Walton High School has a new principal who will be very familiar to students when she takes over at the start of the new school year.
She’s assistant principal Catherine Mallanda, who’s been at Walton for 17 years.
Mallanda was one of several principal and administrative appointments made Tuesday morning by the Cobb Board of Education.
She succeeds Judy McNeill, who is retiring after 30 years at Walton, including the last 10 as principal. The change is effective Aug. 1, the first day of the 2018-19 school year in the Cobb County School District.
Mallanda, who had earned $97,721 annually in her previous role, will have a yearly salary of $131,303 as Walton principal. She hold degrees from Georgia Tech and the University of West Georgia and a Ph.D. from Southern Mississippi.
She also was a classroom teacher at Walton and McEachern High School before becoming an administrator in 2003.
Some other East Cobb schools also will be getting new principals.
Sprayberry High School is one of them. Joseph Sharp has resigned, effective June 15, to move to Alabama. He will be succeeded by Sara Griffin, a current Sprayberry assistant principal, who starts June 18.
Griffin will be paid $112,965 annually as principal. She had earned $81,848 as an assistant principal last year at Sprayberry. She also was an assistant principal and teacher at Kell High School.
Griffin earned degrees from Georgia Tech, Georgia State and Kennesaw State.
Longtime Dickerson Middle School principal Carole Brink is retiring as of Aug. 1, but her replacement has not been named.
Felicia Angelle is leaving Shallowford Falls ES for the CCSD central office.
James Rawls, who has been assistant principal at Cooper Middle School, becomes the new principal at Daniell Middle School on July 1. Former principal David Nelson was recently reassigned to become principal at Pine Mountain Middle School.
Rawls earned $79,839 as an assistant principal at Cooper since 2004. His salary at Daniell will be $103,083. He has degrees from Armstrong Atlantic State University and Argosy University and previously was a teacher and administrator in Atlanta and Savannah public schools.
Shallowford Falls Elementary School also will be getting a new principal to be named later. Felicia Angelle is leaving to become the CCSD’s academic division director of instruction, innovation, teaching and learning. She starts her new position Aug. 1.
Dr. Tricia Patterson has resigned as Tritt Elementary School principal to become director of the Marietta City School’s STEM Academy. Her successor comes from elsewhere in East Cobb. Karen Carstens, who had been an assistant principal at Powers Ferry Elementary School, begins her new duties tomorrow.
Carstens, who also has been an assistant principal at Sope Creek Elementary School, had been earning $82,017. A previous teacher at Shallowford Falls, her salary there as principal will be $102,182.
Assistant principals on the move
The school board also made the following appointments involving East Cobb schools below the level of principal:
Mount Bethel Elementary School teacher and administrator Jaime Davis to assistant principal there;
Vaughn Elementary School principal Kevin Carpenter is now assistant principal at Powers Ferry;
Sedalia Park Elementary School assistant principal Zachary Mathis to the same position at Vaughn;
Former North Cobb principal Joe Horton is now an assistant principal at Sprayberry.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Parents, friends and family members of Walton students offered support during the March 14 walkout. (East Cobb News photo)
Cobb County School District high schools are beginning to issue suspensions for students who participated in National Walkout Day last week. Some East Cobb students say they’re still waitng to hear what there punishment will be.
Kara Litwin, organizer of the walkout at Pope High School, told East Cobb News Wednesday that she and others who walked out are receiving a day of in-school suspension on Monday.
Walton walkout leaders said the estimated 260 students at their school who walked out will receive a day of ISS on Tuesday.
Cobb schools did not support the walkout and said students who left their classes in a gun-control protest would be subject to disciplinary action under the district’s student code of conduct. Those actions would be left up to individual school principals.
Hannah Andress, the Lassiter leader, told us Wednesday night her administration hasn’t announced any punishment. She thinks it’s also going to be a day of what’s referred to as ISS. Instead of attending classes, students will gather in what’s essentially a day-long study hall. She also told us this:
“I want something like assigned community service for the younger participants so, when the apply to college, they don’t have to explain ISS on their record. But I’m willing to take any punishment if it means getting my message across.”
We also heard from Josh Spear, a student at Harrison High School in West Cobb, who said his school also has issued one day of ISS that he will be serving on Friday. “However,” he added, “I will fight to ensure that the school district pays for the violation of students’ first amendment rights.”
We’ll update this story as we get more information about forthcoming punishments.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A summary of a proposed $1.059 billion fiscal year 2019 Cobb schools budget was presented to the Cobb Board of Education on Thursday, and it reflects a slight increase from the present fiscal year 2018 budget of $1.023 billion.
David Banks
The FY 2019 proposal includes a 1.1-percent bonus for annual employees, district police officers and high school secretaries, also known as “238-day” employees. There are no pay raises included for any Cobb County School District employees.
At a board work session Thursday, district officials laid out a budget plan that doesn’t raise property taxes, but uses $7.8 million in reserve funding to pay for the bonuses.
On a more long-term level, the budget forecast for the 112,000-student district, the second-largest in Georgia, is a bit grim.
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said that “revenue has not changed,” and that “while we always try to guard against crying wolf,” the district’s tight fiscal situation does not appear to be changing any time soon.
“We have cut until we are at the bone,” Ragsdale said. “We have nothing left to cut.”
The one-page budget presentation (below, or click for PDF version here) also includes $12 million in salary step increases for eligible employees and an increase in the employer contribution to the state teacher retirement system from 16.81 percent to 20.9 percent, or a total of $25 million more.
Of that amount, the state is contributing $16 million, according to Cobb schools chief financial officer Brad Johnson.
