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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Wheeler Magnet is celebrating 20 years! Come join us on November 2nd to Party Like it’s 1999! Attendees can relive the achievements of the last 20 years and see where students will take us in the future through student showcases and tours!
The Center for Advanced Students at Wheeler High School, Wheeler Magnet, was created in 1999 to provide students with a strong background in Science, Math, and Technology. The magnet program is dynamic. Each year it grows and changes to best serve our students. We received Georgia STEM Certification in September 2012 and Georgia STEAM Certification in 2017. These prestigious certifications are awarded by the Georgia Department of Education to schools in Georgia who lead the way in STEM and STEAM education. Wheeler has become a model for schools across the state who are interested in starting and developing STEM and STEAM programs.
According to Chris Walstead, the magnet coordinator, “I look forward to celebrating the Wheeler Magnet 20th anniversary and am honored to be a part of the Wheeler Magnet legacy of excellence. Over the past twenty years the magnet program has changed with the times to meet the needs of our extraordinary students in order to prepare them for success after they have left our halls. I am very excited to see what the next twenty years brings.”
The 20th anniversary celebration will take place on November 2nd, from 2:00 to 5:00.
Attendees will enjoy a student led program along with food, music, tours of the facilities, and time to mingle. The celebration will be held in the Performing Arts Center at Wheeler High School (375 Holt Rd NE, Marietta, GA 30068). Click on the link below to RSVP to the event.
Join us in this memorable experience to get to better know your local community and speak with teachers and faculty! The committee leads for this event include Chris Walstead, Stacy Regitsky, Brian Kent, Cheryl Crooks, Tiffany Stark, Faye Lebish, Linda Yu, Tina Soucie, Paul Gillihan, Lisa Casey, and Kelly Feddersen.
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After a couple months’ delay, three East Cobb parks will be among 13 in the county that will be getting electronic license plate readers.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday to spend $182,000 for the devices, which are designed to help cut down on crime and improve public safety at the parks.
East Cobb Park, Fullers Park and Terrell Mill Park are on the list for getting the readers, which are being purchased from a private vendor and will monitored by the Cobb Police Department.
The measure was tabled in August at the behest of East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, who said he had privacy concerns with the proposal.
The revised request includes a provision that only police will receive the data coming from the devices, and that they will employ their existing policies about restricting use of the data.
No other county employees will have access to that information.
South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid thanked Ott “for letting us digest” the need to address privacy concerns.
“This was a sensitive issue,” said Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce, who thanked the police and parks and recreation staff for working out a solution.
Cobb will purchase a total of 26 devices from Flock Group, Inc., which has sold cameras to the county for use by other departments. The funding for the park devices is in the 2016 Cobb SPLOST.
The solar-powered readers at the parks will collect data that includes time of arrival and departure as well as license plate and vehicle characteristics.
Two devices will be installed at each of the 13 parks, which Cobb Parks and Recreation Director Jimmy Gisi said were chosen “based on experience and data obtained from the police department records of the number and type of citizen requested dispatch calls.”
The other parks include Noonday Park and Skip Wells Park in Northeast Cobb; Lost Mountain Park, Oregon Park and Fair Oaks Park in West and North Cobb; and Wallace Park, Hurt Road Park, Tramore Park and Wild Horse Creek Park in South Cobb.
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Make your plans now for graduation, as the Cobb County School District on Monday released its 2020 commencement schedule.
As has been the case in recent years, five of the six high schools in East Cobb will have commencement exercises at the KSU Convocation Center, on the Kennesaw State University campus.
Wheeler’s graduation will be on campus, at Wildcat Arena.
Tuesday, May 19
Pope at KSU, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 20
Sprayberry at KSU, 3:30 p.m.
Wheeler at Wildcat Arena, 6:30 p.m.
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Information and photos submitted by the Cobb County School District:
Before Lassiter High School welcomed its first class of students and more than three decades before East Cobb Middle School’s new campus was built, George Burcher began his career as a school custodian.
It’s a career that has spanned 40 years.
Burcher joined the Cobb Schools team in 1979 as a custodian at Wheeler High school. He also worked at East Cobb Middle School and was later part of the custodial team that opened Lassiter High School.
