Campbell, Belmont Hills, King Springs Project Work Approved

The Cobb County Board of Education had little to say about the search for a new superintendent but plenty to talk about concerning some SPLOST-funded projects during last week’s meeting.

The lack of an announcement about superintendent finalists on Thursday meant the board did not meet its expressed desire to name finalists to head the Cobb County School District by the end of April.

The board still managed to talk through a couple of issues with projects funded under the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax III. Included was the approval to award a contract for renovations to ; the approval to award a contract for modification to ; and the approval to award a contract for modification and renovations to .

Seven more county school projects for additions, modifications or preliminary work were approved and the 10 projects came at a combined cost of $29.1 million.

At King Springs, a school founded in1957, the original bathrooms will be renovated. The gym will receive a new floor and new flooring will be put in place throughout the school building. Principal Linda Bacon Kenney also indicated that renovations to the font of the school would make the entrance safer, while conference rooms will also be renovated among other changes.

“This is really exciting for the King Springs community,’’ Keeney said.

One of the 10 speakers during the public-comment period on Thursday did address the superintendent search.

Pat Negron urged the board not to accept a superintendent application that missed the deadline, to choose an applicant who has different philosophies on the school calendar and grading, and or to pay the new superintendent more than the retiring Fred Sanderson now earns.

Those appeared to be references to Rockdale County Superintendent Samuel King, whom the Atlanta Journal-Constitution a week ago declared to be the sole finalist, based on anonymous sources, and who the Marietta Daily Journal last week reported may have missed the Jan. 31 deadline to apply. Among other potential issues, Rockdale County not only uses a balanced calendar, which the , but also starts school in July.

If King was Negron's concern, it might be moot. The MDJ, citing two anonymous sources, reported Friday that the Rockdale schools chief removed his name from consideration after negotiations with the Cobb board broke down.

"That is my understanding," Rockdale schools spokeswoman Cindy Ball told Patch, although she added that King had handled the matter in a confidential manner.

During the public comment period, Mike Sansone told the board that he and other people counted 1,249 emails in board member Kathleen Angelucci’s board account and found that 967 of those, or 77.4 percent, favored the balanced calendar. He did the same with board member Tim Stultz. Of 1,295 calendar emails sent to his board account, 1,045 supported the balanced calendar, or 80.1 percent.

Sansone said he just received board member Scott Sweeney’s board account emails Thursday and that Chairwoman Alison Bartlett’s would also be arriving soon for him to tally. Bartlett, Sweeney, Angelucci and Stultz cast the votes in February to return the district to a traditional calendar with an Aug. 15 starting date.

Chief Human Resources Officer Donald Dunnigan also told the board during the meeting that 10 principals are retiring, including Joanne Robblee, effective May 31.