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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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.
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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.
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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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 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.
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
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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.
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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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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Francis Yang and Rachel Luckuck (with plaques), Walton HS graduates who were named the 2019 Mr. and Ms. Georgia Tech. (Photo, video and story courtesy Georgia Tech communications)
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, 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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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:
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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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A resolution to declare eminent domain on 15 acres of land near Walton High School will be considered Thursday by the Cobb Board of Education.
The resolution is on the Thursday evening voting session that begins at 7 p.m. at the Cobb County School District central office board room (514 Glover St., Marietta).
That meeting comes after an executive session at 5:30 p.m., during which the board will discuss personnel, legal and land business, as well as a student matter.
Last month board member Charisse Davis, who represents the Walton attendance zone, said the land was needed to relocate the Walton varsity softball and tennis teams.
They’ve been playing home competitions since 2014 at Terrell Mill Park after being displaced for the Walton classroom building that opened two years ago.
The district had been negotiating with the property owner, Thelma McClure, who had agreed to sell the land, located on two tracts at 1550 Pine Road and 1495 Pine Road.
Davis said the discussions got bogged down over price. Cobb schools is offering a sales price of $3 million, which a district spokeswoman previously told East Cobb News is 10 percent higher than an appraisal that was done.
The land had long been in the hands of the Murdock family and is mostly undeveloped. A home built in the 1920s and that fronts Pine Road has been vacant for years.
Also at the Thursday night meeting, the Pope High School softball team will be recognized for its recent state championship.
Also recognized by the board will be Davis Elementary School, which recently earned Cobb STEM certification, and Dr. Nicole Ice of Wheeler High School, the recipient of the 2019 Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics Gladys M. Thomason Distinguished Service Award.
The school board will hold a work session Thursday at 12:30 p.m. at the same venue. You can read the agendas for both meetings by clicking here.
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A student at Mabry Middle School in East Cobb has been diagnosed with the measles in a case that was announced over the weekend by the Georgia Department of Public Health.
On Saturday, Georgia DPH issued a statement saying that an “unvaccinated Cobb County resident” may have exposed others between Oct. 31 and Nov. 6, and that it was “notifying individuals who may have been exposed to the virus and may be at increased risk for developing measles.”
A Cobb County School District spokeswoman said Monday the district had been notified by Georgia DPH that it was a Mabry student and that:
‘Mabry parents have been communicated with and any student who is at risk will not be allowed in school through November 22nd. The unaffected teachers and students remain focused on teaching and learning while affected students and families are supported by Public Health.”
Here’s what public health officials said in a note that went out to Mabry parents over the weekend:
“It is very unlikely that your child will get measles if they have been vaccinated with the MMR vaccine, but if he/she becomes sick with a fever, cough, runny nose or red eyes, with or without rash, before November 22, contact your healthcare provider immediately. At this time, it has been advised that if your child is not vaccinated, he/she should not return back to school until November 25. If your child is up to date on their vaccinations, they are safe to return back to school on Monday, November 11.”
The Cobb school district declined to provide information to follow-up questions from East Cobb News about how many students and staff may be held out, nor would it explain how the unvaccinated student was allowed to attend school.
“To comply with federal laws which protect student confidentiality, no further details will be available,” the district spokeswoman said, referring those questions to Georgia DPH.
We have asked the Georgia DPH to comment and will update.
The Cobb school district requires immunization for students in kindergarten and seventh grade and newly enrolled students, and allows for waivers due to religious beliefs or for health reasons.
Here’s more from the Georgia DPH about the measles:
“Measles can be prevented with the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine. The vaccine is safe and effective. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends children receive their first dose of MMR vaccine between 12-15 months of age and a second dose between 4-6 years old. More than 95% of the people who receive a single dose of MMR will develop immunity to all three viruses. A second dose boosts immunity, typically enhancing protection to 98%.”
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Honoring excellence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, Newsweek announced its ranking of the top 5,000 STEM high schools for 2019. The top schools include eight from the Cobb County School District.
Wheeler’s Principal, Paul Gillihan, praised his excellent staff for the school’s continued success. “This year Wheeler is celebrating their 20th year as a STEM Magnet during which time our graduates have gone on to amazing careers in STEM industries and beyond. At Wheeler, it is our dedicated faculty and staff that has made our school one of the top STEM schools in the nation. When you give students a chance to explore, question, and expand their creativity in a safe and supportive environment – you have fashioned an environment where growth, achievement, and understanding thrive.”
