Smyrna-Vinings School News to Use

Don’t forget that residents are invited to join the Cobb County Board of Education and Cobb County School District officials on Wednesday night for the final south county redistricting forum. The meeting will be held at at 6:30 p.m.

redistricting

District officials would like to hear additional input from parents, whose children attend the affected elementary schools. No final decisions have been made regarding the proposed redistricting plan.

In addition to providing input at Wednesday's public forum, parents can submit comments on CCSD's public commenting wall or by emailing redistricting@cobbk12.org.

Jason Saliba, who was defeated by Susan Wilkinson Tuesday in the runoff election for Smyrna's Ward 5 council seat, spoke of the meetiing at Monday's city council meeting.

"We have a public forum for the school district concerning the elementary redistricting process,'' Saliba reminded Smyrna citizens. "I know a lot of Ward 5 folks are concerned about that; the way the ward's been split and the way the schools are set up around and the new elementary school. I had an opportunity last weekend to spend some time with Tim Stultz, who is our representative to the school board. He is aware of those issues. He has encouraged everyone to not only keep posting on the Cobb School Board website, but also we need a good turnout Wednesday night for those parents who want to be heard on those issues."

After reviewing the input from the community, district officials will develop a final proposed redistricting map, which will be presented to the BOE for a vote in February 2012.

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Ninety-seven percent of Cobb County 11th graders met or exceeded standards on the 2011 Georgia High School Writing Test (GHSWT), which gauges writing skills considered essential for a high school diploma. Cobb students' average scale score of 230 improves upon 2010 results and remains ahead of averages for the state (224) and metro Atlanta area (226).

’s scale score was 224. The scale used to measure achievement ranges from 100 to 350, with a score of 200 considered "meets expectations," and 250 considered "exceeds expectations." Fourteen percent of Cobb students exceeded expectations on the test, an increase of 4 percent over 2010 scores.

All 16 Cobb high schools saw 90 percent or more of their students meet or exceed expectations; Allatoona, Harrison, Hillgrove, Lassiter, McEachern, Pope, Sprayberry, and Walton high schools each had 98 percent or more. Campbell came in at 95 percent. McEachern High School posted the largest gains of any school in the district, including a 2-percent increase in students achieving the "meets or exceeds" status in 2011.

A passing score on the High School Graduation Test is one requirement for all students pursuing a high school diploma. The two-hour GHSWT was administered in late September to 6,661 Cobb juniors and required students to write a persuasive paper on an assigned topic. - The CCSD contributed to this brief

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students in Jim Crowley's Environmental Science class recently cleaned up trash recently from Proctor Creek, a Chattahoochee River tributary.

The long-neglected creek has been improved in recent years through the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper's Proctor Creek Watershed Initiative. The Riverkeeper works with the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance to improve the health of Proctor Creek and conduct community outreach, according to the Riverkeeper organization.

The 17 students and Lovett faculty members collected 15 tires, 12 bags of trash and two bags of recyclable items in two hours, the school said. Items included a wig, an old car radio, a wheel barrow and scrap metal.

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Finally congratulation to the Campbell High Lady Spartans basketball team for opening region play with a 49-38 win at South Cobb Tuesday night. The team was led in scoring by Baylee Hawkins with 15 points, while Princess Forbes scored 13 points and Diamond Freeman chipped in with eight points. 

D'Asia Cain returned to the lineup for the first time this season, and led the team in rebounding with nine rebounds, three steals, and four assists.

The boys lost their region opener by falling 61-56 to the Eagles. Both Campbell teams will play host to region foe Hillgrove on Friday with the girls game set for 6 p.m.

Tonight, the CHS wrestling team will face teams from Hillgrove and Bannaker high schools at 5:30 p.m. in the Nash Gym. Admission is $1 for students and $2 for adults.