Want to be notified about the latest in Canton? A new SMS notification system can inform you of what is happening in the City of Canton, from event notices to road closures and park updates to changes in collection site hours. All you must do is sign up for the information that interests you. 

 

Once you’ve registered for the service, the City of Canton will send you notifications via text message, email, pager, or voicemail, based on your contact preferences. You can select the language in which you prefer to receive the communications and choose to subscribe to the following notification group options: 

 

• Downtown Canton – event updates, street closures, and traffic impacts

• General Communications – general City news including links to newsletters, press releases, and special announcements

• Parks and Rec – updates on new amenities, park or trail closures, and traffic and parking impacts. 

• Trash and Recycling – changes in collection site hours, WastePro updates, and recycling events 

• Utilities – water main breaks that impact large residential areas and businesses, water conservation times, and other similar notifications 

 

Visit Public.Alertsense.com/SignUp/?RegionId=2011 to sign up for notifications. Mobile apps are also available on the sign-up link. If you wish to subscribe to SMS text messages only, text your zip code to 38276. Notifications are provided free of charge; however, standard text messaging rates and other charges may apply.

• Three Teams Succeed at Regional Robotics Competition
Cherokee County School District teams succeeded at the regional First Lego League robotics competition, with three earning trophies and one advancing to super regionals. During these competitions, elementary and middle school students, working in teams, build robots using the LEGO Mindstorms system. Teams design and program their robot to solve missions on a tabletop playing field with models made with LEGO bricks. Each team also completes a research project to analyze and solve a problem. This year’s theme was developing solutions to improve the energy journey — how energy is produced, distributed, stored, and used. Trophies are given for four categories of competition: Robot Design, Core Values, Robot Performance, and Project, with an overall Grand Champion trophy for the event’s highest score. Teams advance to super regionals based on their score and can advance further to a state championship.  


• Students Selected for Elite Flight Academy
Cherokee HS Air Force JROTC Cadet Andrew Solano and Etowah HS Air Force JROTC Cadet Luke Foresman have won the competitive Air Force Chief of Staff 2023 Flight Academy Scholarship valued at $25,000. Cadet Sydney Watson of Cherokee HS was selected as 
an alternate. 

The Flight Academy is an eight-week summer program designed for Air Force JROTC cadets to earn private pilot certification. The program’s overall goal is to improve the recruitment, retention, and diversity of the Air Force and aviation industry.


• CCSD Celebrates Its First REACH Georgia Scholars
REACH Georgia is the state’s first needs-based mentorship and college scholarship program for middle and high school students. An eighth grader from each CCSD middle school has been selected as one of the District's first REACH Georgia scholars: Braxton Cox of Creekland MS, Violeta De la luz Mendoza of Dean Rusk MS, Caleb Massey of E.T. Booth MS, Patricia R. Garcia of Freedom MS, Matthew Green of Mill Creek MS, Ingrid Osorio-Carreno of Teasley MS, and Ashley Gaspar-Morales of Woodstock MS.

As part of Georgia’s Complete College initiative, REACH seeks to identify rising eighth-grade students who display academic promise and provide them with the academic, social, and financial support they need to graduate from high school as well as attend and complete college.

REACH Scholars who complete the program requirements receive up to $10,000 in scholarships. In addition to meeting eligibility requirements, students must meet expectations for academic achievement, attendance, behavior, and participation in academic coaching and mentorship meetings.  


• Sequoyah HS Teacher Wins Superintendent's Game Changer Award
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower presented the 2022 Game Changer Award for Instructional Excellence to Career Pathways teacher Brandon Grummer, who leads the school’s engineering drafting and design program and architectural drafting and design program.

Grummer designed a successful architecture and drafting Career Pathway program at Etowah HS, building it with experience from his first career working in the industry. He earned Etowah’s 2018 Teacher of the Year and Golden Apple honors and later joined the staff at Sequoyah HS, where he has crafted a successful program for future architects and engineers.

 

• Media Specialist Wins Superintendent’s Game Changer Award

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower presented the 2022 Game Changer Award for Instructional Support to Oak Grove ES STEAM Academy media specialist Denise Lewis. Dr. Hightower thanked Lewis for her contributions to student learning, especially her role in helping lead the school in its recent successful transition from a 

Fine Arts Academy to a STEAM (STEM plus the arts) Academy.

 

Lewis, a 22-year educator and past Innovation Zone Media Specialist of the Year, also was praised by Principal Penny Valle for her leadership in developing a 21st century media center and earning Common Sense national digital citizenship certification for the school.

