East Cobb Schools Archives

Walton student charged with making terroristic threats, battery

August 16, 2019 8:11 PMAugust 12, 2019 5:44 PM by Wendy Parker

Walton student charged

A Walton High School student who is accused of attacking a school administrator and threatening to shoot up the school was arrested over the weekend, charged with making terroristic threats, battery and other offenses.

Ty William Holder, 17, of a Cove Island Drive address in East Cobb, was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on Saturday morning, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office.

The charges include felony counts of making terroristic threats and battery against school personnel and misdemeanor accounts of simple battery against a police officer, alcohol possession on public school grounds and underage alcohol possession, according to the jail records.

Holder was released to his own recognizance on a $11,200 bond late Monday afternoon, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office.

The jail records indicate Holder was arrested at Peachford Hospital, a Dunwoody facility that treats individuals with addictions and mental health issues.

The incident was first reported by WSB-TV, which said a Walton assistant principal confronted the student about alcohol in a water bottle during a class last week. The student was upset and kicked the principal, then threatened to return to the school and “kill everyone,” the report said.

East Cobb News asked the Cobb County School District for more details about the incident, and a spokesperson issued this response:

“Staff in all Cobb Schools are trained in prevention and intervention best practices and care about the welfare of every student in the District. Walton High School staff responded quickly and appropriately and did what they have been trained to do: prioritize every student’s safety while keeping the focus on teaching and learning.”

Sprayberry HS trespasser arrested after being found with gun

August 9, 2019 10:36 PMAugust 9, 2019 9:32 PM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry High School

Sprayberry High School was on lockdown for part of the school day Friday after a trespasser was found on campus with a gun.

A Cobb County School District spokeswoman said a man was walking on school grounds when he was confronted by the school staff, who then discovered he had a gun.

She said a Code Yellow alert was issued, which means that the outside doors to the school are locked but classes and other activities continue inside.

“The incident did not disrupt the school day, and at no time were students threatened or in danger,” said the spokeswoman, who said the district would be pursuing charges against the man.

According to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, Daniel Ryan Caudell, age 44 or 45, was arrested at 1:30 p.m. at Sprayberry by the Cobb County School District police.

He was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on a felony charge of possession of a weapon at or near a school, and a misdemeanor charge of alcohol possession on public school grounds, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office.

Jail records list Caudell’s home address as Aleta Drive, located near Sprayberry, and that he is being held on a $6,270 bond.

“The safety of our students and staff is our highest priority and we will continue to remain vigilant in ensuring our campus security,” the Cobb school district spokeswoman said.

Ex-Wheeler student indicted for battery on teacher

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Former Wheeler student indicted for battery against teacher

August 9, 2019 2:46 PMAugust 9, 2019 11:29 AM by Wendy Parker

Wheeler STEM program

A former Wheeler High School student charged with striking a teacher at the school in February has been indicted.

Last Friday, a Cobb Superior Court grand jury handed down an indictment of battery upon school personnel, a felony, against Dante Jaquawn Walker, 19, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.

In the indictment, Walker is alleged to have struck a teacher in the face on Feb. 4. He was arrested by Cobb County School District Police and later was released on a bond of $8,470, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.

Court records indicate that Walker was rearrested on July 4 on a felony marijuana charge and a misdemeanor charge of willful obstruction of a police officer. As a result, his bond was revoked on July 17 for 90 days. He remains in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office.

Walker’s home address in jail and court records is listed at Penny Lane, which is an apartment community off Wylie Road.

The court records further indicate that Walker must complete a drug and alcohol evaluation and enroll in a program to receive a General Education Diploma, among other pretrial conditions imposed in the July 17 order by Judge Kellie Hill.

WSB-TV reported in March that the father of another Wheeler student alleged the teacher struck his son in a gym class, and that Walker hit the teacher in response.

Roy Clayton, the teacher identified in the indictment as Walker’s victim, was not listed on the Wheeler faculty roster for the school year that just began.

East Cobb News contacted the Cobb school district seeking information on whether the teacher had been investigated, placed on leave or disciplined in connection with the Feb. 4 incident.

A district spokeswoman would say only that “Mr. Clayton is still employed by the Cobb County School District. The student referenced is not enrolled in a Cobb County school.”

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Sedalia Park ES bus driver ‘Miss Claudette’ starts 35th year

August 1, 2019 10:17 AM by Wendy Parker

Sedalia Park ES bus driver, Claudette Petsch — *“Miss Claudette” Petsch has driven a bus in the Sedalia Park ES community for 35 years. (ECN photos by Wendy Parker)*

As the bus doors open and students climb aboard, the greeting from parents is almost universal:

“Hello Miss Claudette!”

In turn, Claudette Petsch welcomes them and returning students, some by name, before winding Cobb County school bus No. 2232 through the residential streets surrounding Sedalia Park Elementary School.

On Thursday morning, she marked the start of her 35th year driving a bus to and from the school on Lower Roswell Road, picking up around 50 students in all over two routes, before working middle school and high school routes.

The staggered schedule works out so that she can do even more of what she has loved doing for more than three decades.

“I drive children now whose parents I used to drive,” said Miss Claudette, who turned 71 years old just days before the start of the new school year.

She stops at every designated stop, regardless of whether students are waiting or not. Early on, not many students are riding. Running ahead of schedule, she pulls over for around two minutes in the parking lot of Eastside Baptist Church before resuming course.

