East Cobb Schools

New Eastvalley ES design contract on Cobb school board agenda

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Eastvalley ES rebuild
Eastvalley ES parents have complained recently to the Cobb school board about aging trailers at the current campus.

The first step toward building a new Eastvalley Elementary School is on the horizon.

The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday will be asked to approve a contract for architectural design for a replacement school on the former campus of East Cobb Middle School on Holt Road.

The Cobb County School District is recommending the board approve a $1.58 million contract to the architectural firm of Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, Inc. of Atlanta.

The contract will be discussed at a board work session at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, and during the board’s voting session at 7 p.m.

Both meetings will take place at the Cobb County School District central office, 514 Glover 9St., in Marietta. An executive session will take place in between.

(Read the full agenda here.)

A replacement for the current Eastvalley facility on Lower Roswell Road is included in the current Cobb Education SPLOST V collection period.

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Funding for the design work, reconstruction (estimated at around $31 million) and demolition of the former East Cobb MS buildings are earmarked in SPLOST V, which is being collected through 2023.

The Eastvalley rebuild is one of three for elementary schools in the current SPLOST. Construction for a new Harmony Leland ES in Mableton got underway last year, and plans also call for a new King Springs ES in Smyrna.

After the architectural design work for Eastvalley is complete, the board would then be asked to approve a separate construction contract.

Eastvalley currently enrolls around 700 students, around twice its stated capacity. The school has 13 trailers, many of them aging, which house about one-third of the student body.

In September, parents of Eastvalley students complained to the board about the condition of the trailers and demanded to know a timetable for the rebuild.

Also on Tuesday’s agenda is a contract for $303,000 for kitchen HVAC improvements at Shallowford Falls Elementary School.

Board recognitions at the Thursday evening meeting will honor Cayce Pope of J.J. Daniell Middle School, the district’s 2020 Middle School Counselor of the Year, and  Patty DaSilva of Pope High School, the district’s High School Counselor of the Year.

 

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Lassiter PTSA president running for Cobb school board Post 5

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A longtime PTA leader in the Lassiter High School community is the latest candidate for the Post 5 seat on the Cobb Board of Education.Tammy Andress, Cobb Board of Education candidate

Tammy Andress, currently a Lassiter PTSA co-president, said last week she is running as a Democrat for the seat held by three-term Republican David Banks.

Andress is a marketing specialist at the Sandy Plains Road Zaxby’s, and is the mother of three daughters—one is a 2018 Lassiter graduate, and the other two currently are Lassiter students.

She has held PTA leadership roles at Davis Elementary School and Mabry Middle School—her daughters’ previous schools—as well as Lassiter. Andress also is a current vice president of the East Cobb County Council of PTAs.

She said she’s running for the school board to improve transparency with the public, boost teacher planning time and to ensure fiscal responsibility.

Andress also supports the building of a college and career academy in the East Cobb area, similar to what’s under construction now at Osborne High School (read her platform).

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Other initiatives include creating “student stakeholders” to address issues like bullying. She also wants the Cobb County School District to create the position of Chief Resource Officer to better scrutinize budget allotments and contracts to root out waste and discover inequities.

Andress wants to restore public comments by school board members at meetings, a practice that was banned last fall in a contentious dispute that fell along party lines.

Andress is the second Democrat to announce for Post 5, joining first-time candidate Julia Hurtado, a phyiscal therapist who lives in the Sedalia Park attendance zone.

The primary is May 19, and the Post 5 seat thus far has drawn the most interest of the four Cobb school board races up for election this year.

Banks is seeking a fourth term representing Post 5—which includes the Lassiter and Pope clusters—and has drawn three GOP primary challengers. They include Delta pilot Shelley O’Malley, attorney Rob Madayag and IT consultant Matt Harper.

A forum for the Post 5 candidates is being held March 15 and sponsored by the Pope PTSA. It will start at 3 p.m. at the Pope performing arts theater.

 

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East Cobb state senator co-sponsors bill to cut school tests

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State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick of East Cobb is a co-sponsor of a bill backed by Gov. Brian Kemp that would eliminate some mandated state standardized school tests.State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick

Kirkpatrick is one of six Republicans, including two of the governor’s floor leaders, who submitted SB 367 (you can read it here).

