After her husband was arrested, pleaded guilty and sentenced to prison for sexually assaulting a Kell High School student, Jen Faison started a true-crime podcast to process what had happened.
“Betrayal: The Perfect Husband” explores the saga of Spencer Herron, named a Kell Teacher of the Year, who engaged in multiple extamarital affairs and eventually was accused by a female student of sexual assault.
In 2019, he pleaded guilty in Cobb Superior Court to five counts of sexual assault on the Kell campus and was sentenced to serve five years in prison and 15 more on probation.
The documentary is a three-part series that explores, from Faison’s perspective, what she thought was a “storybook romance” that went badly wrong.
The series finale includes an interview with Rachel, the Kell student who accused him of assaulting her when she was 16. According to court filings, Herron admitted to having sex multiple times with a student on campus from early 2016 through the end of the 2017-18 school year.
Faison and Herron were sweethearts at Berry College and married more than two decades later, after he was teaching video production at Kell. He also was a member of the Cobb County School District’s Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Council shortly before his arrest.
She was a television producer who moved to Georgia to be closer to him as their relationship deepened.
He had been previously married and divorced, but it wasn’t until his 2018 arrest by Cobb Police in connection with the Kell allegations that Faison began to learn about her husband’s double life.
The Hulu series includes material first presented in the podcast about Faison discovering photos of naked and scantily clad women on his e-mail server.
Herron was released from prison on June 1, according to the documentary, but the Georgia Department of Corrections has no further information since he was incarcerated as a first-time offender.
A review of “Betrayal” by the Daily Beastconcludes that the documentary “is stretched thin for maximum melodramatic purposes, lowlighted by cheesy drone shots and songs whose on-the-nose lyrics seem designed to inspire eye-rolls and guffaws. Yet its core tale remains compelling, especially when, during its closing chapter, it lets a sexual abuse survivor detail the step-by-step means by which she was groomed into participating in a criminally inappropriate relationship.”
When summer vacation began last month for Cobb County School District students, Wheeler High School student Luke Lee was starting to prepare for a longer break from his home school.
According to the organization, the program is “a fellowship funded by the German Bundestag and U.S. Department of State, that annually provides 75 American and 75 German young professionals, between the ages of 18½–24, the opportunity to spend one year in each other’s countries, studying, interning, and living with hosts on a cultural immersion program.”
The program began in 1983 and has involved more than 26,000 students from the U.S. and Germany
The Cobb County School District said this week that Lee is one of 50 students chosen for the program from the Southeastern U.S.
“Luke is an amazing young man, and this will only enhance his high school experience,” sWheeler Principal Paul Gillihan said in a statement via the Cobb school district. “It is a fantastic opportunity for him and will help him change the world!”
In the program, Lee and the other students will live with German families as they learn the language and culture, and attend local German high schools.
CBYX is part of Cultural Vistas, founded in 1963 to promote “global understanding and collaboration among individuals and institutions.”
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The Cobb County School District announced Thursday that a new principal at Dickerson Middle School has been appointed.
He’s Bradley Blackman, who has been an assistant principal for the 7th grade at Dodgen Middle School since 2020.
The Cobb Board of Education voted 7-0 to approve his appointment and two others at the principal level or higher following an executive session Thursday afternoon.
Blackman succeeds Adam Hill, who had been at Dickerson since 2018 and who recently was named an assistant superintendent at the Cobb school district.
Blackman also was an assistant principal at Palmer Middle School and served as a school leadership intern at Simpson Middle School.
From 2003-2014, he was a teacher at Sprayberry High School.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia, a master’s degree from Kennesaw State University and an educational specialist degree at Berry College.
Blackman’s appointment at Dickerson is effective July 1.
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The LGE Community Credit Union, based in Marietta, has announced its 2023 LGE Community Credit Union Scholarship and the Positive Athlete LGE Extra Credit Award winners.
They include students from Kell and Sprayberry high schools in East Cobb.
Taylor Couey of Sprayberry and Megan Paschall of Kell were named recipients of a $2,500 scholarship through the 2023 LGE Community Credit Union Scholarship Program, which went to 11 seniors at metro Atlanta high schools.
They were the only students so named from the Cobb County School District. Five other students were named recipients of a $1,000 scholarship for the Positive Athlete LGE Extra Credit Award.