According to Newsweek, some of the other top STEM high schools in the nation include Kennesaw Mountain High School (#1,024); Lassiter High School (#1,105), Pope High School (#1,518), Harrison High School (#2,712), Hillgrove High School (#4,287), and Allatoona High School (#4,308).
With its long history of reporting on scientific breakthroughs, technological revolutions, and societal challenges, Newsweek partnered with STEM.org to rank America’s Best STEM High Schools. The list includes schools in every region of the country that offer skilled teachers who keep up with developments in these fields and who create dynamic learning environments to engage their students.
The top 5,000 schools were curated from STEM.org Educational Research™ (SER) using a proprietary scoring logic that took into consideration a broad set of quantitative and qualitative data inputs collected from Q2 2015–Q3 2019.
The purpose was to determine which primary and secondary institutions in America offer students the best STEM experiences as defined by the Congressional Research Service—while preparing them for post‐secondary outcomes. Additional factors, including affluence and median household income, were taken into consideration in compiling the rankings.
“Children don’t realize it, but they’re natural STEM students,” says Nancy Cooper, Newsweek Global Editor in Chief. “We need to make sure that innate drive, curiosity, and creativity aren’t lost along the way. These high schools are helping to ensure America’s future in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is in good hands.”
The Cobb County School District does not wait until high school to introduce students to STEM. In fact, the district recently recognized 11 teachers for their commitment to STEM education. Many of the teachers honored teach at the elementary or middle school level. Schools across the district stand out for their commitment to STEM education. Together, Cobb Schools carry almost 50 STEM and STEAM Certifications.
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The Cobb Board of Education next month may consider a resolution seeking eminent domain to purchase 15 acres of vacant land near Walton High School.
The land is being eyed for the construction of a softball field and tennis courts that were displaced for the new Walton classroom building that opened in 2017.
The two parcels at 1495 and 1550 Pine Road have been unoccupied for several years. A white house, built in 1923, fronts the road and there’s another building in the back that is accessed by a gravel driveway.
The rest of the property is undeveloped and most of it is wooded, with the northern part of the 1550 Pine Road parcel fronted by Bill Murdock Road, just across the street from Walton.
A Cobb Tax Assessor’s aerial map of the Pine Road properties; click here for larger view.
There’s a sign on the property giving notice of the eminent domain resolution at the Nov. 14 school board meeting.
According to a Cobb County School District spokeswoman, the board has been negotiating with the property owner, who “has expressed interest in selling” and that “the District has offered more than full market value for a property that has most recently been used as a garbage disposal service.”
The offer from the Cobb school district is $3 million, a price the spokeswoman said is for property that appraised for 10 percent less than that amount. That comes to around $200,000 an acre.
According to Cobb Tax Assessor’s Office records, the land owner is Thelma McClure, who took possession of the property in 2013 after the death of her husband, Felton McClure.
Cobb school board member Charisse Davis represents the Walton cluster. She said while the prospect of seeking eminent domain is a serious one—it’s the government taking of private property for public use with compensation—”the district has been trying to work with the property owner” for years, and “we just weren’t getting where we needed to make a deal.”
The decision to seek eminent domain, Davis said, came “after careful consideration.”
Walton softball parents have been pressing the school for a return to the campus, which was called for when the new classroom building plans were being made. New softball and tennis facilities are included on the Cobb Education SPLOST V project list.
For Davis, who was elected last November and lives in the Smyrna area, “it was January when I first learned about this issue,” she said. “I wasn’t aware of what had been happening here.”
After speaking out at a town hall meeting Davis held at Dickerson Middle School, the Walton softball parents went public at a board meeting in February.
Davis said the negotiations with McClure bogged down on price, but she wouldn’t be more specific except to say that the process included a property appraisal.
The 15 acres has some longstanding historical significance. According to Cobb property deed records, Felton McClure purchased the property in 1977 from Lannie Murdock, the daughter-in-law of Bill Murdock, who once had more than 200 acres of farm land in the area that now includes Walton, Dodgen Middle School and surrounding subdivisions.
