Twenty-six Cobb County Schools received the Clean Air School designation from the Clean Air Campaign! These schools are among more than 300 across Georgia to participate in action-based learning projects focused on reducing air pollution and educating students about sustainability and air quality. Schools are encouraged to implement a “No Idling” program and promote school bus ridership and carpools in lieu of single-driver drop-offs! The new Clean Air Schools in Cobb include:

Addison Elementary
Bells Ferry Elementary
Big Shanty Intermediate
Brown Elementary
Bryant Primary
Campbell High
Cheatham Hill Elementary
Cobb Performance Learning Center
Dodgen Middle
East Side Elementary
Garrison Mill Elementary
HAVEN Academy – Fitzhugh Lee Campus
Hillgrove High
J.J. Daniell Middle
Kennesaw Elementary
King Springs Elementary
Mableton Elementary
McEachern High
Mount Bethel Elementary
Nickajack Elementary
Norton Park Elementary
Rocky Mount Elementary
Russell Elementary
Teasley Elementary
Timber Ridge Elementary
Tritt Elementary

Wheeler High School students Sina Monfared, Sneha Sareddy, and Lucy Zhang received outstanding scores on last February’s American Mathematical Competition 12 (AMC 12), sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). The sum of their scores, 325.5, was one of the five highest school team scores in Region Three, which includes schools from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and American Embassy and APO/FPO schools. As a result of this placement, Wheeler High School has been awarded an Undergrad E-Membership to the Mathematical Association of America.

September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and Cobb County School District wants to help families understand the risks of childhood obesity and how to incorporate regular physical activity and healthy eating into their lives.

Childhood obesity rates have soared over the last few decades. Nationally, one in three children is obese or overweight, and in Cobb County over 30% of school children are affected by this epidemic, according to Centers for Disease Control. More alarming, obesity puts children at risk for chronic diseases often seen in adults, such as high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

This health crisis sheds light on the need to provide children and parents with the resources and the support they need, emphasizing that small steps can lead to sustained changes to reverse the childhood obesity trend. It is important to develop healthy habits in children at a young age so that they will be accustomed to these behaviors early on and maintain them in the future. Choosing to be more active will result in an overall healthier lifestyle.

The following tips can help families live healthier:

Eat Healthy: Make water the drink of choice (supplemented by 100 percent fruit juices and low-fat milk) and have fruits and vegetables available at every meal. Snack time should include foods that contain whole grains and lean protein instead of saturated and trans fats.

Play Every Day/Go Outside: Kids and adults should have at least an hour a day of unstructured play outside (when possible) and break a sweat at least three times a week by getting 20 minutes or more of physical activity.

Get Together: At least once a day families should dine together, with kids involved in meal preparation and clean up. In addition, adults should spend one-on-one time each day with their kids.

Reduce Screen Time: Time spent in front of a television, computer, cell phone and video game should be limited to two hours per day.

Sleep Well: Kids and adults need to keep a regular sleep schedule—10-12 hours per night for kids and seven to eight hours for adults.

Contact your school to become a member of the School Wellness Council.

Submitted by Mark Anderson, Supervisor for Health & Physical Education

Ford Elementary’s Environmental Education program was recently featured in the PBS program Growing A Greener World. For more than 18 years, the Ford community has been committed to creating and sustaining outdoor learning labs and involving students in authenic enrichment activities and service projects. The Science Lab, classroom teachers and the Earth Parent Program provide students with integrated curriculum opportunities that involve all aspects of their program. This month, Ford will host a Learning Garden Symposium for the metro area schools involved in creating schoolyard gardens and habitats.

Click here to watch the video on the Growing A Greener World website.

Wheeler High School’s F1 in Schools Team, Team Shift, will be highlighted in the October issue of Motor Trend Magazine . The article is currently posted on Motor Trend’s blog.

Team Shift is a team of four girls, three of whom attend The Center for Advanced Studies at Wheeler High School. The team won 1st place at the national competition, hosted by The Society of Automotive Engineers last May. The win afforded them the chance to compete in the world championship in Abu Dhabi in October.

Lassiter student Akahne Philpot and graduate student Callie P. Wigington worked together at the Emory University labs.