According to a release, “these awards reflect the credit union’s commitment to education and are designed to support high school students from Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Douglas, Fulton, and Paulding counties.”
The scholarship awards combined for this year amount to $32,500.
Chris Leggett, President and CEO of LGE Community Credit Union, said in the release that “we believe in investing in the future of our community, and supporting education is a critical part of that mission.”
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Six more students from Wheeler High School and Walton High School in East Cob have been named recipients of National Merit Scholarships.
These scholarships are provided by the college or university of the student’s choice, and range between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study. Probable career fields are also listed.
Madison Bohm, Wheeler: Rochester Institute of Technology; Mechanical Engineering
Peter Fink, Walton: University of Georgia; Computer Science
Misha S. Gupta, Wheeler: Emory University; Finance
Ethan T. Liu, Walton: University of Georgia; Kinesiology
Ashley Kay Rice, Walton: Emory University; Bioinformatics
Hanif A. Zaman, Wheeler: University of Georgia; Cell Biology
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Teresa Sykes of the Johnson Ferry Homeschool Group passed along the flyer below about its curriculum and used book sale Friday and Saturday.
The sale takes place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday in the Magnolia Room at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church (955 Johnson Ferry Road).
The sale includes a wide variety of curriculum, as well as general reading literature from preschool on up, games, puzzles, DVD’s and other items of general interest to the public.
For more information, scan the QR code on the flyer below.
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Before the disruptions caused by school closures in response to COVID-19, Laura Judge was forging a deeper interest not only in educational issues but broader political topics.
Her son was six years old during the 2016 and excited about the prospect of the first female president of the United States to follow the country’s first black commander-in-chief.
“We tried to keep politics out of the home,” said Judge, who at the time was working in the biotech industry.
While historical lightning didn’t strike twice, that campaign ignited Judge’s political involvement.
In the 2017 special election for the 6th Congressional District, she took her soon to the East Cobb Government Service Center for a meet-and-greet with Jon Ossoff.
He lost to Karen Handel, but that launched his political career, and he currently serves as Georgia’s senior U.S. senator.
Judge began paying closer to attention to school-related issues after Charisse Davis was elected in 2018 to serve part of East Cobb on the Cobb Board of Education.
But Judge said she felt as though voices in the school community outside of those held by Republican majority were not only not being heard, but not welcome.
When the board was conducting business remotely via Zoom, she said she was bothered when David Banks, the longtime Post 5 incumbent, left a meeting when some his colleagues were speaking.
(Banks and Davis and Jaha Howard sparred frequently during the single term served by the latter two.)
“I wrote the board that I didn’t think that represented our values or our schools,” Judge said in a recent interview with East Cobb News to discuss her candidacy for the Cobb school board from Post 5, which includes the Walton, Wheeler and Pope high school clusters.
She said only Davis responded, a pattern Judge said she saw as typical.
“Our community should have access to board members,” said Judge.
Judge, a Democrat, is involved in Watching the Funds-Cobb, a citizens watchdog group that scrutinizes Cobb County School District finances.
The mother of two children who attend Dickerson Middle School and Mt. Bethel Elementary School, Judge also is involved their respective PTA organizations.
She was the education chair in the citizens cabinet of District 2 Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson until launching her campaign (here’s Judge’s campaign website).
She also has been active with the Georgia chapter of Moms Demand Action, which advocates for gun safety, and spent much of the 2023 legislative session at the state Capitol.
Judge said that many of the messages she sent to board members about a number of concerns were falling on deaf ears.
“I never received any responses, and other parents feel like they don’t know where to find information.”
When the pandemic was declared and schools closed in March 2020, Judge’s daughter, whom she called a “struggling reader,” felt further behind.
“I didn’t know until then how in-depth her problems were, but it helped me understand her struggles and advocate for her,” Judge said.
She took her children out of the Cobb school district for the 2020-21 school year. After they returned, she worked with her daughter’s teachers at Mt. Bethel who are certified in the Orton-Gillingham evidence-based literacy training approach.
Having just completed third grade, Judge’s daughter is now reading at grade-level, and “I’m very excited.”
Judge speaking at the Georgia Capitol during the 2023 legislative session.
Long Island roots
A native of Long Island, N.Y., Judge, 41, moved to the Atlanta area with her family in 2005 and settled in East Cobb in 2014. She attended the U.S. Naval Academy and received a bioscience research degree from Farmingdale State University.
