PHOTO: Cobb school board member Leroy Tre’ Hutchins, Ty’Sheka Lambert of Georgia CAN, and moderator China Cardriche-Clements (all photos by Rebecca Gaunt)

By Rebecca Gaunt

Community leaders and education consultants met for a discussion about schools at Mableton’s South Cobb Community Center last Thursday night.

Austell Mayor Ollie Clemons, Mableton Mayor Michael Owens, and Powder Springs Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lust, as well as Mableton City Council members Keisha Jeffcoat and Patricia Auch were present in the audience.

Owens shared about his Mayor’s Educational Impact Fund, which seeks to create relationships between schools, businesses and local government, and provide students with experiences beyond the classroom.

“A city can be no stronger than its schools,” Owens said. “We gotta make sure we are exemplifying the great things that are happening in our schools consistently.”

Lust discussed educational initiatives in his city, such as the City of Powder Springs Youth Council, the Mayor’s Reading Program, and a food distribution program.

Panelist Ty’Sheka Lambert is the community engagement organizer for Georgia CAN, an advocacy group that supports educational options beyond public schools. She presented educational statistics for the state and county gathered by the Georgia Department of Education.

Regarding Cobb County schools, Lambert said, “We definitely have some issues we need to address here…some gains are definitely happening, but the gains are not enough. Our kids are still behind.”

She urged parents and caregivers to go to the GaDOE website to view the data broken down by districts and schools as “a way to keep in your mind what you can be doing as a parent, as a community member, to help move this needle and move our kids further.”

Leroy Tre’ Hutchins, the Post 3 representative of the Cobb County Board of Education, highlighted the unique features of his assigned post.

He’s the only board member with three mayors and city councils within his jurisdiction. Additionally, all of his schools are designated Title 1 due to economically disadvantaged populations. Nonetheless, the area is home to one of the district’s career and tech academies at Osborne High School and the performing arts magnet program at Pebblebrook High School. 

Hutchins focused on Senate Bill 233, the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, often referred to as a voucher bill, though a proposed slash in the funding from the state in its infancy may affect how many students are able to get it.

The bill allows students who live in the attendance zone for schools deemed to be performing in the bottom 25% of the state to apply for a $6,500 scholarship to put toward private school tuition. Its passage was controversial as critics called it a path to defunding public schools.

Eight schools in Cobb have been deemed eligible: Argyle, City View, Compton, Green Acres, Mableton, Riverside, and Russell Elementary Schools, and Osborne High School. 

When considering the high school feeder patterns of the students who could potentially leave with the scholarship, eligible students might attend Osborne [the only high school on the list], Campbell, Pebblebrook, McEachern, or South Cobb High Schools.

“That’s the entire southern portion of this county, from Smyrna to Powder Springs, that qualify for this…yeah, it’s a problem,” Hutchins said.

Hutchins said that he, along with board members Becky Sayler and Nichelle Davis, are meeting monthly with district staff to address the deficiencies at these schools.

City View Elementary School in Mableton is already under state monitoring for its performance. 

Hutchins said the district is planning a presentation for how it intends to improve those eight schools for the March 20 school board work session.

“What is our response as a community?” Hutchins asked. “I’m asking each and every one of you to go back to your communities and adopt a school.”

He urged parents to launch school foundations and connect with the business community for financial support.

Another panelist, Brandon Jones, owns Skrews 4 Life Life Coaching, which focuses on helping people create healthier life habits and build resiliency.

His personal experience in traditional public schools was lacking, and he is now an advocate for charter schools and mental health support.

Tony Owens and Reginald Beaty, co-founders of the Foundations For Educational Success, echoed the importance of the home and community.

On issues such as chronic absenteeism, Beaty said, “We really do not have a kid challenge, we have an adult challenge.”