The Walton campus is situated on nearly 46 acres on Bill Murdock Road at Pine Road, and has been undergoing a major transformation. In addition to the new classroom building, the school recently christened a new theatre and gymnasium complex where the original classroom building stood.
Private funds are being raised for a new athletic fieldhouse.
Walton softball and the boys and girls tennis teams have been playing their home competitions since 2015 at Terrell Mill Park.
The district potentially faced some issues with Title IX—a federal sex discrimination law in education—with the softball field off campus, since the baseball field was relocated to another part of the Walton campus.
Davis said there’s not a particular timeline for now on when the softball and tennis facilities would reopen near campus.
“We’re purchasing a lot of land,” she said. “These were facilities that were on campus that had to be moved. And now we’re bringing them back.”
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The release last week of a key Georgia K-12 educational testing assessment for 2019—the CCRPI—revealed that Cobb schools performed above the state and national averages, with East Cobb schools leading at all levels.
John Floresta, CCSD Chief Strategy and Accountability Officer
It’s among the myriad ways that local school districts meet required state assessment benchmarks, along with the Georgia Milestones.
The Cobb County School District had applied for a waiver to use its own pilot testing model, CobbMetrics, in lieu of the Milestones. However, that request was turned down by the U.S. Department of Education over the summer.
The district had the option of reapplying, but instead will continue administering CobbMetrics—a “formative assessment” which calls for shorter, continuous and individualized tests issued throughout the school year—along with the Milestones.
In the Milestones, students in grades 3-8 are tested at the end of each school year in English arts and math, while students in grades 5-8 are also tested in science and social studies.
The high school Milestones tests come at the end of each course, and students are tested in the 10 courses designated by the Georgia Board of Education.
In its application, Cobb schools argued that its model offers a better gauge not only of student progress, but gives teachers the tools to adapt to what they see as learning needs.
Think of it as a regular series of glorified pop quizzes.
“Instead of one big test at the end of the year, we’re testing [in] small chunks in real time,” John Floresta, the Chief Strategy and Accountability Officer for Cobb schools, said in an interview with East Cobb News at the start of the current 2019-20 school year. “The whole school year is worked around the Milestones.”
In medical parlance, what Cobb is aiming for is “a biopsy, not an autopsy,” he said.
The CobbMetrics model has evolved over the last few years, and came about when current superintendent Chris Ragsdale served as Cobb schools’ chief technology officer.
“He knew a lot more about our students than what the Milestones tell us,” Floresta said.
That includes the ability for teachers to get more immediate feedback to make adjustments to meet a particular student’s needs, instead of waiting until after the end of the school year.
“The very best hope for any student is for a teacher to take them in and help them learn better,” Floresta said. “They can’t do that if they don’t have the tools for knowing what they need to know.”
Three different testing models have been approved in Georgia, including MAP (which Marietta schools use and which did receive a waiver). Cobb’s was turned down, Floresta said, because it didn’t meet certain comparability measures used by the U.S. Department of Education.
Floresta said Cobb was hesitant to adopt yet another testing model: “We don’t think that’s good for students, teachers and parents.”
During the current school year, Cobb will continue administering the Iowa assessments in grades 3,5 and 7 and the PSAT in 10th grade, along with the Milestones.
“Nothing is changing with testing this year,” Floresta said.
Middle-school and elementary-school students taking the Iowa assessments were tested in September.
High school sophomores were given the PSAT earlier this month. The first batch of high school Milestones tests come Nov. 28-Dec. 14, at the end of the first semester.
In the meantime, Cobb will continue to work on “equating” CobbMetrics with state and federal guidelines during its pilot period in hopes of eventually getting a waiver.
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Students at Mountain View Elementary School scored 100 in three categories of the 2019 CCRPI tests. (ECN file)
East Cobb schools at all grade levels topped Cobb County School District results for the 2019 CCRPI tests—the College and Career Ready Performance Index that the state of Georgia uses as its main educational accountability measure.
Timber Ridge, Mountain View, Murdock, Mt. Bethel, Garrison Mill, Shallowford Falls, Sope Creek, East Side, Kincaid and Tritt all had overall CCRPI scores of 90 or above (out of a possible 100) at the elementary school level.
