Jackson Frangos, a rising senior at Wheeler High School, is among 100 students across the country chosen for a virtual internship this summer with the NASA Student Enhancement in Earth and Space Science (SEES) program.
The internships are sponsored by NASA and the Center for Space Research at the University of Texas at Austin. According to a Cobb County School District release, the interns “will work with scientists and engineers to conduct authentic research using data received from NASA’s earth-observing satellites to study air quality, landforms, mosquito-borne diseases, and astronomy.”
More than 2,000 students applied for the internships, which focus on aerospace or space science themes.
“Students work remotely with their project scientist to conduct hands-on activities, field investigations, collaborate with NASA scientists and engineers through science presentations, and work on various NASA missions,” the release said,
The interns will meet virtually in late July for a NASA SEES symposium to present their research findings to NASA engineers, researchers, scientists and others.
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Eight recent high school graduates from the East Cobb area were named recipients of National Merit Scholarships this week.
Jay Natu, Pope High School
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced a nationwide list of scholarships provided by the colleges and universities where the recipients will be attending in the fall.
The scholarship amounts range from $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study.
The recent recipients include Jay Natu, the salutatorian at Pope High School, who intends to study biochemistry at the University of Georgia.
Two of his Pope classmates also will be receiving National Merit Scholarships, and also are bound for UGA. They are Simon O’Connor (mathematics) and Michael Soule (business).
Two Wheeler recipients also will be headed to UGA in the fall: Diya A. Garrepally (pharmaceutical science) and Katherine Carter (health care).
Receiving a National Merit Auburn University Scholarship is Sarah Clark of Walton, who is interested in studying environmental engineering.
Zara Khan of East Cobb, who recently graduated from Campbell High School, has received a National Merit Scholarship to attend the University of Southern California, with a probable career field of linguistics.
Claire Petersen of East Cobb, who graduated from Blessed Trinity Catholic High School in Roswell, will be attending Vanderbilt University, where she plans to study applied mathematics.
Applicants had to reach the National Merit Scholarship finalist stage, were required to submit essays and detail extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions.
Their academic records included threshold scores on the SAT or SAT and students had to be recommended by a high school official.
The NMSC awarded scholarships to more than 6,870 high school seniors in 2024 totaling nearly $26 million.
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U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk and local legislators are the hosts of a fundraiser next week for three Republicans running for the Cobb Board of Education.
According to a “Cobb County School Board Town Hall Newsletter” sent out Monday by GOP school board member David Chastain, the event, dubbed “Keeping Cobb Schools Strong,” will take place Monday, June 10, at the 1885 Grill (4975 North Main Street, Acworth) from 6:30-8 p.m.
The host committee includes State Sens. Kay Kirkpatrick and John Albers (who have East Cobb constituencies) and Ed Setzler, as well as State Reps. Ginny Ehrhart and Devan Seabaugh.
Chastain is not up for re-election, but the other three school board seats held by Republicans are. The GOP has held a 4-3 majority since 2019 as partisan antagonisms have grown on a number of issues.
That includes Post 5 in East Cobb, where four-term incumbent David Banks is retiring from office. The lone Republican to qualify for the Nov. 8 election is Walton cluster parent John Cristadoro.
Cristadoro will face Democrat Laura Judge, also a Walton parent. Both are first-time candidates and declared their intent to run last spring.
In the May 21 primary, in which they were both unopposed, Cristadoro received 6,369 votes to 5,262 for Judge.
Until the 2018 elections, Republicans held a firm grip on local control in Cobb County government and the school board (6-1 majority) as well as the Cobb legislative delegation.
But the school board is all the GOP controls today.
Monday’s e-mail message from Chastain (from a Google e-mail address outside of the Cobb school district and referencing his Post 4 in Northeast Cobb) alluded to what’s at stake.
Cristadoro appeared in a short video thanking supporters for campaign contributions and noting the legislators who will be in attendance, especially Loudermilk, whose 11th District includes East Cobb.
“We’re bringing out the big guns,” Cristadoro said. “Why? They truly believe, as do I, of the importance of our schools, and what the future holds for our youngsters. That needs to be protected.
“There are lots of outside influences, national groups, that are going to come in and push their political agenda. It’s already being seen.”
He didn’t specify the groups or what those issues might be (East Cobb News has left a message seeking comment), but similar charges were made in 2022 when Chastain defeated Democrat Catherine Pozniak in a bitter campaign.
Two GOP incumbents are seeking re-election. Chairman Randy Scamihorn of Post 1 in North Cobb is being opposed by Vickie Benson in a rematch from the 2020 election, and he received only 96 more votes in their unopposed primary.