“I like to be on the minute,” she says, explaining that she doesn’t want to run ahead of students who arrive on time.

As the youngsters head down the aisle of the bus, she nods and gives instructions if she needs to. Some of the kids look confused, seeing adults—deputy superintendent John Adams, school board member David Banks and media representatives—sitting in the front seats.

“This is just for today,” she reassures them.

Sedalia Park bus driver — *Parents in the Tuxedo Estates neighborhood watching their children start another school year.*

While she runs a tight, punctual ship, Miss Claudette chats with parents, and is patient with those who call to their children to turn around and have their photo taken before they get on the bus.

Some kids do turn around, others don’t, but the renewal of relationships is underway for another school year.

Miss Claudette encourages a boy starting kindergarten to sit next to Adams, who tells him, “you’re going to love it! School’s fun!”

Adams, who oversees the Cobb school district’s operations, including transportation, says around 950 buses are out at any given time on a typical school day. He said around 75 percent of estimated 112,000 enrolled students ride the bus.

This is also the first full year the district will be employing the Here Comes the Bus app. It’s a real-time service for parents to track their childrens’ bus route activity, and allows school officials to send notices with important messages, such as delays or weather issues.

Since the app was introduced in the spring, Adams said more than 35,000 users have signed up.

Some changes in Georgia’s stop-arm law also went into effect on Thursday. Adams said around 10 percent of the district’s bus fleet is equipped with cameras that can take photos of license plates of violating vehicles.

He said the cameras are placed on routes that have been shown to have high numbers of violations. “We don’t say which routes, of course,” Adams said, adding that the district is “in a good place” with its ratio of cameras as the school year starts.

Miss Claudette’s first run to Sedalia Park is on time, with around 20 students being delivered around 7:15 a.m., nearly a half-hour after the trip began. Miss Claudette helps with the school staff as the children are given wrist bands with their name, grade and bus route number.

These bands must be worn for two weeks.

With an empty bus behind her, save for the grown-ups, Miss Claudette quickly wheels No. 2232 out onto Lower Roswell Road, then into the Pioneer Woods, Ashton Woods and Weatherstone neighborhoods.

Carpool and work traffic is starting to pick up as daybreak approaches, and the bus is running a little behind schedule. On this route, quite a few children get on every stop, with parents pulling out their phones and waving as the bus rolls on.

When Miss Claudette approaches the intersection of Willow Glenn Drive at Holt Road, No. 2232 is ensnared in traffic. Cars are pulling in and out of the Weatherstone pool parking lot, where the subdivision’s high school seniors gather for class photos.

“It causes congestion here every year,” she said.

After dipping back into Ashton Woods one more time, her bus reaches Sedalia Park again, with carpooling cars ahead of her. She’s able to maneuver the bus into the bus exit lane, then pulls it around and into the drop-off spot a few minutes before 7:50 a.m., when classes are set to begin.

The second route kids get their wristbands and instructions and hop off. After a couple of minutes, Miss Claudette steps back up into No. 2232, off to her middle school route.

Banks continues on with her, and Adams gets off, heading to another school for more bus rides and a cafeteria lunch.

Back to school countdown: Cobb bus safety, stop-arm reminders

July 31, 2019 3:01 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb school bus safety

Cobb and Marietta schools begin a new academic year on Thursday, and the school districts as well as local police are reminding motorists of what they’ve got to obey when the buses are out on the roads, picking up and dropping off students.

A few school zone driving safety tips from Cobb Police:

• Be on the lookout for school zone signals and ALWAYS obey the speed limits.
• When entering a school zone, be sure to slow down and obey all traffic laws.
• Always stop for school busses that are loading or unloading children.
• Watch out for school crossing guards and obey their signals.
• Be aware of and watch out for children near schools, bus stops, sidewalks, in the streets, in school parking lots, etc.
• Never pass other vehicles while driving in a school zone.
• Never change lanes while driving in a school zone.
• Never make U-Turns while driving in a school zone.
• Never text while driving in a school zone.
• Avoid using a cell phone, unless it is completely hands-free, while driving in a school zone.
• Unless licensed to do so, never use handicap or emergency vehicle lanes or spaces to drop off or pick up children at school.

Cobb school bus safety

And more about the Georgia stop-arm law, which was changed by the legislature earlier this year. Click here for a larger version of the graphic above, which is summarized below:

On a two-lane roadway:
ALL traffic from both directions must stop when a school bus stops for passengers. Once the bus starts flashing its red lights and its stop signs have extended from the side, it is unlawful for any vehicle to pass the stopped school bus while it is loading or unloading passengers.

On a two-lane roadway with a center turning lane:
ALL traffic from both directions must stop when a school bus stops for passengers. Once the bus starts flashing its red lights and its stop signs have extended from the side, it is unlawful for any vehicle to pass the stopped school bus while it is loading or unloading passengers.

On a four-lane roadway without a median separation:
ALL traffic from both directions must stop when a school bus stops for passengers. Once the bus starts flashing its red lights and its stop signs have extended from the side, it is unlawful for any vehicle to pass the stopped school bus while it is loading or unloading passengers.

On a roadway with four or more lanes and a center turning lane:
Previously: ALL traffic from both directions must stop when a school bus stops for passengers. After July 1, if there’s either a concrete or grass median, or a turn lane, drivers traveling in the opposite direction do not have to stop for buses that are loading and unloading passengers.

