'No More Lipstick On A Pig': Sprayberry Parents Push For Rebuild

MARIETTA, GA — The Sprayberry community is pushing for Cobb County School District for a rebuild of Sprayberry High School, one of the oldest schools in East Cobb, to be included in the project list of voters approved the sixth round of education sales tax this fall.

More than 100 parents and students rallied outside the school Sunday, some donning bright pink T-shirts with "#ItsOurTurn" and holding signs. The matching T-shirts and organized rally are part of the Rebuild Sprayberry initiative, spearheaded by Sprayberry parents Sharona Sandberg and Shane Spink.

Sandberg and Spink collaborated on the idea because they were both frustrated with the school's "crumbling" state, they said, especially after seeing the recent renovations at Lassiter, Walton, Wheeler and Pope high schools in East Cobb in the last decade.

The two launched a private Facebook group called Rebuild Sprayberry High School to gather support and start an email campaign to the school board. They gained over 1,500 members in the first week, and it now has nearly 2,000 members.

"Our motto for Sprayberry has been 'lipstick on a pig.' That's what [the school district] has done for really the last 20 years," Spink told Patch. "We can't do that anymore. Something's got to be done."

Sprayberry was built in 1973, before all other East Cobb high schools except for Wheeler, and has yet to see a major renovation.

Periodic updates and additions have been made over the years — the most recent construction to Sprayberry was 2012, according to Cobb's school facilities report from March — but now, classrooms are leaking and flooding, asphalt is crumbling, bathroom sinks are broken and occasional maintenance isn't doing the job, Sandberg said. Other parents at the rally highlighted missing or broken guardrails and a lack of functioning bathrooms at the Sprayberry stadium behind the school.

Sandberg — who also serves as the president of the Sprayberry Foundation and the Sprayberry Orchestra Parent Organization as well as coordinator of the annual Sprayberry craft fair — said she isn't trying to make Ed-SPLOST all about Sprayberry, because other schools still need updates and renovations, too. But she wants Sprayberry to be equitable to the other East Cobb high schools, which she and other parents said has long been a problem.

"There are so many things this school needs but, in the end, what it really needs is a main building that matches and is equitable with the other high schools in the area. ... You don't even have to get inside Sprayberry to see how bad of shape it is," Sandberg said. "This is completely unacceptable in such a nice area of town. The kids are embarrassed, the parents are fed up and community pride is at its lowest level."

Ed-SPLOST: past and future

The renovations to Lassiter, Walton, Wheeler and Pope high schools were funded through the fifth iteration of Ed-SPLOST — a 1 percent special purpose local option sales tax for school-related renovations and construction — which was approved by Cobb voters in March 2017. Each of the schools saw between $15 million and $48 million in additions or total renovations.

Ed-SPLOST V also included a new gym at Sprayberry, and renovations to its Career, Technology and Agricultural Education (CTAE) building — neither of which have come to fruition just yet, though board members approved hiring an architect for these projects in December 2018.

Cobb Schools Board Chair Randy Scamihorn, Board Member David Chastain and County Commissioner JoAnn Birrell were in attendance at Sunday's rally, and each spoke to the crowd. Chastain told the group they were "right on time" with their initiative.

The sixth iteration of Ed-SPLOST is on the ballot this November, and Chastain — who represents Sprayberry on the board — said the district is aware Sprayberry is in need of major renovations. Cobb Schools just completed the collection of project lists from school principals for Ed-SPLOST, and a draft list will be presented to the board in May.

"I'm aware that everybody knows that it's time for Sprayberry to get ... the best way I can put it is more love," Chastain said. "I think you folks are being heard already."

Chastain also said the new gym and CTAE building renovations are "on the books" and are coming, but could not provide an official timeline.

Effie Zoheir is a mom of three Cobb Schools students, two of which attend Sprayberry High School. She lives in the Lassiter High School zone, but said she chose to send her two high schoolers to Sprayberry because of its International Spanish Language Academy (ISLA).

However, she said the school facilities are in dire need of repairs and/or upgrades.

"We have everything inside — we have the teachers; we have the students; we have the passion; we have the love. But we do need better facilities," Zoheir said Sunday during the rally. "My children might not make it to see it, but my kindergartener might. And he might be benefitting from what we're doing today."