Brad Wheeler of Post 7 in West Cobb had a close re-election in 2020. His foe is Democrat Andrew Cole, and in their unopposed primary, Cole 6,637 votes to 5,602 for Wheeler.
Cole is a member of the Cobb Community Care Coalition that is highly critical of the Republican majority and Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale.
Scamihorn, a former Cobb educator who is completing his third term, is pledging his commitment to “keeping our students safe” as well as “keeping inappropriate books out of schools.”
That’s a reference to several books that were removed from Cobb school libraries during the 2023-24 school year due to sexually explicit content.
Wheeler, also a former Cobb teacher, is touting the same priorities.
The only Democrat on the November ballot is Post 3 incumbent Tre’ Hutchins, who is unopposed and had no primary opposition.
In his e-mail Monday, Chastain said that “I urge you to support leaders who embody common sense and a steadfast commitment to our community’s well-being.”
For information and to RSVP contact KeepStrongSchools4Cobb@gmail.com.
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At the end of the school year high school leaders in the Cobb County School District round up stories of what they call “inspiring seniors” to highlight around graduation.
Vanessa Washington, Kell High School
These students “stand out for their remarkable stories of perseverance, resilience, and achievement,” according to the district, and a number of them have overcome health obstacles and other hardships, or are recognized for their accomplishments in school and service to others in the community.
The Cobb school district provided information on “inspiring seniors” from every high school, and summaries of those students from schools in East Cobb, Class of 2024, are included below.
Kell High School Vanessa Washington played volleyball and was the yearbook editor, and in the classroom took multiple literature and writing classes. She has committed to play volleyball at the University of North Dakota and will be majoring in journalism.
Washington’s classmate, Ricky Solorzano, was a starting pitcher for the Kell varsity baseball team and assisted the school’s football and baseball athletic trainers. He has overcome learning challenges in his academic career, and according to school leaders, “puts in the extra hours, those optional hours not required by any individual, towards his learning and future.”
Solarzano’s mother is a Cobb elementary school teacher and “is an excellent representation of the CCSD mission statement of what it looks like to work as a team towards a goal for student success.” He plans to attend Andrew College in Cuthbert, Ga. next year on a baseball scholarship and to study health and exercise science.
Lassiter High School Kiara Evans will attend the University of Pittsburgh and was selected as a Chancellor’s Scholar for that research university. At Lassiter, she was involved in varsity basketball, being named an honorable mention selection for the All-Cobb County team, and track and field.
Samantha Marcus battled and overcame leukemia during high school while maintaining academic success with a rigorous AP schedule and earning a 4.45 GPA. She is involved in the Lassiter community and “a source of great pride for Trojan Nation,” according to school leaders.
Jennifer He, Walton High School
Pope High School Sebastian Torres Urzua came to Pope in 10th grade from his native Mexico, and not only learned English fluently, but also taught himself several programming languages – Python, Java, HTML, CSS, and Arduino. “Sebastian has the chops for a highly rigorous higher education and I’m excited to see how he succeeds in the future,” school leaders said.
At Pope, he played varsity tennis and “takes seriously all the activities he takes part in and puts full effort into those things.” His plans include majoring in industrial engineering and working in operations in the corporate world.
Sprayberry High School Jordan Tolliver, the school’s Class of 2024 salutatorian, started the school year undergoing an emergency appendectomy and had complications with the surgery. “We were unsure if Jordan would be able to keep up with his course load of all AP classes or if he would be able to return to school at all with the recovery from the surgeries,” school leaders said.
Tolliver earned all A’s when he returned to school, and is headed to the University of Pennsylvania.
Walton High School Jennifer He was a finalist for the 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholars as a senior, and will be attending Princeton University in the fall. Her last year at Walton included a variety of volunteer activities, including a role providing school supplies to homeless youth. For those efforts, she was awarded a scholarship by the East Cobb County Council of Parent Teacher Association. Her other scholarships include the 2024 InspirASIAN National and Doris L. Kays NJCL scholarships.
Wheeler High School
Jordan Tolliver, Sprayberry High School
Jay Imperatori was awarded one of Georgia Tech’s elite Stamps President’s Scholarships, awarded to the most promising students from across the nation to foster their development as scholars, leaders, and citizens of the greater community through purposeful programming, mentoring, and enhanced educational opportunities.
Marlon Louie endured the loss of his father and the school’s band director within a few weeks, and “has exemplified unwavering strength and optimism, inspiring all who know him,” school leaders said. In addition to music, Louie is involved in drama activities and a math teacher said he “continued to radiate positivity towards his peers and teachers.” According to his drama director, Nicholas Morrett, Louie demonstrated “boundless energy and unwavering positivity.”
Alex Morrisette was told that he would not be able to graduate. He has attended four different schools during his high school career. He took six classes this year and was able to graduate on time, with plans to enlist in the Air Force.
