East Cobb Schools

Cobb schools resume classes on Wednesday

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Shortly after 3:30 p.m. today, the Cobb County School District announced that all classes and operations will return Wednesday to their normal schedules. Cobb schools resume classes after being closed Monday and Tuesday due to Tropical Storm Irma.

Some schools have had to reschedule their administering of the Iowa Basic Skills Test, which was to have started on Monday. Cobb County School District logo

East Cobb Middle School has announced that the start of the IBST period will be Thursday; we’ll add more details about other East Cobb schools and their new testing periods as we get them. Please send an e-mail to editor@eastcobbnews.com if you have information to add here.

There’s no word yet on how the weather days on Monday or Tuesday may be made up; Cobb schools will be having their annual fall break from Sept. Sept. 25-29.

Cobb made it through Irma in much better shape than surrounding areas of metro Atlanta, some of which are still without electricity. Atlanta, DeKalb, Clayton, Fulton, Gwinnett and Henry are among the school districts that will will remain closed tomorrow.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, nearly half of all DeKalb school buildings still had no power, and in many parts of the metro area work crews were still clearing roads of trees, power line and other debris.

Walton, East Cobb ACT scores top record Cobb results

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Walton High School, East Cobb ACT scores

East Cobb ACT scores represented the four highest Cobb County school-wide composite figures for 2017, led by Walton High School.

ACT results were released Friday by the Cobb County School District. Walton’s composite score of 27 (out of a possible 36), led the way for all 16 high schools in Cobb, followed by East Cobb neighbors Pope (25.6), Wheeler (25.1) and Lassiter (25.0.)

Cobb’s composite score of 22.9 is a record for the district, and for 2017 it is four points higher than the national ACT composite and 1.5 points above the Georgia composite (full Cobb release).

The other two East Cobb high schools posted composite scores just below the Cobb average: Kell (21.6) and Sprayberry (21.0). The 2017 scores for all six East Cobb high schools represented increases from 2106, according to data released by the CCSD.

The ACT, a major barometer for college admissions and merit scholarships, is taken by high school students and consists of four subject-area sections (English, math, reading and science). A total of 7,800 Cobb graduating seniors took the ACT in 2017, about 54 percent of the high school enrollment.

Ten individual students recorded perfect ACT scores, including five from Walton and one each from Lassiter and Wheeler.

“These scores are just one indication of the quality of public education in the Cobb County School District and underscore our mission of One Team, One Goal: Student Success,” Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said in a statement Friday. “The credit for the results goes to our hard-working students and dedicated teachers and administrators.”

Wheeler’s score of 25.1 represents the biggest gain in the CCSD from 2016, a full point higher than a year ago. Principal Peter Giles said in a statement that the school in recent years began giving freshmen pre-ACT tests to prepare them for their senior exam.

“This gives students exposure to the format of the ACT,” Giles said, “while showing students that they are not limited to the SAT.”

Here’s how many East Cobb high school students took the ACT, school-by-school:

  • Kell: 214 students tested (62.6% of all seniors): 21.6 composite score;
  • Lassiter: 363 students tested (72.2%): 25.0;
  • Pope: 334 students tested (69.4%): 25.6;
  • Sprayberry: 164 students test (40.3%): 21.0;
  • Walton: 483 students tested (74.9%): 27.0;
  • Wheeler: 221 students tested (48.6%): 25.0.

More information on the Cobb ACT results can be found here.

East Cobb bank robbery prompts lockdown of Wheeler High, East Cobb Middle School

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Fifth Third Bank Kroger Roswell Road, East Cobb bank robbery
Surveillance photos provided by Cobb Police Department.

An East Cobb bank robbery Thursday morning resulted in the short lockdown of two nearby schools as police pursued a suspect.

According to the Cobb County School District, the exterior doors to Wheeler High School and East Cobb Middle School were locked for about 15 minutes after Cobb Police began investigating the robbery at the Fifth Third Bank location inside a Kroger supermarket at 2100 Roswell Road.