Kemp announced the legislation at a news conference Tuesday with legislative leaders and Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods.

The bill would cut five current tests: High school end-of-year tests in American literature, geometry, physical science and economics and fifth grade social studies.

The number of required standardized tests in Georgia would go down from 24 to 19 (the federal government mandates a minimum of 17 tests) and the state could decide whether to factor in end-of-course test results as part of a students’ grade.

Those tests are included in the state’s Milestones tests, which include a wide range of test scores and other academic performance metrics for students in grades three through 12.

End-of-course test results currently amount to 20 percent of a high school student’s Milestones score.

More background here about SB 267 from the Georgia Recorder.

The bill has received the support of Woods as well as the Georgia Association of Educators and several public school districts in Georgia.

A Cobb County School District spokeswoman told East Cobb News that “we broadly support the reduction in testing and Gov. Kemp’s bill. We look forward to the next steps in a redesign of how Georgia assesses students and empowers teachers to better understand what students know.”

 

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Deadline for East Cobb PTA scholarship applications is Feb. 28

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The East Cobb County Council of PTAs awards a $1,000 scholarship to graduating seniors from each of the six Cobb County School District high schools in East Cobb (Kell, Lassiter, Pope, Sprayberry, Walton, Wheeler).ECCC PTA

The deadline for submitting applications for the Margie Hatfield Scholarship Fund is Feb. 28. Here’s more from ECCC PTA about how to apply:

The scholarship, known as the Margie Hatfield Scholarship, honors the dedication and years of service given by Mrs. Hatfield to the youth of our council. In recognition of her volunteer involvement, the Margie Hatfield Scholarship Fund awards deserving seniors who have made significant contributions to the community.

Any graduating senior enrolling in a full-time course of study at any institute of higher learning may apply. Students, however, must be a member of your school’s PTSA, and if awarded a scholarship, must use the funds for continuing education.

ECCC PTA Scholarship Awards Ceremony 
Date: Monday, April 20, 2020 
Time: 9:30 – 11:30am 
Location: Walton High School

Please contact Kimberly Webb, ECCC PTA Scholarship Chair, at kwebb1970@gmail.com if you have any questions.

 

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LGE Community Credit Union scholarship applications accepted

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LGE Community Credit Union scholarships
Maayan Lantzman of Pope High School (third from left) was a 2019 LGE Community Credit Union scholarship winner from the Cobb County School District.

Submitted information and photo:

Applications are now open for LGE’s 2020 Community Service Scholarship Program. The program awards scholarships to high school seniors who display an exceptional commitment to serving their community and others.

LGE is strategically partnered with both Cobb County School District and Marietta City Schools, and is proud to offer scholarship opportunities specific to students at those schools. Seniors who attend a Cobb County School District or Marietta City Schools public high school are eligible to apply for a $5,000 scholarship through their respective school. Students should contact their high school for application and details. One winner from each district will be selected as the recipient of a $5,000 scholarship.

An additional $3,000 scholarship is open to all other high school seniors within LGE’s footprint that attend a school that falls outside of LGE’s district-specific scholarships. The application and official rules for this scholarship can be found at LGEccu.org/scholarships. All applications must be received by March 18, 2020 at 5 p.m. ET.

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Mountain View ES recognized for book drive for Cobb students

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Mountain View ES book drive

Students and teachers at Mountain View Elementary School in East Cobb were recognized last week by the Cobb Board of Commissioners for a book drive they conducted for students at Clay Elementary School in Mableton.

During the drive, the Mountain View students met their goal of providing a new book for each Clay student to take home over the Christmas and New Years’s holiday break, collecting and donating used books, making bookmarks and wrapping and decorating each book with bows, ribbons and stickers.

The drive was undertaken in response to hearing about a dearth of reading materials for students at Clay, whose principal, Dr. Cynthia Winter, attended Mountain View. The Mountain View students took measures to provide books for Clay students that closely matched their reading interests.