Addison Kowall “excels in everything that she does, a Wheeler teacher said. “She is an incredible dancer, student and friends. She lost her father at a young age, but she remains positive. She loves teaching dance to young students at Rhythm Dance Center.”
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(Front) Margy Rogers, Kiwanis Club Marietta Golden K; Mila Kornuth, Silver Peb award winner and Dana Popovich, Kiwanis. (Back) Jim Perry and Paul Smith, Kiwanis
Submitted information and photos:
In May of 2024, The Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K proudly presented the coveted Silver Pen award to students from 5 Cobb County Elementary Schools. Fourth graders from Acworth, Addison, Powers Ferry, Rocky Mount and Tritt Elementary Schools were presented with the award. In addition, a FIFTH GRADE Silver Pen award was presented to a student from Powers Ferry Elementary School.
The awards included: A Silver Pen; $25 dollars in cash in the form of uncirculated 1 dollar coins from a US mint and an engraved plaque
The topic of the essays that the 4th grade (and 5th grade) students wrote about this year was “What They Want to be When When Grow Up.” The essays were submitted for judging at the school level, then winning essays from each school were further submitted for judging by a team of Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K judges. After the rigorous judging process was completed, final Silver Pen award winners from each school were announced.
As Jim Perry, past president of Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K stated, “There were some first this year that are worthy of note:
We presented six awards this year, which is an all time record, adding two new schools: Addison and Powers Ferry.
We presented the first Fifth Grade Silver Pen Award ever anywhere in the Georgia District of Kiwanis at Powers Ferry Elementary School.
The winning student at Acworth Elementary School has been taught by a teacher who has now had four Silver Pen Award Winners!
The mother of the winning student at Acworth Elementary School was a Key Club member when she attended North Cobb High School!
Parents, faculty, staff, and Kiwanis members were privileged to recognize these talented students who displayed their respective thinking and writing skills.
Acworth – Elias Nunez – Pilot
Addison – Mila Kornuth – Pro Golfer
Powers Ferry – 4th Grade – Isaque Fernandes – Professional Soccer Player
The Silver Pen award is a national award and everyone is extremely proud of these exceptional writers. We wholeheartedly congratulate them and we are confident that these talented writers will be successful in whatever professions they choose.
(L-R) Paul Smith, president of Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K; Jim Perry, Kiwanis; Gitma Davis (mom), Quinnlyn Davis, Silver Pen award winner; Nate Davis (dad) and Dana Popovich, Kiwanis.
Paul Smith, Kiwanis; Lucy Hostetler, Silver Pen award winner: Jim Perry and Dana Popovich, Kiwanis.
(L-R) Jim Perry, Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K; Paul Smith, President Kiwanis; Jaden Artiga Hernandez, 5th grade Silver Pen winner; Isaque Fernandes, 4th grade Silver Pen winner, Rosie Teague and Dana Popovich, Kiwanis.
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“The sexualization of children can never become normalized,” Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday, and not for the first time during a contentious 2023-24 school year.
The 2023-24 academic year in the Cobb County School District ended just as the way it started on a key cultural issue that has been roiling public schools around the country:
The removal of books from school libraries and classrooms that contain sexually explicit and adult-themed material.
What critics have called “book bans” that amount to censorship, Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale insists are measures to protect students from harmful materials and prioritize parental rights.
At a Cobb Board of Education meeting last week, Ragsdale fired back at his critics for a third time since the flap began last September.
During his monthly remarks, Ragsdale blasted a civil rights complaint filed against the Cobb school district by the National Women’s Law Center, saying the removals have created a hostile environment for students of color, as well as from the LGBTQ community and other groups.
“Flamer”—which features a gay youth coming to terms with his sexuality—is one of the books pulled from Cobb school district shelves.
The NWLC action was filed with the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Education, and includes allegations that the Cobb school district shut down attempts to create a gay-student alliance at Walton High School.
The complaint asks for the removed books to be restored to Cobb school library shelves and for future removals to be halted.
The complaint also wants the Cobb school district to create clear mission statements and policies that “value diversity and are committed to ensuring safe, inclusive, and supportive campuses free from discrimination.”
But Ragsdale said the allegations are “lies …. spread by an out-of-state political action group that seeks to impose their political agenda on our children.”
Cobb has removed seven titles from school bookshelves during the past school year, out of more than a million pieces of materials that he said represent a wide variety of diverse elements and perspectives.
Following complaints by parents about the books, Ragsdale said the district found them to be lewd, vulgar and sexually explicit.
“This complaint isn’t about any facts, but an attempt to push a specific political agenda of a D.C.-based advocacy group on the students and citizens of Cobb County,” Ragsdale said.