The schools are located across the street from one another on Holt Road and 1.3 miles from the Kroger at the Pavilions at East Lake Shopping Center at Roswell and Robinson roads.

Police said the robbery took place shortly after 10 a.m., when a man walked into the bank and demanded money from a teller.

According to police, the suspect never showed a weapon and left the bank with cash on foot, through the shopping center parking lot, and possibly in the direction of Wheeler.

The suspect remained at large late Thursday afternoon. According to a CCSD statement, the lockdown was “done out of an abundance of caution” at the request of Cobb Police.

“There was never any threat at either school and both schools continued with instruction as normal,” the CCSD statement continued. “Student and staff movement within the building was never restricted.”

Cobb Police described the suspect as an Asian male, around six feet tall, with a husky build. He’s believed to be between 30-40 years old, and was last seen wearing a black hoodie, a black Washington Nationals baseball cap and jeans.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call Cobb Police at 770-499-3945.

Lassiter clerk honored as Cobb schools classified employee of the year

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Alice Brown, Lassiter High School
Lassiter High School clerk Alice Brown with Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale (Photos submitted by Cobb County School District)

Alice Brown, a clerk in the Pupil Personnel Office at Lassiter High School, was one of several individuals named Classified Employee of the Year by the Cobb County School District for 2017.

Brown was the honoree at the high school level and was recognized at a special luncheon for the recipients Tuesday at Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta.

Classified employees are non-teachers: administrative assistants, custodians, paraprofessionals and staffers in the school district’s main office.

The following information was submitted by CCSD about Brown, who also was joined by her family members at the luncheon:

Despite all she does for Lassiter High School as a clerk, Alice Brown is still humble, according to her principal.

“She does an exceptional job working at Lassiter. She is [at school] every single day,” said Dr. Chris Richie as he congratulated Brown on being named High School Level CEOTY. “She is very diligent, keeping accurate records of everything our students do. We are extremely proud of her. She is great with staff members.”

Alice Brown, Lassiter High School

Wildcat Nation community food truck event returns for Wheeler football

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Wheeler food truck

Press release:

On Friday, September 1, 2017, East Cobb Middle School PTSA and Foundation, Wheeler High School PTSA and Wheeler Football Booster Club are collaborating to present the 2nd Annual WILDCATNATION Community Food Truck Night!

This year’s diverse offering of food trucks – The Blaxican, Bollywood Zing, The Mad Greek, Righteous ‘Que BBQ, Mac the Cheese, Waffle House, Saporito’s Pizzeria, Cherry on Top Delights, and King of Pops – are sure to please everyone in the family.  

Our first Food Truck Night was a huge success, with #WILDCATNATION represented by students & their families from all Wheeler feeder schools and attendees from all over the East Cobb!  #WILDCATNATION invites the community to kick off the Labor Day holiday weekend in Wheeler’s parking lot at 5:30PM, prior to the Wildcat’s game against the South Cobb Eagles. It’s Jr. Wildcat Night for the Wildcat Football Program and Food Truck Night will benefit the four local school organizations. The Food Trucks will be set up at 5:30 so you can get some great food and then stay for the game at 7:30!

“The ECMS PTSA and Foundation are excited to co-host this fundraising event that involves the whole Wheeler community,” says Sandy Welfare, co-president of the ECMS PTSA. “We look forward to seeing people from all over East Cobb come out for a fun evening.”

“We are hoping this tailgate will encourage Wheeler football fans to gather earlier and create an atmosphere full of Wheeler pride,” says Kelly Feddersen, President of the Wheeler Football Booster Club.

Cobb schools to release early on Wednesday

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Just a reminder that the Cobb County School District is releasing students early on Wednesday for teacher in-service training, and at the halfway point of the first team of the school year. The release times are as follows:

  • 11:30 a.m.—High School;
  • 12:30 p.m.—Elementary School;
  • 1:30 p.m.—Middle School.Cobb County School District

The CCSD is asking parents to contact their local schools if they have questions about the early release.

