New Pre-K Center For Cobb County Schools Supt. Ragsdale Announces

COBB COUNTY, GA — Come August, at the start of the 2020-2021 school year, Cobb schools will have its own Pre-K center, officials announced Thursday. The center will be housed on the current campus of Harmony-Leland Elementary School, which will transition this year to the newly built and Ed-SPLOST-funded Clay-Harmony Leland Elementary School.

The new Pre-K center will serve approximately 250-300 students from the surrounding community. The facility will include four general education classrooms plus 10 special education classrooms, which are currently operating in neighborhood schools.

Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced the news at Thursday’s board meeting.

“I am so excited that we will be able to support early learning for even more Cobb students,” he said in a news release. “Research shows that students who enroll in high-quality early education programs are more likely to read on grade level by third grade and are better equipped for future success.”

The Pre-K center is being built in partnership with DECAL, the Atlanta Speech School, WellStar, and Learn4Life. More details on the program including registration information will be available later this year after the program is officially approved by DECAL, school officials said.

Ragsdale also announced that the district will be opening a second Pre-K center at the location of the now-closed Brown Elementary in Smyrna. It’s scheduled for completion in August of 2021.

Gov. Brian Kemp gave his second State of the State address Thursday morning. He proposed in his speech to give every teacher a $2,000 pay raise.

“We are thankful to Gov. Kemp for prioritizing our teachers again this year,” said Ragsdale. “It’s encouraging to see our leaders understanding what we in Cobb have known for years – supporting good teachers is the single most effective tool at our disposal to ensure student success.”