She and her husband run Monsta Content, a digital marketing and content company.
She said her priorities in her campaign are transparency, safety and literacy.
The Watching the Funds-Cobb group has been critical of the Cobb school district’s handling of some financial matters.
Judge applauded the board and Superintendent Chris Ragsdale for the recent $1.4 billion fiscal year 2023 budget that includes a property tax millage rate reduction and pay raises for teachers and other employees.
But the budget process, Judge said, is an example of transparency issues she sees.
“Our budget looks great,” she said. “It’s the smaller projects that don’t always go to the board.”
She pointed to the district’s handwashing machines and security alert system that Watching the Funds-Cobb has been critical of over the last two years.
By the time the proposed budget goes to public hearings, Judge said, “there is no interaction. The budget is already done.
“It’s by design. It’s how it’s been working for a long time,” and said that in the aftermath to the district’s COVID response, “people were seeing that’s not how it should be working.”
Partisan lines drawn
The Post 5 seat will be one of four on the seven-member school board to be decided in the 2024 elections. Two others are also held by Republicans, who hold a 4-3 majority.
Banks hasn’t announced whether he’ll seek a fourth term. Business owner and Walton cluster parent John Cristadoro announced as a GOP candidate and has assembled a committee of supporters that includes former school board member Scott Sweeney of East Cobb and John Loud, a former president of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce (Cristadoro interview here).
Post 5 was redrawn to include the Walton and Wheeler clusters that formerly were in Post 6, where Davis served until deciding last year not to seek re-election.
Of Banks, Judge said that she “appreciates all the years he has spent” devoted to local education matters.
“I hope he does what he feels like is best for him.”
But she thinks that his status as a lightning rod works against him and the district.
“I don’t think David Banks represents East Cobb,” she said. “I don’t like a school board member being in the press for making controversial comments.
“Some people like those who speak their mind, but I don’t think that represents Post 5 as a whole.”
When asked about Cristadoro’s supporters, Judge said “I don’t think they want [the partisan dynamic] to change. So many parents wish our school boards weren’t partisan. That’s why I think our board should have policies that are above partisanship.”
Thoughts on the Superintendent
In certain conservative circles in Cobb, some have expressed concerns that a Democratic majority would undermine the school district in a number of ways, including the appointment of new superintendent.
Board Democrats in recent years have voted against extending Ragsdale’s contract, and they went to the district’s accrediting agency, Cognia, which issued a special review in 2021 but reversed those findings early last year.
Judge said there is “no fiscal responsibility to changing the superintendent.”
She said that any such change “would have to be something done with the other six colleagues” and would hinge on “what would be best for the community.”
If Democrats were to gain the majority, Judge said, “I don’t think things would change as much as people are talking about. Children aren’t political pawns.
“I think more people will have a voice.”
After Ragsdale lashed out at Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid’s school-related comments at the recent Cobb Prayer Breakfast, Judge said “I wish they would work out their differences behind closed doors.”
Other issues of concern for her are improving mental health services for students and being more responsive to students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), where the Cobb school district “is involved in a lot of litigation. . . . I don’t think they want to lose, but it’s something that I think doesn’t need to get to that level.”
Judge said the school board’s ban on the teaching of Critical Race Theory in 2021 was “unnecessary” because it’s not included in current Georgia curriculum standards.
The Cobb school district also has resisted calls for a diversity officer and programs. Judge said students are being “insulated” from a diversifying society.
“It doesn’t have to be in the curriculum per se, but there are ways of teaching people to be kind to others,” she said.
Judge and her family moved to East Cobb in 2014.
Pledging a moderate approach
Judge says that “I’m not looking for radical change” and that her priorities rise above partisan politics.
“I want to see our county continue to grow,” she said. “Things are changing a lot faster for some people that they are uncomfortable with.
“I think that people are fearing others. I don’t want to ‘other’ anybody.”
While Post 5 remains something of a Republican stronghold in a Cobb County that has seen significant Democratic political gains in recent years, Judge thinks her party affiliation shouldn’t be an issue.
She said Davis and Howard, who served from 2019-2022, were successful “in letting people know how the district operates.”
She said she would go about dealing with some contentious issues—including along racial and ethnic lines—in a different way.
Efforts to change the name of Wheeler High School, over the namesake’s history as a Confederate general in the Civil War, also have been spurned by the board’s GOP majority and the district.