After students return next week following the Labor Day holiday weekend, the first progress reports of the school year will be issued, for elementary and middle school students, on Wednesday, Sept. 6.

East Cobb high school athletes to be recognized by school board

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Thursday’s Cobb Board of Education agenda leads off with plenty of recognitions carried over from the 2016-17 school year, including athletic accomplishments in spring sports.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the board room at the Cobb County School District main office, 514 Glover St., Marietta. An executive session begins at 5:30 p.m.Cobb County School District

Athletes and teams from Lassiter and Pope high school will be recognized, including the entire Pope athletic program, which earned the Class 6A Georgia Athletic Directors Association Directors Cup for overall athletic excellence.

In addition, several academic recognitions will be made, including AdvancEd STEM certification at Brumby and Shallowford Falls elmentary schools and Mabry Middle School (more about the CCSD’s STEM program here.)

The board also will recognize the recent Georgia Department of Education STEAM certification to Wheeler High School (East Cobb News coverage here), the first high school in the state of earn that status.

The rest of the agenda is fairly light, you can view the full agenda PDF by clicking here.

Cobb schools taking extra precautions for outdoor eclipse activities

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We’re just a couple hours from solar eclipse visibility in north Georgia, and the Cobb County School District is taking extra safety precautions.

Some schools that had planned outdoor eclipse sightings will be observing on television indoors instead if their glasses haven’t met safety standards.

It’s a school-by-school issue, depending on whether the glasses ordered or bought by students there have been approved; there’s a lot of chatter this morning on a Facebook page. According to one poster, some schools found out very late that they didn’t have the proper glasses; keep in mind these reports are not official information coming from CCSD.

The following message was included in a note to parents of Simpson Middle School students this morning:

“. . . our students will have to view the eclipse from inside our building on the TV due to the inability of the solar eclipse glasses company to confirm their safety.”

If you’re an East Cobb parent, what’s the latest you’ve heard about your child’s school? Let us know: editor@eastcobbnews.com or call/text 404-219-4278.

In our area, the moon will begin to cover the sun at 1:05 p.m.; maximum coverage is expected around 2:36 p.m. The sun will be fully visible again around 4:01 p.m.

The 45-minute delayed release plan for Cobb schools announced earlier is still in place.

Northeast Cobb Business Association luncheon celebrates back-to-school

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Northeast Cobb Business Association
From left, Northeast Cobb elementary school principals Debbie Blake (Kincaid), Kristin Erbskorn (Davis) and Felicia Angelle (Shallowford Falls). Blake and Erbskorn are in their first year at their schools.

Principals from a number of East Cobb and Northeast Cobb public schools were recognized Tuesday at the Northeast Cobb Business Association luncheon at Piedmont Church.

It was the first teach appreciation luncheon since the school year began in the Cobb County School District July 31.

School partnership programs, including a high school senior internship program are a major part of the NCBA’s community outreach efforts.

Robin Lattizori, a Cobb assistant superintendent for elementary schools, serves on the NCBA board.

The NCBA’s upcoming Upbeat event is an appreciation for school volunteers in the Northeast Cobb community. On Oct. 21, NCBA is holding a Casino Night to benefit the STEM initiative in Cobb County schools, and tickets and sponsorships are still available.

The guest speaker was Cobb County Manager Rob Hosack, an East Cobb resident (more about his remarks in a separate post) who succeeded David Hankerson earlier this year.

Northeast Cobb Business Association

Northeast Cobb Business Association
(East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

Walton HS teacher named national state-fish art educator of the year

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Kathleen Petka, Walton High School
(Cobb County School District photo)

Information submitted by the Cobb County School District:

Wildlife Forever named Walton High School art teacher, Kathleen Petka, the 2017 State-Fish Art Educator of the Year.

Along with her award, the 13-year veteran teacher earned a $500 gift card for classroom art supplies from the award’s sponsor, Triarco Arts & Crafts. The national award, which supports Wildlife Forever’s mission of conservation education, preservation of habitat, and management of fish and wildlife, is given to educators who communicate the spirit of conservation to students through excellence in visual arts education.