On a divided highway of four lanes or more with a median separation:
Only traffic following the bus must stop when a school bus stops for passengers. According to the new state law, if there’s either a concrete or grass median, or a turn lane, drivers traveling in the opposite direction do not have to stop for buses that are loading and unloading passengers.

Back to school countdown: Meet the new East Cobb principals

July 30, 2019 11:11 AM by Wendy Parker

Four schools in East Cobb will have new principals in the 2019-20 school year. One of them—Peter Giles of Kell—is staying within the community, having moved over from Wheeler.

Over the summer the Cobb County School District compiled profile information that is highlighted below, with links to full excerpts.

Dr. Patricia Alford, Dodgen Middle School

“I have worked exclusively with middle school students for my entire career. I love this age! Dodgen is an outstanding school, and I’m excited to serve the students and staff in the community where I live! My goal as a leader is to continue and extend that academic success by providing the very best education and academic environment for our students.”

Read more

Dr. Shannon McGill, Timber Ridge Elementary School

“It is such a privilege to return to a school community that played a large part in shaping me into the leader I am today. Timber Ridge holds a special place in my heart and serving the students and staff is an opportunity to say thank you and give back to such an amazing school community. As principal, I want the community to view Timber Ridge as a welcoming and friendly school where visitors can’t help but feel the excitement and know that great things are happening!”

Read More

Paul Gillihan, Wheeler High School

“Having been in CCSD for 13 years, I have seen first-hand the amazing things that Wheeler has accomplished in regards to their STEM and STEAM initiatives. This would not have been possible without the support of the Wheeler community. What I have witnessed reminds me of where I grew up in Northern Arkansas where the entire community surrounded and supported the school. I see this at Wheeler and can’t wait to jump in as the newest community member.”

Read more

Peter Giles, Kell High School

“Coming to Kell High School is an opportunity for me to come back home to the Longhorn Nation. I previously served as an Assistant Principal from 2010-2013 and loved the sense of family our school and community displayed for all of our students and schools. I am also excited about knowing so many students and families due to my years of serving as the Principal at Palmer and Assistant Principal here at Kell.  Having such a warm welcome from the students and families has really made my homecoming exciting!”

Read more

Back to school countdown: 2019-20 Cobb school calendar and transportation information

July 29, 2019 3:56 PMJuly 29, 2019 1:47 PM by Wendy Parker

The 2019-20 Cobb school year gets underway on Thursday, and leading up to that point we’ll be posting some preview information, starting with the calendar and transportation details.

As has been in recent years, Cobb schools begin on Aug. 1, one of the earliest starting dates in metro Atlanta.

That’s because the district employs numerous breaks during the academic year, especially around holidays.

There are a total of 180 instructional days, as required by state law, and in five of the 10 months are full-week breaks or longer. Graduations and the last day of school take place during the week of May 18-22, 2020.

Calendar legend:

BLACK BOXES: first and last days of school
GRAY BOXES: Holiday, school closed
YELLOW BOXES: student holiday/staff day
WHITE BOXES: ES/MS conference week; early release
PENTAGON: Early release day all levels

Getting around

The Cobb County School District has around 1,000 buses that run daily on a similar number of routes and travel around 13 million miles during the school year. About 70 percent of the district’s nearly 112,000 students ride the bus.

Last year the district rolled out an app called Here Comes the Bus that allows parents to track their child’s bus in real-time on a map.

The district also has a link on its websites with bus route information that you can find here.

During the months of August and September, students will be allowed to bring water in containers with a screw-on lid on school buses.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

East Cobb schools lead the way in 2019 Milestones results

July 26, 2019 11:01 AM by Wendy Parker

Mountain View Elementary School

The Top 10 highest-performing schools in the Cobb County School District on the 2019 Georgia Milestones tests all come from East Cobb.

That’s the word from the district, which on Friday released Milestones figures for the previous 2018-19 academic year.

The assessment scores, which measure learning proficiency in grades 3-12, are collected by the Georgia Department of Education and distributed by public school districts in late July.

Students are categorized in one of four levels: Level 1 is Beginning Learner, Level 2 is a Developing Learner, Level 3 is a Proficient Learner and Level 4 is Distinguished Learner.

The evaluations are based on End of Grade (EOG) tests at the elementary and middle school levels, and End of Course (EOC) tests at the high school level.

In Cobb, 84 percent of the 82,600 students who took a total of 195,655 Milestone tests achieved Level 2 or higher. That reflected a range of between 7.4 and 9.4 percentage points higher than other Georgia students in all subject areas.

For the second year in a row, Timber Ridge Elementary School in East Cobb led the district, with 98.8 percent of students taking the Milestones achieving Level 2 proficiency or higher.

The others in the Top 10 are also from East Cobb:

Murdock ES (98.3 percent);
Dodgen MS (98.0 percent);
Mountain View ES (97.6 percent);
Dickerson MS (97.4 percent);
Walton HS (97.2 percent);
Mt. Bethel ES (97.0 percent);
Tritt ES (97.0 percent);
Hightower Trail (96.8 percent);
Lassiter HS (96.8 percent).

Students in grades 3-8 are given an End of Grade test in English Language Arts and math. Student in grades 5-8 are also tested for science and social students. The high school End of Course tests cover eight subjects in English Language arts, math, science, and social studies.

(Here’s more of a breakdown on the Milestones assessment from the Georgia DOE.)

Across Georgia, 76 percent of students were rated at Level 2 or higher on the Milestones. The state said that scores were steady or increased in 25 of the 26 assessments.

