The Walton Raiders will open their season again at the Corky Kell Classic, along with the Kell Longhorns, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. (East Cobb News file photo)
Earlier this week we reported from the East Cobb Pigskin Preview breakfast about what the coaches of East Cobb high school football teams had to say about their squads.
Friday scrimmages were the final tuneups as five of the six teams get started with regular season games starting this week.
On Friday, three teams will be in action. The Lassiter Trojans are playing at home against Harrison; Sprayberry plays at South Forsyth; and Wheeler visits Lambert. Kickoff times are all at 7:30 p.m.
On Saturday is the return of the Corky Kell Classic, to be played at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta, and it will be an early morning for the Kell Longhorns and Walton Raiders.
The Longhorns play at 9 a.m. against East Coweta, followed at 11:45 a.m. by Walton against Mill Creek. If you can’t attend, here is viewing information.
The Pope Greyhounds don’t get started until next Friday, Aug. 24, when they play at Lassiter in the first all-East Cobb game of the season.
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Fred Veeder is overcome with emotion as Cobb schools supterintendent Chris Ragsdale announced Friday he’s the district’s teacher of the year for 2018. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
The Cobb schools teacher of the year presentation was disguised as something else for the seventh grade class at Dodgen Middle School Friday morning.
In order to keep a secret, and surprise the recipient, seventh grade teacher Fred Veeder, students were assembled into the auditorium and told they would be hearing from a Pearl Harbor survivor.
The special visit was even noted on the school marquee.
When the he took the stage Friday morning, his voice broke a little as he thanked his administration, fellow teachers, students and Cobb County School District staff.
“I feel so honored, so blessed,” Veeder said. “I feel like I have two families.”
As in his previous honor, Veeder mentioned his mother, a retired seventh grade math teacher herself (and who also was in attendance Friday) for help instilling the values and the desire to become a teacher.
After years as a gas station owner, Veeder finished his college education and began teaching at Dodgen 15 years ago. He said being named the district’s teacher of the year is an honor for the whole school, not just himself.
“There are so many wonderful teachers at this school that I have taken so many good things from” as a teacher, he said, his voice choking with emotion from time to time.
“It’s a blessing beyond belief. I don’t feel like this is just my award. This is Dodgen’s award, and I’m just a part of the family.”
Veeder will next be in the running for the Georgia teacher of the year award. Other high-ranking Cobb schools officials were in attendance, as were East Cobb-area Cobb school board members Scott Sweeney, David Banks and David Chastain and chairman Brad Wheeler.
He was also thanked by Dodgen principal Dr. Loralee Hill, who has said of Veeder that he is ” a legend in our community.”
As the pep rally closed, she told him that “We are so blessed that you are here.”
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Walton football coach Daniel Brunner welcomes back many talented players from last year’s 11-1 team including Dominick Blaylock (third from left), a star wide receiver who’s heading to UGA. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
At the East Cobb Pigksin Preview breakfast Thursday morning, high school football coaches took time out from pre-school weightlifting, teaching and other activities to share their thoughts on the coming season with community business leaders.
The breakfast was held by the East Cobb Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce at the Indian Hills Country Club. Coaches brought key players and school administrators also attended.
All six coaches from last season are back, after four of the six East Cobb high schools introduced new coaches last year. Here are brief overviews five of the coaches gave about their teams at the breakfast. Kell High School coaches were not in attendance.
Jep Irwin, Lassiter (6-4 in 2017)
Jep Irwin is in his 10th season as Lassiter coach.
The Trojans will be without a seasoned quarterback for the first time in many years. “No one on our roster has any varsity experience,” Irwin said. One of those vying for the starting job “needs to step forward” to fill a leadership role and to provide confidence for the rest of the team.
“We lost a lot of seniors, the skill players on offense, and we will be young in the secondary.”
Lassiter is playing a home scrimmage Friday against Sprayberry at 7 p.m. Season opener is Aug. 17 against Harrison.
Brett Vavra, Sprayberry (2-8 in 2017)
The second-year coach said creating a culture of “old school football” has been the Yellow Jackets’ priority during the off-season, and they’ve addressed those changes in the weight room and with their strength and conditioning program.
“We want to become a more physical football team,” said Vavra, a former Sprayberry player. The team’s motto is “TPW,” or “Tough People Win,” and it’s about instilling mental as well as physical toughness.
Sprayberry was young last season, and graduated nine seniors. Now there are around 30 seniors, and 19 starters are returning.
“I think we have the tools to win some games,” Vavra said. “But we’re not just about wanting to win. We’ve got an awesome group of players who have been working hard. I can’t wait to see how it translates on the field.”
Tab Griffin, Pope (4-7 in 2017)
Pope’s Zack Owens has signed to play college football at Georgia Tech.
The Greyhounds reached the playoffs in their first season under Tab Griffin a former Pope player. Senior wide receiver Zack Owens, is a versatile two-way player, and pre-season practices have emphasized how to efficiently use his talents.
“He’s our go-to guy, he’s going to touch the football,” Griffin said, adding that Owens may see less time as a defensive back because of Pope’s grueling schedule. It calls for 10 consecutive games without a bye week.
