The Campbell High School PTSA has been awarded the Parent Involvement Schools of Excellence Certification.  Campbell High School Principal Kehl Arnson, PTSA President Diane Harris, and Parent Involvement Committee Chair Laura Buege will be recognized at the Cobb County Board of Education Board meeting on Thursday, Feb. 26.

According to the PTSA, this award is “the gold standard for parent involvement practices.”  The National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement involve development of strong partnerships between home and school supporting student success. The certification process evaluates parental involvement strengths and accomplishments while considering additional areas for improvement.

Schools are recognized for
• Reaching out and including more parents and families
• Improving school support from families and communities
• Meeting new state standards where applicable
• Recognizing best practices and excellence in parent involvement programs.”

Campbell’s certification is good for three years and will last until December 31, 2011.

The Men and Ladies of Distinction of Kennesaw Mountain High School participated in the Partnership for Community Action and Turner Chapel AME Church food drive Feb. 7. Students arrived at the Turner Chapel recreation center at 7 a.m. and were briefed on the day’s activities and expectations.

The food drive began at 8 am as the qualifying participants entered the facility. Upon entering the facility, participants were required to complete an authorization form verifying that they qualified for the assistance. Participants then proceeded into the gymnasium where over 1200 boxes of non perishable items were stacked. The students were responsible for distributing the boxes of food to participants and assisting participants to their vehicles with the boxes. Students also assisted in clean up at the end of the food drive.

Junior Master Gardeners, a nationally recognized organization, is in its third year of operation at Addison Elementary School. A group of 18 fifth graders and three teachers, who are certified Cobb County Master Gardeners, meet Fridays after school . The Southern Horticultural Society invited the Addison students to exhibit in the 2009 Southeastern Flower Show as a form of celebration of learning.

The focus of the Addison entry was the five geographic regions of Georgia. Students diligently investigated the flora and fauna, the type of soils, and the topography of their selected region. The Georgia Native Plant Society graciously donated live plants native to each of the regions. Students scoured their miniature trains sets and animal collections for props that would be in proportion to the plants in their regional scapes. They even braved record breaking January temperatures to create their planters in the likeness of antique English troughs. Armed with warm jackets and hoes, they mixed cement, perlite, and peat moss to fashion their faux stone planters. Their miniature landscapes came to life with such additions as a miniature Stone Mountain, Spanish moss draped Cypress trees, and of course, the Big Chicken. The fruition of their labors was appreciated by both novice and professional gardeners who attended the flower show that was held at the Galleria from Wednesday, January 28th through Sunday, February 1st. Addison’s Junior Master Gardeners were honored with first place in the Youth Division and the prestigious “First Lady of Georgia Award”.

The Osborne High School PTSA is hosting a unique, life-saving teen driving program March 19 and 21. Accident Avoidance Workshops provides classroom instruction and behind-the-wheel training for teens that goes beyond defensive driving. Instruction focuses on how to escape accident situations, in addition to teaching ways to avoid accidents. Parents and student drivers take both portions of the workshop as a team.

The Accident Avoidance Workshop is $195 per student/parent team. The program also satisfies the requirement for many insurance companies’ defensive driving discount. See the Osborne High School Web site or call (770) 971-0571 for more information on how to register for the course.

Riverside Intermediate’s student council completed a school wide can drive for Valentine’s Day. The students prepared a commercial on Riverside Live, the school’s closed-circuit broadcasting station. They addressed the need for the can drive, emphasizing the them “Open your Hearts and Give Cans from the Heart.” The students collected more than 800 cans of food that will be donated to a nearby homeless shelter.

The McEachern High School and Walton High School chapters of Becca’s Closet will sponsor its third annual “Prom Fashion Show” at Town Center Mall on Saturday, February 28th at 3:00 p.m. The fashion show will feature student models showcasing a selection of the charitable organization’s new and gently used donated prom dresses and formal gowns that are available to girls in need throughout the Metro Atlanta area.

Becca’s Closet was the inspiration of Florida high school student, Rebecca Kirtman, who single-handedly began collecting and distributing hundreds of prom dresses out of her own closet in order to provide for fellow classmates who otherwise could not afford to purchase them for prom, homecoming and other formal high school events. Following Rebecca’s tragic and fatal car accident in 2003, her family and friends made it their mission to carry on her legacy and acts of kindness by established Becca’s Closet, now with over 75 chapters throughout the U.S. including three in Metro Atlanta.

The Metro Atlanta chapter of Becca’s Closet at McEachern High School in Powder Springs was established five years ago and has received an outpouring of community support with thousands of dress donations and accessories for those in need. The organization’s newest chapter at Walton High School in Marietta was established in 2008 and has already collected hundreds of dresses generously donated by individuals and local retail stores. Both chapters work together on annual fundraisers and events, dress fittings, and dress drives. Both chapters collect and distribute dresses year-round.