The scores of Cobb students rose in all four subject areas from 2018, and the district said 90 percent of students improved their Milestones scores from three years ago.

CCSD 2019 Milestone Bar Chart

The district also tracks school-wide improvement, and East Cobb’s Daniell Middle School had one of the biggest boosts from 2018. A total of 84.7 percent of its students scored at Level 2 or higher, an increase of 7.3 percent.

In 3-year trend improvements, schools in the South Cobb area enjoyed double-digit improvements in Level 2 or higher percentage points since 2016.

In a statement issued by the Cobb district, Murdock principal Lynn Hamblett credited three reasons for student results at her school: engaged parents, students prepared to learn and a dedicated staff.

“It is this winning combination and partnership that allows our students to perform at their highest levels,” she said.

For more information visit the Cobb school district’s Georgia Milestones resource page.

For detailed spreadsheets of grade- and school-level results and more, visit the Georgia DOE’s 2019 Milestone’s page.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

For Lassiter’s teacher of the year, classroom success is about relationships

July 26, 2019 4:04 PMJuly 25, 2019 2:43 PM by Wendy Parker

Hilary Minich, Lassiter teacher of the year — *Lassiter teachers Hilary and Chris Minich with their children Harrison and Emily as she was named the 2019 Cobb County School District high school teacher of the year. (CCSD photo)*

Hilary Minich is an English teacher like her mother, and teaches at Lassiter High School with her husband Chris. What the reigning Lassiter teacher of the year couldn’t have imagined on Wednesday was being singled out for what she’s done in the classroom in such grand fashion.

During a back-to-school meeting with her fellow teachers, Minich got a surprise when Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale arrived to tell her that she was the district’s high school teacher of the year.

Minich, who has taught 11th and 12 graders at Lassiter for the last five years, figures her mother Hilda Wilkins—who taught at Walton High School—probably knew about the announcement. “But they kept my husband in the dark,” which, if school officials truly wanted to keep a secret, she figured, “is a good thing.”

Minich’s work at Lassiter, and for 11 years at Kell High School before that, has been obvious to those who’ve been observing her rapport and success with students, both in composition and literature courses.

“It doesn’t matter the level [of a students’ ability in English], she’s highly successful,” Lassiter principal Chris Richie said. “She constantly challenges and engages kids. She’s able to get out of them what they may not have thought what they had in them.”

Minich said student success begins “on the front end” before classes begin, and is strengthened as the school year goes along.

“It’s a matter of making personal connections with kids,” she said.

Building strong relationships with students from the outset—including understanding what subject matter interests them and how they learn the best—is vital.

That includes introducing them to good things to read, so they’ll be interested in writing.

“I consider myself a writing teacher first and foremost,” she said.

English isn’t every student’s favorite subject, but Minich said she likes to tell them when they enter her classroom that “I’m going to give you the gift of unplugging.”

By that she means disconnecting, from electronic gadgets that today’s students have grown up with. That’s one of the biggest differences in education Minich said she’s seen since she first started. Getting students who are eager to switch off their phones and open up a book to read the words of acclaimed novelists and writers is becoming a bigger challenge.

“I see kids who feel that they’re not allowed to disengage,” Minich said. “We teachers really have our work cut out for us.”

Minich’s academic activities at Lassiter also coordinating the school’s Advanced Placement Capstone program. It goes beyond the teaching of AP courses to include research, writing, public speaking and teamwork for college-bound students.

Minich teaches an AP class in literature and research, and her husband teaches an AP world history course.

“We’re trying to teach the value of academic research,” she said. “When reading comes easy, it empowers learning.”

Minich is one of three finalists for the Cobb overall teacher of the year, along with Cindy Wadsworth of Kemp Elementary School and Casey Taylor of Pine Mountain Middle School.

All three will drive a car free for a year donated by the Ed Voyles Automotive Group.

The winner will be announced in October.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

New Walton gym and performing arts building nearing completion

July 23, 2019 6:18 PM by Wendy Parker

new Walton gym performing arts building — *Via Cobb Board of Education member David Banks*

With a new school year a little more than a week away, Walton High School is improvising its orientation sessions next Monday.

Instead of taking place on campus, those sessions will happen instead at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church (955 Johnson Ferry Road); see schedule below.

Construction work is nearing completion on a $31.7 million gym and performing arts building (where the original classroom building once stood). While it’s expected to be done by first day of school, next Thursday, Aug. 1, the delays prompted the orientation change.

“Walton is planning a theater opening event in September,” a Cobb County School District spokesperson told East Cobb News. “Although they may still be completing some final details, they are planning to use the building on the first day of school.”

School officials didn’t give a reason for the delay. Last December a fire broke out in the new building but according to Cobb Fire, it was quickly contained and didn’t cause major damage.

The new facility is the second component of the Walton rebuild and will be completed two years after a $48 million classroom building was opened.

Here’s what Walton officials are sharing with the community about next week’s orientation, where students will get their schedules and pick up prepaid PTSA and Walton items.

All sessions will take place in the Magnolia Room at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church.