Judge said she would “defer to the community” on that issue, but was critical of the board’s decision to disband a name-changing committee shortly after it was formed in 2021.
She maintains that one of the biggest challenges facing the district is “people being heard. Everybody deserves to have a voice, to be at the table.
“We have a great district. We have more people paying attention to what the district is doing and how it operates.”
Judge said that if she were elected, “I would like to think that would change more voices to be heard.”
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Last Saturday a final walkthrough was scheduled at the longstanding Eastvalley Elementary School main building on Lower Roswell Road.
It was a chance for students, parents and staff to bid farewell to an aging building after more than 60 years of use.
Furniture, books and other items had all been packed up, ready to be moved to the new campus across from Wheeler High School on Holt Road.
But construction delays mean that those items will remain where they are for the time being.
The new campus won’t be ready when the 2023-24 school year begins Aug. 1.
The Cobb County School District told East Cobb News that the issue is supply chain issues, but a spokesperson wasn’t more specific. Here’s the statement we received:
“We are told that our new building should be completed around Fall break. We know this timing is not ideal, but the construction team assures us that every step is being taken to complete the project as soon as possible. Until then teaching and learning will continue in our current building.”
The fall break in the Cobb school district is the week of Sept. 25-29.
The $36.7 million Eastvalley rebuild began in the spring of 2022 and will contain 136,110 square feet and 61 classrooms, with an expected capacity of around 960 K-5 students.
The present campus has been overcrowded for years, with more than 700 students crammed into a main classroom building designed for 400. A dozen trailers have been in use but have generated parental complaints.
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L to R: Dr. Cheri Vaniman, Principal Rocky Mount ES; Peter Munk (dad); Karen Munk (mom); Aimee Mendel, past president KCMGK: Jim Perry, presenter and past president KCMGK; John Kone, president KCMGK and Dr. Sage Doolittle, Rock Mount ES. Front: DEANNA MUNK, SP award winner
Thanks to John Kone, president of the East Cobb-based Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K, for the following information and photo:
The Silver Pen Program, now a statewide award, was created over 25 years ago by the Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K (KCMGK). Since then, the Silver Pen Award has been presented by the KCMGK to Cobb County Fourth grade students. The essay completion was competitive since the award was open to all 4th grade students on a school wide level.
Jim Perry, past president of the KCMGK and Silver Pen Award presenter summarized it this way, “The Club challenges all fourth graders in three schools to write a comprehensive essay on a topic assigned by the Club. Teachers in each section of fourth grade send their best two submissions to the school administration. One paper from each class is submitted to the Club, who has a panel of judges select the winner from each school. The Silver Pen Award was our Signature Program for many years, but its success became widely known. Now, this is an approved program for Kiwanis Clubs throughout the Georgia District.”
This year, the KCMGK awarded the Silver Pen Awards at three Cobb County schools: Acworth, Rocky Mount, and Tritt Elementary Schools. The winning students were: ASHLEY LANGAN, Acworth ES; JAMES THORPE, Tritt ES, and DEANNA MUNK, Rocky Mount ES. Each winner was presented with a silver pen in a velvet sleeve, a roll of $25 uncirculated one dollar coins acquired directly from the Philadelphia Mint, and an engraved plaque. The presentations were made during the morning broadcast to the whole school.
Everyone was extremely proud of the Silver Pen Award winners, however, the most surprising change observed by us, the adults (parents, teachers and Kiwanis Club members) was the delivery! At each school, the SP awards were presented LIVE, to each classroom, via a “closed circuit” in house TV system. “We never had anything like this when I was in Elementary School,” one parent went on to say.” Both students and adults are thankful for all the technological changes that have taken place in our schools over the years.
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From L-R: Wheeler valedictorian Rithu Hegde; Sprayberry valedictorian Sebastian Jean Francois; Kell salutatorian Elana Darsey.
As graduation ceremonies continue this week, the Cobb County School District on Tuesday announced the Class of 2023 valedictorians and salutatorians.
Overall, the valedictorians in the Cobb school district combined for an average grade-point average of 4.705, with salutatorians at 4.67.
Five seniors from high schools in East Cobb had grade-point averages above 4.8.
Two of them are from Walton, valedictorian Chaitanya Yetukuri (4.826), and salutatorian Gavin Du, with a GPA of 4.808.