Continuing to serve the East Cobb community, Burcher moved to Sprayberry High School where he has been a member of the school community for more than 30 years.
“I love the high school competition and experiencing each day because it is a different day. I have enjoyed working with many principals as well,” Burcher explained.
The kids and the “great staff members”—that’s what has kept the dedicated custodian at Sprayberry for so many years.
Burcher is one of Sprayberry’s custodians who transform the school overnight. After about 1,800 students and educators spend the day teaching and learning, it’s Burcher and his team’s responsibility to ensure the school is clean, fresh and ready to welcome them all back again the very next morning.
When the school bell rings at the end of the day, the veteran custodian starts his job. Until midnight, he spends his hours cleaning rooms, restrooms, and riding the scrubber up and down the hallways. His nightshift crew also helps with sporting events when needed.
The Sprayberry custodian was a member of the Cobb Schools family before he signed on as a staff member. In fact, Burcher graduated from Walton High School in 1978.
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale and the Board of Education recognized Burcher in August for his years of service to Cobb Schools.
Even with 40 years in, he’s not retiring just yet. Burcher is like many members of the Cobb team who serve for decades in a job they love, in a community they love.
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Charisse Davis was elected in November 2018 to represent Post 6 on the Cobb Board of Education. A Democrat, she narrowly defeated two-term incumbent Republican Scott Sweeney to represent the Walton and Wheeler clusters, as well as a portion of the Campbell cluster, where her two sons attend school.
A former educator in the Atlanta and Fulton County public schools and currently a youth services librarian in the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library System, Davis was sworn in in January.
On Tuesday, Oct. 1, she’s holding a town hall meeting in the cafeteria of Sope Creek Elementary School (3320 Paper Mill Road) from 7-8 p.m.
In her first few months on the board, Davis has suggested, along with Jaha Howard, another first-year Democratic board member, that the district should explore the possibility of making some changes to the Cobb schools senior property tax exemption.
Cobb is the only school district in metro Atlanta whose senior tax exemption comes without any conditions, such as an income threshold.
Davis and Howard also have called for the district to 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.
Both of those topics have caused friction on the school board, whose 6-1 Republican majority before Davis’ and Howard’s election was reduced to 4-3.
East Cobb News met with Davis before the school year began to discuss her first few months on the board.
There’s been a learning process that naturally comes with being a newcomer, but most of Post 6 is East Cobb. Davis said her 15-year teaching experience working in very different schools in Atlanta—one a Title I elementary school and another a high-achieving school in Buckhead with an international baccalaureate program—has been helpful as she’s gotten started.
“Just sitting with people, in the beginning it’s all about listening,” she said. “It’s parent to parent, there’s nothing that you can’t discuss in a constructive way. There’s no challenge that anyone in East Cobb is talking about that I can’t understand.”
More than anything, Davis said, “I want them to know there’s someone who’s easy for them to get to.”
Charisse Davis, at right, takes the oath of office with her husband Sean and sons and fellow board members Jaha Howard and David Chastain in January. (ECN photo)
Among the early school year events she’s attended include a gathering of principals and school leadership with the East Cobb County Council of PTAs.
She said what she’s learned from parents everywhere, regardless of a school’s academic reputation or a family’s socioeconomic status, is that they want the same things for their children.
“They’ll say, ‘I don’t want to have my kid in a good school in a district that’s so-so,'” she said. “They want all our schools to be great. We’re all connected. We all benefit from having a strong district.
“What I find is a lot of parents bring up that they want everyone in the district to be doing well. To talk about these issues should never be about pitting some people against others.”
She said one of the most pleasant surprises to her is “seeing how much can be done at the school level” and that a big part of her role as a school board member is facilitating connections between parents and the larger school community, as well as school staff and teachers.
“You hear from families whose experiences are unlike your own,” Davis said. “My job is to help them and connect them, sometimes it’s with people, and sometimes it’s with information.”
Davis said she thinks last year’s election results in Cobb, which included Democrats making other inroads in the county (including Lucy McBath winning the 6th Congressional District) have sparked some broader conversations about local governance, as Cobb political and cultural demographics continue to change.
The Cobb school district enrollment of nearly 112,000 for the current 2019-20 year is 37 percent white, 30 percent black, 22 percent Hispanic, six percent Asian and four percent multi-racial.