“We will not bow to their demands to break the law, and we will always protect the students of Cobb County no matter their gender, race, nationality, religion or any other protected class.
“I will not be moved. The sexualization of children can never become normalized.”
Laura Judge
Om Sunday, the district reiterated the message on its social media channels, pledging to update parents when books are removed for explicit and graphic content.
“Some will continue to fight for sexually explicit content in schools, to flip our Board majority in November, and to remove our Superintendent and staff.”
A part of that message prompted a response from a school board candidate from East Cobb.
Democrat Laura Judge posted on her candidate Facebook page Monday that “it’s problematic that we have a district communication team that continues to lean politically one way with posting their fear of ‘flipping the board majority.’ “
Judge is seeking the Post 5 seat being vacated by Republican David Banks. Republicans have a 4-3 majority on the school board, and three of those seats are on the November ballot. She and Republican John Cristadoro, both parents in the Walton cluster, will be facing off in the general election.
That partisan wrangling has been at the heart of a number of school board disputes in recent years, and the book removals are no exception.
The Cobb school district’s social media thread on Sunday referenced a partisan 4-3 vote by the board to extend Ragsdale’s contract in February, calling it an attempt to “heighten political pressure” against the Republican majority and the superintendent.
Parents critical of Ragsdale and who regularly address the board at meetings have started an informal “public comment book club” in a social media group to read the titles that have been removed in Cobb schools. A few wondered if the Bible also has been removed, in tongue-in-cheek fashion.
“All that talk about incest, rape, prostitution, nudity and the like. Lewd, lewd, lewd!” said one parent, with another linking to just such a decision in schools in Utah, and with passages from the Old Testament.
But other parents said that they found the books inappropriate for the schools, with one saying that “perhaps you could show your children this material if it is important to you, rather than fight to get it disseminated to others’ children.”
Judge, who has said occasionally that the school board composition shouldn’t be partisan, said in her Facebook post Monday that “until we have a board that is willing to hold the superintendent accountable for actual problems we have within our schools, rather than this manufactured one that has happened under the current majority and/or leadership, we will continue to see our students and schools treated as political pawns by this district on their social posts or through our CTLS platform.”
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As graduation ceremonies take place this week, the Cobb County School District on Tuesday announced the Class of 2024 valedictorians and salutatorians.
Overall, the valedictorians in the Cobb school district combined for an average grade-point average of 4.697, with salutatorians at 4.659.
Nine seniors from high schools in East Cobb had grade-point averages above 4.7, and two were above 4.8, both from Walton: Valedictorian Ethan Ju and salutatorian Xiyuan Li.
Ju’s grade-point-average of 4.86 is the highest for a student in the Cobb school district, which has announced a Class of 2024 of around 8,000 seniors.
What follows are the vals and sals from the six East Cobb high schools, their GPAs, college choices and intended majors.
Seven of the vals and sals from East Cobb are headed to Georgia Tech, with others bound for UGA, Penn, Cornell, Rice, and MIT.
Kell High School
Valedictorian— Claire Lanaghan, 4.703, Georgia Tech, physics
Salutatorian—Ajanay Butts, 4.648, Rice University, biology
Lassiter High School
Valedictorian—Kelly Wu, 4.768, Georgia Tech, biomedical engineering
Salutatorian—Ruhi Datar, 4.75, Cornell University, history
Pope High School
Valedictorian—Bryce Chapin, 4.796, Georgia Tech, industrial engineering
Salutatorian—Jay Natu, 4.779, Georgia Tech, biochemistry
Sprayberry High School
Valedictorian—Isabella Sternagle, 4.692, University of Georgia, biology
Salutatorian—Jordan Toliver, 4.656, University of Pennsylvania, economics and computer science
Walton High School
Valedictorian—Ethan Ju, 4.86, Georgia Tech, computer science
Salutatorian—Xijuan Li, 4.821, Georgia Tech, industrial engineering
Wheeler High School
Valedictorian—Zachary Tong, 4.766, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, computer science
Salutatorian—Richard Kang, 4.758, Georgia Tech, electrical engineering
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More than 8,000 high school seniors in the Cobb County School District will be graduating this week.
The Class of 2024 will have commencement exercises from Monday-Saturday, mostly at the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center, including all six high schools in East Cobb:
More graduation information can be found here; it includes more details about each school’s commencement and venue information, including directions and a KSU campus map, tickets and a graduation contract.
In 2023, the Cobb County School District’s graduation rate was 87.7 percent, second in metro Atlanta to Fulton County (90.3 percent).
Those are federally-calculated figures that include students enrolled for a single day of high school. Walton’s 96.3 percent was fourth in the Cobb, behind 98.4 percent at Lassiter, and 97 percent at Harrison and Hillgrove.