Pope has 15 starters returning. “We want to take the mindset that we have a playoff caliber team,” Griffin said. “Our schedule isn’t favorable for that, but as I tell our players, that’s life.”
Daniel Brunner, Walton (11-1 in 2017)
After reaching the state playoffs, the Raiders will step into an even brighter spotlight in 2018. And not just because the Raiders have many of their key players returning, including UGA-bound wide receiver Dominick Blaylock.
On Sept. 14, Walton plays host to defending Class 7-A state champion North Gwinnett at Raider Valley, in a game to be nationally televised on ESPN. The Raiders were the only team to defeat North Gwinnett last season. Brunner said keeping distractions to a minimum will be essential.
“It’s a good platform for our kids and branding for our program and for our sport in the state,” Brunner, a former Walton assistant, said of the North Gwinnett game. “But it’s all about the process” and keeping to a disciplined regimen for what could be another banner season in Raider Valley.
Brunner said of 2017, his first year at the helm, “we had a successful season because we didn’t have drama.”
One concern he has is that Walton will be young and inexperienced on the offensive line.
Michael Collins, Wheeler (2-8 in 2017)
“We were rebuilding last year with lots of young guys,” Collins said. But the Wildcats were competitive in some of those close games they lost, and he’s looking for better results this year.
“I love coaching this team,” said Collins, who is starting his 10th season at Wheeler. “They’re young, and they have very high character.”
Wheeler opens the season on Aug. 17 at Lambert and plays its first home game the following week in its traditional East Cobb rivalry against Sprayberry.
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Press release from the Cobb County School District:
The National PTA organization recently named three Cobb schools as Schools of Excellence for 2018-2020: Davis Elementary School, King Springs Elementary School, and Dodgen Middle School.
The three Cobb schools were among only 278 schools nationwide to achieve the recognition for helping to empower parents to support student success. Cobb’s PTA Schools of Excellence accounted for almost 18 percent of the Georgia schools on the list.
According Davis Elementary PTA Co-President, Melissa Monroe, the award is a direct reflection of the hard work done by their community to help make Davis Elementary such a special place.
“This award recognizes the efforts of all our many volunteers and families who work together to help strengthen relationships at our school. Davis PTA hopes to continue building an environment where all families feel welcomed and empowered. The success of our students is our number one priority, and PTA is thrilled to have such a strong relationship with the school,” Monroe said.
The President of the National PTA, Jim Accomando, reinforced Monroe’s thoughts in his own statement, “Research shows that when families and schools work together, students do better in school and schools improve. Davis Elementary, King Springs Elementary and Dodgen Middle and their PTA and PTSA programs have worked hard to strengthen their family-school partnership and create an environment where all families feel welcomed and empowered to support student success. We are pleased to recognize them as National PTA Schools of Excellence.”
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Thanks to the Cobb County School District’s communications office for the photos from today’s ride-along for Nicholson Elementary students who aren’t as familiar with that “back to school” feeling as those in the higher grades.
That’s because they’re kindergarteners and first-graders getting ready for the first day of classes on Wednesday as the 2018-19 school year begins.
They got up early with their parents to ride the school bus, and were greated by teachers and staff. They also got greetings and special messages from the CCSD transportation staff on how to be safe riders on the buses.
The Chick-fil-A cow, the CCSD’s transportation mascot Hawkeye (in the background below) and Kell High School students took part in the ride-along festivities at Nicholson, and they were repeated at other schools in the district.
Nicholson is one of seven East Cobb schools to have new principals this year. Faith Harmeyer comes over from Mt. Bethel Elementary School, where she had been an assistant principal.
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East Cobb Middle School students and staff join Superintendent Chris Ragsdale (third from right) and Principal Leetonia Young (second from right) to cut the ribbon Tuesday morning. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
The doors opened to new campuses for Brumby Elementary and East Cobb Middle School Tuesday morning, as two overcrowded school grounds more than 50 years old gave way to twin facilities on Terrell Mill Road.
The day before a new school year began, staff and teachers at the East Cobb’s oldest schools rejoiced in a day they have been hoping would come about for many years.
Back-to-back ribbon-cutting festivities, followed by open house tours, doubled the excitement for both school communities.
“This community deserves this,” East Cobb MS principal Dr. Leetonia Young said to rousing cheers, referring to the two-story building as a “resort.”
Instead of five aging buildings bunched in on Holt Road, its home since it opened in 1963, East Cobb MS is just one building, and can handle an enrollment of 1,300 students.
“Compared to where you came from, this is a resort,” echoed Cobb schools Superintendent. Like young and other dignitaries who spoke at the festivities, he thanked Cobb voters for approving the Cobb Ed-SPLOST sales tax that financed construction of both new schools to a combined tune of more than $53 million.
An East Cobb Middle School student looks at class lists posted on the wall. (CCSD photo)
Brumby Elementary, which opened in a single round building on Powers Ferry Road in 1966, was massively overcrowded even with additional buildings and 17 portable classrooms.
Not only was that unsafe for students and teachers, but it also posed traffic dangers for carpooling parents and bus queues that lined up on busy Powers Ferry Road.