Here’s Mountain View Elementary Principal Renee Garriss, in a comment from the Cobb County School District:

“We make it a priority to engage our children in acts of compassion and gratitude, of being nice to one another and thinking globally about kindness. Every day we invite our students to live out our mottos, which are ‘Be Nice, Show Compassion, and Express Gratitude.’ This is just one way in which they connect their learning with the world around them, and it so beautifully shows the kind of kids we have, thoughtful, generous, and kind.

“To be able to play a small part in connecting the students’ efforts allows us all at Mountain View to be active in what we believe: that the world is made better by practicing compassion and expressing gratitude. Our students are committed to not only doing their best every day but being their best, to making a difference in their community and to the world. It’s a simple act, to give someone a book, but the impact goes far beyond, and in the case of a child, can last a lifetime.”

 

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Sope Creek ES students learn problem-solving in STEM program

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Sope Creek ES STEM

Photos and information submitted by Cobb County School District:

Stewardship, citizenship, and leadership are central to the mission and vision at Sope Creek Elementary where young students develop skills to be the leaders of tomorrow. The nearly 1,200 students – from preschool to fifth grade – have used STEM education as a catalyst to change the world. 

“We have helped our students view the world as problem solvers. Even our youngest learners know that they have the potential to change the world,” said Sope Creek Principal Dr. Doug Daugherty.

Sope Creek Elementary teachers, together with their students, explore global problems through an interdisciplinary approach focused on science, technology, engineering, and math. The educators create lessons that give students the opportunity to serve as young agents of change in their community.  

As a result, a culture of care has spread throughout the school.  

After learning about the importance of conserving wildlife habitats, first-grade students at Sope Creek jumped into action. They decided to help the Atlanta Zoo by designing enclosures specific to the most endangered animals. 

“It is exciting to see our students demonstrating compassion and feeling empowered enough to imagine bold solutions,” explained first-grade teacher Nadia White. 

As second-grade students explored past and present Georgia, their research unearthed the pollution issue currently impacting the Savannah River. So, in partnership with Coca-Cola’s litter catcher initiative, students created their own designs to decrease water pollution, doing their part as great stewards of their home state.  

To fight the declining bee population, Sope Creek fourth-graders planted wildflowers in the garden beds right outside their classroom doors. Thanks to the 9 and 10-year-olds research and planning, the bees will have a reliable food source. 

Each year, Sope Creek Elementary chooses a theme. This year’s theme “Hero Makers” not only emphasizes the importance of being heroes but also helps students recognize their potential of being the heroes of today and tomorrow.  

 “We are most proud of the impact on our students who see the world differently,” Dr. Daugherty added. “They know that they have the ability to make a difference and to be the leaders to make change happen.” 

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Democratic candidate announces for Cobb school board Post 5

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The first Democrat to seek the Post 5 seat on the Cobb Board of Education has announced her candidacy.Julia Hurtado, Cobb school board candidate

On Monday, Julia Hurtado launched her campaign website and posted a brief introductory video (see below).

She is a physical therapist with the Shepherd Center, a rehabilitation facility in Atlanta for people with spinal cord and brain injuries.

Hurtado said on her campaign website that she is running “to build a coalition between teachers, parents, and students, and to help our community keep up with our changing world.”

Hurtado and her husband, David Hurtado, an attorney, moved to the Atlanta area 12 years ago to attend Emory graduate school. They have been in Cobb County for the last eight years and live in the Sedalia Park Elementary School attendance zone.

Post 5 includes the Lassiter and Pope attendance zones; Hightower Trail, Simpson and Mabry middle schools; and Davis, East Side, Eastvalley, Garrison Mill, Mountain View, Murdock, Powers Ferry, Sedalia Park, Shallowford Falls and Tritt elementary schools.

Republican David Banks is completing his third term representing Post 5 on the school board, and announced recently he is seeking re-election.

Three other Republican candidates have declared: Delta pilot Shelley O’Malley, attorney Rob Madayag and IT consultant Matt Harper (previous ECN post here).