Pope’s graduation rate was 95.6 last year, followed by Kell (93.8), Wheeler (90.7) and Sprayberry 87.5.
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L-R: Tucker Smith (Mt. Bethel Elementary School Principal), Community Development Representative William Wesley (Delta Community), Youth essay winner Alexander Goldband and his mother, and Branch Manager Corey Higman (Delta Community).
Submitted information and photo:
Six elementary school students from Cobb County were among the winners of Delta Community Credit Union’s 2024 Youth Essay Contest. There were 21 winners selected from more than 170 entries. Cobb had the most winners of any county in metro Atlanta this year. Each of the winning essayists will receive a $100 Delta Community Youth Savings Account.
The winners from Cobb County are:
Dara Du, third grader from East Side Elementary
Fiona McMillan, third grader from Teasley Elementary
SaiVinayak Anantharaman, fourth grader from Teasley Elementary
Alexander Goldband, fifth grader from Mount Bethel Elementary
Spencer Kehinde, fifth grader from Bryant Elementary
Delaney Stimac, fifth grader from East Side Elementary
The contest was open to third, fourth and fifth graders across metro Atlanta, and seven winners from each grade level were selected. Students were asked to write an essay about what they would do to make an impact at their school if they had unlimited money.
Many of the winning essays described increasing salaries for teachers and staff, offering after-school programs, providing healthier foods and snacks and buying playground equipment for students with special needs. Some unique student ideas to invest in their schools and classmates included establishing a trade school on campus, getting therapy dogs for students, and creating a community garden to help fight hunger.
Delta Community launched the contest in 2016 to recognize the importance of youth financial education and invest in future generations. The winners were contacted in late April in celebration of National Youth Month.
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New principals were appointed to four public schools in East Cobb on Thursday for the 2024-25 academic year.
Stephanie Santoro
During its May voting session, the Cobb Board of Education ratified the appointment of a number of principal and central office administrators, after emerging from an executive session.
They include Dr. Stephanie Santoro, who is the new principal at Walton High School.
She has been an assistant principal at Walton and has been at the school for 20 years in a variety of teaching an administrative capacities.
Santoro succeeds Richard Tischler, who was appointed to principal in 2022.
At Simpson Middle School, Dr. David Church is the new principal. He had been an assistant principal at Cobb Horizon High School and also has been an assistant principal at Wheeler High School.
He succeeds Dr. LaEla Mitchell, who was appointed to Simpson in 2021.
Kendra Brooks is leaving as principal of Murdock Elementary School to become principal at Bells Ferry Elementary School.
Kendra Brooks
Brooks has served in a number of East Cobb schools, including Sope Creek Elementary School. She has been Murdock’s principal since 2021 and at Bells Ferry, she succeeds Gail May, who has retired.
Murdock’s new principal is Zach Mathis, who has been an assistant principal at King Springs ES.
He has been an elementary school teacher and administrator in the Cobb County School District, including a stint as assistant principal at Sedalia Park Elementary School.
In addition, Sarah Ostrander, an assistant principal at East Side Elementary School, has been appointed principal at LaBelle ES.
Their new tenures will begin on July 1, the start of the fiscal year 2025 for the Cobb school district.
The Cobb school board also voted to extend the contracts of school district executive staff. Among them are Chief Accountability and Strategy Officer John Floresta.
When his name was announced, a spectator in the audience shouted “Fire Floresta!” Board Democrat Tre’ Hutchins sought to remove a staff member he identified only by a number, but his motion failed 3-4 along partisan lines.
The audience member continued to shout, and she and another person were removed from the room. They were identified as Melissa Marten and Jennifer Susko, part of a group called the Community Care Coalition.
The group wants Superintendent Chris Ragsdale and Floresta terminated. Last September, the group complained about a change in procedures to sign up to speak during public comment, saying they were physically injured in a scuffle after the registration table location was moved.
Floresta’s office is in charge of those procedures as well as media and public relations. Susko filed an open records request that revealed that Floresta and his unit planned a new location, with the aim of limiting anti-Ragsdale commenters.
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The Cobb Board of Education Thursday approved a $1.8 billion fiscal year operating budget that includes across-the-board pay raises for full-time employees.
With little discussion, the board voted 6-0 to approve the budget.
For the second year in a row, vice chairman David Banks of Post 5 in East Cobb voted present. He didn’t indicate a reason, but last year voted present because he wanted the board to further reduce the property tax millage rate.
A public speaker urged the board during its final hearing on the budge Thursday to reduce the property tax rate, following another year of rising assessments in Cobb County.
The FY 2025 budget is based on a property tax rate of 18.7 mills (the millage rate is formally adopted in July, after the county tax digest is published).
Cobb school district full-time employees will be getting raises between 4.4 percent to 9 percent, which Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said represents an “employee-centric” budget.