He added that state austerity cuts for FY 2019 will take another $10 million in funding away from Cobb. The district also will have to contribute $155 million in state “fair share” funding that is spread around other school districts in Georgia, up from the present $145 million.
Johnson also said that flat student enrollment growth figures in Cobb also figure to reduce the funding the district receives from the state.
This is all in spite of Cobb coming off a record tax digest in 2017, and a net estimated digest growth of six percent for this year that would yield an additional $24 million in school revenues.
The current Cobb school millage rate is 18.9 mills, and is capped at 20 mills. Residential property owners in Cobb age 62 and over are eligible to apply for an exemption from paying school taxes, which the district estimates costs around $100 million annually.
“We have very little additional state revenue coming in next year,” Johnson told the board members. “We have a revenue problem. We have a problem with state revenue.”
The current FY 2018 budget includes the use of $18 million in reserve funds to purchase property adjoining the school district’s Marietta headquarters ($4.2 million) and $5.6 million for school building additions and modifications in the south Cobb area.
Ragsdale said the district is still down around 900 teaching positions. Estimating that the average teacher cost is $90,000 a year, he said there’s “no way we can even attempt to think about” how to close that gap.
The proposed budget includes a total of six new instructional positions across the district, at a cost of $542,000.
Saying that revenue sources aren’t just “tapped out,” but that “we are taking on water,” Ragsdale said that “it’s really a shame that we cannot do anything more with our budget as it is now. It is what it is.”
Board member David Banks of East Cobb, who represents the Pope and Lassiter districts, admitted during the presentation that “we’re in a danger zone.”
Later on Thursday, Connie Jackson of the Cobb County Association of Educators said the budget “isn’t pretty, it’s not what we were hoping for” and urged board members to include pay raises.
“We need a raise, and we need it this year,” she said, referring to information provided by school officials that Cobb is ninth out of 12 metro Atlanta school districts in recruiting new teachers.
She said “we are slipping” and fears Cobb will slide in other indicators for paying and retaining teachers and school administrators.
There hasn’t been a millage rate increase for Cobb schools in 10 years, Jackson said, and while no one wants a tax increase, boosting the millage rate to the full 20 mills would cost homeowners an additional $80 a year on a home valued at $200,000 and would yield a 2.5 pay raise.
“That’s not much to ask for . . . for a living wage,” she said.
Johnson said more detailed budget information will be available soon, and will be posted on the district’s website as well.
The school board will hold a public hearing on the budget on April 19 at 6:30 p.m., shortly before tentative approval.
Formal adoption is scheduled for May 17, following a second public hearing at 12:30 p.m. The Cobb schools budget goes into effect on July 1, and the final tax digest figures are determined later in July.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
As a television news helicopter buzzed overhead, several dozen parents, family members and friends of Walton High School walkout students gathered Wednesday morning to show their support on National School Walkout day.
The group of about 30-40 people huddled in brisk temperatures at the back entrance to Walton, near the football field where walkout students were planning their protest, holding signs and talking quietly among themselves.
At 10 a.m., they grew quiet as the names of the 17 victims of the Feb. 14 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla., were pronounced. A moment of silence followed, and the group waved to students walking to and from the main school building, and to those who remained inside.
A solemn reading of the names of the 17 victims of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting a month ago today.
Walkout activity was not visible from their gathering spot on Bill Murdock Road and Pine Road. Motorists were stopped by officers patrolling the entrance to the back parking lot.
Initial reports were that only a few hundred Walton students walked out, far fewer than the more than 2,000 students protest organizers said had signed up online. Around 100 or so students each at Lassiter and Pope reportedly participated in walkouts.
UPDATE: Around 12:30 p.m. today, John Adams, the deputy superintendent of Cobb schools, posted this message on the Cobb County School Unofficial Community Page on Facebook:
In short, only a small fraction of our students engaged in protests, mainly at a relatively small number of schools. Over 99% of the students in CCSD behaved appropriately and did not violate school rules in any way. Over 90% of our schools did not experience any significant disruption. Less than 1% of our students engaged in some sort of protest.
In total, less than 1,000 students engaged in a brief protest out of approximately 112,000. Walton, for example, only had about 250 students walk out, which was far less than the 2,300 number that had been recently forecast for that location.
In general, nearly all of our students complied with the school rules and worked successfully with our principals to find non-disruptive ways to express any concerns. Congratulations to both our local school administrators and to our students for handling this situation so well.
The gates to the front entrance of Walton were locked, and no visitors were allowed earlier in the morning for a memorial event approved by the school administration.
No vehicles were allowed near the main Walton High School entrance after the school day began.
At nearby Pope High School, several Cobb Police vehicles blocked the lone entrance to the school on Hembree Road, and uniformed officers approached motorists seeking to enter.
Pope High School was off-limits to outsiders Wednesday.
The National School Walkout was observed across the country on the first-month anniversary of the Parkland, Fla., shootings, and students at Walton, Lassiter, Pope and other East Cobb high schools have been vocal and visible in expressing their desire to do something about school safety.
Officially, however, the Cobb County School District did not support the walkout, and threatened students who did with unspecified disciplinary action. School officials cited safety and a desire not to disrupt classes for their decision.
Various news outlets and social media posts were reporting that students at some schools in East Cobb and elsewhere were being strongly encouraged and possibly even physically forced to remain in their school buildings.
In response, a message posted at the Sprayberry Athletics Facebook page said 150 students gathered in the school cafeteria at 10 a.m. and staged a 17-minute peaceful observation in honor of the Parkland victims, “but at no time did students attempt to leave the building, nor were they locked in their classrooms and prevented from exiting.”