“It’s encouraging to see so many more people being engaged,” Davis said. “It’s not just for a presidential election. People are waking up to the fact that these things have been happening, and that there are so many elections that are happening right down the street.”
Touching the senior third rail
At her first meeting in January, Davis was nominated to be the board’s vice chairwoman in what turned out to a series of party-line votes. That vote failed, as Republicans David Chastain (of Post 4 in northeast Cobb) and Brad Wheeler were chosen to be the board’s officers.
“On a seven-member board, we are three votes, Democrats, people of color, younger,” Davis said. “We have a nice little balance that is getting more representative of the county. It would show the great strength of our board to acknowledge that.”
She and Howard, a pediatric dentist who represents the Campbell and Osborne clusters, have spoken together about some issues that have ruffled feathers.
The senior tax exemption, enacted in Cobb by the Georgia legislature in 1973, comes to more than $100 million a year. Davis mapped out the disparities on her own website, illustrating senior tax exemption qualifiers in other metro Atlanta school districts.
At a school board retreat earlier this year, Davis asked that the district study the impact of possible changes to the exemption. She cited a recent change in the senior exemption for Forsyth County schools, where “they had households with kids registered in schools, but were taking the exemption.”
That exemption, in a heavily Republican county, amounted to around a half-million dollars a year. That may seem like small change in Cobb, Georgia’s second-largest school district (behind Gwinnett) and a $1.1 billion budget. The Republican majority on the Cobb board voted down her request for a study to see what such a change might mean in Cobb.
At an East Cobb business breakfast meeting in April, Chastain said adamantly that “we’re not taking away the senior exemption.”
“No one called for getting rid of it. People start with that, and then they’re not listening to anything else,” Davis said. “That’s been frustrating because people have gotten upset, but I don’t think we should get rid of it.”
Davis added that right now, “we don’t have any qualifiers [for exemptions]. Let’s think into the future, let’s plan for the future, because that $100-plus million dollars that we have now, it’s only going to grow.”
“We’re not going to agree all the time, and that’s okay,” Charise Davis said about Cobb school board deliberations. “That’s always been my point. Let’s have the discussion.” (ECN file photo)
Charges of bigotry
In late August, Davis appeared at a Cobb Donuts for Democrats event at which she explained school funding, board procedures and other issues with a Powerpoint presentation.
After showing a slide of a group shot of the board, someone asked if the four Republicans were older white males. Davis said that they were. The Marietta Daily Journal made note in its “Around Town” political column, including a fiery e-mail from Republican State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart of West Cobb, who accused Davis of being “the most bigoted board member ever to sit on the Cobb Board of Education.”
In a response on her Facebook page, Davis explained that she was simply pointing out factual information about the board’s makeup, not making a comment about it.
“I understand that our political environment is highly charged, and it may feel good to attack a school board member for a perceived slight,” she said. “But I know I’m here for kids and I welcome you to engage with me about your ideas on how to support the students of Cobb County.”
She also included a photo of her with her husband Sean, who is white.
The proposal came about for what Chastain said had become overly political comments, sometimes not even about school matters.
At the August board meeting, Howard mentioned President Trump and state and local elected officials whom he accused of not being ethical, as well as immigration raids, the Sterigenics lab closure and gun violence.
That the vote to ban comments was taken during the work session and not a business meeting was unusual, and it sparked cries from Howard—the likely target of the ban—and Davis that they were being silenced, including about some school issues.
“When a couple of us get here and bring up words like ‘equity,’ we’re censoring,” Davis said at the Sept. 19 meeting. “You want to censor members on the board agenda. That’s not okay.”
After several failed amendments by Howard and David Morgan of South Cobb, also a Democrat, the board voted 4-3 along party lines, with the four Republicans in the majority, to impose the comments ban.
‘Let’s have the discussion’
Davis has said from the time of her campaign last year that while test scores in Cobb continue to rise (especially in East Cobb), she wants to address the lingering question of “are we meeting the needs of all our students?”
She said she was encouraged that parents have come to her “after seeing something mentioned on social media and I welcome those conversations that because conversations happen on social media.