Some other members of the public were critical of the district’s spending $50 million for a new special-events facility (that isn’t part of the FY ’25 budget) they said could be better-spent elsewhere.
The budget takes effect on July 1, the start of the fiscal year 2025 in the Cobb school district.
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The budget would maintain a property tax rate of 18.7 mills, holding from last year, when the school board reduced that rate by 0.2 percent to offset rising assessments.
A citizens group called the Watching the Funds-Cobb asked for additional public hearings to be held to give the public time to read through and comment on the budget.
But that isn’t happening, so the group held an online forum last week, inviting all seven board members. Only two, Democrats Nichelle Davis and Becky Sayler, took part.
The school board is scheduled to hold a work session starting at 2 p.m. Thursday that includes a demographics study update.
After that, the board will go into an executive session before the evening public meetings.
At the 7 p.m. meeting, recognitions include state literary champions, including Nathaniel Long of Wheeler High School, as well as the Georgia STAR student and teacher, Omer Mustafa Inan and Tamara Hollingsworth of Walton High School.
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“For the Future,” a film by Riya Kumar, a 7th grader at Simpson Middle School, has received the National PTA Award of Excellence in Film Production (Middle School division) in the 2023-2024 National PTA Reflections program. The Award of Excellence includes a $200 Young Artist Scholarship, Silver Medal, Certificate of Excellence, and her work will be featured in the National PTA Reflections virtual exhibition.
To be awarded the National PTA Award of Excellence, the piece must be one of the 3 or 4 top-scoring entries for its division/arts category in the nation! School winners PTA round. Georgia PTA then judged the artwork by division, each of which encompass multiple grade levels, making these recognitions extremely selective.The first place winners advanced to the National PTA Reflections competition.
Congratulations to Riya on this incredible accomplishment!
About Reflections: The National PTA Reflections program provides opportunities for recognition and access to the arts which boost student confidence and success in the arts and in life. Each year, over 300,000 students in Pre-K-12 create original works of art in response to a student-created theme. This 50+ year-old program helps them explore their own thoughts, feelings and ideas, develop artistic literacy, increase confidence and find a love for learning that will help them become more successful in school and in life.
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“Flamer” was among the books removed from Cobb school district libraries last fall for sexually explicit content.
A federal civil rights legal advocacy organization has filed a complaint against the Cobb County School District for its removal of more than two dozen books from school libraries.
The National Women’s Law Center on Monday said it was asking for federal investigations into the removals in Cobb as well as public schools in Collier County, Fla., for what it claimed was “creating a hostile environment for students through practices that include censoring books and learning materials that feature, tell the stories of, or are written by LGBTQIA+ people and people of color.”
The Cobb school district, in two separate actions last fall and in April, removed books Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said contained “lewd, vulgar and sexually graphic content.”
The moves, which included defenses of those decisions by Ragsdale, were criticized by some parents, students and teacher advocates in Cobb as censorship.
The NWLC is claiming those actions violate Title IX, a federal law banning sex discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal aid, as well as Title VII of the 1964 U.S. Civil Rights Act.
“Censorship of books sends a message to students of color and LGBTQIA+ students that they do not belong, that they are not safe to be who they are, and that they do not deserve to be reflected in what they read and learn,” said Melody Oliphant, Executive Director of the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition, which has been outspoken against the book removals, in a release issued by the NWLC.
The release also quoted an unnamed Cobb school district student who said that the book removals have “created fear in all students — especially Black, brown, and LGBTQIA+ students — that they are not safe to go to school every day.”
One example cited in the complaint involves Walton High School, where the NWLC alleges an effort by students to form a Gay-Straight Alliance was shut down by the Cobb school district.
Cobb also is at the heart of a related controversy, after Due West Elementary School teacher Katie Rinderle was fired for reading a book to her fifth-grade class about gender identity.
Cobb said its dismissal was prompted by a new “divisive concepts” law. Rinderle’s appeal to the Georgia Board of Education was denied, and she has filed a lawsuit against the Cobb school district.
The NWLC is asking for the removed books to be restored to Cobb school library shelves and for future removals to be halted.
The complaint also wants the Cobb school district to create clear mission statements and policies that “value diversity and are committed to ensuring safe, inclusive, and supportive campuses free from discrimination.”
Ragsdale has been adamant in defending the book removals on both occasions, reading from lengthy prepared remarks.
In April, after four more books were removed from shelves, he indicated that there will likely be further removals as district officials continue to examine the appropriateness of those titles.
“We are no more ‘banning books’ than we are banning rated R and NC17 movies,” he said last month. “What we are doing is not forcing taxpayers to fund students having unrestricted access to materials that are so sexually explicit and graphic they could not be read aloud in the board meeting without violating FCC regulations.
