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Community leaders and education consultants met for a discussion about schools at Mableton’s South Cobb Community Center last Thursday night, sponsored by the Mableton Improvement Coalition (MIC).
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.”