Monday, July 29
9th grade:
8:30-9:15 am: Last names A-K
9:15-10:00 am: Last names L-Z

12th grade:
10:00 am-10:45 am: Last names A-K
10:45-11:30 am: Last names L-Z

11th grade:
11:30-12:15 pm: Last names A-K
12:15-1:00 pm: Last names L-Z

10th grade:
1:00-1:45 pm: Last names A-K
1:45-2:30 pm: Last names L-Z

If you’ve got a freshman, the walkthrough takes place on next Wednesday, July 31, from 2-3 p.m. at the school (1590 Bill Murdock Road). Here are the details about that:

“There will also be an opportunity for parents to become familiar with Walton and to learn what they can do to help their students in the transition.

“For students: Students will meet Walton Ambassadors in the Rotunda and be escorted to homeroom. Ambassadors will take the students on a school tour with their schedules so they can locate all their classrooms.

“For parents: While your child is meeting with the Ambassadors, the school principal and support staff will conduct a meeting in the dining hall to orient you to Walton.”

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Cobb school board holds millage rate at 18.9 after suggestion of rollback

July 19, 2019 12:28 PMJuly 18, 2019 7:58 PM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to keep the property tax millage rate at 18.9 mills after a new board member had asked earlier in the day about possibly rolling back that number.

Chris Ragsdale, Cobb schools superintendent, Cobb school employee pay raise — *Chris Ragsdale, Cobb school superintendent*

The 7-0 vote at the board’s regulation meeting Thursday night came with little discussion. But at a work session earlier Thursday, Jaha Howard, who represents the Osborne and Campbell clusters, suggested the possibility of reducing the rate.

Howard asked Brad Johnson, the Cobb County School District’s chief financial officer, about dollar figures for one mill ($26 million) and a tenth of a mill ($2.6 million).

“With the county doing better, I think it would be good at least to explore what it would like to have a very small adjustment—over time,” Howard said.

But superintendent Chris Ragsdale quickly interjected that it was important to keep the same 18.9 bills the Cobb County School District has levied since 2007.

Even though the district is collecting $23 million more in revenues for its fiscal year 2020 budget of $1.7 billion, he said the additional funding is vital to hold in reserve and use judiciously.

“Yes, we are getting more tax revenue with the same millage rate,” Ragsdale said, adding that factors like inflation, additional utility costs and similar expenses have to be taken into consideration.

He said the idea of rolling back the millage rate “feels good, sounds good for about 10 seconds, and then you quickly realize how painful that would be that next year, if [the district financial situation] turns, and we would need to say we need to raise the millage rate.”

The district had to advertise a tax increase because of the additional revenue, although the millage rate is staying the same. The rollback rate would have been slightly more than 18 mills.

Ragsdale said unspent revenues are rolled into the district’s fund balance to be used for on a “rainy day” basis.

He applauded Cobb school boards for sticking with the 18.9 mills, even during the recession with 10 percent drops in the tax digest, which Ragsdale said was “simply amazing. It would have been a blink of an eye if it had been raised to 20 mills [the legal millage rate maximum Cobb schools can levy].”

The real pain of that situation, he said, was cutting more than 800 teaching positions (with more than 600 of them eventually re-filled).

“That was a total nightmare,” Ragsdale said. “I understand where you’re coming from, but there are so many things in the budget . . . but I would always caution against the idea of a reduction of the millage rate.”

The school board voted on Thursday night to spend $4.5 million for the construction of a new secondary data facility. It’s to serve as a backup to the district’s main data facility, and is expected to be completed by next March.

Here’s what the secondary data center is all about, according to CCSD:

“The secondary data center will house critical hardware and software components that provide the district fault tolerance and daily business continuity. It will also serve as a ‘back-up’ to guard against the possibility of a catastrophic event at our primary data center.”

An East Cobb-related item to note from Thursday’s meeting: Tommy Perry, an assistant at Dickerson Middle School, is leaving to become the principal at South Cobb High School, effective Friday.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Cobb school board slated to establish FY 2020 millage rate Thursday

July 17, 2019 11:44 AMJuly 17, 2019 9:43 AM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb Board of Education is scheduled to adopt a millage rate for the new fiscal year 2020 budget on Thursday.

The board will take action at 7 p.m. in the board room of the Cobb County School District central office, 514 Glover St., Marietta.

At noon Thursday is the second of three public hearings the board is required to hold about the millage rate. It’s scheduled to take place at the same place, to be followed by a work session at 1 p.m.

The third and final public hearing precedes the regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.

(Agenda PDF for both meetings here)

The new $1.7 billion Cobb schools budget year began on July 1, holding the line on a rate of 18.9 mills that has been levied for many years.

That is not formalized before the Cobb Tax Assessor establishes the county tax digest in late June. This year, it’s projected to be $39 billion, surpassing last year’s record of $36.2 billion.

That means that the Cobb County School District will be collecting more in tax revenues than in 2018. When an elected body doesn’t roll back the millage rate accordingly, that’s considered a tax increase, and it must advertise and hold three public hearings.

This year the tax revenue increase for Cobb schools is 4.88 percent. A recent history of the schools millage rate levy can be found here.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Longtime Sprayberry football coach Jim Frazier has died

July 5, 2019 9:37 PMJuly 5, 2019 2:42 PM by Wendy Parker

Word is coming from Sprayberry High School that Jim Frazier, for many years a member of Yellow Jackets football coaching staff and a legendary figure in the school community’s history, died on Thursday. Sprayberry coach Jim Frazier

“Our school and community will forever be grateful for the contributions made by this wonderful man,” was the message posted on the school’s Facebook page Friday afternoon.

We’ll have more later, but here’s a summary of Frazier’s tenure at Sprayberry, which went far beyond what his teams did in sports:

Frazier came to Sprayberry in 1959, a few years after it opened as East Cobb’s first high school.

