Teachers were the stars of the annual Cobb Chamber of Commerce “Give Our Schools A Hand” Pep Rally Oct. 30, a celebration of Cobb and Marietta’s Teachers of the Year. Students, parents and community leaders filled the Roswell Street Baptist Church sanctuary for the event, bearing colorful signs and banners thanking their favorite teachers.

As the teachers of the year paraded into the church building, the crowd roared with cheers and noisemakers. Grins were in ample supply on the faces of the Cobb teachers as they looked for representatives of their schools and families in the crowd.

South Cobb High School students were among the most vocal supporters, regularly cheering for their honoree, social studies teacher Andy Cole.

The audience was treated to an energetic performance by Pebblebrook High’s much-lauded theatre troupe from the Center for Excellence in Performing Arts.

For the first time, the district teachers of the year received a new award from the community, a year-long car lease from the Voyles group of dealers. Representatives from the Voyles group awarded Cobb Teachers of the Year Gina Coss, Bob Hague and Beverly Titlow, as well as Marietta City honoree Tezella McQueen during a special drawing at the event.

Cobb district winner Gina Coss showed her excitement after learning she’ll be driving a new Honda for the next year.

Each school’s honoree had his or her moment in the spotlight as the names were announced. Each winner received a special plaque and gift from the Chamber.

Awtrey Middle School TOTY and music teacher Mike Sessoms posed for pictures with his students after the pep rally.

The honorees joined together again for a special luncheon to conclude the day’s events. Thanks to the Cobb Chamber of Commerce for organizing the “Give Our Schools A Hand” rally and for the business community’s commitment to education!

It’s a bird? A plane? No, it’s Georgia Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox, who flew via helicopter onto Kemp Elementary School’s activity field the morning of Oct. 29. The visit was part of an all-day helicopter tour of seven schools in the state that won state awards for student achievement and greatest gains on statewide tests. Twenty-seven other Cobb schools were included among the state award winners (Read the full story on the District home page for more about the awards).

Superintendent Cox arrived around 9:30 a.m., welcomed by a crowd of Kemp students, teachers and school district officials. She discussed the importance of schools’ progress on the state’s important CRCT and Georgia High School Graduation Tests and praised Kemp for setting an example for high achievement.

Cox and her staff presented Kemp principal Kristy Mason with award banners for the school’s achievements and spent time greeting staff members and students.


Students waved goodbye to Ms. Cox as she and her staff flew to the next school to be honored.

Congratulations to Kemp and the other 27 Cobb schools recognized for high achievement by the Department of Education and Governor’s Office for Student Achievement.

The staff of Simpson Middle School would like to invite current and former students and employees, as well as their families to the school’s 20th Anniversary Celebration on Sunday, Nov. 11, from 2 – 4 p.m. With the theme “Wind Beneath Our Wings,” the event will highlight the important people and events from the past two decades. For more information, contact Marge Richman at 770.971.4711.

With car crashes ranking as the primary cause of fatalities among American teenagers, educating teens of their responsibilities on the road is essential. Allstate insurance and NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne stepped up to assist in that effort Oct. 25, when Kahne and car owner Ray Evernham visited Pebblebrook High School in Mableton to discuss safe driving.

Driver of the #9 Dodge car, the 27 year-old Kahne is a seven-time winner in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and one of the sport’s most popular personalities. Speed Channel personality John Roberts hosted the on-stage discussion with Kahne and Evernham, who talked about their careers in racing, their driving experiences off the race track and the importance of teens learning how to maximize their safety on the road. Kahne talked to Pebblebrook’s students about the difference between driving fast on the racetrack and driving prudently on the streets. Evernham spoke about his own teenage son learning to drive and how his role as both a father and a racing engineer has helped him educate his son.

Pebblebrook was chosen for the Allstate-sponsored event because of the involvement of sophomore Sara Diggins (pictured above with Kahne), one of 47 safe driving ambassadors representing The Allstate Foundation. Sara introduced Kahne and Evernham to her fellow Pebblebrook students after sharing some of her personal experiences of losing someone she knew in a car accident. She also explained how she is opting to keep her learner’s permit for a longer period of time so that she can become more familiar with driving in the busy metro Atlanta traffic.

Students experienced a variety of interactive features set up in the Pebblebrook theater lobby, including a driving simulator and displays of authentic NASCAR safety equipment.

Speed Channel’s John Roberts shared some of his thoughts about safe driving for a segment on the channel. Roberts said, “I’ve never seen a text message worth losing your life over.”

Kahne and Evernham also spent time signing autographs and taking pictures with students in attendance.

Allstate used the event to announce a relaunch of its safe driving information Web site, which includes the Parent-Teen Driving Contract to help parents start driving discussions with their kids.