The others are Pope valedictorian Shaunak Karnik (4.815), Wheeler valedictorian Rithu Hegde (4.803) and Lassiter valedictorian Arsh Mukhtar Ali (4.8).
What follows are the vals and sals from the six East Cobb high schools, their GPAs, college choices and intended majors.
Eight of the vals and sals from East Cobb are headed to Georgia Tech, with others bound for Cal Tech, MIT, Cornell and Northwestern.
Kell High School
Valedictorian—Clare Wu, 4.750, California Institute of Technology, computer science
Salutatorian—Elana Darsey, 4.719, Georgia Tech, computer engineering
Lassiter High School
Valedictorian—Arsh Mukhtar Ali, 4.8, Georgia Tech, computer science
Salutatorian—Joshua Michael Wu, 4.75, Georgia Tech, computer science
Pope High School
Valedictorian—Shaunak Karnik, 4.815, Georgia Tech, computer science
Salutatorian—Amy Kokan, 4.778, Georgia Tech, mechanical engineering
Sprayberry High School
Valedictorian—Sebastian Jean Francois, 4.750, Cornell University, computer science
Salutatorian—Thomas George, 4.742, Georgia Tech, civil engineering
Walton High School
Valedictorian—Chaitanya Yetukuri, 4.826, Georgia Tech, business administration
Salutatorian—Gavin Du, 4.808, Northwestern University, economics
Wheeler High School
Valedictorian—Rithu Hegde, 4.803, Undecided, mathematics
Salutatorian—Ewuraba Buckle, 4.766, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, computer science
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The Class of 2023 in the Cobb County School District begins receiving their diplomas on Monday, with commencement exercises taking place through Saturday.
As the schedule would have it, the graduations for the six public high school in East Cobb will be spread out over all six of those days.
All East Cobb graduations will take place at the KSU Convocation Center (590 Cobb Ave., Kennesaw).
The Cobb County School District has a full schedule and other information on graduation ceremonies, including parking, ordering DVDs and live streaming information at this resource page.
The parking cost is $10 per vehicle, and KSU requires all persons entering the venue to pass through a metal detector.
All bags and packages will be searched, and only bags with a clear tote or small clutch will be allowed.
All guests must be ticketed, and balloons and signs are not permitted. Strollers also may not be brought to the graduation site.
Kell High School: Monday, May 22, 7:30 p.m.
Pope High School: Tuesday, May 23, 7:30 p.m.
Walton High School: Wednesday, May 24, 7:30 p.m.
Lassiter High School: Thursday, May 25, 10 a.m.
Sprayberry High School: Friday, May 26, 7 p.m.
Wheeler High School: Saturday, May 27, 2:30 p.m.
Three school days remain in the 2022-23 academic year in the Cobb school district. All school levels will have early release on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Schools will release students, and buses will run, as follows:
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The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday formalized the appointments of two principals at East Cobb elementary schools as part of broader personnel changes for the 2023-24 school year.
They include the appointment of Dr. Katie Derman to succeed the retiring Renee Garris as principal at Mountain View Elementary School.
Derman has been the principal at Picketts Mill Elementary School in Acworth, and previously was an assistant principal there.
She also served as a special education teacher in the Cherokee County School District.
Sedalia Park Elementary School also will be getting a new principal in August. Principal Tiffany Jackson has been reassigned to Sanders Elementary School in Austell, and her successor will be William Dryden.
He has been the principal at Frey Elementary School in Acworth, and one of his previous teaching assignments was at Brumby Elementary School.
Both Derman and Dryden will begin their new duties on July 1, when the fiscal year 2024 starts in the Cobb County School District.
William Dryden
Sedalia Park assistant principal Rachel Kaliah has been promoted to principal at Austell Elementary School and also will begin that appointment on July 1.
The Cobb school district also promoted Sherri Hill, its chief leadership officer, to the position of chief of staff to the superintendent.
She succeeds Kevin Daniel, who is retiring. Hill’s replacement will be Dr. Jasmine Kullar, who has been an assistant superintendent for middle schools in West Cobb.
The school board also approved Superintendent Chris Ragsdale’s recommendations to extend the contracts of other members of his cabinet for another year.
They include Chief Strategy and Accountability officer John Floresta, Chief Technology and Operations officer Marc Smith, Chief Financial Officer Brad Johnson, Chief Academic Officer Catherine Mallanda and Chief Human Resources officer Keeli Bowen.