Petka educates her students about the importance of safeguarding natural resource through their annual participation in the State-Fish Art Contest, supported by the U.S. Forestry Service, among other preservation organizations.

Since her students started participating in the State-Fish Art Contest, they have won numerous state awards.

“The contest is a wonderful opportunity for students to learn, care, share, teach, and create,” Petka explained. “They take ownership of their works [of art] and get to select the state fish of their desire, write with meaning, create art with a message, and they get to share their works, all while learning how important it is to be mindful of our environment.”

Here’s more on the Wildlife Forever state-fish art program.

Wheeler is first Georgia high school to receive STEAM certification

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Wheeler High School, STEAM program

Word’s just come in from the Cobb County School District that Georgia Superintendent of Schools Richard Woods will be on hand Tuesday as Wheeler High School will be recognized as a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) school, adding to its longstanding designation as a STEM school.

Wheeler becomes the first high school in Georgia to earn STEAM certification, and it’s a process that’s been a couple years in the making, starting with STEAM symposia and including a trip to Barcelona, Paris and London in June as part of the STEAM International Tour.

Here’s the rest of the CCSD release with details about Tuesday’s events:

Mableton is the first entire school in Cobb County to earn STEAM certification, which means 100% of the student population is involved in STEAM learning.

Wheeler is the first program in Cobb County to achieve STEAM certification. Program certification requires a designated group of students that are representative of the overall demographics of the school to complete a STEAM program. Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale will attend the Wheeler High School STEAM certification ceremony.

WHEN: Tuesday, August 15 (The STEAM certification and banner ceremonies will take place separately at each school.)

  • Mableton Elementary School – 9:00 a.m.
  • Wheeler High School – 1 p.m.

WHERE:

  • Mableton Elementary School: 5220 Church Street, Mableton, Ga. 30126
  • Wheeler High School: 375 Holt Rd NE, Marietta, GA 30068

WHY: To document the first state-level STEAM certifications in Cobb County and what the certifications mean for the success of CCSD students.

Here’s more about the Georgia Department of Ed’s STEAM program, which certified Henderson Mill Elementary School in DeKalb County as its first STEAM school this spring.

Bells Ferry ES helps launch new Cobb school emergency alert system

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Bells Ferry Elementary School

The Cobb County School District this week announced the implementation of a new emergency alert system, and East Cobb’s Bells Ferry Elementary School is one of the schools serving as a testing ground for the service.

Cobb Board of Education members and the public were briefed about the new system at a work session on Wednesday. The other school that is a “proof of concept” location during the current school year is Kennesaw Mountain High School.

The new emergency system, known as AlertPoint, allows each employee within a school—including administrators, teachers and other staffers—to activate a device should an emergency occur. This includes fires, active shooters and other intruders, physical altercations and medical emergencies.

When an AlertPoint device is activated, alert information is relayed via computer and mobile devices to school-level administrators and security personnel, as well as at the school district office, within seconds.

The location and identity of the person sending the alert also is transmitted. When a “Code Red” alert is triggered, flashing lights, beeping sounds and voice messages ring out, and the intercom system indicates a lockdown situation is underway.

The AlertPoint system is patterned after existing school fire emergency procedures.

Cobb is the first school district in Georgia to use the AlertPoint system, according to Superintendent Chris Ragsdale.

“Columbine [the deadly 1999 Colorado high school shootings] changed how we do school security,” he said.

Phil Bradford, a Cobb school police officer, said the biggest security concerns remain at high schools, since elementary and middle schools have more controlled access.

“This is a capability we’ve never had before, particularly in the high schools,” he said. “If one of the staff members sees something that is that threatening, within in a matter of seconds, the entire building can know what to do.”

Ragsdale said the school district is “starting with the rollout” of AlertPoint in other schools, but for security reasons he would not identify them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwTcMIhM35Q

Walton HS Foundation begins fundraising drive for sculpture garden project

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Walton Sculpture Garden
A rendering of one of the proposed Walton sculpture gardens, via the Walton High School Foundation website

The Walton High School Foundation has begun a fundraising drive to create six sculpture gardens on the new school campus.