Brown Elementary media specialist Heidi Garguilo got a huge surprise when representatives from OfficeMax visited her office Oct. 2. Garguilo is one of 1,000 national winners in the OfficeMax ‘A Day Made Better’ program, an effort by the company to raise awareness of and eliminate “teacher-funded classrooms” by ‘adopting’ classrooms.

OfficeMax presented Ms. Garguilo with a shopping cart filled with $1,200 in supplies for the Brown media center, including a color printer, digital camera, paper, pens, scissors, label maker and more. She will make all of the supplies available to Brown’s students and staff throughout the year. Ms. Garguilo was nominated for the honor by Brown principal Brett Ward.

‘A Day Made Better’ is a partnership between OfficeMax and the non-profit group Adopt-A-Classroom. The program calls attention to statistics showing that many teachers spend an average of $1,200 of their own money to purchase basic classroom supplies for their students. OfficeMax hopes this advocacy campaign will inspire communities to provide further support to teachers and eliminate “teacher-funded classrooms.”

More information about the program is available at the ‘A Day Made Better’ Web site.

Congratulations to bus driver Angie Woodie, who was named Children’s Choice School Bus Driver of the Year by Thomas Built Buses. Woodie was nominated for the award by one of her student passengers, Keirra M. Keirra submitted a 90-word essay on why her bus driver should win the award.

Angie Woodie will receive a $1,000 gift card and Thomas Built apparel for the honor, while submitting student Keirra will receive a $1,000 educational savings bond and a laptop computer. The Thomas Built Buses Children’s Choice School Bus Driver of the Year program is in its second year, providing kindergarten through sixth grade students with a chance to use their writing skills to honor their bus driver.

Ms. Woodie has been driving Cobb school buses for 13 years, safely transporting students to and from Acworth Intermediate, Barber Middle and North Cobb High schools. Kudos to her and to Keirra for nominating her!

The District’s first annual We Can in Cobb! Health Fair took place Oct. 13, kicking off with a 5k charity walk benefitting the March of Dimes. Following the walk, participants browsed a health and wellness vendor booths featuring complimentary blood pressure and Body Mass Index screenings.

Lots of the fair activities focused on kids. The Girl Scouts performed a Healthy Eating Puppet Show and the Cobb School Nutrition Association allowed children to create a healthy lunch on a cafeteria lunch tray using food models.

The We Can in Cobb! Health Fair preceded National School Lunch Week, Oct. 15 – 19.

Congratulations to Christopher President, senior at Kennesaw Mountain High, who was named a member of Georgia Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox’s Student Advisory Council for 2007-08. The council will have its first meeting on Monday, Oct. 15 at Georgia Gwinnett College, where students will provide input on state policies and advise Superintendent Cox on issues important to students across Georgia.

More than 550 students from 118 school districts across the state applied for the advisory council, with only 53 accepted. Congratulations to Christopher for representing Cobb at the state level.

Congratulations to media specialist Barbara Powell-Schager and fifth grade teacher Betsey Kennedy of Big Shanty Intermediate, who were named the 2007-08 recipients of the TEAMS Award from Library Media Connection magazine and Gale Schools!

The TEAMS award (Teachers and Media Specialists Influencing Student Achievement) is given annually to recognize outstanding collaborative efforts between classroom teachers and school media specialists. Recipients of this prestigious national award are chosen based on evidence of successful collaboration that positively impacts student achievement and learning. Ms. Kennedy and Ms. Powell-Schager were selected based on their history of successful collaboration, but one of their crowning achievements was last year’s Big Shanty Author’s Night, an event in which 174 students and their families met to present their own writings and participate in workshops to further hone their skills. This event was not just enjoyable and highly educational for students; it was a tour de force of educational best practices: Ms. Kennedy and Ms. Powell-Schager designed it to address curriculum standards in writing; the student presentations served as a highly rewarding, performance-based assessment for learning; and in the months of instructional preparation leading up to the event, they employed co-teaching, collaborative learning, and differentiation.

Ms. Kennedy and Ms. Powell-Schager will be honored with $2,500 in cash and $1,000 worth of professional materials from the sponsors. They will be featured in an upcoming issue of Library Media Connection, and they will also be flown to Reno, NV in October for the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) national conference. There they will be honored at a reception and will give a short presentation to conference attendees about their collaborative accomplishments.

Twelve Cobb elementary schools and one middle school were recently named Title I Distinguished Schools by the Georgia Department of Education:

Argyle Elementary
Austell Intermediate
Austell Primary
Birney Elementary School
Brown Elementary
Garrett Middle
Harmony Leland Elementary
Mableton Elementary
Powers Ferry Elementary
Russell Elementary
Sanders Elementary
Sedalia Park Elementary
Sky View Elementary

Title I is a federally funded program which provides services to schools based on student economic needs. Title I is the largest Federal Assistance Program for our nation’s schools. The goal is to provide a high-quality education for every child, so the program provides extra help to students who need it most. For more information, see the District’s Title I web page.