Monday, April 29, 2013
The Cobb Board of Education voted to spend $1 million to install the devices in high schools.
The Cobb Board of Education voted Thursday night to restore $1 million in current Cobb Education SPLOST III funds to complete the installation of surveillance cameras in high schools. The vote, which passed unanimously (7-0), came after the Cobb Facilities and Technology Committee, which conducts SPLOST oversight, urged the board to spend the contingency funding to improve security. Camera installation at the 16 high schools in the Cobb County School District was delayed when the funding was cut as part of across-the-board reductions in the SPLOST III program. The $1 million represents around 20 percent of SPLOST III money designated for surveillance cameras. The cuts did not affect installations at elementary and middle schools. When the …
Friday, April 26, 2013
It is one of seven districts that will be represented at the inaugural “Getting Back to Your Roots Symposium.”
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
"At some point," Chairman Randy Scamihorn of North Cobb said, "we can't raise class size any more and we can't cut teachers. It's just physically impossible."
Members of the Cobb Board of Education remain far apart on how to close a significant budget deficit and have delayed an initial vote on a fiscal year 2014 spending plan for the Cobb County School District. At the end of a nearly four-hour work session on Monday, the board agreed, in a 5-2 vote, to conduct another budget meeting next Monday, April 29, at 1 p.m. The board was to slated adopt a tentative budget Thursday, an action that meets a legal requirement to advertise a public hearing. That hearing, scheduled for May 14, must be publicly advertised 14 days in advance. Next Monday's work session is 15 days ahead of the hearing. The board has scheduled May 16 for final budget approval. But Monday's work session further revealed sharp …
Thursday, April 18, 2013
But school board members remain divided over how to balance the numbers for fiscal year 2014.
Cobb County School District officials presented a fresh set of options for balancing the fiscal year 2014 budget on Wednesday, but school board members rehashed familiar arguments for addressing a projected deficit of $86.4 million. In a lengthy work session on Wednesday, chief financial officer Brad Johnson offered a new proposal that gets to an $838 million balance by ditching several suggested cuts board members didn't like. Reductions in magnet school transportation and outsourcing custodial services have been placed below "a line" of 18 specific revenue and expense items that achieve a balance. But that didn't satisfy some board members worried over increased class sizes, steep teaching reductions through attrition and other cuts they…
Monday, April 8, 2013
Stumped on what to do with the kids all week? Here are a few suggestions.
Acworth schools will be closed all week for spring break. Students in the Cobb County School District don't return to school until Monday, April 15. If you're looking for activities for the kids, the Cobb County Public Library System has activities planned all week. Here are some of the things on the library’s spring break week schedule: Spring Break Movie Fest: Join the staff at the West Cobb Regional Library for their Spring Break Movie Fest; they’ll be showing the following movies each day at 11:30 am: April 8: Toy Story 3 (G) April 9: Wreck-It Ralph (PG) April 10: The Muppets (PG) April 11: Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (PG) April 12: Rise of the Guardians (PG) For more information, please call (770) 528-4699. Spring Break Movie …
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Wednesday's session will include more details on addressing an estimated $86.4 million deficit for fiscal year 2014.
The Cobb Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Wednesday devoted to the proposed fiscal year 2014 budget. The meeting begins at 1 p.m. in the board room at the Cobb County School District central office, 514 Glover Street, Marietta. The meeting also will be streamed live on the CCSD website. Last month the school board heard initial recommendations to balance a deficit projected at $86.4 million, including five days of teacher and staff furloughs, cutting nearly 300 professional positions, mostly teachers through attrition, canceling employee cost-of-living increases, reductions in transportation services and borrowing from reserve funds. District Chief Financial Officer Brad Johnson also unveiled a conceptual plan for for an …
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
They are among the 86 participants selected from the Cobb County School District.
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Wednesday, March 27
Students from Allatoona and North Cobb high schools have been chosen for the Georgia Governor's Honors Program this summer. They are among the 86 students selected from the Cobb County School District. Three students from Marietta City Schools also were chosen as part of a group of 690 finalists statewide, out of more than 3,000 applicants. The Governor's Honors Program, which is administered by the Georgia Department of Education, is a summer residential instructional program designed to provide intellectually gifted and artistically talented high school students challenging and enriching educational opportunities not usually available during the regular school year. Activities are designed to provide each participant with opportunities …
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Nine middle schools had 90 percent or more of students meeting or exceeding state standards for the test.
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Tuesday, March 26
Eighty-seven percent of students in the Cobb County School District met or surpassed standards in the winter 2013 state Eighth Grade Writing Test, according to a figures released by the district on Monday. Cobb has the highest percentage of students of any school district in the metro Atlanta area reaching or surpassing the state benchmark, and it is one point above 2012 Cobb results. Durham Middle School had 94 percent of students meet or exceed the standards, one of the best in Cobb; Barber Middle School had 90 percent of students doing so. The metro figure is 86 percent, while across the state 82 percent of students reached or went beyond the standards. The Eighth Grade Writing Assessment is one of four level-specific writing tests …
Monday, March 25, 2013
Georgia law requires that kindergarten students be five years old on or before Sept. 1.
With two months left in the 2012-13 school year, it's time for parents of new kindergarten students to register their children for the 2013-14 school year. Parents can go to all Cobb County elementary schools from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. March 27 to complete the registration process. To find out what school your child will attend, check the Cobb County School District bus routes site. For more info about registration requirements, please visit the enrollment webpage.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Teacher layoffs have not been recommended as the projected budget deficit for FY 2014 has jumped to $86.4 million.
The chief financial officer for the Cobb County School District is proposing five furlough days, hundreds of school-level staff reductions, borrowing from reserve funds and cancelling an employee cost-of-living increase to help balance a fiscal year 2014 budget deficit that has grown to an estimated $86.4 million. The proposed cuts do not include a recommendation for teacher layoffs, but savings through attrition. In a special budget presentation to the Cobb Board of Education, chief financial officer Brad Johnson said his estimates were revised up from nearly $80 million earlier this year, largely due to rising insurance costs for district employees. He is projecting $894 million in expenses against $807.6 million in anticipated revenues…
Leo Smith
1:18 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Fund the Educators 1st! Together we can create better legislation for local education funding. Fund the Educators 1st. LIKE the developing FACEBOOK effort at https://www.facebook.com/EducationFundingPetition -Decrease Teacher Furloughs -Fund Learning Objectives over Buildings -Engage Citizens with a November Ballot on SPLOST Votes -Prioritize Projects Based on Community Needs -Hold the System … more ›