Jane Mathers, the grandmother of Walton senior Madeleine Deisen, one of the walkout leaders, said she doesn’t believe the safety explanation given by Cobb schools.
“I don’t believe that at all,” said Mathers, who was part of the supporters group, adding that the school district’s threat of student discipline “is a very big disappointment.
“What I support is action that will cause change and that will protect students,” said Mathers, who lives here and part of the year in her hometown of Haddonfield, N.J., where she said a school-endorsed observation was scheduled Wednesday at 10 a.m., the designated walkout time, at a school football field.
The National School Walkout also was planned as a demonstration in favor of gun control. Few of the signs at the Walton parent gathering specifically referred to that issue, but many had signs and wore buttons saying “Not One More.” Most expressed their disappointment with the Cobb schools decision and encouraged students to get involved in what they believe in.
Mathers acknowledged that gun-control alone isn’t the solution to the problem of school shootings. “There is no one answer to the problem,” she said, but added that it’s a shame “this particular school district and this particular school” has taken the stance it has.
Before the school day Wednesday, Walton administrators, teachers, students and invited guests gathered for a commemoration of the school shootings.
The event wasn’t open to the public, and East Cobb News was denied a coverage request. But we were allowed to have a program from the service. It indicated that the names of the Parkland victims were read aloud, and participants had an opportunity to lay flowers and visit a letter-writing table to leave their tributes.
At the end of the event, trumpeters Daniel Hudadoff and Duncan Farquahar played “Taps.”
The event was organized by the Walton Principal’s Leadership Committee, Student Government Association and other student groups. On the back of the program, it read “Thank you for supporting the students and keeping us safe,” listing Principal Judy McNeill and the Walton administration, Cobb schools superintendent Chris Ragsdale and Cobb school board member Scott Sweeney.
“We are pleased to let you know we had a beautiful day today,” the Walton administration said in a message to parents Wednesday afternoon, detailing the morning service that was “followed by a very calm day and classes proceeded as usual.”
The message concluded that “a large police presence” accompanied the students walking out, “and as typical of Walton students they thanked the officers for keeping them safe.”
One of the Walton students who walked out is sophomore Ema Barber. She told East Cobb News she left her biology class at 9:55 and signed a sign-out sheet, then walked to the stadium area.
“I was a little bit anxious because I didn’t know how many people would show up,” she said. But she the walkout was rather uneventful. There were some police and security blocking doors, but Barber said she was not stopped.
She said the Cobb schools estimate of around 250 students walking out sounded right to her, and figured the lower turnout than expected was because students weren’t sure what the consequences might be for their actions.
At 10 a.m. the names of the Parkland victims were read aloud as the students huddled on the football field. There also was contact information posted about elected representatives, including U.S. Rep. Karen Handel, and Barber said some of the students were going to call her office about gun control and school safety issues.
She said students were allowed to return to the classroom without any incidents that she knew about. Cobb schools had an early release day Wednesday, and Walton and other high schools wrapped up their school day at 11:30 a.m.
Barber said while she supports some gun control measures, the importance of the walkout was to begin to raise awareness that she hopes will continue. She also said she’s not sure what kind of suspension or punishment she may receive, but “I’m not too worried about it.”
The message from the Walton administration sent out Wednesday made no reference to any possible disciplinary action.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Walton High School Principal Judy McNeill sent out this message to parents this afternoon:
We have received many reports of a threat made against the school for tomorrow, March 14, 2018. The administration along with school police have thoroughly investigated all reported information and have found nothing credible to substantiate a threat to our school. We are very thankful students and parents have come forward with various information as we must all work together to keep us all safe. If you ever receive any concerning information in the overnight hours, please call our local police at Precinct 4.
ORIGINAL POST, 3:41 P.M.
The day before students are staging gun-control “walkout” protests, Cobb schools issued a reminder that all campuses will be closed to “visitors” on Wednesday.
This doesn’t include parents dropping off or picking up their children. Cobb schools are on an early release schedule Wednesday, with high schools letting out at 11:30 a.m., followed by elementary schools at 12:30 p.m. and middle schools at 1:30 p.m. The rest of the afternoon is a professional learning day for teachers.
The Cobb County School District is not endorsing the walkouts and is threatening to subject those students who do to its code of conduct.
Walkouts are planned nationwide for 17 minutes at 10 a.m. as part of what’s being called National School Walkout, to honor the 17 victims of the Feb. 14 high school shootings in Parkland, Fla., and to advocate for gun control.
Students at Walton, Lassiter, Pope and other East Cobb high schools have said hundreds of students have signed an online petition to take part.
Individual schools have been given latitude to conduct their own observances as an alternative. Cobb schools cited safety reasons and conducting an undisrupted school day for its decision.
J.J. Daniel Middle School will conduct a 17-minute period of “observation and reflection” and a school-wide moment of silence. Students also will participate in a 17-day student “walk-up challenge,” in which they will be asked to get acquainted with 17 students they don’t already know.
Walton High School is holding a memorial service before classes as part of a #WhatsYour17 effort for students to engage in acts of kindness.
A visitor invited to attend the Walton event is Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, who said in his remarks at Tuesday’s commissioners’ meeting that such an alternative to a walkout “is making it into a teaching moment.”
The Cobb schools statement issued today didn’t indicate whether media wishing to cover Wednesday events would be considered “visitors” or not. East Cobb News was initially denied a request to cover the Walton service at the school level; we’ve got a call into the CCSD for clarification.
The Cobb office of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was holding a press conference later this afternoon at Pope High School to support the right of students to walk out and “to make sure that any consequences which result are fair and not excessive or disparate.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The organizers of a Walton High School walkout in favor of gun control say nearly 2,300 students have signed up for a planned protest on March 14.