A Brumby student who can attest to those conditions is rising fifth-grader Vincent Carter, a member of the school’s Boy Scout color guard.
He said it was “a really looooong walk” to leave class and go to the bathroom at the old school, and not fun at all in the rain.
He’ll get to enjoy his new school for only a year, but a year from now will start sixth grade next door at the new East Cobb Middle School.
Dr. Amanda Richie, the Brumby principal, got emotional discussing the evolution of the new school, which was about five years in the making. She also credited her faculty and staff that she said stuck together during some adverse times, trying to make do with an outdated campus.
“We’re a family, we’re the Brumby family,” she said. Because it’s a special group, she added, the new building will be “not just a school house, but a school home.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Principal Amanda Richie (in black dress) said the Brumby ES family will help make the new campus “not just a school house but a school home.” (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Members of the family whose land made the new schools possible also were in attendance. Six generations of the Hill family lived and farmed on 40 acres on Terrell Mill Road, even after it was subdivided to descendants.
The land was sold to the Cobb County School District for just under $10 million in 2014, and construction got underway in the fall of 2016.
Ed Graham, the grandson of Dorsey and Sarah Hill, attended Brumby its first two years, and brought along the jersey he wore as a member of the first Brumby Bobcats football team.
While the land featured cows, pigs, some chickens and vegetables, to him and his siblings and his cousins, “it was a 40-acre playground.”
His cousin, Tracy Luttrell Bennett, recalled childhood memories that included pea-shelling, corn-shucking, selling vegetables to passers-by, homemade ice cream every Father’s Day, Easter egg hunts and sales of pumpkins and Christmas trees during the holidays.
Ed Graham, who grew up on farmland that is now the schools’ sites, holds up the jersey he wore as member of the Brumby Bobcats. (CCSD photo)
“It’s a great honor to see these schools here today,” she said, encouraging the students to “work together, work hard, stay strong in the good times and the tough times, value your community and value your education.”
Cobb Board of Education member Scott Sweeney, who represents the Brumby and ECMS attendance zones, said that with their expanded capacity, the schools will be better able to serve as community centers.
While both schools have educational challenges—students come from cultural backgrounds that include a total of 40 languages and their enrollments have many transitory families—the extra elbow room can start to help make a difference.
Charlene Brisco, who is starting her sixth year as Brumby’s social worker, said she and her counselors have classroom space at the new school they didn’t have before, and that will enable them to conduct small-group meetings with students who need their help.
There’s also a food pantry to help out families in need, with room for a refrigerator that wasn’t available at the old school.
“Now we can expand what we’re doing,” she said.
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At the 2017 East Cobb Pigskin Preview, head coaches, L-R: Tab Griffin (Pope); Brett Sloan (Kell); Daniel Brunner (Walton); Brett Vavra (Sprayberry); Mike Collins (Wheeler); and Jep Irwin (Lassiter). They’re all back for 2018.
With August only a day away, local business groups are revving into back-to-school mode, including the East Cobb Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. Its annual East Cobb Pigskin Preview breakfast is next week.
It’s on Thursday, Aug. 9 from 7:30-9 a.m. at Indian Hills Country Club (4001 Clubland Drive), and you can get registration information here. While last season was full of change, as four of the six public high schools in East Cobb had new coaches, for 2018 they will all be back.
The coaches will be answering questions and will bring some of their top players with them as pre-season practice is getting underway.
The highlight of the year was Walton reaching the second round of the state playoffs under Daniel Brunner, who was one of the rookie coaches.
On Thursday, the Sandy Springs-Cobb MeetUp networking group has its monthly breakfast from 9-10:30 a.m. at Egg Harbor Cafe (4719 Lower Roswell Road). Small business owners will meet to share trips and help find referrals in an open group setting. The group also meets for lunch the third Thursday at Tijuana Joe’s (690 Johnson Ferry Road).
The East Cobb Business Association is holding its next Lunch and Learn Session Aug. 7 at the Sewell Mill Library, with the program subject being identity theft protection strategies. The ECBA monthly luncheon guests on Aug. 21 at Olde Towne Athletic Club are Atlanta Braves marketing and partnership executives.
The ECBA’s East Cobb Open Networking breakfast is every Friday from 7:30-8:30 a.m. at Egg Harbor, and it’s drop-in event.
The NCBA’s Five Alive business after hours event on Aug. 30 goes from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Fidelity Bank Canton Road branch (830 Old Piedmont Road) and also is themed for the upcoming football season.
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The last of the test runs for Cobb school buses take place Tuesday as another school year begins on Wednesday.
Here’s more about the Cobb County School District’s transportation services in this podcast with CCSD Executive Director of Transportation Rick Grisham and Associate Director John Lyles. The district has a bus route information page, and also has more information about stop arm laws and student safety.
Also Tuesday: Ribbon-cuttings will be held for the new Brumby Elementary and East Cobb Middle School campuses, which are ready to go after construction was completed this summer.
In addition to CCSD officials and school board members, the invited guests include Congresswoman Karen Handel, State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick and State Rep. Sharon Cooper.
The ECMS event is from 9-9:30 a.m. at 825 Terrell Mill Road, and the Brumby ribbon-cutting starts at 9:30 a.m. right next door at 815 Terrell Mill Road. Public open houses will follow.
