Cobb Schools Board Approves Strategic Plan, Highlights Partnerships Benefiting Staff and Students with University of West Georgia and Cobb County Fire Department

Mar. 27, 2023

The February Board of Education meeting not only outlined the District’s strategic plan for student success but also highlighted how the District uses partnerships to benefit Cobb staff and students.

During the Board meeting, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced today that the District is partnering with the state’s leading educator preparation program at the University of West Georgia (UWG). Due to UWG’s willingness to partner with one of the highest achieving large districts in the country, Cobb educators will be eligible to apply for the opportunity to pursue a master’s through a doctorate in education at no tuition cost to them.

The new historic partnership with UWG is part of the District’s new proof of concept to recruit and retain the highest-qualified educators. The partnership will ensure that educators are developing the skills and knowledge that will be the most relevant to the success of Cobb students.

Following previewing the plan during the January Board of Education meeting, the Board gave the final approval to the District’s strategic plan for 2023-2028.

The strategic plan serves as a roadmap of where the District is going and how the Cobb Schools team plans to get there. Cobb principals, teachers, and almost 10,000 parents helped inform the key components of the strategic plan, which focuses on what students should be able to do upon graduation. A Cobb graduate serves as the focal point of the strategic plan and represents what Cobb parents and community members expect students to be able to do upon graduation.

The Cobb County community believes graduates should possess specific competencies which lead to graduates who are scholars, leaders, and citizens.

“I am grateful for the work of the Superintendent and his team has done to develop the partnerships that will benefit Cobb students and staff. The partnerships support the District’s new strategic plan and helps Cobb graduates learn the skills that the community has told us they want students to know when they walk across the stage on graduation day,” said Board Chair Brad Wheeler.

As an example of how Cobb educators prepare students for success after graduation, Board members learned about the firefighting pathway that is preparing Osborne High School students to suit up as firefighters following graduation. The two-year program, which immerses Osborne students into some of the same training as Cobb County fire recruits, is one of only two programs of the type in the whole state, and Osborne’s program is more comprehensive. The Osborne students board a school bus every day for the Cobb County Fire Department Training Center, where Cobb County firefighters assist with their training.