That’s an overwhelming majority of the students at Walton, the second-largest high school in the Cobb County School District by enrollment, with nearly 2,700 students.
Natalie Carlomagno, a Walton sophomore, said in an interview with East Cobb News that an online petition to gauge possible student participation in the event got many more signatures after Cobb school officials announced last week they would not support the demonstrations.
“After that statement, our RSVPs skyrocketed,” Carlomagno said. “I think people will go through with it.”
The students are planning to walk out of their classes for 17 minutes, starting at 10 a.m., on March 14, in the memory of the 17 students and staff gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. last month.
Cobb school officials have cited safety reasons and disruptions of the school day for opposing this action, and said students could be subject to disciplinary action for violations of the student code of conduct.
Carlomagno said she and the other Walton organizers initially wanted the protest to take place in front of the school, under the flagpole, but there isn’t enough room.
She also said the logistics of the protest are also up in the air after she and other organizers met last week with Walton Principal Judy McNeill, who told them she was disappointed that they wanted to walk out.
Carlomagno said McNeill suggested the demonstration take place before school on the walkout day.
“That’s unacceptable,” Carlomagno said, insisting that the scheduled 10 a.m. walkout was the best way to show solidarity with the national protests.
Another suggestion was to allow the walkout to take place at the Walton football stadium, but Carlomagno said school officials didn’t want that.
(We’ve left a message with Walton officials and will update with a response.)
On Wednesday Cobb high school superintendents are getting together with high school-level district staff. Cobb school district spokesman John Stafford said it’s a regularly scheduled meeting to discuss a number of issues and topics.
“Will [the protests] be a topic of conversation? It will be hard to think it won’t be,” he said.
The district has not commented further on the walkouts except to reiterate the need to prioritize safety. Stafford said limiting the presence on high school campuses to students and staff is paramount.
While parents can come and pick up their children at any time, he said, others who may want to come to a school, especially individuals and organizations with an interest in the protest, will not be permitted.
“That’s part of our safety concern” about the walkouts, he said. “We’re not going to open up the campus to anyone who wants to come to campus.”
Stafford said there have been some suggestions from those in support of the walkouts that they would be no different than fire drills.
But having thousands of students walk out at the same time “most certainly is different,” he said.
“It’s not the same thing at all, from a security and safety standpoint.”
Carlomagno, who’s 15, said the Walton protest is to include a moment of silence for the Parkland victims, as well as a voter registration drive, and to let students know who their elected officials are. Although she and most Walton students are too young to vote, she said it’s important to let them know “what they can do to become more politically active.”
The shootings also hit home for Carlomagno, who grew up in Broward County, Fla., where Parkland is located. She said the similarities of Walton to the Parkland school, both with large suburban student bodies, have been mentioned by her friends.
“I keep hearing the conversations,” Carlomagno said, adding that she was reassured about safety measures at Walton after two “code red” drills were conducted last week.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Earlier this month the Cobb County School District announced that Jacqueline Fross, who serves several East Cobb schools as part of its crisis response team, has been named the system’s social worker of the year.
Fross supports students at Lassiter High School, Mabry Middle School and Davis, Garrison Mill and Rocky Mount elementary schools. In that role, she organizes community service projects, sponsors student clubs that promote volunteerism and service, and helped start the Lassiter community pantry.
Here’s more about Fross from a CCSD release:
In addition to having served on the boards of the National Association of Social Work and the state School Social Work Association, Fross is also a member of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and is certified in crisis response and critical incident debriefing.
Contributing to the professional growth of her colleagues, Cobb’s Social Worker of the Year has supervised and mentored other service professionals in preparation of professional licensure.
“I have had the privilege of a very diverse and rich work history to include many years as a school social worker, medical social worker, mental health professional, supervisor, crisis response counselor, consultant, and advocate,” says Fross. “Active involvement in my community and professional organizations is important to me.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Students at Walton High School, along with others at Lassiter, Pope and Wheeler, are planning to walk out of classes for 17 minutes on March 14.
Shortly before 3 p.m. today the Cobb County School District issued the following statement about planned walkouts on March 14 that include those organized by students at four East Cobb high schools to protest gun violence:
The safety of our students and employees is the top priority of the Cobb County School District, and the success of our students is our one goal.
We are aware of the desire of some students to participate in a demonstration of empathy for the lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. The Cobb County School District leadership will work with students to identify the best methods to accomplish this demonstration of empathy without interruption of normal school operation, which is a policy violation and potentially jeopardizes student and staff safety.
The Cobb County School District does not support or endorse walkouts/protests that cause interruption to normal school operations.
Students who choose to disrupt the normal operation of a school may be subject to consequences in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct.
Cobb schools superintendent Chris Ragsdale, who received an open letter from the East Cobb student organizers earlier this week, met with high school principals earlier today in a scheduled school district leadership meeting that included a discussion about about how to handle the protests.
Cobb schools spokesman John Stafford told East Cobb News that while the district is “not trying to stop the students from doing something positive” to honor the Florida shooting victims and protest gun violence, “what they don’t have the right to do is disrupt the normal school day.”
He said the decision was made by senior school district leadership and that the issue of school safety was a paramount factor.
At least 500 Walton students have signed up for what’s being called the National School Walkout, and a total of several hundred more have done likewise at Lassiter, Pope and Wheeler.
The protests are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 10:17 on March 14, the one-month anniversary of the Florida shootings, and could include students leaving school buildings and gathering outside. The 17-minute duration is for the 17 students and staff at the Florida school who were killed by a gunman. A former student has been arrested for their deaths.