“What we are doing is giving parents peace of mind in knowing their children will not have unrestricted access to this content while at school.
“What we are doing is assuring Cobb County educators will not be forced to assume the heavy burden of incorporating lewd, vulgar, and sexually explicit materials into instruction and student conversations.
“What we are doing is refusing to force Cobb County taxpayers and educators to facilitate and advance the sexualization of children.”
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Bells Ferry ES Principal Gail May served 38 years in the Cobb County School District.
Cobb County School District employees who are retiring at the end of the current academic year were honored at a luncheon last week at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
They include Bells Ferry Elementary School Principal Gail May, who is concluding a 38-year career in the district.
She’s among the more than 200 personnel—teachers, bus drivers, principals, food services assistants, an assistant superintendent, and a variety of support staff—who contributed nearly 5,000 years of service, according to the district.
Here are the retirees from schools in East Cobb:
Addison ES: Tanya Sattelmeier
Bells Ferry ES: Randa T. Burden, Gail May, Will Tyler
Blackwell ES: Lisa J. Casazza
Brumby ES: Charlene Elizabeth Brisco, Lorri Ocker
Daniell MS: Frances Hebb
Davis ES: Kathryn Farrar Bernier, Laura Welch
Dickerson MS: Maureen Andrizzi, Tammi Jacobson
Dodgen MS: Debbie Amodeo, Daniel J. Clark, John Jeffres, Kimberly Solomon
East Cobb MS: Denise Boykin, Chenedra Garnigan, Aleem Shaw, Leetonia A. Young
East Side ES: Renee Mitchell
Eastvalley ES: Sandra Magee
Garrison Mill ES: Donna Bramlett, Robin A. Brown
Hightower Trail MS: Janet Grooms, Teresa Mullaney
Keheley ES: Jennifer Eitenmiller
Kincaid ES: Mandy Gai Robertson, Vicki L. Scheffel, Patricia J. Williams
Lassiter HS: Wylie Brown, Lynne McLaughlin, Carol Pizza, Ann Rives, Paul Stadtmuller
Mabry MS: Daisy Tsui
McCleskey MS: Lisa Day
Murdock ES: Christy Garvin, Brenda J. Holmquist
Nicholson ES: Michele Myers, Kelley Cone O’Hare
Pope HS: Mary Bowen, Elizabeth Bristol Malte, Jenny Young
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LGE Community Credit Union is proud to announce that Sabrina Xing of Wheeler High School is the winner of a $2,500 scholarship through LGE’s 2024 Scholarship Program. These awards are designed to support educational opportunities for exceptional high school seniors from Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Douglas, Floyd, Fulton, Gordon, and Paulding counties.
She is one of nine students receiving the scholarships, which total $22,500.
“The LGE Scholarship Program reflects our commitment to supporting the education and development of the next generation,” said Chris Leggett, president and CEO of LGE Community Credit Union. “We are proud to invest in the futures of these students as they pursue their academic and professional goals.”
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After more than 500 Cobb County School District teachers enrolled in an all-expenses-paid online graduate degree program last year, the district announced Friday it is expanding that offer.
The district said in a release Friday afternoon that Georgia’s BEST (Building Educator Success Together) will add 200 more enrollment slots for classes that begin in August.
Teachers get their degrees from the University of West Georgia. When Georgia’s BEST was unveiled last year, the district approved spending $500,000 for a proof of concept proposal that also included certificate programs.
The district release Friday didn’t indicate if any additional funding would be required for the expansion.
Cobb schools superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Georgia’s BEST is designed not only to improve teacher retention, but to broaden professional development in the classroom.
Certified staff and paraprofessionals have until May 10 to file an application of interest form, including those who applied last year but were not enrolled.
Nearly 500 slots will be filled for the upcoming academic year. The August cohort degree programs include education specialist, a master’s in special education, an MAT in special education and an educational doctorate in school improvement.
The January cohort programs include education specialist and master’s of education in instructional technology.
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Omer Mustafa Inan, second from right, of Walton HS, is the 2024 State PAGE STAR Student. Tamara Hollingsworth, second from left, an English teacher at Walton, is the State PAGE STAR Teacher. With them are Vickie Hammond, left, a member of the PAGE Board of Directors, and PAGE Executive Director Craig Harper. Photo courtesy of PAGE.
Submitted information and photo:
Omer Mustafa Inan, a senior at George Walton Comprehensive High School in Marietta, Ga., is the 2024 State PAGE (Professional Association of Georgia Educators) STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Recognition) Student. He named Walton’s Tamara Hollingsworth, an English teacher, as his STAR Teacher. As this year’s State PAGE STAR Student, Inan won a $7,500 scholarship from PAGE, and as State PAGE STAR Teacher, Hollingsworth received a $7,500 cash award from the Frances Wood Wilson Foundation.