From Cobb County government, here are some road and school bus safety tips for motorists to observe:
These tests will include activating the bus lights and stop arms—be on the lookout!
As Cobb County children head back to school, drivers are reminded to be alert and exercise patience and caution. Impatient, uninformed or apathetic drivers pose a great threat to children waiting at school bus stops. Georgia Department of Education staff recommends these safety practices:
Be on the alert as children walk to and from their school bus stops.
Exercise care and be responsive as children congregate and wait at their bus stops. They may be thinking about getting to school, but may not be thinking of getting there safely.
Be ready to act when you see the yellow flashing lights on the front and the rear of a school bus. This is your warning that a bus stop is about to take place.
Begin to slow down and look for students in the area. NEVER speed up to beat a school bus. You must be focused and exercise caution any time you are in the vicinity of a school bus stop, as student riders can sometimes be impulsive.
Abide by the law when a school bus comes to a full stop and you see the flashing red lights activate and the stop arm deploy. Motorists are required to stop in nearly every instance. The only exceptions to this rule are when highways are separated in the center by a dirt, grass or concrete median or a center turn lane. In these situations, only vehicles following or traveling alongside a school bus in the same direction must stop.
Be attentive after stopping. You must remain stopped until all loading students are aboard in the morning or all unloading students have cleared 12 feet off the roadway in the afternoon. Proceed with caution only after all students have safely cleared the roadway, the stop arm is cancelled and the flashing red lights are deactivated.
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More than 98 percent of students at Timber Ridge Elementary School performed at Level 2 or higher in the Georgia Milestones, the highest figure in the Cobb County School District.
Several East Cobb schools led or did well in various categories of academic performance in the 2018 Georgia Milestones report.
The data was released Friday by the Georgia Department of Education, which collects test scores from public school districts to measure learning proficiency in grades 3-12.
The levels are 1-4. 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.
According to the Cobb County School District, 10 elementary schools had 94 percent or more of their students score between levels 2-4. Nine of them are in East Cobb: East Side; Garrison Mill; Davis; Mount Bethel; Mountain View; Murdock; Rocky Mount; Sope Creek; Timber Ridge; and Tritt.
At Timber Ridge, 98.1 of the students were between levels 2-4, the highest figure for a Cobb elementary school. The elementary EOG tests are in English Language Arts and math.
Among top performing middle schools, according to CCSD, were Dickerson (97.3), Dodgen (96.5) and Hightower Trail (96.9). Middle school students take EOG tests in English Language Arts, math, science and social studies.
High school students are given End of Course (EOC) tests in eight courses in English Language Arts and math, as well as social studies and science.
Walton led Cobb high schools with a 97.1 score of students between levels 2-4, followed by Lassiter (96.4) and Pope (96.0).
Wheeler’s composite score of 83.3 is up 7.9 percent from 2017, one of the biggest improvements in the county.
Cobb schools said that the district-wide Level 2 or higher percentage for high school students is 84.9, much higher than the state average of 74.1 percent.
At the elementary/middle school level, 80.7 percent of Cobb students scored at Level 2 or higher, compared to 74.6 of all Georgia students.
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With Dodgen principal Dr. Loralee Hill applauding, Fred Veeder reacts to being named the Cobb middle school teacher of the year by Superintendent Chris Ragsdale Wednesday. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
Fred Veeder was sitting in the cafeteria with his peers Wednesday morning, shortly after a welcome-back staff breakfast. The Dodgen Middle School teacher had no idea he was about to become the center of attention.
Then an entourage from the Cobb County School District, including superintendent Chris Ragsdale, entered the room, along with Veeder’s sister and mother.
He had been chosen the Cobb district’s middle school teacher of the year, and he was completely blown away by the honor.
The surprise announcements were repeated for teachers at Nickajack Elementary School in Smyrna and Harrison High School in Kennesaw.
Ragsdale, who told the Dodgen teachers that “you are the rock stars” of the school district, said breaking the news to the selected teachers is “probably one of my favorite things to do.”
A seventh grade math teacher at Dodgen for the last 15 years, Veeder was humble in being asked to speak to his colleagues.
“This is for all of us, not just me,” Veeder said.
Dodgen Middle School teachers listen to Fred Veeder after he was named a Cobb teacher of the year finalist.
Asked later what the honor means, Veeder still couldn’t believe it. “Oh God,” he said. “It just blows me away. I just love the job so much. That’s the reward in itself. This. . . this is surreal.”
Teaching is a second career for Veeder. He previously owned a Chevron station in Buckhead. After selling that business, he decided to go back to college and complete his education.
He’s been at Dodgen all 15 years as a public school teacher, but his teaching career isn’t a happenstance. His mother was a seventh grade math teacher before him, and she warmly embraced him at the celebration.
“He was just born to be a math teacher,” Dr. Loralee Hill, the Dodgen principal, said of Veeder. “It’s in his blood.”
Dodgen Middle School teacher Fred Veeder gets a hug from his mother, a retired 7th grade math teacher.
She said that what distinguishes Veeder is a “passion for the kids that’s insurmountable” and his success in engaging with them in the classroom.