“There is a proper way to do it, and it’s not to disrupt the school day,” Stafford said.
At a Cobb school board work session the day after the shootings, Ragsdale explained the challenges of security at high schools, and said the district would conduct unannounced “code red” drills to assess preparations for the possibility of an active shooter situation.
Stafford said that a number of alternatives were suggested at today’s meeting, including a candlelight vigil and other commemorations before the school day, and that discussions about those and other possibilities will continue.
The Cobb decision was announced on Wednesday shortly after students at Dalton High School were locked down, and then evacuated, after gunfire was heard inside a classroom building. News reports indicate a teacher has been taken into custody peacefully, and that the teacher barricaded himself in a classroom and fired his gun through a window.
The AJC also reported Wednesday a student at South Cobb High School has been arrested for threatening violence at that school.
Stafford would not specify what type of disciplinary action might be taken if Cobb students walk out as they have indicated, since the district handles student discipline cases on a case-by-case basis.
Although Marietta City Schools and DeKalb schools have said they would allow student protests, Stafford said Cobb “is not alone in what we are doing.”
Hannah Andress, an organizer of the Lassiter protest, told East Cobb News that she and her fellow students are going ahead with the protest as planned, and that she was told by Principal Chris Richie today that they will be given a “safe space” to conduct their walkout.
She said they will be having their protest on the home side of the Lassiter football stadium that will be accessible only by one entrance and exit point. Andress said students and staff will have to show their ID card. The school’s resource officer will be there “and we are looking into the feasibility of getting more security.
“We are working in close contact with administration and student council to ensure student safety and participation,” Andress told us.
She also forwarded to us the message she sent Ragsdale after the Cobb schools decision was announced:
“Thank you for providing me with teachers and resources for my education. However, your statement will not deter us. We will stand as a united front to protest the inaction of our government. We will not be a statistic and our voices will be heard so that 100 years down the line students will not have to dry their tears wondering where in history they lost their voice.”
Walton organizer Lily Lefter said the protests at her school also will go on, and she and her walkout co-hosts will be meeting with Principal Judy McNeill Thursday morning. Here’s what else she told us:
“We are of course a bit frustrated with the Cobb County statement because their primary ‘concern’ with endorsing/supporting the walkouts was the issue of safety. However, we are participating in the walk to stand up for gun law reform for our safety. If anything, we’re even more determined now. We aren’t going to be stopped by the threat of potential disciplinary actions because we are peacefully walking out to show respect to those affected as well as walk out because the 17 people who died cannot.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A student-led effort to honor the victims of the Feb. 14 school shootings in Florida and demand gun control legislation is being embraced by students at four East Cobb high schools for what’s being called the National School Walkout on March 14.
Students at Lassiter, Pope, Walton and Wheeler high schools have sent a letter to Cobb County School Superintendent Chris Ragsdale and his executive cabinet stating their intention to walk out of their classes for 17 minutes on that day.
That’s in honor of the 17 students and staff killed by a gunman at Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. A former student at the school has been arrested for the shootings.
The protests will begin at 10 a.m. and continue to 10:17 a.m. on March 14, which is a Wednesday. The walkout grew out of the Women’s March Network, and invites students nationwide to organize their own protests.
Lily Lefter, a junior at Walton, said in an e-mail to East Cobb News that she and seven other Walton students organized a protest for their school. A member of that group later participated in a groupchat with the Pope, Lassiter and Wheeler students to prepare a joint message.
In their letter to Ragsdale, which was signed by organizers at each of the four schools, they wrote that:
“The students at our high school will not be a statistic. Because this directly affects our education, our friends, our teachers, our brothers, our sisters, our mothers, our fathers, and our entire community we will not sit idly by waiting for lawmakers to decide policy change.
“As a collective group, we, the students of Lassiter, Pope, Walton, and Wheeler, have formed an alliance across the county to inform you of our decision to stand united and walk out of class for 17 minutes. We have passionately embraced the call for smart and nonpartisan gun control laws to be enacted which has consequently begun the organization of the walkout across Cobb County.”
Cobb schools have not announced a policy decision for the protest. Over the weekend Marietta City Schools said it would not discipline students who took part in protests, along with others in metro Atlanta.
Lefter said the students have not heard back from officials at Cobb schools, which resumed this week after last week’s winter break. She said Walton students e-mailed Principal Judy McNeill last week and they would like to set up a meeting if they don’t hear back by Wednesday.
Lefter said more than 500 Walton students have signed up on the protest page in the five days since it was created.
She also said the Lassiter administration “has endorsed the walkout,” and she understands that Pope administration is in the process of setting up a meeting with students.
Lefter said she got involved because she’s always been vocal about politics, “and, particularly for something as significant and relevant as gun control:”
“I feel it is my duty as a citizen to not only send my condolences and respects to the victims and families of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, but also to take action to push for policy change. In addition to walking out, my fellow hosts and I are planning to have people make calls to their legislators in order to take it to the next level to show that we are voters, and if we’re not 18 now, we will be come this next election, and we will not support nor let stand the complacency to the lack of comprehensive gun regulation in America.”
The day after the Florida shootings, Ragsdale announced at a Cobb Board of Education meeting that the district would be conducting unannounced “code red” drills at selected high schools to assess readiness for active shooter situations.
Every school in the Cobb district is required to have a code red drill each semester.
The National School Walkout group also was planning a similar protest for April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Extending Cobb students’ ability to apply to attend a school outside of their designated school zone, the Cobb County School District opened 5,800 transfer seats this year.
The online application deadline for these transfers is Wednesday, February 28. Available space at a school is based on permanent classroom space, which includes seats at each grade level.
