the rain, cold, and heat because her job gives her the potential to positively impact someone else’s future. That’s an opportunity she cannot turn down.

When she’s not on the job at a crosswalk near you, she’s kicking up her heels on a dance floor. She goes dancing every Saturday.

Because so many parents, students and members of the community see her every day, she is a bit famous. People stop her at the grocery store because they recognize her. She has so many fans—parents and students alike—that they often want to continue their crosswalk talks.

“Ms. Alice is a joy!!! She greets us every day, no matter what the weather, with a smile,” another parent said. “She loves our kids and always makes sure they are safe. My kids love seeing her every morning and afternoon.”

This parent’s comment may best represent why so many parents nominated her and why she ultimately won Crossing Guard of the Year.

“She would literally give her life for any of these kids,” one parent declared.

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Walton graduates reunited as Mr. and Ms. Georgia Tech

December 6, 2019 11:06 AMDecember 6, 2019 8:05 AM by Wendy Parker

Thanks to reader Julie Alvoid for alerting us to this story about Walton graduates Rachel Luckuck and Francis Yang. They knew each other a little in high school, then had an unexpected reunion recently when they were named Mr. and Ms. Georgia Tech.

The photo, video and text come from Tech’s communications office:

“We sort of knew of each other, just not very well,” explains Rachel Luckcuck, newly named Ms. Georgia Tech 2019.

“I think we had Calc together, right?” Mr. Georgia Tech Francis Yang asks Luckcuck.

“I used to think that Francis was just so cool. I can’t believe looking back that now we’re Mr. and Ms. Georgia Tech,” Luckcuck says.

“I remember when you got into Georgia Tech and how excited you were!” Yang recalls happily.

Luckcuck had taken extra online classes to boost her high school resume in hopes of being accepted to Georgia Tech. She also played the Georgia Tech fight song for inspiration — while studying. Both tactics paid off.

“That was a great day. January 8,” she remembers.

“That’s my birthday!” Yang exclaims.

Both Luckcuck and Yang attended Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia, and both are now business administration majors at Tech. Their election as Mr. and Ms. Georgia Tech was purely coincidental; they ran separately on their own merits and service. The winners were selected from a pool of 20 semifinalists who were required to write essays about their personal experiences and interviewed about their service to campus. Luckuck and Yang won the 2019 title from among a narrowed pool of ten finalists after a popular vote by their peers.

The photographs from Bobby Dodd Stadium were the talk of their hometown. “I was getting tons of messages on Facebook and Instagram from my former high school teachers,’ Luckcuck says. “They were just so proud to see us there together.”

Yang has found this whole experience surreal. “I couldn’t have asked for a better experience at Georgia Tech. Previous Mr. and Ms. Georgia Techs are the people I looked up to when I first got here. Now that’s me.”

He has helped incoming students make the transition to college through his work as a FASET Orientation leader. “One of the best parts of all of this is having some of those students come congratulate me,” he says.

Luckuck says she has found joy working with the Excel Program, a Georgia Tech initiative that provides a post-secondary education for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“There are thousands of colleges but only about 200 options nationwide for these students. Georgia Tech being one of them is incredible, and being part of the program has been life-changing,” she says.

One of Yang’s favorite moments of the entire process was seeing his mom on the field. “It was her first game day,” he says. “She was so excited. To share that moment with her was so special.” And he was so excited that he almost forgot it was his first time on the field too.

For Luckcuck, self-admittedly a bit shy and reserved, her Tech experience has taught her more about herself and how she can best serve others. “It’s living our motto of progress and service. Now as Ms. Georgia Tech I can find a way to give back because Georgia Tech gave so much to me.”

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High Meadows School appoints Lisa Baker new head of school

December 5, 2019 12:03 PMDecember 5, 2019 8:58 AM by Wendy Parker

Submitted information: Lisa Baker, High Meadows School

High Meadows School, an independent, International Baccalaureate (IB) school focused on child-centered education for students in preschool through eighth grade, is thrilled to announce the appointment of Lisa Baker as Head of School and Camp effective July 1, 2020. She will lead planning and programming, community building, financial management, attracting and developing faculty and staff, stewardship of the 42-acre campus, and ultimately carrying out the High Meadows mission.

A specially formed search committee and the High Meadows Board of Trustees selected Baker unanimously because of her commitment to progressive education, student voice and choice, and a strong understanding of the school’s mission and educational philosophy. She has more than 30 years of experience in schools including leadership experience in several independent schools.

“It is an honor to be asked to serve as the next Head of School for High Meadows School and Camp. High Meadows has a rich, nearly 50-year history and remarkable commitment to creating an environment where students thrive and where their natural sense of wonder and curiosity is fueled. Joining this school family of passionate learners and inquisitive minds is a remarkable opportunity for which I am deeply grateful.”