A temporary store will be open to the public for individual and group dress fittings during prom season from March 1 – May 1 at the Town Center Oaks Shopping Center, 2615 Busbee Parkway in Kennesaw. The store will be manned by student volunteers who will serve as personal shoppers to those making an appointment for dress fittings. For more information and to schedule a fitting, please call (770) 361-0802 or email either mhsbeccascloset@yahoo.com or beccasclosetwhs@yahoo.com. For further information on the local and national chapters of Becca’s Closet, please visit www.beccascloset.org.

The District’s School Health Services department partnered with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Feb. 16 to host an important training day for school nurses throughout Georgia. More than 220 public and private school health professionals from Cobb, Athens-Clarke, Dade, Houston and many other Georgia counties came together for the inservice to discuss hot health topics relevant to the school environment.

Dr. Benjamin Gold, Chief of Gastroenterology at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, talked to the group about understanding Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in children. Dr. Kate Arnold of the Georgia Department of Public Health led the afternoon sessions regarding the role of school nurses in handling cases of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and infectious rashes.

The day-long training included breakouts for collaboration and discussion of best practices between nurses. Attendees spent time sharing experiences, viewing demonstrations of healthcare-related products from vendors and discussing funding for school health programs.

On Friday, January 30, McEachern High School hosted the first ever Region 9 Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Conference and Competition.  Students from Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Dawson, Fannin, Gilmer, and Pickens counties gathered at McEachern High to compete in FBLA performance events and attend conference workshops. 

At the regional level, students compete in skill, knowledge, and performance competitions to determine which of the best and brightest students qualify to represent the region at State Leadership Competition and Conference held in March. The special guest speaker sessions at the conference included a workshop by Paul Adams from the Atlanta Braves on the Business of Baseball, Bingo for Babies to learn about March of Dimes by Mary Martin from the March of Dimes, and a seminar by Glenda Hicks, CPA on preparing for a successful future. 

At the Awards Ceremony, led by Region 9 Officers Melissa Mondello, Jeweleon Jones, and Ogechi Anyanwu from McEachern High School, the following students from Cobb County placed in the top five:

Accounting I

First Place – Gloria Jia, Harrison High School*

Business Calculations

First Place – Gloria Jia, Harrison High School*

Business Communications

Third Place – Haley Rogers, Lassiter High School *

Computer Applications

Third Place – Cory Shaw, Lassiter High School*

Desktop Publishing

Second Place – Jessica Laurain & E’lexis Brewer, McEachern High School *

Fourth Place – Taylor Blankstein & Whitney Okvist, Kell High School

Economics

First Place – Sherry Blystone, North Cobb High School*

Third Place – Rosner Morrison, Lassiter High School*

Fifth Place – Shatavia Whittaker, North Cobb High School*

Introduction to Business Communication

      First Place – Jaelyn Sierra, McEachern High School*

Introduction to Technology Concepts

      First Place – Jonathon Taylor, North Cobb High School*

Largest Chapter Membership

      Second Place – McEachern High School

Monopoly Tournament

      McEachern High School*

Personal Finance

      First Place – James Littleton, Harrison High School*

Future Business Leader

      First Place – Jeweleon Jones, McEachern High School*

Spreadsheet Applications

      Second Place – Matt Tymchuk, Kell High School*

Word Processing II

First Place – Nita McHann, Kell High School*

Web Site Development

      Fourth Place – Neil Javia, Kell High School

* Denotes students qualifying to compete in FBLA State Competition.

Pope High School’s Greyhound Tracks student newspaper has received the All-Southern rating, the highest recognition for a student newspaper from the Southern Interscholastic Press Association (SIPA). The association is a non-profit endeavor maintained at the University of South Carolina with the purpose of promoting excellence in student journalism and mass communications.

Last year, Greyhound Tracks won numerous honors from the Georgia Scholastic Press Association. The newspaper is supervised by adviser Chris Canter.

Julie Hartline of Campbell High School traveled to Washington, D.C. Jan. 28 to accept the National School Counselor of the Year award from the American School Counselor Association (ASCA). With more than 400 counselors competing, Ms. Hartline’s award is the top honor for school counselors across the nation.

She was joined in the capital by Campbell principal Kehl Arnson and Gail Smith, the District’s Supervisor of School Counseling. The awards ceremony kicked off National School Counselors Week Feb. 2-6, celebrating the contributions of school counselors to the educational success of students.

A video feature about Ms. Hartline is available on the ASCA Web site.

Read a Yahoo! news story about Ms. Hartline’s honor.