Although parents are not required to provide reasons why they want to transfer their child to a different school, they do have to provide their own transportation if their child does transfer.
Students who are already enrolled in the program are not required to reapply every year. They only have to reapply when advancing from elementary school to middle school and middle school to high school. Those students are given priority in the school choice lottery during the reapplication process.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb County School District said Tuesday that nearly half of the 8,000 teacher contracts sent out last week for the 2018-19 academic year were signed the very first day.
The district sent out out a release today saying that around 4,000 contracts distributed on Friday had been signed that day.
The decision to send out contract offers a little earlier than usual compared to last year was to reward teachers and get a head start on hiring decisions that need to be made.
Last year was the first in which Cobb schools sent out contracts electronically. Deputy superintendent John Adams said the district also saves around $40,000 in time, printing and distribution costs by making offers this way.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A week after Cobb schools were closed for three days due to yet another winter storm, superintendent Chris Ragsdale reiterated the district’s decision not to make up for “snow” days, add to existing class days or reduce planned break weeks to compensate for lost class time.
The Cobb County School District has called off seven class days in the 2017-18 academic year already, including five due to winter weather since mid-December.
Students were in class only one day last week, on Tuesday, since the previous day, Jan. 15, was the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday.
Ragsdale said an extended calendar has enabled the district to avoid scheduling makeup days, a course chosen by some school districts in metro Atlanta. He said he has “full confidence” in the ability of teachers “to meet the academic needs of our students.”
The next break for Cobb students, teachers and staff is the winter break from Feb. 19-23, followed by spring break April 2-6. The state mandates that local school districts schedule 180 instructional delays, but some systems, including Cobb, have received waivers from that requirement.
At a Cobb Board of Education work session on Thursday, Ragsdale was asked by school board member David Banks what would happen if more bad weather forces cancellation of classes.
Ragsdale said while such an event is possible since it’s still January, “We’ll address that as we get there.
“It’s not my intent to modify the schedule at all,” he said. “I’m still looking for the crystal ball in knowing when to close and when not to close.”
Ragsdale said one of the main factors in deciding to close school is the safety of high school student drivers getting on the roads with inclement weather approaching.
When schools are released early for weather reasons, he explained that high schools are dismissed first, followed by middle schools and then elementary school students, so there would be someone waiting at home for the youngest children with school-age siblings.
Ragsdale said there have been some instances when elementary school students have been brought back to school because there was no one at home.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
While another winter storm was brewing this week, the Cobb County Public Library System unveiled a new program to increase access for students at all of its branches. The Cobb Library PASS program is available to all Cobb and Marietta students who show their student IDs, and it’s for print and digital materials.
While it’s the kind of resource that comes in handy when schools are closed, as they have been since Wednesday, the Cobb Library PASS program is available year-round, as well as from remote locations and by physically visiting a branch.
PASS stands for Public Library Access for Student Success, and here’s what the library system has sent along to explain how the program works. Basically, a student ID serves as a library card number that can be used just like a card for any other library patron:
PASS links K-12 student identification numbers to the new PASS accounts for online connections to the Cobb public library from the home, classroom or library.
Lisa Cleary, Community Engagement Manager for Cobb libraries, said expanding access to the Cobb library is a major step for improving educational attainment levels in the county, especially for students with limited opportunities to visit libraries in person. All students have access to school media center resources, yet only about one-fourth have Cobb library cards, she added.
Through Library PASS accounts, area public school students may checkout books and eBooks, and explore online resources like research publications on science, history, technology and more.
Officials with the library system and schools spent several months developing PASS and preparing teachers and school staffs for the PASS launch. The collaboration between the public library and schools is bolstered by the relationships the three organizations developed for annual Summer Reading programs and other joint initiatives throughout the year.
Cobb County Schools Library Media Education Supervisor Holly Frilot said the groundwork for Library Pass involved many local meetings, discussions with library institutions in other states, and the involvement of several departments in the three partner organizations.
“We strive every day to improve and enhance the digital and print literacy skills of our students – skills that are crucial for success in school, career, and life,” Frilot said. “The PASS partnership directly speaks to this goal.”
Here’s more about the PASS program at this FAQ page, including PIN numbers, limits on materials to check out and daily computer usage and downloading library system apps.
Further information can be found here for parents.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Teachers from three East Cobb schools have been awarded grant money for lab ideas pitched at the Cobb County School District’s annual “Cobb Tank” competition.
A total of $71,00 in grant money was handed out to teachers at 10 schools in the district. They include Zakary Jezequel and Amy Morris at Hightower Trail Middle School (above, all photos submitted by CCSD), who will receive $6,595 to develop a project in which students will race toward a healthy lifestyle using spin bikes.
At Kell High School, English teacher Lauren Forbes’ grant of $1,600 is for an “Escape from the Ordinary Classroom” program, as her students will take a true literary escape in their studies.
Dickerson Middle School teacher Lawton Willingham is receiving a Cobb Tank grant worth nearly $11,000 for a music prototyping and programming program.
The program is modeled after the TV program “Shark Tank.” All recipients pitched their “Cobb Tank” ideas at CCSD headquarters. Per a CCSD release, here’s how the competition went:
Through lively, creative, and effective presentations, many involving their students, the teachers appealed beneath TV camera lights for the sharks to fund their ideas to enhance classroom instruction.
A panel of judges, or “sharks,” included several school district teachers and administrators, including assistant superintendent David Chiprany, a former principal at East Cobb Middle School and Wheeler High School, as well as business and community leaders.
A video presentation of the entire competition will be made available later this month on Cobb edTV, the school district’s cable access channel.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Around 7:20 p.m. Sunday, the Cobb County School District announced that the system will be completely closed on Monday, for students and staff, due to a forecast of freezing rain overnight and into the morning.