Lassiter senior Akahne Philpot participated in the Summer Scholars Research Program at the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University during summer 2012. This program was established to provide students a unique opportunity for students to experience the interdisciplinary nature and process of biomedical research in a cancer research laboratory. Akahne was paired with scientist Dr. Ahita Corbett, who is actively engaged in research at Emory. She and other participating students also completed reading assignments, attended lectures, and shared their own findings at a formal symposium.

Submitted by Ashlynn Campbell, Assistant Principal, Lassiter High School

Each summer, the Cobb County School District’s Transportation Department encourages all 900+ bus drivers to compete in the annual Bus Road-e-o, a bus safety competition. Modeled around the state and international competitions, the Road-e-o challenges drivers to be the best in events such as pre-trip inspection, backing up, student pickup, and effective driving techniques. Cobb sends the top two county winners to the state event to take on 58 other bus drivers from across Georgia in the driving events, as well as taking a written test pertaining to Georgia and local laws and First Aid procedures.

Veteran bus driver Michael Graham, who transports students at Murdock Elementary, Dodgen Middle, and Walton High schools, took top honors for the Cobb Road-e-o for a second straight year, then went on to capture first place at the state Road-e-o competition! Mr. Graham’s state win qualified him for the International Safety Competition July 13-14 in Milwaukee, WI, in which he placed 10th of 48 competitive bus drivers from across the continent!

Mr. Graham has competed in the Cobb Bus Road-e-o for seven years, qualifying for state competition three times.

The Cobb County School District’s first district-wide, school-based student mentoring initiative, Cobb Mentoring Matters, is moving into full motion as the district enters the 2012-2013 school year. Officially launched in January 2012, currently over 140 school and community volunteers have signed up to be a mentor. In coordination with the district’s human resources department and the local schools, prospective mentors go through an orientation and background check process. Once approved, the mentor participates in a “match meeting” at the mentee’s school. Match visits take place once a week only on school campuses; however, based on national mentoring “best practices”, outside group activities have been built into the program structure to enhance match relationships. Over the summer mentors and mentees participated in a bowling event. This fall, Cobb Mentoring Matters in partnership with several community agencies will be participating in local service-learning projects.

Supported by the district’s Success for All Students program, Cobb Mentoring Matters has also received national recognition for its work. The program has recently been asked to present at the 2013 National Mentoring Summit to be held in Washington DC this upcoming January.

To learn more about Cobb Mentoring Matters or to become a mentor with the initiative, please call 678-594-7582 ext. 229 or visit www.cobbmentoringmatters.org. Join the movement!

The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and the TAG Education Collaborative named Kennesaw Mountain High School, Wheeler High School and the Walton High School robotics team among the finalists for the first annual S.T.E.M. Education Awards! These awards were created to recognize and celebrate schools, extracurricular programs, public-private partnerships, science agencies and post-secondary education outreach programs for outstanding efforts and achievement in supporting and promoting science, technology, engineering, and math education in Georgia.

Kennesaw Mountain and Wheeler are among six finalists for the High School category, while the Walton robotics team and the Wheeler science camps are among six finalists in the Extracurricular Program category.

Dr. Patti Agatston, prevention specialist for the District’s Prevention/Intervention Center, wrote a column for Parenting Today’s Kids in which she shares tips for parents dealing with their students’ use of social media. Click here to read the column.

Dr. Agatston is co-author of the book, Cyber Bullying: Bullying in the Digital Age, with Robin Kowalski, Ph.D., and Susan Limber, Ph.D. and has co-authored a chapter for the book, Expert Perspectives in Cyberbullying. She is also co-author of the Cyber Bullying Prevention Curriculum for Grades 6 – 12 and the Cyber Bullying Prevention Curriculum for Grades 3 – 5. Dr. Agatston is a Licensed Professional Counselor and serves on the Board of Directors for the International Bullying Prevention Association. She has appeared on CNN as well as other local and national radio and television programs to discuss cyber bullying and other youth online risky behavior. She was a participant in the CDC’s Expert Panel on Electronic Media and Youth Violence, and has presented nationally and internationally on cyber bullying.