Banks has said his goals for a fourth term include expanding STEM programs in East Cobb schools, including the addition of an arts component; continued support for the Cobb Teaching and Learning System that provides real-time assessments of academic progress; and to push for more teachers and better compensation when funding is available.

Hurtado said that in a county that’s becoming more diverse, “I want to amplify all of these voices in our community to ensure that every student’s needs are met,” and that her specific objectives will be to “focus on equal access, opportunity, and success for all students.”

Four of the seven posts on the Cobb school board are up for grabs this year; Post 5 is the only one in East Cobb. Republicans hold a 4-3 majority.

The general primary in Cobb and Georgia is May 19.

Post 5 map

Cobb BOE Post 5

 

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East Cobb’s Scott Sweeney named chairman of Ga. Board of Education

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Former Cobb Board of Education member Scott Sweeney will serve this year as the chairman of the Georgia Board of Education.Scott Sweeney, Georgia Board of Education

Sweeney is an East Cobb resident who represented the Walton and Wheeler clusters from 2011-2018.

“I look forward to working with Scott and Jason to pursue continued improvements in Georgia’s K-12 public schools and expanded opportunities for our students,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said in a statement. “They are both upstanding individuals with strong experience in education governance, and Georgia’s students will benefit from their leadership.”

Sweeney is a Senior Business Advisor for InPrime Legal of East Cobb, a business law firm recognized as one of four 2019 Small Business ROCK STARS by the Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Georgia Economic Developers Association.

“It’s an honor to serve as Chairman of the State Board of Education,” Sweeney said. “I look forward to working with Governor Brian Kemp, Superintendent Richard Woods, and my board colleagues as we all strive to do our best serving Georgia’s K-12 students, their families, teachers and administrators.”

During his time on the Cobb school board, he served as chairman and vice chairman and currently serves as a member of Georgia’s Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) Business & Advisory Committee and as a member of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee.

Georgia Board of Education members are chosen by the governor via Congressional district. Sweeney represents the 6th Congressional District, and vice chairman Jason Downey of Macon is from the 8th District.

 

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Cobb schools to open Pre-K centers: $100M in loans approved

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At the end of the Cobb Board of Education meeting Thursday, superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the Cobb County School District will be opening two Pre-K centers over the next two years.Campbell High School lockdown

The first will open in August on the grounds of the current Harmony Leland Elementary School, which is moving to a new campus in Mableton.

The second Pre-K center will be located at the now-closed Brown Elementary School in Smyrna in August 2021.

“I am so excited that we will be able to support early learning for even more Cobb students,” Ragsdale said. “Research shows that students who enroll in high-quality early education programs are more likely to read on grade level by third grade and are better equipped for future success.”

The first Pre-K center will serve 250-300 students with four general education classrooms and 10 special education classrooms that are currently at neighborhood schools.

The Pre-K center is being built in partnership with DECAL (the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning), the Atlanta Speech School, WellStar, and Learn4Life.

The Cobb Pre-K centers must be approved by DECAL.

Cobb school board member Charisse Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters and is an advocate for Pre-K expansion, said after the announcement that “I appreciate district leadership for entertaining my thoughts on the issue and bringing more early learning options to the Cobb County community.”

Also on Thursday, the school board approved a bid from Morgan Stanley to borrow $100 million in short-term loans to continue construction projects in the Cobb Ed-V SPLOST program.

The loans will be repaid at the end of the year with an interest rate of 0.9 percent, according to Cobb finance director Brad Johnson.

 

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East Cobb Middle School named Georgia ‘Reward School’

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New East Cobb Middle School

The Georgia Department of Education has named East Cobb Middle School a “Reward School” for its progress in academic achievement results.

Title I schools that are in the top 10 percent of performance improvements are given Reward School status.

East Cobb Middle School posted a 14.6-percent increase in the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) for the 2018-2019 school year, from 67.1 percent to 82.7 percent.

ECMS got a 100 score in a measurement related to closing performance gaps.

According to the Cobb County School District, “the recognized schools also maintain the performance of their economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities, and English learners.”

ECMS is one of 11 schools in the Cobb district to be granted Reward School status and the only one in the East Cobb area. The others are in the South Cobb area.