That follows a winter weather advisory from the Atlanta office of the National Weather Service issued earlier Sunday afternoon. It’s a tiered advisory, going into effect for Cobb and metro Atlanta and north central Georgia from 5 a.m. to 12 p.m. Monday.
The forecast calls for light freezing rain, with an accumulation of up to 1/10th of an inch possible. In its announcement, Cobb schools said the potential impact on roads and travel was enough to prompt a full closure.
UPDATED, 8:50 P.M.:
Here are the latest closings/delays we have for the East Cobb area. If you have closures to report, please e-mail us at editor@eastcobbnews.com and we’ll include it in future updates.
The Walker School will be closed on Monday, as will High Meadows School; Eastside Christian School; Eastminster Christian Preschool; St. Catherine’s Episcopal Preschool; St. Ann’s Catholic Preschool and Monday Masses; and Transfiguration Catholic Preschool, PREP classes and adult ed classes.
All campuses of Kennesaw State University and Chattahoochee Technical College also will be closed Monday.
Paid programming events (swimming lessons, etc.) at the McCleskey-East Cobb Family YMCA and the Northeast Cobb Family YMCA are being cancelled on Monday.
The Cobb Chamber of Commerce breakfast scheduled for Monday morning also has been postponed.
Cobb County government announced that its offices would be open on a delayed basis, at 11 a.m. Monday. That includes all public library branches.
The LGE Community Credit Union is delaying opening all branches until noon Monday.
Returning to original post:
The NWS forecast indicated that the possible icy conditions were likely to be enough to affect the Monday morning commute.
Over the weekend, City of Atlanta and Fulton County government announced they would be closing early Monday, in part because of the weather but also due to the national college football championship game tomorrow night between Georgia and Alabama at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Georgia and Cobb DOT trucks also were going out overnight to treat roads ahead of the freezing rain. Cobb trucks were slated to begin salt treatment of bridges and overpasses around 2 a.m. Monday.
Shortly after Cobb schools announced they would be closed the Marietta, Atlanta and Fulton school systems, and others around metro Atlanta, also said they would be closed Monday.
After a very cold first week of 2018, temperatures in Cobb and metro Atlanta are expected to climb into the low 40s by Monday afternoon. Highs are forecast to be in the 50s during the week and even into the 60s by the weekend.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
East Side Elementary School teacher Leslie Lyiak (center) is receiving a grant for her “Why Math Works” program. (Photos courtesy of Cobb County School District)
Eight East Cobb teachers have been named recipients of the Cobb Schools Foundation IMPACT grants, which are used to enhance classroom learning and other academic purposes.
According to information released Tuesday by the Cobb County School District, the foundation (which is independent from the school system) raised a record $40,000 for the grants, which are based on teacher “wish lists” for programs to help student success.
The money is raised from a variety of sources, including an upcoming fundraiser in January at SunTrust Park, as well as from several foundation partners, including the Cobb EMC Community Foundation, the Atlanta Braves Foundation, Gas South and the Credit Union of Georgia.
Sprayberry High School English Language Learner teacher Stacey Arnett (center) is using her grant to purchase Word-to-Word dictionaries to assist ELL students with test scores and graduation rates.Leigh Anna Engkaninan, who has already introduced chickens to her students at Daniell Middle School, will receive a $1,810 IMPACT grant to expand her teaching about the animals, including the use of a chicken coop.Charmagne Quenan, East Cobb Middle School, is receiving a $1,695 grant for PocketLab Voyager Probes to increase science engagement.Moniquea Willingham of Sedalia Park Elementary School is receiving a grant for her “Park Math Squad” program in the amount of $1,183.39.Kelley Davis of Keheley Elementary School has been awarded a grant of $1,834.94 for “Keheley Needs the Cube!”
Other East Cobb teachers receiving IMPACT grants include Susanne Smith, East Side Elementary School, who is receiving $2,500 for “Picture-Perfect STEM Books” and Debbi Snyder of Kincaid Elementary School, a $900 grant for “Extraordinary Gentlemen.”
A total of 23 teachers in the Cobb school system received IMPACT grants for the coming year.
In addition to the IMPACT grants, the Cobb Schools Foundation, a non-profit, helps raise money for SAT test prep, college scholarships and other academic and school-related programs.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Just after 3 p.m. Monday, the Cobb County School District announced via social media that all classes and other school activities are back on for Tuesday:
All Cobb County schools will resume classes on Tuesday, December 12, on a normal schedule.
Cobb schools have been out of session since an early release on Friday, as a winter storm approached metro Atlanta and left in some areas nearly a foot of snow.
Some of those areas included portions of Cobb County, and resulted in power outages that includes some school facilities.
Cobb schools cancelled Monday classes for that reason, and because of icy roads, including school parking lots and driveways.
Temperatures reached above 50 degrees on Monday afternoon, and lows tonight aren’t expected to fall below 40.
As of 3 p.m. Monday, Cobb EMC said it was down to restoring power to 1,377 Cobb customers and working to repair a broken power pole on Ebenezer Road.
Georgia Power reported Monday afternoon that it has around 6,000 customers still without power, with a handful in Northeast Cobb.
Earlier Monday, Cobb DOT said that Davis Road between Holly Springs Road and Sandy Plains Road remained closed, due to downed trees and power lines that also cut off electric power.
All Cobb government offices reopened under regular hours on Monday, including libraries, which were closed all weekend due to the winter weather.