The goal is to raise $23,000 by Sept. 1, ideally with each student’s family donating a minimum of $25, in order to fund the first three gardens this fall. Here’s the message that’s being spread across the community:

“Help US GROW THE Walton Gardens! The Sculpture Garden will be the first of the six gardens that will be installed to enhance the learning environment at the new Walton High School. This unique Workshop provides all students and teachers, across all subject areas, access to a permanent, hands-on outdoor learning space, featuring sculptures, crafted from recycled metal, incorporating pulleys, lenses, pendulums, ramps, levers, an auger base for testing student-built Goldberg machines, gyroscopes and a waist-height sculpture of a fractal “tree”, all built on a concrete layout of the golden rectangle. These interactive sculptures provide the basis for our teachers’ design, development and delivery of innovative lessons and experiments, facilitating student explorations of mathematical principles, as they relate to the fields of art, architecture, biology, physics, engineering and mathematics. Lessons formerly taught on paper are transformed through use of this space into dynamic, tangible student experiences, with the potential for fostering creativity and inspiring a deeper, more profound appreciation of relationships between subject areas and students’ daily lives.”

Here’s an online form the foundation has set up to donate or to help volunteer.

PHOTOS: Walton football teams celebrate Raider Day

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Raider Day, Walton football
(East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

Walton football players from all grade levels and the larger school community turned out at Raider Valley Sunday afternoon for the annual Raider Day celebration.

Games, concessions, music, a dunking booth, paint-facing, T-shirt projectile scrums (courtesy of the Walton Robotics team) and lots of footballs in the air abounded, as Walton football boosters created an atmosphere of anticipation for the season ahead.

The Raiders varsity team will hold a scrimmage on Friday against Archer, with the season opener less than two weeks away, against North Gwinnett on Aug. 19 in the Corky Kell Classic.

Walton’s home opener at Raider Valley is Aug. 25 vs. Brookwood.

Raider Day, Walton football

Raider Day, Walton football

Raider Day, Walton football

Raider Day, Walton football

Raider Day, Walton football

Raider Day, Walton football

Raider Day, Walton football

Raider Day, Walton football

Raider Day, Walton football

Raider Day, Walton football

Raider Day, Walton football

Raider Valley, Walton football

PHOTOS: Walton High School ribbon-cutting and open house

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Walton High School
Walton Principal Judy McNeill (in black dress) helps cut the ribbon with Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale (with scissors), Cobb school board members and other dignitaries Sunday afternoon. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

The new Walton High School building is open, and on Sunday afternoon, the day before classes were set to begin, several hundred students, parents, elected officials and others celebrating ribbon-cutting ceremonies and an open house.

Among the honored guests, in addition to local officials, were Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson and newly elected Congresswoman Karen Handel.

Walton High School
Walton Principal Judy McNeill said new Walton “is the best building we could have dreamed of.”

The three-story, $48 million classroom and administrative office structure replaces a 42-year-old main building that has been overcrowded for years. The old building will eventually give way to the second phase of the Walton project that is to include a new gymnasium and fine arts building scheduled for completion in 2019.

Walton High School
U.S. Rep. Karen Handel and Major Jerry Quan of Cobb Police Precinct 4.

The 300,000-plus-square-foot main building is around 40 percent bigger than what it is replacing. Walton opened in 1975, at a time when rapid growth in East Cobb was vastly overburdening school capacity.

Isakson, whose children and granddaughter attended Walton, told the audience that while he was working as an East Cobb real estate broker in the early 1970s, then-Cobb school superintendent Kermit Keenum warned him that new schools in the area—especially high schools—had to be built, and fast.

Isakson helped the school system with finding land, and noted that the Bill Murdock Road properties on which Walton and nearby Dodgen Middle School are located cost around $4,500.

“That would cost at least 10 times that amount today,” said Isakson, who was formerly the president of Northside Realty. He called the new Walton building “a pearl of beauty.”