Hill said while Veeder is a demanding teacher in a demanding subject, the way he questions students in classes is among the best she’s observed by a teacher.
Veeder also has been a sponsor of the Dodgen math club while teaching a 7th grade honors class. Hill said students taking math support classes eagerly sign up for him to be their teacher.
Not only is Veeder constantly willing to collaborate and learn new things, Hill said, he passes on that knowledge.
“He’s a legend in our community,” Hill said.
Veeder is a finalist for the Cobb County School District teacher of the year, which will be named after the start of the school year.
Among the perks is the free use of a vehicle of his choice for this school year from the Ed Voyles dealerships.
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He had two bone marrow transplants and was treated at hospitals in Seattle and New York during his three-year fight, according to his obituary.
Olszewski usually wears No. 68 and also is listed as an offensive and defensive lineman.
The Greyhounds, like other high school football teams in Cobb, will soon begin practice for the 2018 season. They were 4-7 last year under first-year coach Tab Griffin, a former Pope player.
Pope’s season opener is Aug. 24 at Lassiter.
The Greyhounds also designate a home game each season as the Matt Hobby Game. This year that game is Sept. 14 against Alpharetta, and fundraising proceeds from a special T-shirt sale will go to the Atlanta-based Rally Foundation, which conducts childhood cancer research.
Pope efforts in Hobby’s memory have raised more than $200,000 for the Rally Foundation over the last 12 years.
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Thanks to Christi Trombetti for sending us the following information about the very first Pope Greyhound Gallop, Saturday, Aug. 18. The 5K starts at 7:30 a.m. and will take place at multi-sports complex at Pope High School (3001 Hembree Road). The cost is $25 per person, and here’s what it’s all about:
The inaugural 2018 Greyhound Gallop is brought to you by the Pope Touchdown Club. Some proceeds will go to the Touchdown Club to help pay for the Pope Football program and for the Pope Field House which is enjoyed by the entire Pope community.
A portion of the funds can also be directed to any of the Pope teams or groups listed on the Pope clubs website.
The Greyhound Gallop is a great way to start the new school year with a feeling of community, togetherness and Greyhound spirit in preparation for our Fall sports seasons.
Please join us for this inaugural event and get ready to embrace the incredible spirit of the Greyhound Nation.
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By a unanimous 7-0 vote Thursday, the Cobb Board of Education approved a measure to increase a Cobb school employee pay raise over what was adopted in May.
The extra 1.5-percent raise comes on top of 1.1-percent raises that were previously approved for all 15,000 Cobb County School District employees, as well as 1.1-percent bonuses.
The school board also voted Thursday to establish the 2018 millage rate at 18.9 mills, a figure that has been in place for 11 years.
The Cobb schools fiscal year 2019 budget that began July 1 is $1.2 billion.
The raises will cost just under $22 million. The additional raises were proposed by Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale after the Cobb tax digest grew more than school officials anticipated.
They had forecast 6 percent growth, but the net tax digest increase for Cobb schools for 2018 ended up being 8.2 percent. The Cobb tax digest for this year is a record $36.7 billion.
Ragsdale said not all of the extra money is being used for the raises, although “a vast majority” of the $38 million more coming into school district coffers is. He said the school system wasn’t able to afford a pay raise last year and he wanted to reward staff when it was fiscally possible to do so.
At a public hearing Thursday afternoon, Donna Rowe of the Cobb Association of Realtors expressed concern about basing pay raises on revenue from property values.
“That is a fluctuating thing and it is dictated by the market,” said Rowe, who is based at the Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in East Cobb.
She said she was speaking as a citizen, mindful of the real estate market during the recession.
Ragsdale addressed that concern, saying that “we not spending every single dollar” of the tax digest windfall on raises.
“Yes, it’s recurring revenue, but it’s prudent for us to make sure that we are financially stable” in case of unexpected expenses, he said.
The board approved the pay raises without discussion.
The additional pay boost, which also will apply to substitute teachers, is “a great step forward,” said Cobb County Association of Educators head Connie Jackson, who had been pressing for a 2.6 percent raise.
That’s what has come to pass, thanks to the additional tax digest growth and another $10 million in state funding due to the termination of state education austerity cuts.
The bonuses will be paid in December. Eligible teachers also will be receiving STEP increases based on their years of service.
Cobb teachers returned this week to begin preparing for the 2018-19 school year. The first day of classes is Aug. 1.
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From L-R, Wheeler F1 racing team members Shivam Patel, Michael Jin and Arul Gupta. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Members of the Wheeler F1 racing team had barely gotten off the plane after winning a national competition in June when they knew what they had to do next.
“We were on cloud nine for about three hours,” said Arul Gupta, the executive manager and marketing director of the AeroFlow Racing team, which includes five students who attend the Wheeler STEM Magnet School.
They’re spending what’s left of their summer redesigning their foam and light plastic miniature vehicle for the F1 in Schools world competition in Singapore in September.
They know they have to step up their game in marketing, project management, promotions, community outreach and fundraising—the other components of the entrepreneurially-constructed F1 in Schools concept—in facing the global elites of the circuit for the first time.
There’s little time to waste.