“But it would be a shame,” she added, if parents “don’t think they can come” and have offline, one-on-one discussions.
She also commended Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, “who has always been very open about having our questions answered,” and as she has learned more about how Cobb’s largest employer operates (with a work force of more than 18,000), her appreciation for what they do also has grown.
“We’ve got some great, talented people working for this district,” she said.
After a few months on the board, Davis said she’s encouraged that some dialogue she’s felt is long overdue beginning to take place.
“We’re not going to agree all the time, and that’s okay,” Davis said. “That’s always been my point. Let’s have the discussion.”
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Tritt and Sope Creek elementary schools in East Cobb were named 2019 National Blue Ribbon Schools Thursday by the U.S. Department of Education.
The honor is awarded to public and private schools around the country “based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.”
There were 312 public schools and 50 private schools to make the list in 2019.
Tritt and Sope Creek were the only two schools from the Cobb County School District to earn the distinction this year. Tritt previously was named a Blue Ribbon School in 2013 and Sope Creek in 1988.
Since 1982 the Blue Ribbon awards have been given out to more than 9,000 schools. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Education notes:
“The National Blue Ribbon School award affirms the hard work of students, educators, families, and communities in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging content. The National Blue Ribbon School flag gracing an entry or flying overhead is a widely recognized symbol of exemplary teaching and learning.”
Tritt and Sope Creek have been among the highest-performing elementary schools in Cobb, according to most recent testing results. In last year’s College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) scores, Sope Creek’s overall score of 92.2 was third in the county, while Tritt students rated at 84.7, or seventh (previous ECN story here).
The CCRPI is a state accountability measure that gauges overall achievement results and how schools are preparing students for the next level of education. The 2019 CCRPI scores will be released next month.
Tritt also rated in the Top 10 in the Cobb school district on the most recent Georgia Milestones assessment where 97 percent of students scored levels 2-4.
They’re the latest East Cobb public schools to be added to the list of Blue Ribbon Schools. Dickerson and Dodgen middle schools were the last, in 2017.
The Cobb County School District said in a release that at Sope Creek:
” . . . teachers and staff use the Professional Learning Community (PLC) process to ensure that every student reaches their highest potential. Sope Creek students are some of the highest performing in Georgia partially because of the supporting partnership with parents and the community.”
“Tritt partners with local businesses for volunteer support, funding for special events, and STEAM partnerships. Each grade level works to build a partnership with a local business to solve a problem that connects to their grade level science standards. This becomes the year-long STEAM focus.”
Tritt and Sope Creek also were honored as “Exemplary High Performing Schools,” which goes to schools that “are among their state’s highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests.”
Both schools have STEM programs, and Tritt is undertaking measures to expand its STEM certification to include the arts, called STEAM, which only one other Cobb elementary school has earned (as well as Wheeler High School).
Here’s a longer roster of all the Blue Ribbon School winners from East Cobb:
2016: Mt. Bethel Elementary School;
2013: Tritt Elementary School;
2011: Timber Ridge Elementary School;
2009: Hightower Trail Middle School;
2008: Mabry Middle School;
2007: Walton High School;
2003: Dickerson Middle School;
2001: Shallowford Falls Elementary School;
2000: Lassiter High School;
1996: Sprayberry High School;
1994: Eastvalley Elementary School;
1992: McCleskey Middle School;
1990: East Cobb Middle School;
1988: Murdock Elementary School; Sope Creek Elementary School;
1986: Mt. Bethel Elementary School;
1984: Walton High School.
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Wheeler High School had the biggest jump in the Cobb County School District in 2019 SAT scores. (ECN photo)
The Cobb County School District released 2019 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores on Tuesday, and four East Cobb high schools lead the way.
Walton (1,288), Pope (1,220) and Lassiter (1,212) had average classwide scores exceeding 1,200, while Wheeler (1,196) came close.
Wheeler’s jump of 49 points was the highest of the 16 high schools in the Cobb County School District.
“Wheeler continues to focus on providing the best overall learning experience for ALL students,” Wheeler Principal Paul Gillihan said in a statement issued by the school district.
“We strongly believe that SAT scores do not define our students nor our school but only provide evidence of the work that is being done daily to prepare our students for college and careers.”