On Monday evening, Johnson Ferry Baptist Church (955 Johnson Ferry Road) is holding a Christmas Festival concert at 7 p.m. That was an addition to the schedule after two Saturday holiday concerts were cancelled due to the weather.
The forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday calls for mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid-40s and for the rest of the week, with highs in the low 50s projected for Thursday and for the weekend.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb County was placed a winter storm warning area early Friday morning by the National Weather Service.
The Cobb County School District announced right around 10 a.m. Friday that it will be releasing classes early today and cancelling all weekend activities, due to winter weather conditions.
The early release schedule is as follows:
High schools, 11:30 a.m.;
Middle schools, 12:30 p.m.;
Elementary schools; 1:30 p.m.
In addition, all after-school programs are cancelled on Friday, as are extracurricular events scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
Those activities include ACT test sites at Cobb schools, which will be rescheduled.
Not long before Cobb announced early release times, Paulding County schools also announced they would be releasing early. Marietta, Bartow County, Douglas County and Cherokee County schools also were releasing students early.
Here’s what we have thus far for private school closings in East Cobb:
Both campuses of Mt. Bethel Christian Academy will be releasing students at 12:30 p.m., although after-school programs will be operating. Extracurricular activities will operate at the discretion of the coach or sponsor;
The Walker School is closed Friday for all classes and activities;
Faith Lutheran School is releasing all students at 1:30 p.m. Friday;
The Catholic Church of St. Ann preschool is releasing at 11:30 a.m.;
All Cobb County government facilities are closing at noon today, including all public library branches.
The closures also include The Art Place-Mountain View (3330 Sandy Plains Road), and tonight’s Center Stage North performance of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” has been cancelled.
A few church-related items to share:
The Piedmont Church (570 Piedmont Road) announced around 11 a.m. that its Christmas at Piedmont holiday festival is going on as scheduled from 5-9 tonight, and from 10-5 Saturday;
Tonight’s Christmas concert at St. Andrew United Methodist Church (3455 Canton Road) is being postponed until Sunday at 2 p.m., with a reception to follow.
Send us your photos and news!
Share your winter weather pictures, and we’ll post them! If you know of school, church, business or other closings or cancellations too! E-mail editor@eastcobbnews.com.
Cobb schools began as scheduled on Friday, although Cobb was placed in a winter storm warning area around 6 a.m. by the National Weather Service.
However, by mid-morning, what had been rain was turning into snow or snow mixed with rain, including some areas in East Cobb. Here’s a view of the football field at Lassiter High School, posted on the school’s Twitter feed:
Temperatures in Cobb and metro Atlanta are expected to reach only into the high 30s on Friday, with freezing temperatures forecast for the evening and into overnight. Accumulated snowfall is expected to be less than in inch in most of Cobb, but more in northern and western parts of the county.
The winter storm advisory, which includes Cobb, Paulding, Douglas, Cherokee and Bartow in metro Atlanta and most of mountainous north Georgia, where 1-2 inches of snow has been forecast.
Winter weather has stretched across unexpected areas of the South, with snow falling in San Antonio and parts of Texas, before that storm front headed toward Georgia.
Temperatures aren’t expected to get much warmer in metro Atlanta over the weekend, with Saturday and Sunday highs in the low 40s. There is a 30 percent chance of snow on Saturday, with lows in the low 20s, but the sun also is expected to come out.
Sunday’s high will be around 40, with clear skies. Lows are expected in the low 20s.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb County School District posted the following message on its Twitter feed shortly after 6 a.m. Friday:“All Cobb County schools open as normal today, Friday, December 8. Temps forecast to remain above freezing throughout the day with road temps a few degrees warmer.”
After-school programs also will operate on schedule but extracurricular activities are cancelled for Friday and Saturday.
Schools in Marietta and most of metro Atlanta also are open as the line for winter weather notifications issued by the National Weather Service is running northwest of Marietta and Cobb.
The National Weather Service has revised the areas to be included in a winter storm warning, and that includes Cobb, Paulding, Douglas and Cherokee counties.
Being in the storm area means that “periods of snow” are expected during the designated warning period, through 7 a.m. Saturday.
A social media message issued by Cobb government around 6:30 a.m. Friday said that the Cobb Emergency Management Agency and Cobb DOT are “watching situation carefully” but offered no other information.
A number of school districts in north Georgia have cancelled classes due to freezing rain and snow, but they are well north of metro Atlanta.
Early Friday morning the precipitation in most of metro Atlanta was rain, with temperatures just above freezing. The highs in the area for Friday, including Cobb, are forecast to be in the high 30s, with freezing temperatures expected by Friday evening.
Cobb DOT reported early Friday morning, also around 6 a.m., that most road temperatures in the county along the Interstate 75 corridor were above freezing.
UPDATED, 7:12 a.m.: Shortly after 7, Cobb schools tweeted this information:
“We will continue to monitor conditions and confer with forecasters and public safety officials throughout the day. We will continue to keep you informed via our website.”
Cobb County was included in a winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service shortly before 6 a.m. Friday.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
East Cobb high school graduation dates have been announced for the Class of 2018, with five of the six schools holding commencement exercises at the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center in May.
The KSU Convocation Center (590 Cobb Ave., Kennesaw) will be the venue for all but three of the 16 Cobb public high schools.
Among the exceptions is Wheeler High School, which will be holding graduation on campus (375 Holt Road).
Here’s the schedule for the East Cobb schools:
Walton: Tuesday, May 22, 7 p.m. (KSU);
Sprayberry: Wednesday, May 23, 3:30 p.m. (KSU);
Wheeler: Wednesday, May 23, 6:30 p.m. (Wheeler Gym);
Each school will announce separately its schedule for other graduation-related activities.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
