What's New in Cobb and Marietta Schools This Year?

Over 100,000 students will return to schools across Cobb next week in both the Marietta and the Cobb County school districts.

As students return to class Thursday, drivers should be wary of school buses and zones, slowing down and watching for kids at crosswalks and along the roadway.

But parents and students can get excited for several new initiatives and programs in both districts.

VR in the classroom

In Cobb, some students will be welcomed back to their often dreaded math and science courses with a twist.

When the Cobb County Board of Education voted to adopt its 2024-25 school year budget in May, it included $2 million to purchase Prisms of Reality, a virtual reality tool that will revolutionize math and science lessons in the district.

The tech will take students into virtual reality to simulate real-world, career-based problems that can be solved with the math and science education they are already getting.

“I think the most common question teachers have to field in math class is ‘When are we ever gonna use this?’ (Prisms) is already doing a real-life example of whatever the concept is that they’re teaching. It makes it, right a way, more exciting because of the way they’re experiencing it, physically getting to interact with the lesson, and also tying in some real-world application,” Cobb school board member Becky Sayler said.

In a roughly 50-minute class, students will spend between 25 and 30 minutes in VR.

Cobb school board Chairman Randy Scamihorn said he’s excited about the potential the tech has to engage students like never before.

“It brings problems off the page and presents them in a 3D format. A lot of students, even adults, have a hard time visualizing a concept without looking at it in a three-dimensional way. Whether it’s a molecular structure, or a math problem where you’re looking at a sphere or triangle ... you can just see it much clearer,” Scamihorn said.

Prisms is being rolled out to 10 middle schools and 10 high schools in the district to assist with seventh and eighth grade math and science, as well as high school algebra and biology classes.

At the high school level, that’s Allatoona, Campbell, Hillgrove, McEachern, North Cobb, Osborne, Pope, South Cobb and Sprayberry.

The middle schools are Awtrey, Barber, Campbell, Daniel, Durham, Floyd, Hightower Trail, Lovinggood, Pearson, Simpson and Tapp.

Free and reduced meal program

This year, the Cobb School District began participating in the Community Eligibility Provision through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, meaning students at qualifying schools can get free meals, no questions asked.

Sayler said in the past, families would have to fill out applications to qualify their students for the free meal program. This year, if the student goes to one of the eligible schools, no paperwork is necessary.

“Whether or not you’ve qualified before, whether or not you think you qualify, every child at (those) schools can have free breakfast and free lunch,” she said. “... It gets rid of that stigma. If kids are embarrassed that they’re getting it, this has every kid getting it.”

Elementary schools included in the new program are Argyle, Austell, Belmont Hills, Birney, Bryant, City View, Clarkdale, Clay-Harmony Leland, Compton, Dowell, Fair Oaks, Green Acres, Hendricks, Hollydale, LaBelle, Mableton, Milford, Norton Park, Powder Springs, Riverside, Russell and Sanders.

Eligible middle schools are Betty Gray, Cooper, Floyd, Garrett, Lindley, Pearson, Smitha and Tapp. The high schools are Cobb Horizon, Osborne, Pebblebrook and South Cobb.

Sayler was clear that families at every school in the district can still apply for the free and reduced lunch program on the district website.

Cognia review

The Cobb School District is entering the 2024-25 school year with a stellar review from Cognia, the Alpharetta-based accreditation firm which had brought controversy to the district in the past.

In 2021, Cognia brought forth a special review at the request of the Democrats who sat on the board at the time, which was later voided by CEO Mark Elgart for factual errors.

The new 2024 report by Cognia involved feedback from over 72,000 community members and gave the district an Index of Education Quality score of 332, significantly higher than the average of 253 across all other Cognia-accredited school districts.

Scamihorn was pleased with the new report, which accredits all Cobb schools for the next six years.

“It’s very vindicating,” Scamihorn said. “... (The 2021 review) was a totally invalid and inappropriate review. They have revamped their system and got professional people to come in and look at our district as a whole and have vindicated us, and given us reviews well above average, if not excellent, across the board.”

Overall, Cobb schools exceeded Cognia’s average across its network of other accredited districts on all seven major evaluation categories, including analysis of the learning environment, student performance and stakeholder feedback. Cobb received the highest grade, a 4.0, for stakeholder feedback analysis. In the other six categories, Cobb received a 3.5.

During a July presentation to the board, Chief Strategy and Accountability Officer John Floresta said Cognia attributed the district’s success to initiatives including the “One Team, One Goal” culture, the Cobb Teaching and Learning System (CTLS) and the Georgia’s BEST (Building Educators Success Together) program.

The district expanded its Georgia’s BEST program this year, giving 200 more teachers the chance to earn a tuition-free advanced degree.

A new menu in Marietta

Marietta City Schools Superintendent Grant Rivera said students in his district can look forward to a new and improved cafeteria menu.

The district has hired Chef David Garcia to reimagine the food offered to students throughout the day, with a focus on healthy and multicultural options.

Rivera said the idea came after Garcia reached out to the district to provide feedback on the cafeteria menu as both a parent and a chef.

“(Garcia) is going to be dedicated to further diversifying our menu options K-12,” Rivera said. “We’re excited about that and what it means for how we provide healthy and different meal options that both are good for kids, but also something they’ll enjoy.”

Phone policy

The Marietta school system will be rolling out its new phone policy for its Sixth Grade Academy and middle school next week.

The Marietta Board of Education approved the $100,000 purchase of Yondr pouches in June which will be used to lock students’ cell phones and smartwatches throughout the school day.

Devices will be stowed away in the pouches during first period and released before the final bell rings. Students will be responsible for retaining the pouches throughout the school day.

Board approval came at the request of Rivera, who told the MDJ he hopes the move has impacts not only on students’ attention during instructional period, but mental health outside the classroom.

“That vision also includes efforts to inform and empower families to make sure their home becomes an extension of the classroom and quite candidly that we don’t limit student access during the school day only to see them on social media and cellphones twice the amount of time when they get home,” Rivera said.

Literacy expansions

Marietta will also be expanding its science of reading curriculum to the middle school level for the first time this year.

The district has been lauded across the state for leading the way on literacy practices, with its elementary students outpacing reading scores across the metro area and state.

The middle school model is one that Marietta created and coined “Writing the Book on Literacy: The Next Chapter.”

Using over $1 million in grant funding from the Goizueta Foundation over the next two school years, the district has already begun training middle-grades teachers to lead students through new lessons that are usually not extended past elementary school.

Instructors will be divided up into three cohorts, each addressing students reading below, at, or above grade reading levels.

This, Rivera said, will expand the district’s focus on literacy to students who, across the country, are usually left out of those lessons.

“We will continue our work around the science of reading, helping every child reach their fullest reading and writing potential,” Rivera said.