Among middle schools, Hightower Trail, Simpson, Dodgen, Dickerson and Mabry also scored 90 or higher.
Walton, Lassiter and Pope scored likewise among high schools.
Some of the biggest year-to-year gains also occurred at other East Cobb schools.
Kincaid Elementary in northeast Cobb had an overall score of 92.2, up from 70.8 from 2018. Eastvalley’s score jumped from 73.9 to 81.8. Students at Powers Ferry raised their overall scores from 65 to 75.3.
Daniell Middle School enjoyed a significant boost, with a CCRPI score of 86.3, up from 66 in 2018. At East Cobb Middle School, students tested at 82.7, a rise from 67.1 last year.
Across the district, Cobb schools tested at an average of 6.5 points higher than 2018, at 86.1 points out of a possible 100. That’s higher than the state average of 75.9.
“Although we believe there are significant opportunities to better reflect what students know, CCRPI scores show students across the District and across all grade levels are finding success,” Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said in a statement.
In the CCRPI tests, students are assessed in several ways, including content mastery (30 percent), progress (30 percent), closing performance gaps (15 percent), readiness (15-20 percent), and at the high school level, graduation rates (10 percent).
After the Georgia Department of Education changed the formula last year—much to the chagrin of Cobb school officials—schools saw their overall numbers, as well as figures in separate categories, adjust, especially at the elementary school level.
At Mountain View Elementary, for example, students scored 100s in content mastery, progress and closing performance gaps. What that means is all students tested in those categories achieved those benchmarks.
One of the most important indicators is closing the gap, which is a figure to calculate year-to-year improvement by subgroups of students.
As a big part of its improved score, East Cobb Middle School got a 100 score in closing the gap (as did Hightower Trail and Simpson).
What follows are overall CCRPI scores for schools in East Cobb, compared to 2018 results in parenthesis. A more detailed chart will be published early next week. For full Cobb school district details, click here.
Elementary Schools
Addison, 88.7 (83.2)
Bells Ferry, 86.3 (80.9)
Blackwell, 77.0 (76.7)
Brumby, 68.9 (63.0)
Davis, 83.9 (86.7)
East Side, 93.1 (89.5)
Eastvalley, 81.8 (73.9)
Garrison Mill, 95.3 (91.9)
Keheley, 73.2 (78.1)
Kincaid, 92.2 (70.8)
Mt. Bethel, 95.6 (95.6)
Mountain View, 98.6 (91.9)
Murdock, 96.4 (92.0)
Nicholson, 71.5 (73.9)
Powers Ferry, 75.3 (65.0)
Rocky Mount, 84.6 (82.7)
Sedalia Park, 76.5 (71.0)
Shallowford Falls, 94.7 (93.7)
Sope Creek, 94.5 (92.2)
Timber Ridge, 99.3 (93.3)
Tritt, 90.2 (84.7)
Middle Schools
Daniell, 86.3 (66.0)
Dickerson, 94.3 (90.0)
Dodgen, 95.3 (91.8)
East Cobb, 82.7 (67.1)
Hightower Trail, 96.4 (91.8)
Mabry, 94.7 (84.7)
McCleskey, 88.1 (83.0)
Simpson, 95.9 (94.7)
High Schools
Kell, 79.8 (80.4)
Lassiter, 96.2 (95.8)
Pope, 91.6 (91.5)
Sprayberry, 83.0 (83.9)
Walton, 96.3 (96.3)
Wheeler, 88.8 (87.8)
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A total of 13 students from East Cobb schools got perfect scores of 36 on the American College Testing (ACT) exam as the Cobb County School District released 2019 SAT results on Wednesday.
Walton’s overall average on the ACT was 27.4, the best in the 16-high school district, followed by Lassiter with 26, Pope with 25.3 and Wheeler with 24.2.
Ten Walton students from the Class of 2019 got perfect scores on the ACT, as did four Wheeler students and one student each from Kell, Lassiter and Pope.
The ACT composite results are from curriculum-based tests in English, math, reading, and science. According to the CCSD, Cobb’s district-wide composite score of 23 is 1.6 higher than the statewide average and 2.3 points above the national average of 20.7.
CCSD said in a release that three schools had composite average gains of a point or more from 2018, and two were in East Cobb: Kell (1.7) and Lassiter (1.2).
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