Walton’s score is up 20 points from 2018. Full district scores and details can be found here.
The SAT is administered by the College Board, and tests students in two cluster subject areas: Math and ERW (Evidence-Based Reading and Writing). The score grading is from 400 to 1,600.
The Cobb district-wide average was 1,114, a seven-point gain from 2018 and 66 points above the state of Georgia average. Nearly 5,600 Cobb students took the SAT.
What follows below are the six East Cobb high school scores, as well as the Cobb, Georgia and national results.
# Test Takers
ERW Mean
Math Mean
2019 Overall Mean
2018 Overall Mean
Kell
256
541
531
1,072
1,059
Lassiter
447
606
605
1,212
1,204
Pope
360
615
605
1,220
1,203
Sprayberry
281
539
505
1,044
1,049
Walton
563
640
649
1,288
1,262
Wheeler
333
597
598
1,196
1,147
Cobb
5,596
565
549
1,114
1,107
Georgia
533
515
1,048
1,064
National
524
515
1,039
1,068
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A flyer the Eastvalley Elementary Advocacy Alliance has been circulating about the trailers.
For a few weeks parents of students at Eastvalley Elementary School have been organizing to protest what they call “deplorable” conditions at the 13 trailers located there.
On Thursday, they formally took their complaints to the Cobb Board of Education.
Five parents spoke during the public comment session, urging the board to provide newer trailers while Eastvalley awaits a new campus.
“We are maxed out to the point where we have lost our supplemental computer lab and we’re at risk for losing our foundation-funded supplemental science teacher because he no longer has a trailer,” said Cristine Morris, a mother of two Eastvalley students and the president of the school foundation.
She said the school has experienced eight percent year-over-year enrollment growth in recent years, prompting the science teacher to vacate a trailer to make room for a traditional classroom.
“What is the timeline for building a new school?” Morris asked. “And what, if any, are the county’s plans for year-over-year growth in the meantime?
Board members didn’t respond (they rarely do during public comment sessions).
Eastvalley, located on Roswell Road, has an enrollment of more than 700 students in buildings designed for less than half that. The 13 trailers there house roughly a third of the present enrollment, and Morris said that figure is more than twice the number of trailers at other schools in the Cobb district.
Eastvalley is slated for a new campus on the former site of East Cobb Middle School on Holt Road in the new Cobb Ed-SPLOST V, but no construction timetable has been established.
The SPLOST sales tax collection period began in January and continues through the end of 2023.
The trailers in use at Eastvalley now are old, some more than 30 years, as parents pointed out to the school board.
Miranda Philbin, the mother of a third-grader whose classroom is a trailer, said she understands that continuing use of trailers is inevitable while a new school is planned.
But the trailers have “mold, rotting stairs and crumbling structures,” among other conditions. “They are cramped in a tiny space like sardines,” she said of the students in the trailers.
“Thirty-five percent of our students do not have access to 21st century technology,” said Mike Fung-A-Wing, the father of two Eastvalley students. Safety issues include teachers and students not being able to hear messages in the trailers because there’s no intercom access.
Parent Jason Templeton asked that the district provide another trailer for the science class that has been displaced, “although I’m not sure where we’d put it, given our space constraints. I don’t understand why we can’t be provided with newer, larger trailers.
“‘No capital improvements’ was the statement we were provided years ago, and we’ve waited patiently. But we’ve done so to the detriment of our students and our teachers,” Templeton said.
Russell Sauve, the father of an Eastvalley fifth grader, said “we want what is bragged about on the Cobb school website, that Cobb schools is the best place to teach, lead and learn. Thirty-five percent of our students are not in a secure place to teach and learn.
“You are putting 286 children in unsecure, moldy, physically unsafe trailers every day,” he said. “We need you to bring these trailers up to a safe and secure standard while we wait for a new building to be built.”
Eastvalley is one of three elementary schools to be rebuilt in the current SPLOST. Cobb school officials said the first of those priorities is at Harmony Leland in Mableton, where construction is currently underway.
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Cobb school board members will no longer offer comments at the end of business meetings. At the end of a long and contentious discussion Thursday, they voted themselves into silence.
The 4-3 vote along partisan lines came after more than 90 minutes of often heated debate, including interruptions, seven amendments and accusations of censorship.