“We’re doing prototypes now” for the cars they want to take to Singapore, said Michael Jin, the manufacturing engineer for Aeroflow Racing.
At the F1 in Schools National Finals in Austin, Texas, their car posted a time of 1.3 seconds along a track of 24 meters, or 78 feet (as they demonstrated in April at the Wheeler STEAM Symposium), the best time of all the cars there.
In Singapore, Gupta said, “1.3 isn’t going to cut it.” He figures Aeroflow needs to cut it down to 1.1 seconds to have a shot against the elite teams, especially those coming from Australia and Britain, the hotbeds for F1 in Schools.
The AeroFlow team scored around 920 points out of a possible 1000 in all phases of the national competition, which included teams with ages ranging from 9 to 19.
While team members are proud of that, they know that most of the 40 teams heading to Asia are more experienced than AeroFlow, which was formed in the fall of 2016. The global competition, Gupta said, is also “much more rigorous” in judging.
“They don’t grade just how fast your car goes,” he said. “They judge design, marketing, social media strategy, all of that.”
The AeroFlow team even had to design and update its own website as part of the competition.
The victorious Wheeler F1 racing team car at the U.S. Nationals. (AeroFlow Racing photo)
Last year, the Wheeler students finished fifth in their maiden national competition. “We wanted to the best we could,” said Gupta, who lives in the Pope High School district and who like his fellow AeroFlow team members commutes to classes at Wheeler. “It gave us a better idea what we had to improve upon.”
The speed of the car had to get better, and they decided making it as light as possible was the key.
Getting that weight to 50 grams, the minimum allowed in F1 in Schools, is an exacting and time-consuming task.
That task fell largely to Jin, who lives in the Walton High School district. “When you’re making a car, getting the design right is so important,” he said. “Adding a couple of coats of paint can make a big difference.”
The construction includes forming the car body out of a foam block, then adding plastic components that include the wheels and other elements that enhance speed.
As they were evolving their model over the last school year, the AeroFlow team members consulted with Georgia Tech aerospace engineering professors who advised them on lift and downforce.
“The car’s acting almost like a rocket,” Gupta said.
“The real difficulty is getting the right finishing on it,” Jin said, with the ideal being “a perfectly smooth surface.”
Added Gupta: “It should be smooth as glass,” with a glossy look.
The AeroFlow car turned in a time of 1.13 seconds at the Wheeler STEAM Symposium in April. (East Cobb News file photo)
The intricate attention to detail in F1 in Schools is paramount, but the rising Wheeler seniors on the AeroFlow team say they embrace the challenge that’s largely outside the classroom.
While they submit college applications (among the schools are MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Cal Tech, Stanford, Georgia Tech and Emory), they enjoy learning the well-rounded skills they have to develop.
“You get to be extremely hands-on,” said Gupta, who in his role works with Novelis, an aluminum products manufacturer that is AeroFlow’s main corporate sponsor.
Even the AeroFlow name came after a lot of thought among team members. “How can we be known for something that’s related to what we’re doing,” he said. “That sounds about right.”
Jin said he especially likes the chance to “simulate the real world” and “this shows what drives innovation.
“We feel like we’re in a pretty good place. We know what our competition is and what we are doing well.”
The other immediate challenge the AeroFlow team has is raising money to make the trip to Singapore.
They estimated that all their costs, from entry fees to air fare, food and lodging, will cost around $37,000.
Thus far, they’ve raised around $24,000, with less than two months before their trip.
The AeroFlow team has created a GoFundMe page to accept donations from anyone wishing to help out.
The Wheeler-based AeroFlow team members after winning the U.S. Nationals in Austin, Texas, in June. (AeroFlow Racing photo)
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The Cobb tax digest has grown by more than originally anticipated in 2018. As a result, superintendent Chris Ragsdale is proposing Cobb school employee pay raises that are larger than what was adopted for the fiscal year 2019 period that began July 1
Instead of a 1.1-percent across-the-board increase that was approved last month, the Cobb Board of Education is being asked to amend that pay raise upward, to 2.6 percent, at its July meeting on Thursday.
The proposal for the extra raise came after the county tax digest grew by 9.1 percent for this year. Cobb schools budget staffers projected a six percent increase.
The school board in May approved only a 1.1 percent one-time bonus, to go into effect in December. But the end of state education austerity cuts in May prompted Ragsdale to propose a 1.1 percent raise for some employees, mostly at the school level, on top of the bonus.
School board member David Morgan of South Cobb said that wasn’t enough. So did Connie Jackson of the Cobb County Association of Educators, who pleaded for a 2.6-percent raise to help Cobb move up from near the bottom in starting teacher salary levels for school districts in metro Atlanta.
She suggested raising the millage rate from 18.9 to the maximum 20 mills to do that, but the rest of the board wasn’t in a tax-raising mood.
“I am sure the over 15,000 school employees will be happy to hear this good news and teachers will receive a much needed raise,” school board member David Banks, who represents the Lassiter and Pope districts, said in his weekly newsletter over the weekend. “It is critical that Cobb be in a position to retain our teachers and valued support employees.”
He said he also wished the raise could be higher.
