Friday, May 18, 2012
The Cobb Board of Education voted 4-3 to allow CCSD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa to begin fundraising efforts for Teach for America for the 2013-2014 school year.
In a 4-3 vote at Thursday night's nearly four-hour meeting, the Cobb Board of Education authorized Hinojosa's fundraising efforts for up to 25 TFA teachers, who will likely work in South Cobb during the 2013-2014 school year. Board members Kathleen Angelucci, Alison Bartlett and Tim Stultz voted against the measure. In order for the TFA teachers to be hired, the board established four stipulations at its May 9 worksession: a maximum of 25 TFA teachers can be hired, principals have final say on teachers hired at their schools, no Cobb teachers can be displaced by TFA teachers and TFA teachers must be evaluated. Possible Fee Increase for TFA Training Hinojosa said the training fee for each TFA teacher's five-week summer training program and …
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
South Cobb residents expressed their concerns about unanswered calls for help from Cobb's code enforcement department.
The upcoming Transportation Investment Act referendum was expectedly a hot topic at Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee’s town hall meeting on Tuesday. The meeting was held at the South Cobb Community Center in Mableton and was the fourth in a series of town hall meetings Lee hosted around the county. Sky Rector of Vinings asked Lee how TSPLOST projects will be funded after the first 10 years. Lee explained that Project 35, a bus system that would transport commuters from the Acworth area to Atlanta’s MARTA Arts Station, would be 100 percent funded for 10 years from the one-cent transportation tax. Revenue generated from the farebox would cover an additional five years, Lee explained. “I don’t know how it’s going to be funded beyond that,” …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
A Mableton waste transfer station had its permit application to accept household waste denied by the Cobb BOC
About 50 people left the Cobb Board of Commissioners boardroom on Tuesday morning and erupted into cheers as their unofficial spokeswoman Shelia Edwards exited the boardroom. The Cobb BOC voted unanimously following a public hearing to deny a waste transfer station’s application to accept municipal solid waste, also known as household garbage. The group of people was composed of mostly residents of Legacy at the River Line, along with other South Cobb residents who opposed the Bankhead C & D Transfer Station’s application for a permit to accept household waste. Legacy residents, organized under the group name Legacy Cares, have met regularly with local and state officials, written letters to them and even garnered 1,200 signatures for a …
Monday, May 14, 2012
Mableton residents have been fighting for months to keep a local waste transfer station from accepting household garbage, and on Tuesday, they may celebrate a victory.
One Mableton neighborhood may soon see a victorious end to a months-long battle to keep a waste transfer station out of their backyards. The Bankhead C & D waste transfer station has applied to accept 150,000 tons of municipal solid waste, or household garbage, at its location at Veterans Memorial Highway. The facility, which now accepts construction and demolition materials, is just 1,000 feet from some of the homes at the Legacy at River Line subdivision, as well as restaurants, a gas station and other businesses. The Cobb Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing Tuesday at 9 a.m. regarding the waste transfer station’s application for a special land use permit to accept household garbage. The public hearing was postponed from …
The town hall meeting is the fourth in a series of meetings the commission chairman has hosted around the county.
Chairman Tim Lee will host a town hall meeting in Mableton on Monday at 7 p.m Since February, Lee has hosted a town hall meeting in each of the four commission districts. Residents are invited to attend the meeting to hear firsthand about county progress and issues. The meeting will be held 7 p.m., Monday, May 14 at the South Cobb Community Center, 620 Lions Club Drive in Mableton.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
The county Board of Education is keeping both options on the table leading up to the passage of the final budget next week.
We won’t know how many furlough days and how many school days will be part of the next Cobb County school year until the Cobb Board of Education passes the final fiscal 2013 budget May 17. The school board delved into the Cobb County School District’s fiscal woes during Wednesday’s work session. Most of the talk was long-term, big-picture stuff: the state’s role in putting Cobb in a budget hole; the likelihood of next year’s budget being much tougher; the effects of state charter schools; the declining educational opportunities in the county; and the need for a dramatically different educational model. “We are not providing the education that Cobb County expects, and we’ve got to find another way,” Post 7 board member Alison Bartlett said…
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Due to the sale of alcohol to a minor, the commissioners voted to suspend the beer and wine license at the Kroger on Powder Springs Road for 60 days. They also asked for confirmation of various kinds of training for the Kroger employees.
The commissioners get underway at 9 a.m.
If a U.S. district judge's county commission district map is approved, Cobb citizens could save $200,000 for a special election and Mableton would remain in one district.
Mableton residents may be able to remain together in Cobb Commission District 4 if a U.S. district judge has his version of a map approved. If the map is approved within the week, the county could move forward with its July 31 election without a costly special election for districts 2 and 4. The Georgia General Assembly is responsible for creating a new redistricting map after every U.S. Census to account for the county’s changing population and ensure that each district has approximately the same number of constituents. This year, legislators made no final decision on the county’s new map, leaving citizens without proportionate district boundaries. With no final district map, the scheduled July 31 election for South Cobb’s District 4 and …
Austell will soon have the second public disc golf course in the county and one of about 60 in the state.
Disc golf is becoming increasingly more popular across the United States, and now Austell will have its own disc golf course after the Austell City Council unanimously approved on Tuesday construction of the course on 12 acres at the Louise Suggs Memorial Park. The nine-hole course, which will cost $8,000, will be available for free, public use seven days a week during open park hours, Mayor Joe Jerkins explained. The city plans to construct another nine holes at a later date, he said. Because Cobb SPLOST funds cannot be used for the disc golf project, funding for the course will come from the Austell Area Community Improvement Fund. Four of the five members of the AACIC board recommended approving construction, while the fifth member …
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Citizens can give their input up until May 17, when the Board of Education will vote on the fiscal 2013 budget of $841.9 million.
The $841.9 million tentative budget for fiscal 2013, which runs from July 1 to June 30, 2013, is based on a projected enrollment of 106,591 students. The Board of Education approved the budget 6-1 on Thursday. It closes a projected $62.5 million deficit by increasing class sizes by an average of two students, reducing the number of teachers by 350, furloughing employees for five days, cutting the school year to 175 days from 180, making media center paraprofessionals part-timers, delaying step raises by half a year, and spending $21 million of reserve funds, among other actions. The school board will hold a public forum on the budget at 7 p.m. on May 7 at the Central Office. Members will discuss changes at their 8:30 a.m. work session May …
Valerie Testman
1:29 pm on Friday, May 18, 2012
Thank you to Dr. Hinojosa and Board Members Sweeny, Morgan, Banks and Crowder-Eagle. TFA is not the only solution but it certainly is a step in the right direction. I will take the 2 years of a highly effective teacher over 15 years of a so called "highly qualified" one any day. South Cobb can not continue to have struggling schools with low expectations. This is not about the teachers' jobs, … more ›