South Cobb Elementary Redistricting Meetings This Week

Don’t forget that the Cobb County School District will conduct a pair of meetings this week to discuss the redistricting alternatives for elementary schools in the south part of the county. The meeting for Phase 1 schools, including is set for Tuesday at Pebblebrook High School at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting for Phase 2 schools, which include the remaining Smyrna elementary schools including the new one scheuled to open in 2013, will be Wednesday at at 6:30 p.m.

In addition to attending public forums, concerned citizens can share their input on the public comment wall at the CCSD redistricting webpage or by sending an email to redistricting@cobbk12.org.  

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On Tuesday, the District will provide a live webcast of the Give Our Schools A Hand Pep Rally at 11 a.m. Visit the District Website to join in the fun of the annual celebration of educators, streaming live from Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta. The Cobb Chamber of Commerce will honor more than 130 Teachers of the Year from all Cobb public schools.

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Want to be in the movies? On Nov. 2 and 3, the movie "Neighborhood Watch" starring Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller will be filmed at the Campbell High football stadium. To be an extra, participants must sign a release form and bring it with them to the event. The release form may be requested at chsthewatch@gmail.com.

Please e-mail a recent picture of yourself and complete contact information when requesting the release form. Extras must eat before they come and may bring snacks and seat cushions to the event. All participants must stay the entire time from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m.

"Neighborhood Watch" will be a science-fiction comedy about community nightwatchmen who discover a plot to destroy the world 

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Last summer Deanna Ross, a senior at Campbell High, spent a month of her vacation on the Gulf Coast with VISIONS Service Adventures, an international service learning summer program.

Ross was one of 12 high school students who accomplished community service while living in a Mississippi coastal community. The teen volunteers expanded a North Gulfport community garden by building over a dozen raised garden beds, renovated a house in an affordable housing project through the North Gulfport Community Land Trust, and constructed a nesting tower for the endangered Chimney Swift for Pascagoula Audubon Society.

The trip wasn’t all work for Ross and her peers, who explored New Orleans, canoed through backwoods waters, and visited historic Ship Island, considered the "Plymouth Rock" of the Gulf Coast.

The students learned Gulf Coast history firsthand from local people. Some of the work projects were in North Gulfport’s Turkey Creek neighborhood. Purchased and settled by a group of emancipated African Americans in 1866, Turkey Creek was a vibrant, self-sufficient neighborhood, replete with farms, homesteads and the first African American school in the Gulfport region. When Hurricane Katrina struck, North Gulfport and Turkey Creek were the sites of numerous historic homes and minority businesses. Community groups and residents have been working to obtain historic preservation status and build affordable housing.

“Service is a powerful bridge to friendship and learning,” says Katherine Dayton, VISIONS Executive Director. “We give students tangible ways to be of use and to discover their own potential in the process. They live for awhile in a very different world from what they typically know, engaging in activities that build confidence and offer first-hand knowledge. Over the course of a month, they come to know the people whose lives they are impacting.”

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Campbell High International Baccalaureate teacher Mrs. Svetoslava Dimova and senior Andrew Forbes left Friday, Oct. 14 for a week’s trip to northeast France as part of a Georgia Department of Education exchange program. Dimova and Forbes were the only delegates from the Cobb County Public School System.

Dimova was one of seven teachers in metro Atlanta selected for the collaborative project between Georgia DOE and the Academy Nancy-Metz in the Lorraine, France region. During November, 2010, Campbell hosted a French student ambassador and signed an official Memorandum of Understanding. As a result of this partnership, collaboration began between the 2010-2011 junior IB class and an English language class in Saint-Avold, France.

Since then, the two groups have exchanged written correspondence and participated in video conferences. Campbell IB French seniors will travel to France during spring break 2012 to meet their counterparts at the Academy of Nancy-Metz. IB French juniors will also continue to participate in a two year Georgia DOE initiative.

Andrew Forbes, who studies both IB French VI and French VII on alternating days, has an A average in Mrs. Dimova’s class. The Georgia DOE excursion will be Andrew’s first trip out of the United States. As a student ambassador, Andrew is looking forward to learning about the local culture and how the French regard Americans.

Dimova has visited France many times but has never visited the Lorraine region before. She is particularly interested in comparing the French and American educational systems.