Walton High School
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson addressing the Walton community inside the new entrance.

He was among the speakers who kept referencing the education SPLOST (or special local option sales tax) funding that paid for the new Walton building. Isakson said more than $6.8 billion has been spent on school construction across Georgia with SPLOST funding, and he thanked Cobb leaders for leading the way in changing the state constitution to allow for such referenda.

Isakson also said it’s not just bricks and mortar, but “teachers, parents and students” that make a school community strong.

Walton High School

Walton High School
The new information center (aka library).
Walton High School
Walton teacher Alan Farnsworth in his new classroom during the open house.
Walton High School
Wide hallways and ample common areas at the new Walton High School building have plenty of elbow room and places to take a break from a very busy school routine.
Walton High School
More than 2,500 Walton students start a new school year on Monday, in a building the community has long been awaiting.

EAST COBB WEEKEND: Dog Days Run; Pins for Paws; real estate seminar; new Walton HS open house & more

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Walton High School

Because one school ribbon-cutting event this week isn’t enough (and also, because it’s right before the start of a new school year): The new Walton High School administration and classroom building will be officially opened on Sunday, starting with ribbon-cutting ceremonies at 1:30 p.m. and an Open House to follow (1590 Bill Murdock Road).

The next day, students will finally get to enjoy some elbow room as they start classes in a building that can better accommodate them. Having been subject to massive overcrowding myself (as a Wheeler student when Walton opened, too many years ago), I understand the feeling. We’ll be out there on Sunday to document all the proceedings.

The Walton ribbon-cutting comes at the end of a busy and varied weekend of events in East Cobb. See our full calendar listings for so much more, and send yours along if you don’t see it to: calendar@eastcobbnews.com). We’ve pulled out a few highlights here:

  • The Rotary Club of East Cobb is holding its 12th annual Dog Days Run that starts at 7:30 Saturday morning at the McCleskey-East Cobb YMCA (1055 East Piedmont Road), and race-day registration is available for both the 5K and fun run;
  • The East Cobb-based Good Mews Animal Foundation is holding a bowling fundraiser Sunday from 2-4 at AMF Bowling on Cobb Parkway. Pins for Paws includes lots of related fun, including raffle tickets;
  • If you’re thinking of buying a home for the first time, the Janice Overbeck Real Estate team is holding a free seminar from 11-1 Saturday at its Keller Williams North Atlanta office at 2249 Roswell Road;
  • At the end of a long week why not enjoy some Open Mic entertainment? From 7-10 p.m. Sunday at Keegan’s Irish Pub (4401 Shallowford Road), the local acoustic duo The Woodys (who were in action earlier this week at the Paper Mill Village food truck) will perform your requests. Sign-up starts at 6:30 p.m.

Did we miss something? Do you not see an event you think the community ought to know about? Let us know if you have calendar items to share, for this weekend and beyond. We’re working to have the best calendar listings in East Cobb, so have a look around and let us know what you think!

Have a great weekend, and stay in touch!

PHOTOS: Mountain View Elementary School ribbon-cutting festivities

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Mountain View Elementary School
Mountain View Elementary School was officially opened Thursday morning by Principal Renee Garriss (in black dress), Cobb school board members and other dignitaries. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

On July 26, 1928, Mountain View Elementary School opened its doors for the very first time as one of the first grade schools in what would be later known as East Cobb.

On Thursday, 89 years and a day later, the newest Mountain View Elementary School building officially opened, not from from an aging school facility on Sandy Plains Road at Shallowford Road that had been in use since 1970.

The new school, located at 3151 Sandy Plains Road (at Davis Road), cost $23.3 million, with funding allocated from the Cobb Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) IV, and after considerable lobbying by parents.

Mountain View Elementary School

Hundreds of students and parents eagerly awaited to tour the new school at dawn on Thursday, and to take part in orientation. Classes begin on Monday.

In the same Cobb Ed SPLOST IV referendum, funding for the new Brumby Elementary School also was provided. Construction continues at its new site on Terrell Mill Road, adjacent to the rebuild for East Cobb Middle School. Those new facilities will open for the 2018-19 school year.