The ban does not affect the public comment period held at the beginning of meetings, and that allows remarks from parents, students and others from addressing the board.
The board members’ comment period is typically uncontroversial, with elected officials speaking about school visits, rooting for prep sports teams and noting academic and extracurricular achievements.
Board chairman David Chastain, who represents the Kell and Sprayberry attendance zones, said he has become concerned over political and personal opinions being expressed by board members.
Chastain, part of the four-member Republican board majority, said he’s noticed in recent months that some of the comments have become too partisan, and some aren’t even about school matters at all.
There hasn’t been a board policy regarding comments.
David Morgan, one of three Democrats on the board, said a better solution would be for the board to craft a comments policy.
Charisse Davis
He proposed several amendments to that effect, but they were all defeated, most by the same 4-3 partisan split.
Chastain countered that having a policy would put the chair in an awkward position of having to judge the appropriateness of colleagues’ remarks.
“The chair is supposed to be chairing a meeting, and then becomes an arbiter,” Chastain said. “This chair does not want to be the scorekeeper.”
Charisse Davis, one of two first-year Democrats on the board, said the board didn’t have a problem when members talked about football games and mourning police officers slain in the line of duty.
“When a couple of us get here and bring up words like ‘equity,’ we’re censoring,” said Davis, who represents the Walton, Wheeler and part of the Campbell clusters. “You want to censor members on the board agenda. That’s not okay.”
During their comment time, Davis and Democrat Jaha Howard, the other newcomer, have on occasion discussed calls that the Cobb County School District hire a diversity officer.
A group calling itself Stronger Together also has been demanding cultural training in Cobb schools to address what it calls lingering racial concerns it claims the district isn’t handling well.
Jaha Howard
Howard pressed Chastain for examples of comments that crossed the line, but he didn’t offer any. Howard, who represents the Osborne and Campbell districts, also wanted the other Republicans to explain why they supported a comments ban.
None of them did, and Chastain said there are “all sorts of ways to talk about personal opinions” outside of a board meeting, including the use of the Internet and social media.
“This discussion is nothing but partisan,” Davis said at one point. “Right now, we’re not being heard.”
At last month’s board meeting, Howard made references during the board comment period to the year 1619, when the first slaves arrived in the American colonies from Africa, recent deadly mass shootings and immigration:
“Depending on where you live in Cobb County, you have neighbors and family members that have been a part of ICE raids where someone that you know may have been separated from their families. These kids are coming to our schools, and it would be a horrible mistake to have a disconnect of these realities from our schools.”
Howard also mentioned gun violence “in our own backyard” and cancer concerns stemming from the Sterigenics lab in Smyrna, near where he lives, that is closed for the time being.
“Yes, this is a school board meeting, but we exist in a context, and I’m just highlighting the context that we live in,” he said.
At the end of his remarks, Howard discussed what he called “hypocrisy” over praising leaders “who are anything but respectful, responsible and role models. Who’s going to call them out?
“I’m tired of it, so get used to hearing me calling it out,” he said.
Howard didn’t name names, but said that “we have significant ethical issues at the top of the political food chain with our commander-in-chief and many elected officials here in this county and this state. It needs to be called out.”
At Thursday’s work session, Howard defended what he insists is a need to discuss larger concerns beyond the schools.
“Guess what? Cobb is complicated, and we shouldn’t be running from this. This is cowardice.”
Chastain pushed back, saying “no sir. Public comment isn’t the place for that. That’s not censorship.”
Howard tried to get the board to delay imposing a ban so as not to “make a rushed decision.” His final amendment, somewhat sarcastic in tone, would have allowed for board members who were “good” to offer comments.
Chastain interrupted him, saying it was a “frivolous motion, and you’ve talked this thing to death.”
The motion to ban comments was passed 4-3, with the four Republicans (the others are David Banks of East Cobb, Randy Scamihorn and Brad Wheeler of West Cobb) voting in favor, and the three Democrats voting against.
The only amendment that passed was a measure by Howard to allow Superintendent Chris Ragsdale to offer comments.
Since the ban was effective immediately, only Ragsdale spoke at the end of a brief Thursday night board business meeting.
