School board approves new school names

The Cherokee County School Board approved several school naming requests, which were proposed through CCSD’S community based process, according to a news release.

The current campus for ACE Academy and Transition Academy will be renamed the ACTIVE Academies Campus to reflect the addition for next school year of the i-grad Virtual Academy, which also was officially named April 15.

The Sequoyah High School band room will be renamed the David E. Harrison Center for Music Performance in honor of the school’s first band director, who led the growth of not only its program, but also music programs throughout CCSD and at Reinhardt University, and who passed away last year.

His wife, Susan Padgett-harrison, also a retired longtime CCSD educator and leader, attended the meeting to accept the honor on his behalf.

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. Free. Rocket IT, 3360 Martin Farm Road, Suite 300, Suwanee. Residents from Gwinnett and north Fulton are asked to donate unwanted electronics. Remove sensitive information. Donations are tax deductible through New Life Technology Group at Newlifetechgroup.com. No acceptance will be allowed of televisions of any kind, CRT monitors, refrigerators, large appliances, AC units, thermostats and household batteries. rocketit.com/e-cyclegwinnett-north-fulton-techrecycling

■ In person: Celebrating Earth Day in Roswell. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. $9.60/ages 5+ or $12.97/ages 13+, free/child for Bulloch Hall Tour. Bulloch Hall, 180 Bulloch Ave., Roswell. Bring your picnic and learn about gardening, trees and environmentalist Rachel Carson. Get your tickets by Friday: bit. ly/3ehcne0

For 50 years, Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services has been serving Cobb residents and businesses — now some 757,000 residents in the county’s 345-mile territory. The Cobb County Board of Commissioners held a ceremony April 13 to honor the department.

Under the leadership of Fire Chief Bill Johnson, the sixth fire chief, “there are 794 approved positions, 29 fire stations, a Cobb County Safety Village and a dedicated Fire Recruit Training Academy,” the BOC resolution added.

Public Safety Director Randy Crider noted that Cobb’s first fire chief, W. David Hilton, was president of the International Fire Chiefs Association and creator of the residential sprinkler system — “that is huge.”

In 2017, Cobb Fire attained an ISO 1 ranking that is held by less than 1% of all U.S. fire departments, “providing the lowest insurance cost to our businesses and homeowners,” Crider said.

Crider said the department is an accredited agency through the Center for Public Safety Excellence.

In 1955, Georgia adopted legislation to create fire districts in counties, according to the BOC resolution. In Cobb County, fire districts would be financed by levying a tax on property owners protected in each district.

By 1964, eight districts had been established in Cobb, covering the entire county except the cities of Marietta, Smyrna and Austell. Each district was governed by a five-member Board of Fire Masters.

The first fire district in Cobb was the South Cobb Fire District under Chief Jim Dunn, taking the place of the volunteer Mableton Fire Department.

On Jan. 24, 1971, the eight Fire Districts were combined to form Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services by resolution of the Cobb BOC as a paid career fire department when Chief W. David Hilton was appointed fire chief by commission Chairman Ernest Barrett.

Information: Cobbcounty.org

■ In person: “Luminous” by Cobb County PARKS and Atlanta Lyric Theatre. 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and May 15, June 19 and Aug. 21. $30/vehicle for all ages. Parking lot, Cobb Civic Center, 548 S. Marietta Parkway SE, Marietta. Tickets: Jennie T. Anderson Theatre Box Office at 770-528-8490 or Andersontheatre.org/drive-in