 

 Funding for New Pedestrian Bridge

Mayor Bill Grant recently accepted a check from the Appalachian Regional Commission for $607,148 that was awarded to the City of Canton to construct a pedestrian access bridge over the Etowah River, bisecting the city.

 

 Manufacturing Facility Coming to Canton

Becker Robotic Equipment, a global cable and robotic machinery manufacturer specializing in individualized robotic equipment, is set to build a new manufacturing facility to house its North American headquarters in the city of Canton. The new facility will deliver more than $30 million in investment and create 137 new jobs in Cherokee County.

 

 Public Art Master Plan Community Survey

The Canton Public Art Master Plan will help integrate and unite the city through defining and projecting values and unique qualities to the immediate region and beyond. 

 

The plan will create a roadmap for how the City of Canton begins to activate communities to implement and enjoy public art while also celebrating Canton’s spirit and artistic expressions. Anyone who lives, works, or invests in Canton is encouraged to be involved in shaping the Public Art Master Plan. Here’s how to share your vision for public art:

 

• Take the Public Art Plan survey and share your vision for the future at SurveyMonkey.com/r/7N6KYNL.

• Email Kristin Norton Green, project team member and theatre events and facilities director, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  

 

 Abeyance for Residential Public Hearing Applications

In November, the City of Canton entered into a 12-month period of abeyance for public hearing applications related to residential projects. 

 

The term “abeyance” refers to a suspension of a process. In this case, the City staff will not accept applications for public hearings that occur as a course of development of residential projects that include annexations, rezonings, conditional use permits, master plan amendments, or zoning condition amendments. The City accepts applications for the three-month public hearing process on the first business day of each month. Applications that had already been filed with the City prior to the abeyance will continue through the public hearing process.

 

“The City is quickly moving through items identified in our award-winning Roadmap for Success, and this period of pause will allow the council, staff, and residents the opportunity to review data points to determine our desired growth and development patterns in the coming years,” stated Mayor Bill Grant. “Working in step through this process of transparent discussion about development, land use, and infrastructure is exactly what we agreed to do in the second phase of projects and programs in our Roadmap.”

• Two CCSD Leaders Named Region Athletic Directors of the Year

Jeremy Adams, athletic director and a Cherokee HS assistant principal, was selected as the Region 5-7A Athletic Director of the Year, and David Dyer,  athletic director and a River Ridge HS assistant principal, was named Region 6-6A Athletic Director of the Year. Both are in the running for the state title in their divisions, which will be announced at the 2023 Georgia Athletic Directors Association State Conference in March.  

 

• Physical Education Teacher Wins Top State Honor

In November, Amy Aenchbacher, a CCSD adaptive PE specialist, was presented with the Georgia Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (GAHPERD) Kim Thompson Honor Award. The highest honor bestowed by the Association, this award is presented when a member’s contributions have been “exemplary, sustaining, and far-reaching.” Recipients additionally must be considered by their colleagues as a positive role model and have held leadership positions in the association, presented at state conferences, and/or been published in state publications.

 

• Cherokee HS Principal Receives Game Changer Award

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower presented the 2022 Game Changer Award for Instructional Leadership to Cherokee HS Principal Rodney Larrotta.

 

“When you talk about leadership, when you talk about this leader, you think passion, you think care,” Dr. Hightower said as he revealed Principal Larrotta as the winner by describing his character. “You think accountability balanced with grace. You think vision and being able to get into the weeds and work on the details. Rodney has done everything we’ve asked him to do and so much more. I’ve been amazed by the type of person he is.”

 

• Sequoyah HS’s Performance in the Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Sequoyah HS Band of Chiefs has traveled extensively, including New York City, Washington D.C., and Orlando, Florida. On Thanksgiving, the band performed at the McDonald’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Chicago, Illinois.

 

• Clark Creek ES Teachers Named Georgia STEM Scholars

Georgia Youth Science & Technology Centers recognized Teresa Bailey and Kimberly Harrison, both of Clark Creek ES STEM Academy, as 2023 Don Cargill STEM Scholar Award winners. Honored educators are selected for their excellence in teaching students about science, technology, engineering, and math, as well as their innovation in integrating STEM lessons in elementary and middle school education. Each honoree receives a $500 award to purchase classroom STEM supplies

 

• Student Wins First Place at State Career Competition 

Etowah HS senior Avery DiGirolamo won the top prize in the mental health education in action event at the Georgia HOSA Future Health Professionals fall leadership conference. She competed against other health care science students at the statewide conference, which offered five competitive events. DiGirolamo is a student in Etowah’s Career Pathway health care science program, which focuses on therapeutic services, sports medicine, and exercise physiology.