Among his remarks included thanking the Wheeler culinary arts students for what he said was an excellent pot pie meal for him and the board before the meeting.
“I can attest to that because I had two helpings myself,” Ragsdale said.
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Tritt secretary Suzanne Alea, at left, and Sprayberry clerk Beth Gibeaut at the Classified Employees of the Year luncheon. (CCSD photos)
Two staff members at East Cobb schools have been named among the Classified Employees of the Year by the Cobb County School District.
Suzanne Alea, a secretary at Tritt Elementary School, and Sprayberry High School clerk Beth Gibeaut were among those honored at a CCSD luncheon Tuesday at Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta.
Alea was the overall Cobb schools recipient for elementary schools, while Gibeaut was similarly chosen at the high school level.
The other school-level recipient is Janice Frost, a paraprofessional at McClure Middle School. Sandra Oliver, a secretary in the school leadership department, was named the Central Office recipient.
Cobb schools honors non-teaching employees who include clerks, secretaries, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, custodians, librarians, cafeteria workers, bookkeepers, police officers and others.
Here’s what CCSD is sharing about the two East Cobb winners:
“The Elementary Level winner from Tritt Elementary School has served Cobb students, staff and parents for 13 years. Suzanne Alea is the ‘face’ of her school and is described as a source of patience and kindness.”
“The High School CEOTY, Beth Gibeaut, has transformed and improved the attendance office at Sprayberry High School. She’s described as having a positive influence on the entire school, and even in the most stressful situations, she communicates with grace and poise.”
The other classified employees of the year at East Cobb schools are as follows:
Sope Creek ES: Nancy Crenshaw, kindergarten parapro;
Timber Ridge ES: April Harris, visually impaired parapro;
Walton HS: Anilda Cook, scheduling clerk;
Wheeler HS:Robert Marbach, custodian.
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The food pantry at Brumby ES opened last November. (Special photo)
Parent Nicole Monge Mason is sending out word that the food pantry at Brumby Elementary School is in “dire” need of meat and milk, among other items, and that special hours are being set up for Monday donations.
That’s because the next shopping day for Brumby families in need is next Tuesday, Sept. 17. What the panty needs most are individually wrapped ground beef, turkey and chicken packages and gallon milk containers. Those donations can be dropped off at the school (815 Terrell Mill Road) Monday between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The pantry is open to families Tuesday from 12-2 and 4-6. Brumby is one of more than 30 schools in the Cobb County School District that has a pantry for students and their families.
Nicole says what’s critical about this shopping day is that it’s going to have to last through the fall break week from school (Sept. 21-27). Reduced-price breakfast and lunches won’t be served, so families will be loading up on extra food supplies. She writes in her message:
“The stresses and fears that we relate to on a daily basis PALES in comparison to what most families face on a daily basis when it comes to food insecurities and households in need.
“We have a unique opportunity to be apart of helping families and especially children NOT stress about where their next meal is coming from….at least for a few weeks and especially NOT during the fall break coming up.
“As a community we can be apart of the solution but overlooking the essential need that is right here looking us in the eye is only contributing to the problem…
More information about what’s needed at the Brumby pantry can be found at this online sign-up form.
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The following students at East Cobb high schools were among the more than 16,000 nationwide named semifinalists for the 2020 class of National Merit Scholarships this week.
They will continue competing for an estimated $31 million in total scholarship money that will be awarded in the spring of 2020. Here are the students, with more details at the end about the National Merit program:
Lassiter: Eleanor Froula; Claire Halloran; Joseph Kramer; Gabrielle Levitt; Anna Mitchell; Catherine Pereira; Paul Tegethoff;
Pope: Ada Burris, Sanjeet Harry, Andrew Myers, Yelizaveta Pivnik;
Sprayberry: Reilly S. Misra;
Walton: Chanwoo Bae, Jordan Bass, Alec Berger, Andrew Cameron, Daniel Catanese, Anjali Chareddy, Taylor Chiles, Sinead de Cleir, Judith Denning, Julia Dierker, Russell Emerine, Reagan Jacobson, Guy Kemelmakher, Aleem Lakdawala, Andrew Li, Viviana Lu, Nidhi Manikkoth, Kara McKinley, Rushil More, Russell Newton, Erik Pitts, Neeraj Raja, Anant Rajan, Pranav Rajbhandari, Aaron Rieck, Arvind Saligrama, Tara Shabazaz, Eric Simon, Bill Sun, Shiloh Thomas-Wilkinson, Qilin Tong, Ria Uppalapati, Akshin Vemana, Tharun Venkatesan, Madeline Zhang, Zaim Zibran;
Wheeler: Ann-Marie Abunyewa, Kruthik Alapati, Ava Autera, Charlie Bishop, Patrick Chen, Alessa Cullinan, Rose Jewel, Brian Kent, Emma Mason, Pranav Nedumpurath, Jeremy Payne, Morris Wan, Eric Yao.