Baker currently serves as Head of Upper School at Bancroft School in Worchester, Mass. She is a visionary and charismatic leader. Recently she co-chaired on the Strategic Planning Team and launched the Social Justice and Equity Task Force. Additionally, she has collaborated closely with the Board. Baker began her career in education as a middle school teacher and coach and did the practicum for her counseling degree in a middle school setting. She began her path to educational leadership as the Camp Director at Camp Greenway at The Madeira School in McLean, Va.

“When we embarked on the journey to find a new head of school and camp, we asked the High Meadows community for input about the kind of leader we were looking for, and the feedback we received was very thoughtful and consistent,” says Javier Estrella, chair of the head of school search committee and vice-chair of the High Meadows Board of Trustees. “Lisa Baker is an experienced independent school leader who identifies as an educator and celebrates childhood and child-centered learning, both highly-regarded values of High Meadows. We believe she embodies our values and are confident she will lead our faculty, staff, and the entire school and camp community to a bright future.”

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Cobb schools seeks public input for 2020-25 strategic plan

December 2, 2019 12:39 PM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb County School District is developing its strategic plan for 2020-25 and wants to hear from parents and the public.

The district compiles strategic plans for each school year, and for each school (click here to read more).

The five-year plan is a longer-range document that also reflects priorities outlined by the superintendent, district initiatives and school board goals.

Here’s what the district is sending out to solicit comments:

A PDF outline of the Strategic Plan document;
Additional information about the CCSD School Improvement Plan where you can drill down for
A survey form for providing feedback.

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Georgia eliminates some Milestones end-of-course testing

November 16, 2019 8:58 AM by Wendy Parker

From the Cobb County School District: Georgia Milestones end-of-course tests

In an effort to eliminate double testing and the number of tests Georgia students are required to take, the State Board of Education, Governor Kemp, and Superintendent Woods approved a policy revision that eliminates the End-of-Course-Test (EOC) for International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement students. 

Specifically, the rule change applies to students in the following courses: AP Language and Composition, AP US History, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, IB English A Literature, IB Economics, and IB History of the Americas. The updated policy goes into effect on November 27.

The rule change, which Superintendent Chris Ragsdale fully supports, means almost 4,000 Cobb students will take 5,000 fewer EOC assessments in the 2019-2020 school year. Students are not required to take the AP test for the exemption.

How does the change impact Cobb students?

Until the policy change, state law required that the EOC serve as 20 percent of the final course grade. In order to maintain the current course weightings outlined in each teacher’s syllabus for the 2019-2020 school year, the District considered options to keep the course grading as consistent as possible.

Based on input from teachers, principals, and discussions with peer districts, the Cobb County School District staff determined that the best way forward this school year is to replace the EOC grade with a district-created assessment, which will function as a comprehensive exam.

“We are going to ensure that no student’s grade in these IB and AP classes are negatively impacted. We are putting in an assessment that is fair and equitable across the board,” said Superintendent Ragsdale.

From expanding the district-created assessments in the Cobb Teaching and Learning System to the opening of the new Cobb Innovation and Technology Academy in Fall 2020, Cobb Schools staff will continue to look for opportunities to best position students for future college and career opportunities. 

Here’s more from the Georgia Department of Education, which earlier this month also ended end-of-course Milestones tests for students in some dual enrollment programs.

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Cobb school board recognitions: Pope softball; Davis STEM; Wheeler teacher

November 15, 2019 12:24 PM by Wendy Parker

Pope softball team

On Thursday night the Cobb Board of Education recognized numerous groups and individuals at its monthly voting meeting, including student and teachers at three schools in East Cobb.

They include the Pope softball team (above), which recently won the Georgia High School Association Class 6A state championship (ECN coverage here). It was the second for coach Chris Turco (front row, light blue pants), who also won his 300th game at Pope during the state tournament.

Also recognized were staff and teachers at Davis Elementary School for its recent certification as a STEM school.

Davis STEM teachers

Wheeler High School teacher Dr. Nicole Ice (in purple dress below) was honored as the recipient of the 2019 Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics Gladys M. Thomason Distinguished Service Award. She was recognized by the board with Wheeler principal Paul Gillihan, at left, and Vicki Massey, the Wheeler math coordinator.

Wheeler Dr. Nicole Ice

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Cobb schools to begin buying buses with air conditioning

November 15, 2019 10:12 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb school bus safety

After hearing complaints about students riding in buses without air conditioning during hot weather, the Cobb County School District got the message.

On Thursday, the Cobb Board of Education approved the purchase of nine new buses, all of them with air conditioning, as the 112,000-student district begins transforming its bus fleet over the next few years.

The 7-0 vote comes a month after the board voted to table the measure.