While he was an assistant football coach, the Yellow Jackets won two county and two region titles in and three times finished the season in the state’s top 10.

He also coached baseball at Sprayberry before retiring from teaching in 1986, and served on the school’s football and baseball committees for nearly 50 years.

The Sprayberry football stadium is named after Frazier, a native of Tennessee who played football at Carson-Newman College and earned a master’s degree from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University.

Frazier was in attendance and recognized last summer at the 65th anniversary celebration of Sprayberry’s opening.

Last August, his wife, Wilma Quarles Frazier, died at the age of 85. She taught at Sedalia Park Elementary School for 27 years.

The Fraziers were married for 61 years.

In 2015, State Rep. Don Parsons of East Cobb sponsored a resolution that was passed by the Georgia General Assembly to honor Frazier for his service to Sprayberry and the community.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Cobb Police soliciting bookbag donations for students in need

July 5, 2019 1:33 PMJuly 5, 2019 9:31 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb Police Bookbag Palooza

Submitted information:

Even though we are enjoying summer, the Cobb Police Department Community Affairs Unit is already hard at work to support our students when they head back to school. Book Bag-Palooza is an effort to gather as many book bags and school supplies as possible. Donations will be distributed to county students in need at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, which is only one month away.

Donations can include new book bags, paper, folders, pencils, crayons, glue sticks and markers. Any items that a student, from elementary to high school, would need to start the school year out prepared and ready to learn. Donations can be dropped off from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday-Friday (excluding holidays) at any of the Cobb precincts:

Precinct 1: 2380 Cobb Parkway NW, Kennesaw

Precinct 2: 4700 Austell Road, Austell

Precinct 3: 1901 Cumberland Parkway, Atlanta

Precinct 4: 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta

Precinct 5: 4640 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs

Headquarters: 140 North Marietta Parkway, Marietta

If a business or club collects a large amount of school items, one of the Community Affairs’ officers will be happy to arrange pick up. For more information, call Sgt. Jeff Tatroe at 770-499-3981.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Cobb school enrollment projections show scattered growth in East Cobb

June 26, 2019 1:34 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb schools enrollment projections — *A new home under construction in Indian Hills in the Walton High School attendance zone, whose middle and elementary schools will be over capacity over the next decade. (ECN photo)*

Growth in student enrollment in public schools in East Cobb is expected to continue over the next few years, but the rate of that increase isn’t projected to be as much as it is in other parts of the county.

A planning consultant hired by the Cobb County School District told school board members in May in his annual enrollment study that population growth in the county has been and will be holding steady, and that will reflect in school enrollment.

(Read and download the full study here)

James Wilson of Marietta-based Education Planners and a former Cobb and Fulton superintendent, issued school-by-school projections over the next decade (see pages 16-19 at the link above, or see charts below. Click each chart for a larger view).

Some schools in East Cobb, and in particular in the Walton cluster, will be well above capacity. But other schools, especially in northeast Cobb close to the Cherokee County line, will have plenty of room at most grade levels.

Wilson said Cobb’s population is expected to grow only by 22 percent between 2015 and 2040, the lowest rate in all of metro Atlanta. Southern parts of Cobb will be experiencing much greater population growth that will impact school capacity.

“We are not going to grow like other districts and other counties,” Wilson said. “We’re getting older.”

Cobb’s 2018 population estimated at around 763,000, and by 2025, it’s expected to grow to 823,000, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission.

But last year, the county’s population grew by only 1,000 people overall. Between 2016-17, the population rose by around 5,000, less than one percent.

In 2018, Cobb schools enrollment was a little over 111,000, down from 113,000 two years before.

That overall number, and grade-level enrollments, are expected to remain relatively steady over the next decade.

Housing affordability also figures to be a major factor in enrollment patterns.

“Families are choosing to come to Cobb,” Wilson said, “because of the school district, once they can afford to get here.”

Public schools are a major attraction to East Cobb, but the new enrollment projections reflect differing levels of growth in the community.

Many more housing permits are being issued parts of south, west and north Cobb compared to East Cobb. Those new housing starts are solid in the Walton, Sprayberry, Pope and Lassiter clusters.

*Not included in this map are housing starts in the Wheeler cluster, which numbered 16 in the same time period, the lowest of any high school zone in the Cobb school district.*

Attendance at Lassiter, Pope, Walton and Wheeler is expected to be tight to over capacity in the coming years.

Kell was 386 students under capacity after the 2018-19 school year that just ended, and Sprayberry was 292 spots under capacity.

While Kell’s projections have the school with 557 available spots a decade from now, Sprayberry’s capacity is expected to tighten to only 76 open spots, about the same as Pope.

Wheeler is at capacity for now, but the projections indicate it could be nearly 250 students over capacity by 2028-29, while Walton may be slightly under capacity.

Lassiter is just under capacity now but may be 100 students over in another decade.

Dodgen, Dickerson and Hightower Trail middle schools are over capacity, while there’s plenty of room at Mabry and McCleskey.

At the elementary school level, East Side and Mt. Bethel, in the Walton cluster, are well over capacity.

In the Wheeler cluster, so is the new Brumby Elementary campus, with 59 more students over capacity. Eastvalley Elementary, slated for a new school building, was 160 students over its capacity of 562.

Projections show a rising enrollment to nearly 800 students a decade from now, by the time the school is expected to occupy a new campus at the former site of East Cobb Middle School.

