Walton test scores

Demolition of original Walton High School building on Cobb school board agenda

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The original Walton High School building stands empty, with a new classroom facility having just opened.

Tearing down the old building, which opened in 1975, is needed to complete the Walton rebuilding project, making room for a new gymnasium and fine arts building. Cobb County School District logo

A proposed demolition contract is on the Thursday agenda for the Cobb Board of Education, which is holding its monthly work session (from 2 p.m.-5 p.m.) and business meeting (beginning at 7 p.m.) on the same day due to the upcoming fall break the week of Sept. 25-29.

(See the attached PDF for the full agenda packet).

School officials have received a low bid of $3.584 million from Triad Construction Co. of College Park and are recommending board approval (pages 35-36 of agenda) of the Walton demolition.

The new Walton gym and fine arts components, which are expected to be completed in 2019, represent the final part of the $48 million Walton rebuild, which was approved by Cobb voters in 2013 in the Cobb Ed-SPLOST IV referendum.

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Also on Thursday’s agenda, the school board will consider approving construction easements at two East Cobb elementary schools:

  • The new Brumby Elementary School, to be located on Terrell Mill Road, totaling 2,363 square feet, for new curbing, gutters and sidewalks to the entrance (pages 30 & 32 of agenda);
  • Murdock Elementary School, 2320 Murdock Road, totaling 9,500 square feet, at the request of Georgia Power Co. to provide electricity to a new portable classroom (pages 30 & 34 of agenda).

At the 7 p.m. meeting Thursday, the Cobb school board also will recognize Walton’s girls state tennis championship team, Georgia Art Education Association teacher honorees Kerri Waller of Simpson Middle School and Kathleen Petka of Walton and the CCSD high school-level classified employee of the Year, Alice Brown of Lassiter High School (previous East Cobb News posts here and here).

The Cobb school board meetings take place in the board room at the CCSD Central Office, 514 Glover St. They are shown live on Comcast Channel 24 and CHARTER Channel 182 and streamed live on Cobb edTV (more viewing details here).

Walton, East Cobb ACT scores top record Cobb results

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Walton High School, East Cobb ACT scores

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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