The CCRPI results were issued last October, and East Cobb schools are listed here.

 

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Wheeler to hold resource fair for students with disabilities

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Information submitted by the Cobb County School District:Cobb County School District, Cobb schools dual enrollment summit

Did you know that the Center for Puppetry Arts has Sensory-Friendly Sundays or the Children’s Museum of Atlanta opens early on designated Sensory-Friendly Saturdays? 

Did you know the Georgia Ballet offers a class for special needs students? 

Did you know McKenna Farms has a special needs equestrian team or the Studio Movie Grill offers special needs screenings where children are free to move around, talk, or even dance in the aisles during the movie? 

Those are just a few of the examples of what Cobb parents will learn about if they attend the fourth annual Community Connections Resource Fair for students with disabilities on Monday, January 27. To accommodate more community organizations and parents, this year the fair will welcome parents inside the Wheeler High School’s gymnasium from 6:30-8:30 p.m. 

More than 50 representatives from Atlanta and Cobb county attractions, organizations, and businesses will be on hand to share information about their accessibility and sensory-friendly offerings for families of students with disabilities.  

Parents, like Beth Foy, praised what they learned at the annual fair. 

“I knew that there were sports organizations out there but didn’t know that a variety of sports were offered throughout the year. [My daughter] participated in a bowling program and had a great time with the buddies provided by the organization which gave her opportunities for interaction with typically developing peers,” Foy explained.   

Other parents were just as quick to highlight how the event opened the door to new activities for their children.  

 “I learned about opportunities for [my son] to participate in, like a summer camp he could attend with his significant level of disability. He had the opportunity to go to sleepover camp and spend time with other people and do traditional camp activities,” shared parent Emily Riggs.   

She is already planning for her son Jackson to attend the camp again this summer.  

Most of the parents, who have attended in the past, were completely unaware of all the resources in the community available to students with disabilities.  

“I signed my son up for a weeklong horse camp, where he was paired up with a teen buddy,” said parent Susan Hand. “[My son Ben] just loved it. He was really proud of what he learned and had the opportunity to share it with others during the show on the last day.”  

Hand will be one of the parents at this year’s fair shopping for new opportunities for her son.  

Make plans to join Hand and the other parents by signing up to attend the free event today: www.signup.com/go/kBNgGbH. 

Browse the list of some of the groups planning to attend: 

Aerie Experiences Cobb County Therapeutic Recreation  McKenna Farms 
Alliance Theatre  Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame  NCG Cinemas 
Alternative Baseball Elm Street Cultural Arts Village Parent-to-Parent
Aqua-Tots  Engineering For Kids of Metro Atlanta  Pinnacle Climbing Team 
ARC of Georgia (Wings 4 All)  Erin’s Hope for Friends/E’s Club  ReClif
Art Station – Big Shanty  Fernbank Museum  Safe Kids Cobb County 
Atlanta Braves Exceptional Fans  Focus + Fragile Kids  Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse 
Autism Improvised  Georgia Aquarium  SHINE Sports @Johnson Ferry
Beyond Limits  Georgia Ballet  Six Flags Over Georgia 
Bounce U  Georgia Symphony Orchestra  Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History 
BSD Tae Kwon Do  Girl Scouts  State Farm Arena 
Camp Dream  GOALSoccer  Special Olympics 
Camp Twin Lakes  Hand, Hoof & Heart  Special Pops Tennis 
Center for Puppetry Arts  House of Artists Foundation  Studio Movie Grill
Children’s Museum of Atlanta  Inneractions Therapy Services  Tellus Science Museum
CK Danceworks  Kennesaw Parks & Recreation  Therabeat Inc.
Cobb Aquatics  Children & Family Programs at KSU  Zoo Atlanta 
Cobb County Library  Lekotek of Georgia 
Cobb Energy Centre  Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta 

 

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Wheeler Fresh Collaborative to hold Marketplace event

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Submitted information from the Cobb County School District:Wheeler Fresh Collaborative Marketplace

Something exciting and fresh is happening at Wheeler High School! The Wildcat Nation is expanding Wheeler Fresh Collaborative, a cross-curricular collaboration by teachers and students whose goals are to increase community involvement and provide food essentials when and where needed. This STEAM initiative (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) was originally conceived as a farm-to-table program but has since evolved to include a food pantry started by Wheeler students and eventually supplemented with contributions from the surrounding community.  