Blackwell, Davis, Keheley, Kincaid, Mountain View and Nicholson and Shallowford Falls elementary are well below capacity and are projected to remain that way.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Simpson Middle School earns STEAM designation from Cobb schools

June 26, 2019 11:21 AMJune 26, 2019 10:11 AM by Wendy Parker

Simpson Middle School has become the first middle school in the Cobb County School District to be designated a STEAM school.

STEAM is STEM-based learning (science, technology, engineering and math) with an arts and language-based component.

“Students at Simpson are using the arts to demonstrate what they’ve learned in math, English and even science classes. Their teachers have worked hard to help students see how the concepts that they are learning are integrated from one class to the next. This approach to learning mirrors the real world,” Dr. Sally Creel, Cobb Schools Supervisor of STEM and Innovation, said in a statement.

Simpson is one of 25 Cobb schools to have STEM or STEAM designation. Last year, Kerri Waller, an art teacher at Simpson, was the recipient of a Cobb STEM Distinguished Educator Award.

In 2017 Wheeler became the first Georgia high school to earn STEAM certification, and earlier this year it was named the No. 2 STEM program in the country.

The other East Cobb schools certified for STEM by the district include Brumby, East Side, Shallowford Falls, Sope Creek and Tritt elementary schools; Hightower Trail, Mabry and McCleskey middle schools and Lassiter, Pope, Walton and Wheeler high schools.

Lassiter, Tritt and Wheeler are also STEM-certified by the state.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

More East Cobb students receive National Merit Scholarships

June 12, 2019 5:03 PMJune 12, 2019 2:49 PM by Wendy Parker

Another 14 students from East Cobb have been awarded National Merit Scholarships, out of 18 for the Cobb County School District (previous recipients were named in April and May).

These scholarships, announced on Wednesday, are financed by U.S. colleges and universities and range between $500 and $2,000. EAst Cobb National Merit Scholars

The following students are among more than 7,600 who will receive receive scholarship money totalling $31 million by the end of the summer:

Lassiter: Joshua R. Vollbracht and Carter Brent Johnson;
Pope: Griffin W. Haarbauer and Maya Nambiar;
Walton: Thomas DeBoer, Ava Sophia Edmunds, Emma Allison Hunt, Anika Park, David Phillips, Varsha Ramachandra and Illahi S. Virani;
Wheeler: Andrew J. Mayne, Rebecca G. Simonson and Hanna E. Waltz.

This year, 173 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 95 private and 78 public institutions in 43 states.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

East Cobb school retirees include teachers, aides, custodians, nurses and more

May 23, 2019 1:55 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb school retirees

We posted earlier this month about Cobb County School District retirees who were honored at a luncheon, especially those with 30-plus years of longevity. Here are all the retirees from East Cobb schools, including teachers, administrators, cafeteria workers, custodians, nurses and more, plus the number of years they were employed by the district:

Bells Ferry Elementary School
Robin Pullen, teacher, 21

Daniell Middle School
Carole Benavides, teacher, 23
Jacqueline Davies, food service assistant, 12
Mary Gates, teacher, 13
Sara Harris, media specialist, 19

Davis Elementary School
Lucia Brown, assistant principal, 30
Mary Ward, media specialist, 7

Dickerson Middle School
Lisa Larkin, paraprofessional, 22
Mary Scarbrough, teacher, 11
Nadiyah Shakoor-AbdurRahim, RN, nurse, 10

Dodgen Middle School
Phyllis Ellison, clerk, 23
Sheryl Mastley, teacher, 17

East Cobb Middle School
Kathleen Gonglach, school counselor, 22
Rebecca Braswell, LPN, school nurse, 15

East Side Elementary School
Debra Denise Clackum, teacher, 35

Hightower Trail Middle School
Caroline Sangster, teacher, 27
Linda Postell, teacher, 26
Suzanne Logue, teacher, 13

Keheley Elementary School
Cindy Stine, bookkeeper, 26
Eileen Gattone, paraprofessional, 20

Kell High School
Charles Goddard, teacher, 16
Lauren Hines, teacher, 30
Steven Lattizori, teacher, 30
Willie Patton, paraprofessional, 14

Lassiter High School
Angela Carder, clerk, 31
Beverly Conley, clerk, 20
Cathy Zingler, teacher, 24
Deborah Poss, teacher, 36
Donald Slater, teacher, 38
Jeannie Ledbetter, food service assistant, 39
Micheline Fournier, clerk, 21

Mabry Middle School
Lisa Bowman, teacher, 31

McCleskey Middle School
Beth Decker, secretary, 25

Mt. Bethel Elementary School
Tracy Sikes, teacher, 20

Mountain View Elementary School
Christine Nielsen, paraprofessional, 17

Murdock Elementary School
Elizabeth Sheeley, speech/language pathologist, 9

Nicholson Elementary School
Mary Ann Kessler, paraprofessional, 25
Pamela Otto, teacher, 17

Sedalia Park Elementary School
Marsha Williams, food service assistant, 22
Mary Kienker, teacher, 13
Sharon Drake, teacher, 11

Shallowford Falls Elementary School
Amy Koenning, teacher, 32
Diane Marco, teacher, 16
Jean Allen, secretary, 20
Pamela Heath, RN, school nurse, 17

Simpson Middle School
Blanca Carmichael, secretary, 13

Sope Creek Elementary School
Cindy Dingess, teacher, 28
Susan Jenkins, teacher, 30