Also on Thursday, the school board will hold the final of its required public hearings on the school tax millage rate, followed by the adoption of the millage rate. The hearings are at 12 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., in the board room at the CCSD Central Office, 514 Glover St., in Marietta.
Nobody spoke at the first millage rate hearing last week.
The board will have a work session at 1:30 p.m., followed by an executive session, and will reconvene at 7 p.m. for the business meeting.
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A partial summary of the proposed fiscal year Cobb government budget presented on Tuesday (continues below).
Just hours after a feisty town hall meeting in East Cobb, citizens continued to sound off Tuesday as Cobb tax millage rate public hearings got underway this week.
On Tuesday morning, several East Cobb citizens were among those urging the Cobb Board of Commissioners to raise the general fund property tax rate to preserve and enhance libraries in particular, as well as parks and other public services.
One of them was Abby Shiffman, chairwoman of the Cobb Library Board of Trustees. She was at the Monday town hall at the Sewell Mill Library, and in reference to opponents of a tax increase, said “do not believe what you’re reading by misinformed people on social media” about commission chairman Mike Boyce’s proposed 1.7-mills increase.
On Wednesday morning, the Cobb Board of Education also held a public hearing as it officially sets its millage rate this month.
No citizens showed up for that, and the hearing ended after only 20 minutes, following a brief presentation by Cobb County School District finance chief Brad Johnson.
While the school board isn’t proposing a millage rate increase—it’s holding the line at 18.9 mills—additional property tax revenue for the school system means it’s required to hold three public hearings (FY 2019 Cobb schools budget info here).
Two more will take place next Thursday at noon and at 6:30 p.m., followed by millage rate adoption at the board’s business meeting the same day at 7 p.m.
Cobb commissioners also will have two more scheduled public hearings, July 17 at 6:30 p.m., and on July 25 at 7 p.m. Commissioners are set to adopt the budget on July 25.
To be precise, commissioners are holding two separate hearings—one for the millage rate, and one for the budget, since both have yet to be adopted.
The Cobb government budget would grow by 9.7 percent from the current fiscal year 2018 (continued from the top).
Georgia law requires the public hearings if either the millage rate or property tax revenue (or both) increases from the previous year. Millage rates also have to be formally adopted for local governments and school districts to receive tax revenues.
Here’s a detailed PDF of the proposed Cobb FY 2019 budgetthat includes departmental and other breakdowns and forecasts into fiscal year 2020.
While most of the speakers at Tuesday’s commission public hearings were in favor of the millage rate increase (which would add $50 million to the general fund), some were opposed, or expressed concern about the size of the proposed tax increase.
Ron Sifen of the Cumberland/Vinings area said “that’s a big increase. You’re really hitting the reset button on spending” by boosting general fund expenditures from $403 million to $454 million.
Alicia Adams of Americans for Prosperity also asked commissioners to reject a tax hike. “Cobb homeowners have been taxed enough,” she said.
The supporters included those supporting the UGA Cobb Extension and Cobb parks as well as Save Cobb Libraries.
Mike Smith, an East Cobb citizen, said the proposed increase is “a fair price to pay” for public services. He lives in District 2, where commissioner Bob Ott has been skeptical of a tax increase. Ott was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, as he represented the county at a technology conference.
“Somebody needs on the commission needs to get to Mr. Ott,” Smith said. “I wish he were here today.”
Shiffman, who was appointed a library trustee by Ott, told the other four commissioners to “do what your constituents want, not what you feel you may want.”
She feared that “if this increase does not pass, there will be cuts.”
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The first of three Cobb schools tax digest public hearings takes place this Wednesday.
The hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Cobb County School District Central Office (514 Glover St., Marietta) in the Board of Education meeting room.
The other hearings take place next Thursday, July 19, at 12 p.m. and at 6:30 p.m., in the same location.
Here’s how the CCSD explains what it’s obligated to do, under the Property Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights law which has been in effect since 2000:
The Cobb County Board of Tax Assessors assesses all county property in compliance with state law. If property is reassessed upward, then the Cobb County School District will see an increase in tax revenue. The additional revenue will be applied toward the higher cost of student instruction due to enrollment growth, and to ease budget constraints caused by reductions in state revenue.
To collect the same revenue as last year and avoid an increase in taxes of 7.48%, the millage rate would have to be decreased to 17.584 mills, defined as the “roll-back” rate described in the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
Here are links to Cobb schools budget documents. Most school district employees are receiving a 1.1 percent raise, due to a $10.2 million contribution from the state of Georgia following the end of education austerity cuts.
School board member David Morgan wanted a higher millage rate, as did the Cobb County Association of Educators, to provide a bigger raise.
East Cobb board members David Chastain, David Banks and Scott Sweeney opposed a millage rate increase.
Formal adoption of the millage rate is scheduled at the board’s July 19 business meeting which starts at 7 p.m. and follows the final public hearing.
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In less than a month the rebuilt campuses of Brumby Elementary School and East Cobb Middle School will be open for classes at their new adjacent locations on Terrell Mill Road.
We swung by there over the weekend and saw that the parking lot at East Cobb Middle is just about complete, and that some work remains to finish the Brumby lot.
