Friday, May 18, 2012
Board Vice Chairman David Morgan, who represents South Cobb, said he preferred a budget alternative that saved most of the district's reserves with five furlough days and increased class sizes.
The Cobb County School District has to go back to the chalkboard after the Board of Education failed to approve the fiscal 2013 budget Thursday night. The school board has until June 30 to pass a budget for the year that starts July 1, but after the extensive, often passionate debate Thursday, the path forward is unclear. A special meeting will be scheduled to search for an answer. The seven board members staked out at least four distinct positions on the proposed $841.9 million budget—none of them matching the administration's recommendation. Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and Chief Financial Officer Mike Addison entered the meeting recommending the same budget that the school board passed April 26 on a preliminary basis. It features 350…
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 …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Watch the video of Thursday night's Board of Education meeting to see how the budget failed, Teach for America passed and more.
We've replaced the live stream with the two-part recording of the 3½-hour school board meeting, so you can replay the parts of the meeting that interest you most. We'll have more from the meeting in the morning. In the meantime, we welcome suggestions for a budget that could win at least four votes. The Cobb County Board of Education is scheduled to vote tonight on the final fiscal 2013 budget, the school calendar that accommodates the approved furlough days, a contractor to prepare for a SPLOST IV referendum in March 2013, and the pursuit of donations and grants to support 25 Teach for America teachers in South Cobb starting in the 2013-14 school year. The board is meeting at 7 p.m. at the Cobb County School District's Central Office, 514…
If the Cobb Board of Education approves, the superintendent will begin efforts to raise funds to cover costs for Teach for America teachers.
Members of the Cobb Board of Education will vote at its Thursday meeting to allow Cobb Schools Superintendent Michael Hinojosa to begin his fundraising efforts for Teach for America for FY 2014. If last week's worksession was any indication of how the vote may go, board members Kathleen Angelucci and Alison Bartlett did not approve of TFA for Cobb. If approved, there are four stipulations that would apply before TFA would be permitted. No more than 25 TFA teachers would be allowed. Principals would have the final say on which teachers they would allow to teach in their schools. TFA teachers can displace no Cobb teachers. TFA teachers will be evaluated against an established set of metrics. The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Cobb …
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Amani Edwards from Mableton is one of about 1,700 U.S. citizens traveling abroad as part of the Fulbright scholarship.
Amani Edwards, a senior at Beloit College from Mableton, has been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarship to become an English teaching assistant in Russia. The modern languages major will be posted in Novosibirsk,which is located in Siberia. Edwards will begin her stay in September and be there through June of 2013. In addition to the teaching assistantship, Edwards, who is a volleyball and track and field student, will conduct research on ethnic minority groups and language policy. Edwards will be one of more than 1,700 U.S. citizens traveling abroad during the 2011-12 academic year as part of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Sponsored by the U.S. government, the Fulbright program is meant to foster intercultural …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
South Cobb basketball seniors Brodnisha Taylor and Eniya Edwards will represent Cobb County in a memorial basketball tournament held annually in honor of a fallen female player.
South Cobb basketball seniors Brodnisha Taylor and Eniya Edwards will represent Cobb County in a memorial basketball tournament held annually in honor of a fallen female player. The Courtney S. Crooms (CSC) Foundation is proud to have these two outstanding student athletes as members of the 2012 CSC Team competing in the tournament held each year in Courtney's honor, a 14-year old basketball player, who died in a tragic auto accident after returning home from an AAU Basketball tournament. E. Meshal Crooms, co-founder and president of the foundation (pictured in the center), and her husband Derick founded the 501(c)3 organization in their daughter’s name to preserve her legacy and to continue her love for the sport vicariously through …
Friday, May 11, 2012
South Cobb and Pebblebrook were not ranked at all in the recent U.S. News & World Report's 2012 Best High Schools list.
U.S. News & World Report ranked Walton High School as the third top high school in Georgia on in its 2012 Best High Schools annual list. Lassiter was No. 7; Wheeler was No. 13. Nearby Campbell High School in Smyrna was ranked as No. 27 in the state followed by Marietta High School at No. 28. South Cobb and Pebblebrook high schools were not even ranked. Only 38 schools in Georgia made the magazine’s 2,008 ranked schools. Other schools were given bronze status, but were not ranked. Just how are these rankings determined? It’s a three-step process: • Step 1: The first step determined whether each school's students were performing better than statistically expected for the average student in the state. We started by looking at reading and math…
After a discussion at its recent work session, Cobb schools superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa agreed to submit a recommendation about Teach for America for a vote at the next Cobb Board of Education meeting.
After the Cobb County Board of Education’s discussion about Teach for America, Cobb Schools Superintendent Michael Hinojosa committed to presenting a recommendation to the board next week. The board agreed that TFA can be allowed in South Cobb schools if four stipulations are met: Cobb BOE Vice Chairman David Morgan, who represents South Cobb schools, said, “I was happy that Teach for America was back on the agenda. It would give us the opportunity to have some of the best and brightest standing in front of them (South Cobb students) to add to some of the great teachers we already have in that area.” Hinojosa will submit his recommendation to the board, including the four stipulations, for a vote at its next meeting. If the item passes, …
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…
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The school-naming committee narrowed the list down to three names. Two would honor local educators, George Hendricks and Sollie Cole.
The school-naming committee for Austell Intermediate has concluded its evaluation of name submissions for the school and narrowed the selections to three. Area 1 Assistant Superintendent Robert Benson will prepare an agenda item for the Board of Education, incorporating the committee's three top choices; the committee's first choice will be presented as the Superintendent's recommendation. The Board may accept one of the committee’s three names, or it may vote on and approve another name. Other names considered by the committee: Sollie Cole, who died at age 90, served as Chairman of the Cobb County Board of Education in the mid-1960s. He and his wife, Floy “Jackie,” lived in Austell for 40 years and sent their children to South Cobb …
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 ›