2013 East Cobb Graduation Schedule

The big days at Kell, Lassiter, Pope, Sprayberry, Walton and Wheeler high schools start Thursday and end Saturday.

Wheeler Junior Aces ACT

Georgia's average composite score in 2012 was 20.7.

A Wheeler High School student is in an elite group. Kurt Klinkmueller, a junior at The Center for Advanced Studies in Science, Math and Technology, scored a perfect 36 on the ACT, according to the school's website. For perspective, only 781 of the 1.66 million U.S. graduates who took the ACT in 2012 achieved that feat. That is the most recent year for which data is available. Georgia's average composite score that year was 20.7. The national average was 21.1.

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Ex-Wheeler Student Guilty of Murder

Judge Rob Leonard sentenced Javin Rashad Andrews to the mandatory sentence of life plus five years, according to WSB-TV.

A Cobb County jury has found an ex-Wheeler High School student guilty in the November 2010 shooting death of a taxi driver at an East Cobb apartment complex, according to WSB-TV. Today's guilty verdict came nearly 2½ years after Ricardo Francois was found slumped over the wheel of his cab van on the morning of Nov. 21, 2010, in a parking lot of the Lincoln Hills apartments. He had just been hired several days earlier as a driver for Rayo Taxi. Cobb police Detective John Dawes said in court that police had few leads on the murder since there were no witnesses. Investigators got their break in the case after Javin Rashad Andrews, the former Wheeler student, was arrested last year in connection with alleged thefts at the East Cobb school. …

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Rodney Thrash

8:54 am on Friday, May 17, 2013

Not sure if you've been following the story, but it was Andrews' alleged pilfering of wallets while a student at Wheeler High School and text messages between friends about the thefts that reopened this case. He was arrested at Wheeler on the theft charges.   more ›

Walton, Pope Snubbed by U.S. News

Lassiter, Sprayberry and Wheeler are the only East Cobb high schools to be ranked in Georgia.

Earlier this week Patch told you about the good marks for Walton, Pope, Wheeler, Lassiter and other East Cobb-area high schools as among the "most challenging" in the country. To illustrate how subjective these criteria are, we give you the latest high school rankings from U.S. News. While Lassiter High School fares well again -- it's considered the 7th-best in Georgia and No. 343 in the nation -- other "most challenging" schools in the area didn't make the list at all. Here's the real head-scratcher: Walton and Pope were unranked even in Georgia. Wheeler was ranked No. 17 (and No. 906 nationally) and also was on the "most challenging" list. Only 47 schools in Georgia were ranked by U.S. News. Also unranked was Kell High School in …

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East Cobb Schools on 'Most Challenging' List

Lassiter, Pope, Sprayberry, Walton and Wheeler were cited for creating a high-achieving academic environment.

Five East Cobb-area high schools are among 11 Cobb County schools included in The Washington Post's list of America’s Most Challenging High Schools. Walton High School had the highest ranking of the Cobb County schools, coming in at No. 3 on the state list and No. 163 on the national list. Lassiter is listed at No. 20 in Georgia on the list, which surveyed around 1,900 high school nationwide. Coming in at No. 48 in the state is Pope High School, followed by Wheeler High School at No. 56. Sprayberry is listed at No. 65 while Kell is listed at No. 71.  The Post's ranking system calculates the number of advanced placement, international baccalaureate and advanced international certificate of education tests given at a school each year, and …

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Walton, Wheeler Projects Lead SPLOST IV

Officials hope to put bids out for renovations at the East Cobb high schools by early next year.

Renovations at Walton High School and Wheeler High School will be among the first projects to get underway when the Cobb Education SPLOST IV collection period begins next year. Cobb County School District officials on Wednesday presented to the Board of Education a projected cashflow plan for some of the largest projects in the $717 million SPLOST IV, which was passed by voters in March. The largest projects in East Cobb are at Walton and Wheeler and a replacement for East Cobb Middle School. But all schools in Cobb will be included in the new sales tax collection period, which begins on Jan. 1, 2014 and continues through Dec. 31, 2018. The Walton project is the biggest of any school in Cobb, coming in at nearly $40 million. In addition to…

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East Cobb Students Earn Scholarships

The six Lassiter, Walton and Wheeler students have been named recipients of National Achievement Scholarships.

The Cobb County School District announced Monday that six high school seniors, all from East Cobb, have been named recipients of National Achievement Scholarships by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Each student will receive $2,500 in college aid. The National Achievement Scholarships, which recognize academic excellence by African-American students, were awarded to more than 800 students nationwide. Recipients were asked to list their probable career fields, which are indicated in parenthesis:

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Wheeler's Staley Chooses Vanderbilt

The two-sport star committed to the SEC school at its spring football game over the weekend.

He's got another year of high school, but Elijah Staley has made his decision about where he'll play college athletics. Wheeler High School's two-sport star announced on Saturday that he has accepted a football scholarship offer from Vanderbilt University. Staley, the Wildcats' starting quarterback the last two seasons, announced his decision on Twitter after attending Vanderbilt's spring football game: "Yes I am a new commit of the Vanderbilt University!" Staley, a 6-foot-7 junior who guided Wheeler to the state football playoffs, chose Vanderbilt over Mississippi State and Boston College, according to some published reports. But he has been considered a strong prospect in basketball, especially after leading Wheeler to the Class AAAAAA …

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Smile Pinki Screening Held at Wheeler

The Smile Train charity, which raises funds and awareness for children needing cleft palate surgery, visited the East Cobb school Thursday.

On Thursday Wheeler High School held a screening of Smile Train's Academy Award-winning short documentary Smile Pinki in the auditorium for students to watch, and to help raise money on behalf of the charity.   Smile Train Executive Director Priscilla Ma presented the film and presided over a Q & A sesson after the screening, as well as for a donor dinner that evening.   On May 11 Wheeler's HOSA club (Health Occupation Students Association) will also be hosting a 5K to benefit the charity.  

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Wheeler Essay Contest Winners Announced

Those chosen in the "Honoring Our Heroes" competition are invited to attend a dessert reception Thursday at Daniell Middle School.

Honoring our Heroes is a writing contest developed by East Cobb County Council of PTAs (ECCC) that encourages students to discover, honor, and write about real-life heroes – role models displaying generosity, persistence, bravery and other qualities that students admire.  Essays submitted by Wheeler High School students were judged by Jen Pifer Bixler, Executive Producer, Health, Wellness and Medical Unit, CNN; Mark Bixler, Senior Editor for Assignments, CNN Digital; Dana Bonham, WHS English teacher; and Merle Henry, former Elementary Teacher/StudentTeaching Supervisor specializing in English, Social Studies, Reading and Music. Congratulations to the following Wheeler Winners: Wheeler PTSA awards the First Prize winners a $50 Target gift …

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