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During his monthly remarks to the Cobb Board of Education Thursday, Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale lashed out at a county elected official for school-related comments she made at a recent public event.
His target wasn’t any of the seven board members seated around him, but the head of Cobb County government.
Ragsdale was in attendance earlier this month at the Cobb Prayer Breakfast when Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid spoke, giving a mini-county update from her perspective that included a passing reference to schools.
“We have top businesses here and excellent schools for most of us,” Cupid said near the end of the May 4 prayer breakfast, but did not elaborate on the latter.
Cupid, who served two terms as the District 4 commissioner in South Cobb before her election as chairwoman in 2021, has homeschooled her two children.
Ragsdale called the comments “derogatory” and added that some on his staff asked him if he would respond.
“I do not believe that such negativity, especially at a prayer breakfast, deserves a response,” he said, reading from a prepared statement, and referenced Cobb high school valedictorian grade-point average differences from 2022.
“That being said, I will pose this question: Do you know what the difference is between the valedictorian at, stay, Pebblebrook and the valedictorian at Allatoona? About 0.3. . . .
“Or say the valedictorian at South Cobb and the valedictorian at Walton? That would be about 0.23. With one going to Georgia Tech and one going to Duke.
“These are just small examples that show that all of our schools provide an excellent education to all of our students,” Ragsdale said.
“Perhaps instead of hijacking a prayer breakfast to issue a politically-charged statement, one should just remember to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
UPDATED, MONDAY, MAY 22:
We got this response late Sunday evening from Cupid:
“I am grateful Superintendent Ragsdale shares commitment to the success of our county which includes ameliorating existing disparities where data and observation may indicate opportunity for improvement. I have been and will continue to be a champion and partner where our interests overlap.”
According to Cobb real estate records, shortly after her election as chairwoman in early 2021, Cupid and her husband purchased a home with a Mableton address but that is in the Vinings Estates area of the city of Smyrna, the Campbell High School cluster and Cobb commission District 2.
They previously had been living in a home in Mableton, not far from Six Flags and in the Pebblebrook cluster, according to real estate records.
In recent months, Cupid has brought several former antagonists of Ragsdale and the Cobb County School District into county government.
She hired former Mableton Elementary School counselor Jennifer Susko for a short-term diversity role earlier this year, and appointed former school board member Jaha Howard to the Cobb Transit Advisory Board.
Susko resigned her job with the Cobb school district in 2021 after being highly critical of the Cobb school district’s handling of various racial issues, including the school board’s vote to ban the teaching of critical race tbeory and the district’s refusal to take up “anti-racist” and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.
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The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday adopted a $1.448 billion fiscal year 2024 budget Thursday with a property tax rate reduction and a generous pay raise for teachers and other employees.
But it wasn’t unanimous.
Board member and vice chairman David Banks, a Republican from Post 5 in East Cobb, voted present after expressing concerns about rising tax assessments.
The Cobb County School District’s millage rate is going down for the first time in 15 years, from 18.9 mills to 18.7 mills.
But that wasn’t enough for Banks, whose six colleagues all voted to adopt the budget.
Cobb property tax assessments for 2023 have gone out in the last week, with Cobb Tax Assessor Stephen White acknowledging that the “vast majority” of homeowners will have higher assessments than last year.
As he questioned Cobb school district Chief Financial Officer Brad Johnson, Banks referenced rising assessments by as much as 46 percent.
Although the largest portion of a typical Cobb homeowner’s tax bill is for schools—except for those receiving the senior tax exemption—assessments are conducted by the Cobb Tax Assessor’s office and are based on fair market value and other factors.
“I have some concerns about this budget,” Banks said, addressing Johnson. “Would you acknowledge that this is the largest tax increase the school district has ever had?”
Johnson hesitated for a moment before responding by reminding Banks of the millage rate cut, which is resulting in a savings of $7.6 million this year in property tax revenues, “and over five and 10 years much more than that.”
Banks said in spite of that, “it’s still the largest tax increase in the school’s history,” withing citing a source, “correct?”
Johnson replied that “I characterize it as a millage decrease. If you have a home that’s worth more [in the form of a higher assessment], you will pay more. If you have a home that’s worth less, you’ll pay less.”
Banks continued that “the taxpayer is going to see a huge increase in their taxes this year, correct?”