The Wheeler Fresh Collaborative utilizes expertise from Wheeler’s culinary, horticulture, environmental science, drafting, graphic design, and marketing classes along with many Wheeler clubs to help ensure fellow Wildcats have a reliable source of food when needed. 

From concept to realization, many classes have helped develop the Wheeler Fresh Collaborative. Drafting students designed the layout of the grow beds for horticulture students. Environmental science students studied the soil and the growing environment. Now, horticulture students grow herbs and vegetables, and culinary students prepare, cook, and serve meals. Graphic design students create logos and visuals. Credit for branding and promotion of the Wheeler Fresh Collaborative goes to the school’s marketing students. Wheeler’s Girls Who Code Club members manage the online ordering system for the food pantry, which they created. 

For its kick-off event, Wheeler Fresh Collaborative hosted a dinner theatre ahead of Wheeler Theatre’s production of the musical “Annie” in the Spring of 2019. This event, along with Marketing students attending monthly business luncheons in the East Cobb and North Cobb areas and articles published in local media outlets such as East Cobber Magazine, brought attention to the initiative. Collaboration has since involved linking Wheeler’s feeder schools and their food pantries to further extend the program’s reach.  

Currently, Wheeler Fresh Collaborative is preparing for its inaugural Wheeler Fresh Marketplace scheduled for January 17. The Marketplace will be set up outside the Performing Arts Center [from 5-7 p.m.], in conjunction with Wheeler Theatre’s musical production of “Freaky Friday!”  

There will be an interactive gallery where a variety of Wheeler clubs, organizations, and classes will promote concepts of students helping students, collaboration and community involvement within the Wheeler family.  

The Horticulture Club will sell plant starters, AP Statistics students will display their original games for people to play, and other Wheeler clubs will have snacks for purchase or a community experience to present. Thanks to donation boxes placed around the Marketplace for the Wheeler Fresh Collaborative and Feed Our Friends initiatives, visitors will be able to help pay off student lunch debt across the Wheeler cluster of schools.  

Program organizers and volunteers plan for the Wheeler Fresh Collaborative to sustain a food pantry with both Wheeler grown food and other non-perishable items, which will aid the 41% of Wheeler students who benefit from free and reduced lunch. The goal is for the Wheeler Fresh Collaborative to reduce the challenges faced by those in need in the community, all the while demonstrating what can be accomplished when students work together to build a true sense of community. 

Those interested in donating funds, nonperishable food items, or help in other ways, please email Kelly Feddersen at Kelly.Feddersen@cobbk12.org or Will Dezern at Stanley.Dezern@cobbk12.org.  

 

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PHOTOS: New Lassiter gym opens for basketball doubleheader

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New Lassiter gym
A 3-point basket swishes through the net for the Lady Trojans in the first event at the new Lassiter gym. (East Cobb News photos and slideshow 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.”

New Lassiter gym
Lassiter and Cobb County School District leaders and representatives from R.K. Redding Construction Inc. attended the grand opening. 

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.

New Lassiter gym
The Lassiter huddle was fired up in the fourth quarter as Walton began pulling away.

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Cobb school board Democrats decry vote for electing officers

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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.

Related stories

After the votes for Wheeler and Banks prevailed, Howard lashed out, saying “everything is behind closed doors” pertaining to board discussions about officers before the meeting, and that the activity in open session is “vote, hurry and go on.”

He said that in communicating with colleagues before the vote about nominating Davis—also starting her second year on the board—he was troubled to hear familiar concerns about her, including a lack of experience.

Charisse Davis, Cobb Board of Edcucation
Charisse Davis

“These reasons keep coming up,” Howard said.

“What is it? Is it gender bias? Is is racial bias? Is it a political party bias? . . . The public deserves to hear why you’re choosing somebody.”

