Two Upcoming South Cobb School Redistricting Meetings Set

As speculation runs high about who will be the Cobb County School District’s next superintendent, the Board of Education remains quiet about the situation heading into tonight’s regular meeting.

However, the board has expressed that it is gearing up for potential redistricting due to the construction of two replacement South Cobb elementary schools–Mableton Elementary and Clarkdale Elementary, which both will open in August 2012– and a new elementary school in Smyrna to open in August 2013.

The Cobb County School District has created this new web page with information about redistricting.

No specific redistricting changes have been proposed at this time.  Cobb School Board member David Morgan, whose post serves and high schools, will hold another town hall meeting at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday at to discuss redistricting.

A public meeting about the issue will be held on May 17 at 6:30 p.m. at Campbell High School in Smyrna.

Citing a duty to keep discussions in executive sessions private, the four board members who spoke to Patch offered no specifics on the superintendent search.

"I’m not at liberty at this time to comment until the process is complete," said Morgan.

Some board members insisted that the process is far from over.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday night through anonymous sources that six-year Rockdale County Superintendent Samuel T. King is expected to be named the sole finalist at today’s 7 p.m. board meeting.

The Marietta Daily Journal reported Tuesday that King’s application may have missed the Jan. 31 deadline. Sixteen other candidates made the deadline.

The school board met in executive session to discuss the superintendent search Monday at 5 p.m. and will do so again at 5 p.m. today. The board has also plans to meet sometime Saturday to continue its superintendent discussions.

Board Chairwoman Alison Bartlett of Post 7, who will run after , said she isn’t aware of more scheduled executive-session meetings on the superintendent search after Saturday, “but I’m sure there’ll be more.”

Board member David Banks of Post 5 also said the superintendent selection process is far from over: "Once we’re at that point (where we’ve made a decision), then we can go public. But we’re not anywhere near that point. ... We’re still in deliberation. Nothing has been finalized.”

Board members Tim Stultz of Post 2, Scott Sweeney of Post 6 and Kathleen Angelucci of Post 4 could not be reached for comment for this article. Stultz graduated from Rockdale County’s Salem High School, according to his school board biography.

Beyond the possible superintendent talk at the meeting, the board tonight is expected to gain a more complete picture of the district’s fiscal 2012 budget from Chief Financial Officer Mike Addison.

Addison projected a in January and as much as $50 million in March, largely through the loss of state funding, but at a board work session April 13 he outlined .

“The loss is not as great as originally projected,” said Bartlett, whose post includes . “The projection is based on the current economy.”

The school board also placed 13 items on the meeting’s agenda to be voted upon either as consent or discussion items that relate to Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funding. Ten of the items involve additions, modifications or preliminary work at , , , , and elementary schools, , and , and high schools.

The combined cost of the projects is $29.1 million, SPLOST Chief Administrative Officer Doug Shepard said.

“It’s important that we move ahead with our SPLOST projects which were approved by the voters in the referendum so that the work can be done during the summer when the students aren’t in school,” Post 1 board member Lynnda Crowder-Eagle said.

Early in the meeting, the board is scheduled to recognize Campus Police Officer Jerry Miller and the 32 Cobb Schools Foundation $1,000 scholarship winners. The graduating high school senior recipients are:

• Savannah Hansen and Jason Johnston, .
• Daniel O'Meara and Glenn Shrum, .
• Emily Moran and Haley Ruffin, .
• Joseph Celeste and Shannon O'Keefe, .
• Nicholas Barker and Yashar Rad, .
• Hailey Boeck and Nadia Ogene, .
• Spencer Hanson and Katherine Marchand, .
• Kathy Cheng and Henry Strmac, .
• Chang Choi and Alex Li, .
• Allison Brackin and Michelle Lee, .
• Belinda Jivapong and Connie Lu, .
• Samantha Budow and Natalie Harrell, .
• Rukhsar Machiwalla and Neda Norouzi, .
• Sara Adams and Morgan Walker, .
• Ashley Ferreira and Imari Walker-Karega, .
• Oscar Martinez and Claudia Vazquez, .

Patch will attempt to cover the meeting live. Check back tonight.