Candidates are assessed based on their academic records, as well as participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment and honors and awards received. According to the National Merit fact sheet:
“A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school offi cial, write an essay, and earn SATor ACTscores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.”
About 15,000 students are expected to advance to the finalist level, and will be notified in February. From that group the scholarship winners will be chosen.
Corporations, organizations in local communities and collages offer individual types of scholarships under the National Merit program, and there are state-representational scholarships as well.
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A proposal to establish a 25 mph school speed zone along a stretch of Terrell Mill Road is among numerous traffic-related changes to be considered Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
It’s part of an occasional update to establish school speed zones, make changes to road signs to match flashing signals and approve road areas for speed detection devices.
Brumby Elementary School and East Cobb Middle School relocated last year side-by-side campuses on Terrell Mill Road between Powers Ferry Road and Paper Mill Road.
Tuesday’s proposal would call for a 25 mph speed limit on Terrell Mill from a point 80 feet north of Timberstone Hollow Court (at the bottom point of the red line on the map) to 480 feet north of Greenwood Trail.
The speed zone limits would be in effect only during school days and during the following times, per Cobb DOT:
AM: From 45 minutes prior to commencement time to 15 minutes after commencement time;
PM: From 30 minutes prior to dismissal time to 30 minutes after dismissal time.
In addition, Cobb DOT is requesting to remove the former Brumby ES speed zone along Powers Ferry Road, and to remove a reference to East Cobb Middle School in the Holt Road school speed zone area that still includes Wheeler High School.
Mountain View Elementary School also relocated to a new site last year along Sandy Plains Road. Another proposal would move that 25 mph school speed zone further down on Sandy Plains from its old site near Shallowford Road.
The new school speed zone on Sandy Plains would stretch from 570 feet east of Davis Drive to 50 feet west of Berkshire Flat.
Another school-related proposal would create a school speed zone of 25 mph on Beaver Shop Road, from 240 feet east of Boyce Drive to Ebenezer Road, near Addison Elementary School.
A few other school-related updates to road speed signs are routine, and are being done to match current signs and new flashing beacons at the following locations:
Lower Roswell Road, from 300 feet west of Holt Road to 200 feet east of Rhodes Drive (Eastvalley ES);
Lower Roswell Road, from 80 feet east of Pioneer Trail to 100 feet west of Palmer Oaks Lane (Sedalia Park ES);
Pine Road, from 80 feet north of Bill Murdock Road to 225 feet south of Bill Murdock Road (Walton HS);
Trickum Road, from 40 feet north of Swanson Court to 0.30 miles north of Sandy Plains Road (Simpson MS).
You can read the proposed radar ordinance changes at this link.
The commissioners also will consider a number of requests to approve the use of speed detection devices on roads around the county.
Among them in East Cobb is on Roswell Road near East Side Elementary School, from 50 feet west of Mt. Bethel Road to 50 feet west of Montague Road. That’s a stretch of .29 miles, and the school speed zone there is 25 mph.
Another proposal would allow speed detection devices to be used along most of Roswell Road in East Cobb, from Greenbriar Parkway near the Loop to the Fulton County line. That’s 6.79 miles, and the current speed limit is 45 mph.
Here’s the full list of roads where detection devices are permitted, with the proposed changes in red.
And here’s more background from Cobb DOT, which mentions that commissioners last updated the list of roads in 2015. Before they can act, the county must get approval from Georgia DOT.
The proposed changes are on the consent agenda.
The full meeting agenda can be found here and the meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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