Shortly after taking the gavel, Wheeler said that for each individual board member, “that’s their call” on how they vote.

“I’ve been in this situation before. It’s who the board majority has confidence in.”

In brief comments, Davis noted that while “the vote is the vote,” this is the fourth consecutive year that either Wheeler or David Chastain, last year’s chairman, has served as chairman.

Howard, who touched off controversy last year that resulted in the board voting to ban members’ public comments, said that “most efforts to have more conversations in the light of day seem to be frowned upon.”

Brad Wheeler, Cobb Board of Education
Brad Wheeler

Republican board member Randy Scamihorn said he’s not heard from Howard or Davis about their concerns. He said that his decisions on voting for officers are “personal” and that “I try to to make it for the betterment of the board and school district.”

Wheeler, last year’s board vice-chairman, pledged to work with all board members and said that “I think this position represents our best collectively.”

After the board meeting, Davis wrote on her Facebook page that “seemingly everyone who has expressed an interest in being chair over the years, except Mr. Morgan, has been chosen. This includes newly sworn-in members, women, non-educators, and even a Democrat that served some years ago.

“However, in a district comprised of 62.6% students of color, there has never been a person of color chosen as chair. It’ll happen.”

Wheeler, who represents the Harrison, Hillgrove and McEachern clusters, is one of four board members up for re-election in 2020, along with Banks (Pope and Lassiter), Scamihorn (Allatoona, Kennesaw Mountain and North Cobb) and Morgan (Pebblebrook and South Cobb).

The board also approved its 2020 meeting schedule, and changed those dates from the third Wednesday to the third Thursday of the month, with a few exceptions.

The first regular work session and business meeting for the school board take place on Jan. 16.

The rest of the 2020 school board meeting schedule can be found here.

 

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Walton, Wheeler rep on Cobb school board seeks chair role

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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.

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The board had a 6-1 Republican majority until Davis and Jaha Howard of South Cobb joined in 2019.

During the year, they sparred with Republicans on issues including revisiting the school senior tax exemption and equity and diversity matters in the Cobb County School District. Votes to formally consider them were defeated in party-line votes, as was a proposal by Davis for formalize a process for communicating with the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

Regarding the senior tax exemption issue, Davis has said she wants to examine closing loopholes, not do away with the exemption altogether.

“Right now, the age-based tax exemption, which exempts anyone 62 and over who applies for it from paying school taxes in Cobb (regardless of your income or any other qualifier), amounts to $122.7 million,” Davis wrote in her October newsletter. “That represents 27% of our total residential property tax digest and Cobb’s age-based exemption has more of an impact on our school funding than any other metro district.”

The four GOP members also voted in August to bar board members from making comments at meetings after Howard had spoken out in that forum on non-school matters. Both he and Davis decried the ban as censorship.

Tuesday’s meeting starts at 1 p.m. in the board room at the CCSD Central Office, 514 Glover St., Marietta. Board members also will vote on meeting dates for 2020.

 

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New Lassiter gym grand opening before Walton basketball games

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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

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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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Top East Cobb stories for 2019: Lockdowns at high schools

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East Cobb school lockdowns

During the first weeks of the 2019-20 Cobb County School District academic year, two East Cobb high schools went on lockdown, and a student at another school was arrested after threatening violence and attacking a teacher.

Those incidents raised concerns by school safety advocates about the district’s measures to handle such incidents.

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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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Top East Cobb stories for 2019: School board tensions flare

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Cobb school board member Charisse Davis

The two new members of the Cobb Board of Education—including one who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters—weren’t bashful about outlining new ideas and initiatives for the Cobb County School District in 2019.

Democrats Charisse Davis and Jaha Howard narrowed the board’s Republican majority to 4-3 when they were sworn in in January, along with re-elected member David Chastain of the Kell and Sprayberry zones, who served as chairman this year.

Those three would ultimately clash in September, when Chastain made a motion to eliminate board member comments at the end of meetings.

Some of Howard’s remarks had strayed from Cobb school business into other political topics, local and national, and during a tense discussion, the Republican majority voted 4-3 to impose the ban.

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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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