On Sunday, a ribbon-cutting and open house for the new Walton High School building (1590 Bill Murdock Road) will take place starting at 1:30 p.m.

Mountain View Elementary School

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Cobb schools to extend Aug. 21 school day due to solar eclipse

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The Cobb County School District sent out word late Monday afternoon that classes will be extended by 45 minutes on Monday, Aug. 21, primarily for safety reasons, due to the first full solar eclipse to traverse across the United States since 1918:

Due to the solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, the Cobb County School District will delay dismissal of elementary, middle and high school students by 45 minutes.

The peak time to experience the solar eclipse falls during our regularly scheduled elementary school dismissal time. Since student safety is always our first priority we will start the day on time and delay dismissal to ensure that neither students nor employees are on the roadways during the time of the eclipse. Subsequently, high schools and middle schools will delay dismissal as well.

Schools will be provided with further guidance and instructional resources as appropriate. Parents are welcome to pick-up their child at the typical dismissal time if needed.

The eclipse is slated to cross over extreme northeast Georgia, with two minutes of totality expected over Blairsville, and 2:35 over Clayton. The eclipse is scheduled in Georgia between 2:34 p.m. and 2:40 p.m.

Gwinnett County schools also have made a similar decision to dismiss class later, for the same reasons as Cobb.

EAST COBB THIS WEEK: School ribbon-cuttings, summer library farewell, Dog Days Run, food truck & more

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Mountain View Elementary School
The long-awaited new Mountain View Elementary School campus will be christened on Thursday. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)

The last full week of summer vacation will be a busy one for East Cobb students and their parents, beyond shopping for clothes and supplies and getting oriented with the academic year ahead.

A few highlights from this week’s East Cobb Events Calendar:

  • The ribbon-cutting for the new Mountain View Elementary School takes place Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. (yes, bright and early, but before the searing heat sets in) at its new location at 3151 Sandy Plains Road, just down the road from where it had been for decades;
  • It’s guaranteed to be hot and stifling Sunday afternoon when the new Walton High School campus (same location, 1590 Bill Murdock Road) will be dedicated, with ribbon-cutting starting at 2 p.m. An Open House takes place from 2:30-3:30 p.m.;
  • The final Paper Mill Village food truck of the summer will be Monday from 5 p.m.-8 p.m. in the main parking lot (255 Village Parkway). Admission is free and so is the live music; cost of food tickets vary according to vendor;
  • Two East Cobb library branches are holding a joint summer farewell party for students on Thursday from 2-4: The event is at Gritters Library (880 Shaw Park Road) and also includes staff from Mountain View Regional with crafts, games, snacks and other fun activities;
  • Early Saturday morning, the McCleskey-East Cobb Family YMCA (1055 East Piedmont Road) is the venue for the Dog Days Run presented by the Rotary Club of East Cobb. You can still register (race-day fee of $30 starting at 6:30 a.m.), and the organizers are looking for volunteers and sponsors.

There’s so much more on our Events Calendar to check out, and if you have an item to share, please e-mail: calendar@eastcobbnews.com.

Have a great week, and stay in touch!

Wheeler hires new boys basketball coach to succeed Doug Lipscomb

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Larry Thompson, Wheeler High School basketball

Not long after legendary Wheeler High School boys basketball coach Doug Lipscomb announced he was stepping away from his duties, the Wildcats found the man to succeed him.

He’s Larry Thompson, who has guided Greenforest-McCalep Christian Academy of Decatur to the 2013, 2016 and 2017 state championships in the Georgia High School Association’s Class A private school division.

Wheeler principal Peter Giles tweeted the news Thursday evening.

Lipscomb won more than 600 games and six state titles, the latest in 2015, in a 25-year career at Wheeler. He has coached several players who went on to the top levels of college basketball, as well as the NBA. Lipscomb’s first star, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, is currently an executive with the NBA.

Most recently, former Wheeler standout Jaylen Brown finished his rookie season with the Boston Celtics.