Johnson reiterated that “it depends on how much their home is worth, and it depends on how the tax assessor values it.”
Banks said he wanted to see the tax rate cut by 0.5 mills.
“I’m a fiscal conservative Republican, and I’m going to vote accordingly,” he said.
One of his fellow fiscal conservative Republican colleagues was aghast.
“Wow,” said Randy Scamihorn of Post 1 in north and west Cobb, right after Banks finished his remarks. “I didn’t know that giving back money was going to create complaints. We need to be prudent and make sure we can cover the basics, make sure that we are competitive in salaries with our teachers and support staff. We’re doing good things.”
In the FY 2024 budget, which takes effect July 1, full-time employees will receive salary increases between 7.5 percent and 12.1 percent, and the Cobb school district would hire an additional 11 officers for its police department, which currently has 70 officers.
Banks, who is in the last year of his fourth term, has not announced if he will be seeking re-election in Post 5, which includes the Walton, Wheeler and Pope high school clusters.
Two candidates who have declared their candidacy for the Post 5 seat, Democrat Laura Judge and Republican John Cristadoro, both addressed the school board Thursday before the budget vote in approval of the proposed spending plan.
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The Cobb Board of Education will hold a final public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2024 operating budget Thursday before voting on adoption later in the evening.
A public budget forum will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the board room of the CCSD central office (514 Glover St., Marietta), followed by a vote at the board’s voting meeting at 7 p.m.
Last month Cobb County School District Chris Ragsdale proposed a $1.4 billion budget (detailed numbers here) that includes a slight millage rate decrease, from 18.9 mills to 18.7 mills, due to rising property tax assessments.
Full-time employees would receive salary increases between 7.5 percent and 12.1 percent, and the Cobb school district would hire an additional 11 officers for its police department, which currently has 70 officers.
If approved, the millage rate reduction would be the first change in the general fund property tax rate for the Cobb school district in nearly 15 years.
The 2024 fiscal year begins July 1.
The school board will meet at 2 p.m. in a work session that includes an update on the Cobb school district’s demographics.
An executive session follows the work session. Agendas for the public meetings can be found by clicking here.
At the evening session, the recognitions will include the boys soccer team at Lassiter High School, which won the Georgia High School Association Class 6A state championship.
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Improving third-grade reading proficiency in Georgia has been a major factor in revising English and Language Arts standards.
The Georgia Department of Education has approved new standards for the teaching of English and language arts that remove what’s left of Common Core standards.
For the next two years, K-12 teachers in ELA will be trained to teach to the new standards, which will formally go into effect by 2025 and will be incorporated into Milestones testing.
According to a Georgia DOE release, the standards “are intentionally designed to provide a strong literacy foundation beginning in the early grades, including the addition of a specific Foundations domain throughout the K-5 standards.”
They’re built around a concept called the “science of reading” and emphasize phonics in the earlier grades.
In 2022, only one-third of Georgia third-graders were regarded as proficient or better in Milestones testing.
In the Cobb County School District, more than 73 percent of third-graders were reading at or above grade level in the Milestones results.
Some elementary schools in East Cobb had among the highest percentages of third-graders surpassing proficiency levels of reading, at 90 percent or higher. But others struggled, including Sedalia Park (65.9 percent), Powers Ferry (62 percent) and Brumby (52 percent).
The standards come four years after an initiative was announced by Woods and Gov. Brian Kemp to phase out Common Core standards that have been in place since 2015.
The release said the new standards were developed with a broad base of input from educators, parents, business leaders, and others, and “feature built-in learning progressions across grade spans and within grade-level concepts, allowing teachers to remediate or accelerate learning as needed.”
The Georgia DOE issues a survey (results here) and began accepting public feedback on the ELA standards in November and issued another public response period in March.
“Knowing that early literacy is essential to all future learning, the standards place a strong emphasis on the fundamentals in the early grades,” Woods said in the release.
For more information on Georgia DOE curriculum standards, click here.
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Jack Xu, a senior at Walton High School, is one of four students from Georgia and among 161 nationwide to be named a U.S. Presidential Scholar.
The Georgia Department of Education Wednesday announced the news of the 59th such class, which is chosen by the U.S. Department of Education.
Students are selected for “their accomplishments in academics, the arts, and career and technical education fields.”
Xu is an honor student at Walton and this year was named a STAR Student by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators.