The nine new buses will cost a total of $895,758, with $538,576 coming from the current Cobb Education V SPLOST (Special-Purpose Local Option Sales Tax), and the rest from state bus bonds and a district building fund.

Five of the buses with have 72-seat capacities for regular education students, and the other four will accommodate 48 special-education students each.

Marc Smith, the school district’s chief technology and operations officer, said Cobb schools have a fleet of 1,198 buses, but only 195 have air conditioning.

During a Thursday afternoon work session, he laid out a purchasing option that would call for a total of 212 new air-conditioned buses through 2023. The costs would include $21 million in SPLOST funds (see chart below).

During the presentation, Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the better option for the district was to buy air-conditioned buses, rather than having current buses retrofitted.

He also apologized for presenting inaccurate data at the October board meeting. Of the 279 special-education buses, 81 have air conditioning. The general-education fleet of 831 buses has five that are air-conditioned.

Of the new air-conditioned buses that will be purchased with current SPLOST funding, 123 will be for general education students and 89 will be for special education students.

Having air conditioning adds about $10,000 to the cost of a new bus. Board members haggled in October about that expense, with first-year board member Jaha Howard lobbying for air conditioning.

David Banks of Post 5 in East Cobb argued against it, saying the heat experienced by students early in the school year doesn’t bother them.

At the start of the work session, Jon Gargis, the father of a Cobb student, noted concerns about the cost of air-conditioned buses, given that the board was set to consider Thursday night an eminent domain resolution to buy 15 acres of land near Walton High School for $3 million for a softball field and tennis courts (The board later agreed to terms with the property owner for the purchase, avoiding eminent domain.).

“I’m not a mathematician,” said Gargis, a former reporter for The Marietta Daily Journal, but he calculated that adding that $3 million could help buy 300 72-seat buses to serve more than 21,000 students, about a fifth of the district’s total enrollment.

“I hope that if we can find the money for athletics, we can find the funding for climate-control systems which are all but a necessity and an expected amenity to all of us in 2019,” he said.

Cobb school bus replacement chart

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Cobb school board reaches agreement for land near Walton HS

November 14, 2019 10:13 PMNovember 14, 2019 9:32 PM by Wendy Parker

1495 Pine Road house, Walton HS campus expansion

The Cobb Board of Education didn’t have to consider declaring eminent domain to purchase land for sports facilities near Walton High School Thursday night.

That’s because earlier this week, the owner of 15.2 acres of property on Pine Road agreed to terms with the Cobb County School District on a selling price.

Marc Smith, the district’s chief technology and operations officer, said representatives for Thelma McClure approached the district with a signed contract offer for $3 million.

That’s what the district had been offering, a price it said was 10 percent higher than the appraised value for the two parcels of land, one of which is directly across from the Walton campus on Bill Murdock Road.

The board voted 7-0 on the land purchase. The $3 million price doesn’t include closing and other costs that are part of property transactions, Smith said.

The district intends to build a softball field and tennis courts that were displaced in 2014 when construction began on a new Walton classroom building.

The Cobb school district had been negotiating with McClure for nearly five years, to little avail, due to differences over price.

“The only thing that’s different now is that eminent domain signs went up,” said Post 6 school board member Charisse Davis, who represents the Walton cluster.

Under eminent domain, public agencies can acquire private property for public use but must pay just compensation.

Before the vote, a resident living near the McClure property expressed surprise and concern about the possibility of eminent domain, and what may be built on the land.

“I feel heartbroken for her,” Rachel Slomovitz said, referring to McClure. She also asked “will my home be across the street from a parking garage?”

Slomovitz also said the sports facilities would add to additional traffic in the Walton area.

Caroline Holko, a former Cobb commission candidate who’s running for the Georgia House District 46 seat in East Cobb, said she didn’t like the idea of “eminent domaining an old lady out of her house for a softball field.”

Davis said while she understands those who may wonder “how can you do this?,” she said those impressions aren’t accurate.

“She was willing to sell,” she said of McClure, who inherited the land from her late husband Felton McClure, who was part of the Murdock family that owned farmland in what is now East Cobb. “She’s not living there.”

The wood-frame home that lines Pine Road (above) and was built in the 1920s has been vacant for many years, and most of the land is wooded and has never been developed.

Walton softball parents have been lobbying the board and the district to be relocated back to campus soon after having to play at Terrell Mill Park for the last six years.

Although the district has pledged to do that with funding from the current Cobb Education SPLOST 5, the team’s absence from campus has caused some issues relating to Title IX, a federal sex discrimination in education law.

Among the law’s sports provisions is for equitable resources, including facilities. The Walton boys baseball team has remained on campus, while girls softball has been displaced.

Davis said the land purchase is “the first step” toward rectifying some of those issues. “We’re going in the right direction.”

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