Sprayberry High School
Catherine Barry, teacher, 30
Edwige Brun, teacher, 18
Mary Barber, paraprofessional, 19
Maureen Gamble, teacher, 23
Teresa Fuller, teacher, 24

Tritt Elementary School
Amy Benson, teacher, 21

Walton High School
Lawrence Moon, head custodian, 36 years

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Cobb schools 2019 valedictorians and salutatorians announced

May 24, 2019 10:43 AMMay 21, 2019 3:36 PM by Wendy Parker

William Ellsworth, Walton, Cobb schools 2019 valedictorians and salutatorians — *William Ellsworth, Walton High School*

The Cobb County School District on Tuesday announced the Class of 2019 valedictorians and salutatorians, and students from East Cobb schools had some of the highest grade-point averages in the county.

Walton’s William Ellsworth topped all seniors with a GPA of 4.875, and he’s headed to Stanford University. Walton’s salutatorian, Daniel Shu, has a GPA of 4.833, and he’s off to Vanderbilt.

All of the East Cobb vals and sals had GPAs in excess of 4.6, and many of those are going to Georgia Tech. The countywide average is 4.66 for the Class of 2019, which numbers more than 8,000 in 16 Cobb high schools.

CCSD said 94 percent of those graduates will be getting their diplomas on time, which is a record, and 75 percent are college-bound.

*Annabelle Alejandra Colmenares Mayz, Kell High School*

Cobb graduates have earned more than $118 million in scholarships, outside of the HOPE and Zell Mill scholarship programs. A total of $12 million in scholarships is going to Pope graduates.

Graduation started Tuesday afternoon for Kell. The other East Cobb schools’ graduation schedules are listed below, along with their valedictorians, salutatorians, GPAs, college choices and intended majors.

Kell (Tuesday, 3:30 p.m., KSU)
Valedictorian —Annabelle Alejandra Colmenares Mayz, 4.6.14, Stanford, material science and engineering
Salutatorian—Thomas Papageorge, 4.6, Georgia Tech, mathematics

Lassiter (Thursday, 2:30 pm., KSU)
Valedictorian—Kevin Barnard Goshay, 4.793, Harvard, applied mathematics
Salutatorian—Dennis Gregory Goldenberg, 4.759, Georgia Tech, mathematics

*Kevin Barnard Goshay, Lassiter High School*

Pope (Friday, 7 p.m., KSU)
Valedictorians—Nicole Yoojin Kang, 4.783, Georgia Tech, biology; and Edward Charles Kokan, 4.783, Georgia Tech, aerospace engineering
Salutatorian—Karen Sizhe Li, 4.75, Georgia Tech, biomedical engineering

Sprayberry (Saturday, 7 p.m., KSU)
Valedictorians—Yllona Maria Coronado, 4.656, Georgia Tech, biomedical engineering; and Anusha Kayastha, 4.656, Georgia Tech, neuroscience
Salutatorians—Samuel August Knobbe, 4.563, Georgia Tech, chemical engineering; and Matthew Robert Starker, 4.563, University of Georgia, finance

Walton (Friday, 10 a.m., KSU)
Valedictorian—William Ellsworth, 4.839, Stanford
Salutatorian—Daniel Shu, 4.803, Vanderbilt

Wheeler (Wednesday, 6:30 p.m., Wildcat Arena)
Valedictorian—Rucha Gharpure, 4.742, Cornell, computer science
Salutatorian—Keshav Shenoy, 4.727, Georgia Tech

The entire group of East Cobb valedictorians and salutatorians is shown in the slideshow below.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Georgia Scholars include 13 students from East Cobb schools

May 20, 2019 11:53 AMMay 20, 2019 9:39 AM by Wendy Parker

More academic honors for some seniors at East Cobb high schools, 13 of whom are part of the 19-strong Cobb contingent as Georgia Scholars, given by the Georgia Department of Education.

The Georgia Scholar program identifies students who:

“. . . Have achieved excellence in school and community life. Students eligible for Georgia Scholar recognition are high school seniors who exhibit excellence in all phases of school life, in community activities, and in the home.

“Georgia Scholars are students who have carried exemplary course loads during their four years of high school; who performed excellently in all courses; who successfully participated in interscholastic events at their schools and in their communities; and who have assumed active roles in extracurricular activities sponsored by their schools. Each Georgia Scholar receives a seal for his or her diploma.”

The East Cobb students come from four schools:

Kell: Anabelle Colmenares;
Lassiter: Kevin Goshay;
Pope: Megan Anderson, William Kim;
Walton: Jacob Alayof, Anjali Padiyar, Anika Park, Elizabeth Sims, Varun Krishnaswamy;
Wheeler: Sabrina Hampton, Stephanie Yao, Michelle Nader, Arya Mevada.

The other Cobb recipients hail from Allatoona, Harrison and Kennesaw Mountain.

State School Superintendent Richard Woods:

“The 2019 Georgia Scholars exemplify our mission of educating the whole child. They are well-rounded students who have engaged with a wide array of educational opportunities – from traditional classroom learning to community service. I congratulate each of these students and wish them well as they embark on their next steps after high school.”

If you’re thinking about next year’s awards, qualifying students can contact their counselor to get an application. Counselors, home school instructors and district coordinators can get on the distribution list by contacting Georgia DOE at askdoe@georgiadoe.org.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

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