Meet Cobb County’s Teacher of the Year for 2001-2002 As part of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce’s partnership with the school district, each year the Chamber sponsors “Give Our Schools a Hand” week, a celebration that honors each Teacher of the Year from every Cobb County and Marietta City school. Out of those selected to receive this top designation, a district-wide Teacher of the Year is chosen from each school district. The Cobb Chamber of Commerce recognizes the Cobb County and Marietta City district-wide Teachers of the Year with a special handprint ceremony on the Marietta Square and a special reception in their honor. This achievement is special as it marks one unique individual as Cobb County’s top educator for the year.   Spotlight on . . . Teacher of the Year  - Jennifer Frisch For Jennifer Frisch, the decision to become a teacher was an easy one. As a young girl, Ms. Frisch enjoyed playing school with friends, and her parents encouraged her love of reading, experiences which she credits as inspiring in her a passion for education. As a sixth grade teacher at Lost Mountain Middle School, Ms. Frisch has clearly demonstrated that her excitement and commitment to education is as strong as ever. Selected from among nearly 100 other Teachers of the Year from each school throughout the county, Ms. Frisch was named Cobb County’s Teacher of the Year for 2001-02 in Sept. 2001. “Learning to love reading brought me relatively easy academic achievement, which made me love school,” explained Ms. Frisch. “I became a teacher because I had very positive interaction with teaching and learning from the time I was very young.” Ms. Frisch joined the Cobb County School District in 1991 at Lost Mountain Middle School where she has since taught reading, literacy, science and social studies to sixth graders. A two-time graduate of Marshall University in West Virginia (B.A., English Education, 1978; M.A., Reading, 1979), Ms. Frisch began her teaching career in 1979 as a teacher of the hearing impaired in West Virginia and was formerly an English teacher at Milton Junior High School, also in West Virginia, and Pickens Junior High School in South Carolina. She firmly believes that teaching is the successful interplay between presentation of information by the teacher, assimilation of information by the student, and the personalities of both. “I focus on personality first and foremost in my classroom. Much is written about how learners are more successful in a positive environment. My classroom is a busy one, but one where students know they are welcome to express themselves.” Using technology resources and hands-on projects also stimulates learning in her classroom and makes the process more interesting for her students, and less intimidating. These techniques, combined with an element of mystery in her lessons, makes Ms. Frisch’s teaching more effective for her sixth grade students.

Community involvement is a keystone to the success of any school district. Cobb County is proud of its high level of involvement by its community members — including parents, business leaders and other key supporters — who demonstrate their commitment to quality education through various groups, councils and programs.

Parent Teacher Associations

Cobb Parent Teacher Association (PTA) groups continue to provide leadership, support and guidance to every school through volunteerism, program support, legislative advocacy and fund-raising. Nearly 70,000 parents are members of Cobb County PTAs.

Ninth District PTA leaders, representing four Cobb councils, meet monthly with the superintendent to encourage communication and understanding of common projects and concerns. The PTA membership has endorsed community efforts in critical areas such as driver education and underage drinking. Cobb PTAs actively support programs to increase parental/family involvement in education. Building Successful Partnerships (BSP), a national PTA program featuring training for school/parent teams, has been introduced in a number of Cobb schools. In collaboration with the United Way and other community agencies, the PTA has worked to expand this program into all Cobb schools. In addition, the local PTA leadership maintained its vocal support for public schools through its endorsement of the Georgia PTA legislative positions with local and state elected officials.

School Councils

The A+ Education Reform Act of 2000 (House Bill 1187) requires that by October 2003, every Georgia school must have a school council in place. The Education Reform Act created school councils to provide advice and recommendations to the principal, the superintendent and the Cobb County Board of Education. A council is defined as an advisory body made up of the school principal, two certified teacher members, two parents/guardians, and two members of the business community. Council members can study a wide range of issues, including student achievement, the school improvement plan, curriculum and instruction, school and community communications, and local school board policies.

Cobb County Schools and other Georgia school districts began a three-year phase-in of school councils during the 2001-02 school year. By October 2002, more than 50 Cobb schools had installed a school council. The remaining schools began sharing information with their communities in preparation for council implementation, a process that will begin in the spring of 2003. For Cobb, school councils represent the next step in community collaboration and involvement as the district has operated local school Citizens Advisory Councils (CACs) for more than 20 years. Council representatives, including community leaders, PTA members and parents, meet with the superintendent three times a year to discuss issues affecting Cobb schools. Once school councils are fully implemented, schools will discontinue their CACs.

Partners in Education

A partnership among the Cobb County School District, Marietta City Schools and the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce, the Partners in Education program boasts an impressive 618 business partners, including 109 new partners in 2002 alone. Retention is as high as 90 percent, making the Partners in Education program a productive endeavor for both the businesses and our schools.

Through the Partners in Education program, Cobb County Schools receive an enormous amount of support from businesses within the Cobb community. Many partners make substantial monetary donations to schools for scholarships and materials schools may need. Additional assistance includes hands-on support such as mentoring, tutoring, assisting with grounds clean-up projects, and other volunteer activities. Each school has at least one business partner, with many schools establishing partnerships with several businesses.

Other Programs: Teacher of the Year, Character Education

In addition to coordinating the Partners in Education program, the Cobb Chamber of Commerce annually sponsors “Give Our Schools a Hand” week, a celebration that honors the Teachers of the Year from each individual Cobb County and Marietta City school, and actively supports the Character Education program.