Ground was broken nearly two years ago, in September 2016, for the twin campuses, which cost a total of $51 million (Brumby $22.7 million, ECMS $28.6 million).
They replace two of the older school buildings in East Cobb, and the Cobb County School District. Brumby opened in a round building on Powers Ferry Road in 1966, and has added a two-story classroom building and trailers to accommodate a student enrollment that has exceeded 1,000.
East Cobb Middle School opened on Holt Road in 1963 (followed by Wheeler High School across the street in 1965) and also has outgrown its campus.
The schools will also share a singular entrance, at Greenwood Trail, and a new traffic signal recently became operational.
Carpool and bus queues will be fully contained on the school property, which was a particular problem for Brumby, as parents lined up for drop off and pick up on busy Powers Ferry Road.
The former ECMS site will be the new home for Eastvalley Elementary School, which will be relocating from its longtime campus on Lower Roswell Road at Holt Road.
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From L-R: Marietta schools superintendent Grant Rivera; Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce; and Cobb schools superintendent Chris Ragsdale.
Thanks to Nan Kiel of the Cobb County School District for the submitted photo and information about the extension of the Cobb Library PASS system, which took place earlier this week.
It’s a partnership between the CCSD, Marietta City Schools, and the Cobb County Public Library System that enables public school students to use county library system resources with their school IDs. After a pilot period that began in January, the agreement will continue into 2020.
Cobb students no longer need an extra card to access the digital and print resources in the county’s libraries. The new Library PASS initiative, or Public Library Access for Student Success, links K-12 student identification numbers to the new Cobb County PASS accounts.
The Library PASS program, which launched in January 2018, allows students to access library resources from home, the classroom, or in person at a Cobb library. Currently, there are more than 116,000 CCSD students registered with PASS accounts.
During a ceremony at the Switzer Library in Marietta on June 20, CCSD Superintendent Chris Ragsdale; Chairman Mike Boyce, Cobb County Board of Commissioners; and Superintendent Grant Rivera, Marietta City Schools, signed a memorandum of agreement to extend the Library PASS partnership for two years.
Chairman Boyce applauded the commitment and dedication of the three organizations in coming together to change lives by making more educational resources available to students in Cobb County.
“When we have partnerships like this, it shows that the focus in Cobb County is very high onprioritizing education,” said Superintendent Ragsdale. “It is very important to us to make sure thatresources are available to not only students but also parents. To have partnerships like this with the library system is very important. All the resources that we can tap into, that our students and staff cantap into, benefit the goal of student success.”
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Three more East Cobb principals were appointed by the Cobb Board of Education Thursday night.
Adam Hill is returning to East Cobb after two years as principal at Nickajack Elementary School. The former principal of Timber Ridge Elementary School has been named the new principal at Dickerson Middle School, succeeding retiring principal Dr. Carole Brink.
In remarks near the end of the board’s short meeting, Post 6 school board member Scott Sweeney, who represents the Dickerson area, said Hill “has big shoes to fill.”
East Side Elementary School will be getting a new principal after longtime principal Elizabeth Mavity was appointed an assistant superintendent for the Cobb County School District.
Elizabeth Mavity
Her replacement is Maria Clark, who had been an assistant principal at Mt. Bethel Elementary School.
The new principal at Shallowford Falls Elementary School is Donna Long, currently an assistant principal at Murdock Elementary School. She succeeds Felicia Angelle, now the CCSD’s academic division director of instruction, innovation, teaching and learning.
Their appointments are effective July 1. Walton, Sprayberry, Daniell and Tritt also will have new principals.
The school board also made several other assistant principal appointments at East Cobb schools:
Shannon Hooker, who has been an assistant principal at Bells Ferry Elementary School, was named to the same position at Sedalia Park Elementary School;
A new assistant principal at Mt. Bethel Elementary is Kevin Johnson, who had been an academic coach at Brumby Elementary School;
Elizabeth Marsili, an instructional specialist at Kennesaw Elementary, is a new assistant principal at Bells Ferry;
Maria Clark
Leander Brooks, an assistant principal at Hillgrove High School, is a new assistant principal at Sprayberry High School;
Another new assistant principal at Sprayberry is Philip Henderson, a CCSD school leadership intern;
Former North Cobb High School principal Joseph Horton was appointed assistant principal at Lassiter High School;
Jeff Milton, as assistant principal at Kell High School, was appointed to the same position at Walton High School;
A new assistant principal at Kell is Richard Norman, who had been a teacher at Kell.
Those appointments are effective July 11.
Announcing his resignation, effective June 12, was David Chiprany, an assistant superintendent who oversaw a middle school cluster. A former principal at East Cobb Middle School and Wheeler High School, Chiprany is now the chief academic officer for the Bartow County School System.
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“We were rebuilding last year with lots of young guys,” Collins said. But the Wildcats were competitive in some of those close games they lost, and he’s looking for better results this year.
“This award recognizes the efforts of all our many volunteers and families who work together to help strengthen relationships at our school. Davis PTA hopes to continue building an environment where all families feel welcomed and empowered. The success of our students is our number one priority, and PTA is thrilled to have such a strong relationship with the school,” Monroe said.
