School District Divisions

Operations
The Day-To-Day Business Of Maintaining Our Schools

The Operations division of the Cobb County School District supports the educational process by providing student meals, transporting students, maintaining the District’s fleet, and maintaining facilities that meet or exceed state and federal standards to foster a positive learning environment for students. The division’s primary goal is to support the local school administration in a totally transparent manner to allow local school administrators to focus on student achievement.

Pickett’s Mill Elementary, January 2008

The Construction department oversees all Cobb County School District building projects throughout the school system. During SPLOST I (Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax), CCSD completed more than 1,000 construction projects. The progress made possible by SPLOST II continues to show with the completions of additions and renovations at LaBelle, Murdock, Norton Park, Russell, Shallowford Falls and Still elementary schools; Daniell, East Cobb, Hightower Trail and Pine Mountain middle schools, and at Campbell and Wheeler high schools.

Construction continues for the final two new facilities paid for by SPLOST II, Allatoona High School and Pickett¹s Mill Elementary, both opening in Acworth in 2008. To ensure taxpayer dollars are spent effectively and efficiently, the Construction Department works directly with The Facility Group, the District¹s program manager.

The Facility Use department has the responsibility of coordinating use of school facilities, both inside areas and fields, by community groups. In the past year, the department processed approximately 502 contracts for 299 different groups, including youth and adult sports leagues, homeowners’ associations, churches, language schools, boy scouts and girl scouts, police and fire departments, civic groups, and numerous others.

The District’s Department of Public Safety is responsible for ensuring that all Cobb County Schools are provided with a safe learning environment. The department includes 37 certified law enforcement officers who patrol Cobb’s high school and middle school campuses, as well as a K-9 unit with dogs trained to detect drugs and explosives. Cobb’s force works in a coordinated effort with the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office and other local law enforcement agencies within the county.

Maintenance Services is responsible for maintaining 128 facilities with 16,042,194 square feet of floor space and 2,991 acres of land owned by the School District.

Transportation Services provides safe reliable transportation for 75 percent of the District’s students (78,000) to and from school on a daily basis. Cobb has established a high standard for safety, meeting and exceeding all federal, state and local guidlines for transporting students.
The department employs 980 bus drivers, who receive mandatory ongoing training during the school year. Transportation Services also sponsors the “Buster the Bus” safety awareness program for elementary schools and an annual School Bus Safety poster contest.

In 2007, Transportation Services partnered with Bus Radio to provide entertaining and informative radio programming to Cobb students riding the school bus. Following the installation of Bus Radio receivers on Cobb’s fleet in August and September, bus drivers reported a significant improvement in student behavior and a reduction in the number of discipline problems. Bus Radio’s exclusive programming is tailored individually for elementary, middle and high school bus routes. The station features nearly an hour of age-appropriate news, music and public service announcements and allows the District to continually monitor content from the channel. The system, valued at $2 million, is provided by Bus Radio at no cost to the District.

The District’s Fleet Maintenance department is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the District’s 1,409 vehicles, as well as the annual inspection of the fleet by the Georgia Department of Public Safety.

Planning Operations performs a variety of research and development functions that help the Cobb County School District grow. The office develops and maintains school district attendance zone maps for all required boundaries, including creation of new attendance zone maps and data for redistricting. The department does extensive research on growth and development patterns in the county to determine future impact on the District, as well as assisting in plans for SPLOST
initiatives.

In spring 2007, attendance zones were developed for Allatoona High and Pickett’s Mill Elementary schools. These new attendance zones will affect several thousand students and many nearby schools. Both schools will open in August 2008.

In addition, the Planning Operations group worked closely with a research firm to develop the District’s Enrollment Growth Study. This study forecasts enrollment growth for the Cobb County School District for the next 10 years. Enrollment is expected to grow very slowly for the next several years until leveling off in 2012.

Project Services provides project management support for SPLOST-funded projects and District-sponsored programs. Furnishing and equipping of new schools, additions and renovations, portable classroom relocations, new technology implementation and technology refresh programs are included in the scope of Project Services’s responsibilities. These services allow educators to focus on instruction rather than logistical tasks.

In 2006-07, Project Services provided project management services supporting rennovations/additions at 13 schools. The department is currently managing projects that includes installation of access control and video surveillance systems, and refreshment of computers, copiers and printers throughout the District. More than 32,000 classroom computer systems and
administrative workstations were refreshed in 2007 and more than 12,000 printers are being refreshed in early 2008.

During the final years of SPLOST II, Project Services will manage the opening of Allatoona High School and Pickett’s Mill Elementary School, as well as additions and renovations at five existing schools.

Food and Nutrition Services operates 107 cafeterias (plus 2 satellite facilities) that provide meals meeting state and Federal requirements. More than 95,000 lunches, 15,000 breakfasts, and 2,450 after school snacks are served to students daily.