Parv Mahajan, a senior at Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology in Lawrenceville, Ga., is the State Runner-up PAGE STAR Student. He named Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology’s Julia Rachkovskiy, a computer science teacher, as his STAR Teacher. Mahajan received the $2,500 SouthState Bank Scholarship, and Rachkovskiy $2,500 SouthState Bank Award and the $500 Mozelle Christian Award.
Twenty-seven PAGE STAR Student Region Winners were state finalists in the annual STAR program for high school seniors.
The search for the State PAGE STAR Student began earlier this school year with the naming of local STAR Students from more than 600 participating public and independent high schools across the state. In turn, those STAR Students then recognized the teacher who had the most influence on their success as their STAR Teacher.
To obtain the STAR nomination, high school seniors must have the highest score on any single test date of the SAT and must be in the top 10 percent or top 10 students of their class, based on GPA.
“Recognizing these outstanding students and their teachers in region events and then at the state event each year is our great honor,” said PAGE Executive Director Craig Harper. “We are pleased to be a major sponsor and administrator for the STAR program to ensure that Georgia’s excellent students and teachers receive the attention they’ve earned through their success.”
Sponsors for the 2024 State PAGE STAR awards are PAGE, the PAGE Foundation, the Frances Wood Wilson Foundation, SouthState Bank, and the Mozelle Christian Endowment.
As the largest independent educator association in the state and nation, the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE) exists to support our members who serve in every Georgia public school. PAGE provides unparalleled legal coverage, legislative advocacy, professional learning, grants, and scholarships. PAGE honors and encourages educational excellence through student programs including Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR), Future Georgia Educators (FGE), Georgia Academic Decathlon (GAD), and PAGE Academic Bowl for Middle Grades.
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Present and previous educators and staffers at Hightower Trail Middle School recently celebrated together the school’s 30th anniversary with a photo-and-memorabilia walk down memory lane.
The Cobb County School District said in a release that the commemoration in the school’s media center included refreshments, laughs and plenty of nostalgia.
The tribute included composite staff photos from the past three decades, honoring “the the dedicated individuals who have played a pivotal role in shaping the school’s identity and fostering a culture of excellence.”
The event also took place on the same day of Hightower Trail’s Night of the Arts, highlighted by musical performances by students.
Hightower Trail opened its doors off Post Oak Tritt Road at the start of the 1993-94 school year, helping ease growing middle school attendance in the Pope High School cluster.
“We were beyond thrilled with the overwhelming turnout for our 30th Anniversary Celebration,” Hightower Trail principal Dr. Hannah Polk said in the release.
“How gratifying for the entire Hightower Trail family to witness current and former staff members become reacquainted and share their favorite husky memories. It is an honor and privilege to serve this incredible community as we look forward to the next 30 years of celebrating student success at Hightower Trail Middle School.”
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A citizens group that scrutinizes Cobb County School District finances is inviting the public to an online information session next week to go over the proposed fiscal year 2025 budget.
Watching the Funds-Cobb (Facebook page) said the Zoom call is scheduled for next Tuesday, May 7, at 7 p.m. It’s open to anyone who wants to take part, but you must register in advance by going to this link.
Those who sign up will get a confirmation e-mail with more information about the session.
Watching the Funds-Cobb said that all seven Cobb Board of Education members have been asked to serve as panelists, but only Becky Sayler of Post 2 has agreed. The budget session will, according to its event listing:
help taxpayers understand the budget
earn about new laws going into effect impacting our property taxes, millage rates and district funding
learn how to contact board members to provide input into the budget, as allowed by law.
The Cobb school district’s proposed budget is $1.85 billion, up from the current FY 2024 budget of $1.5 billion that lasts through June 30.
It includes pay raises for most full-time employees ranging from 4.4 percent to 9 percent, and holds the property tax rate at 18.7 mills.
(Proposed FY 2025 budget documents can be found by clicking here.)
The budget was presented to the Cobb school board and was tentatively adopted, which means the district can properly advertise it to the public.
Formal adoption is scheduled for May 16, following the second required public hearing.
But Watching the Funds-Cobb was among those last week calling for more opportunities for public comment on the budget, especially given the significant spending increase.
Some complained the public hadn’t had time to look through the extensive documents which were posted only a short time before the first public hearing last Thursday, hours after the budget presentation.
“Sadly, you hold the minimum hearings required by law, and you hold them on the same day of these votes,” Watching the Funds-Cobb leader Heather Tolley Bauer said, noting how other local school districts provide citizens more opportunities to review and comment on their budgets.
“While they give their stakeholders months, you give us only hours, sending a clear message that you want our money but not our opinions.”
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