Oakwood High School recently received a Distinguished Achievement Award from Georgia Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox. Oakwood is one of only ten schools in the state honored with the award for having the greatest gains in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards on state curriculum exams. Specifically, Oakwood students improved scores on end-of-course testing in Geometry and Biology. Congratulations to the school for this honor!

Brown Elementary’s third, fourth, and fifth graders received a special visit from Track and Field star LaBronze Garrett on Sept. 4.  Garrett, who has won 3 World Champion gold medals for the 4 x 400 relay, shared his experiences with the students.  He spoke of his travels to 70 different countries and the hard work and dedication it has taken to get to his level of competition.  Currently, Mr. Garrett is ranked one of the 25 fastest people in the world and resides in Kennesaw.

Bill Blythe, science coordinator at McCleskey Middle School, will participate in the Northrop Grumman Foundation Weightless Flights of Discovery program on October 7.  The goal of the program is to inspire the next generation of scientists, mathematicians and engineers – critical areas where the U.S. has fallen behind globally.

Blythe is one of 60 teachers chosen from more than 100 applicants from across the state. He attended an August 21 workshop held in Atlanta, where he and his colleagues learned about science and engineering concepts, zero gravity environments, and science and math curriculum development.

The Georgia flights will take off from Atlanta Hartsfield Airport on October 7.

Northrop Grumman Foundation Weightless Flights of Discovery is an innovative hands-on training program that gives teachers an ‘out-of-this-world’ experience as a way to help them inspire their students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Area teachers prepared for the zero-gravity flights this summer by attending workshops and designing experiments to execute while in zero-gravity in order to test Newton’s Laws of Motion. Following the flights, the teachers will bring their in-flight experiences, enthusiasm and videotaped experiments into the classroom, where they will be integrated into lesson plans.

Dr. Patti Agaston of the District’s Prevention/Intervention Center, provided her expertise in cyber-bullying prevention for an article by Forbes magazine. Click here to read the text. Dr. Agatston is co-author of Cyber Bullying: Bullying in the Digital Age, which has received national attention.

Sanders Primary & Intermediate Schools are the recipients of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program grant. Only 20 schools in Georgia were selected to receive the grant, which will expose a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to Sanders students.

Lassiter High School graduate Mo Isom, currently a freshman at Louisiana State University, was recently featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd feature. Ms. Isom, goalkeeper for the LSU women’s soccer team was recognized for scoring a goal on a 90-yard free kick on Aug. 25 in a match vs. Brigham Young University. She was named the Atlanta Journal-Constitution player of the year as a senior at Lassiter.

Dodgen Middle School students have worked with principal Jim Snell to release grass-eating fish into the school’s pond ecosystem. Mr. Snell details the experience on his blog.

When learning about government, who better to learn from than your local government leader? Fifth graders at Acworth Intermediate were lucky enough to have a special guest speaker wrap up their unit on government on September 11th. In front of a rapt group of young citizens, Acworth mayor Tommy Allegood summarized the Bill of Rights and Constitution and discussed it’s importance today.  Local government and it’s implications in students’ lives was also a topic of discussion. With Mayor Allegood’s guidance, students compared and contrasted the constitution and local ordinances. The assembly was interactive as students were able to answer the mayor’s questions and ask a few of their own. The mayor responded to a variety of questions ranging from how he balances politics and family life to what responsibilities he has as mayor

The Cobb Adult Education Center in Marietta was awash in color Sept. 16 as the school held its first Literacy & Diversity Celebration. Supporters from all around the Cobb community enjoyed a variety of fun activities and food sampling, with proceeds benefitting the District’s Adult Education program. The program provides adult high school courses, General Education Development (GED) and literacy programs for adults.

Attendees enjoyed trying food from many different countries and cultures.

Taking advantage of the early release day, kids got a chanceto bounce in the space jump.

The piñata proved to be a popular target for young students in attendance. Originating in Mexico, the piñata has been used for centuries in celebration of holidays and special occasions.

A long line formed for a chance to hit the piñata!

Kids rushed to collect the candy once the piñata finally broke!

For more information about the District’s Adult Education program, visit the program Web page.

On August 14, Barber Middle School held its first 6th grade cookout to welcome students and parents to middle school. Barber’s Partners in Education stepped up to offer their support both financially and physically!  Remax Unlimited’s Tracie Norman scooped endless amounts of ice and donated paper products for our event.  Atlanta Budokan provided chips.  In addition, Ferguson Family Chiropractic donated $200 for additional items, while Winning Spirit Sports provided drinks. NorthWest Bank and Trust made a commercial grill available, while members of the Acworth Police Department helped grill more 500 hot dogs. Also, to Home Depot provided charcoal and grilling tools. The highlight of the even Sno-Kones provided by North Star Church! And to Kroger helped provide us with lots of hot dogs and buns.  High Intensity Training helped organize several activities for students.  Costco provided several large cakes that everyone loved!

Our sponsors were gracious and supportive while catering to over 500 students and parents who turned out for this event! What a success!  Not only did our partner’s offer their support but Mayor Allegood and Dr. John Abraham came out for a visit as well.  Our partners helped the 6th grade teachers provide school-initiated family and community partnerships!  Without the generosity of our Partners in Education, we would not be able to provide such opportunities to families.