He was a varsity swimmer and also participated in a number of academic and other extracurricular organizations at Walton, including the East Cobb chapter of AYLUS, or The Alliance of Youth Leaders in the U.S., of which he is a former president.
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The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is continuing to announce recipients of its 2023 scholarship program this spring, this time for $2,500 scholarships from its own funds.
Three of the students from East Cobb attend Wheeler High School, two are from Walton High School and one each are seniors at Lassiter High School and Kell High School:
Erin E. Cooney, Lassiter. Probable career field: Landscape Architecture
Gavin J. Du, Walton. Probable career field: Consulting
Rithu A. Hegde, Wheeler. Probable career field: Computer Science
Shaunak R. Karnik, Pope. Probable career field: Computer Science
Kabir A. Maindarkar, Wheeler. Probable career field: Chemical Engineering
Lakshmi Valliyappan, Wheeler. Probable career field: Medicine
Chaitanya Sri Yetukuri, Walton. Probable career field: Business Administration
According to the NMSC, they are among the 2,500 students chosen nationwide for this particular scholarship, from a field of 15,000 finalists.
They are “judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.”
The criteria includes their academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay; and a recommendation written by a high school official.
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Front row left to right: East Side Elementary Youth Essay Contest winners Cameron Courant (5th grade), Stella Eagen (4th grade), Polly Funk (4th grade) and Gianna Sitaf (3rd grade). Back row left to right: Ryan Behrens (Community Development, Delta Community), Jessica Williams (Assistant Branch Manager/Johnson Ferry Road, Delta Community) and Maria Clark (Principal).
Four students from East Side Elementary School in East Cobb were named recipients of the 2023 Delta Community Credit Union Youth Essay Contest in April.
The contest, held in April in recognition of National Credit Union Youth Month, was open to third, fourth, and fifth graders, and 21 students from metro Atlanta schools were chosen. Delta Community received more than 130 entries and selected seven winners from each grade level.
The East Side students are third-grader Gianna Sitaf, fourth-graders Stella Eagen and Polly Funk and fifth-grader Cameron Courant.
Each of the recipients was awarded a $100 youth savings account. Here’s more from Delta Community about the essay content:
“Winning essays included responses from students that said they would save money for altruistic causes like donating to the National Brain Tumor Society, building a wildfire refuge for animals, or providing necessities for those in need. Another student said they would save money to build a school, and another would save to pay for college.”
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A reader saw our post last week about Lassiter High School senior Luke O’Malley being accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy and alerted us to another East Cobb student who’s going to the same institution.
He’s Kenneth Namango of Sprayberry High School, where he played varsity soccer, served as team captain and was named the Georgia High School Association’s Region 7-6A player of the year.
He was recently named a Senior Elite at Sprayberry (video here), and was involved in many academic and extracurricular activities, including the Computer Science Club, Shop With a Yellow Jacket, PTSA Craft Show and the Black Student Union.
Namango also was selected as Prom King and with having the Best Smile and being part of the Best Couple in the senior class.
His soccer awards also include being named to the Region 7-6A Academic All-Region team. Kenny sent us the above photo and the information below about how he came to be offered a chance to continue his educational and athletic careers at the U.S. Naval Academy:
I had been recruited by the Naval Academy’s Men’s Soccer staff at an ECNL Orlando showcase just before my high school season. They became interested in my leadership and soccer skills that I was able to show as I am the Captain of NASA TopHat’s Boys 2005/2004 ECNL team. The staff and I were able to get in contact and they expressed their interest in me and invited me on a visit. I went to the campus in Annapolis and absolutely loved it. I got to wake up early, go to classes and watch soccer practice almost as if I was a student athlete there. They also gave me a tour around campus and a little walk through Annapolis.
The Naval Academy likes people who can balance being a leader, being involved in their community, and having good academics. At Sprayberry I became captain of the Varsity team since my freshman year, did over 100+ hours of community service within the last two years, worked at Mcdonald’s on Barrett Parkway and Wing City on Windy Hill, and was able to maintain a 4.3 GPA taking all honors and AP classes.
With the combination of my recruitment by the Naval Academy’s Men’s soccer staff and my resume, I received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy. Along with being on the soccer team I seek to study computer science and am interested in choosing to be a Cyber Warfare Engineer as my career following my studies at the academy.
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