Welcome Our New Boys Basketball Coach, Ben Smith!

 Dear Raider Nation,

I am excited to officially announce Coach Ben Smith as the next Head Boys Basketball Coach at Alpharetta High School.

Throughout this process, Coach Smith consistently stood out for his vision, leadership, energy, and commitment to building a program that reflects the values of Alpharetta High School. Beyond his basketball knowledge and experience, what impressed us most was his ability to connect purpose, relationships, accountability, and long-term program building into a clear vision for our student-athletes and community.

Coach Smith brings with him an outstanding basketball résumé at every level of the game. A native of Dublin, Georgia, he was a state championship player and Georgia Player of the Year before going on to a historic career at Jacksonville University, where he became the program’s all-time leader in assists, steals, minutes played, and free throws made. He is a member of both the Jacksonville University Hall of Fame and the Atlantic Sun Hall of Fame, and he spent seven years playing professionally overseas.

As a coach, he has already proven himself as a program builder and leader. At Dublin High School, he led his alma mater to sustained excellence, including multiple region championships and a combined 75–14 record over three seasons. His teams were defined by discipline, toughness, and consistency, including back-to-back undefeated region championship seasons and deep state playoff runs.

Most recently at Baldwin High School, Coach Smith made an immediate impact, earning Region Coach of the Year honors and leading his team to a region championship in his first season while helping establish a championship standard within the program.

Coach Smith believes deeply in leading with love, earning trust, and investing fully in the lives of his players both on and off the court. He is committed to building a culture centered around toughness, discipline, character, and pride in representing Alpharetta at the highest level. His passion for developing young men and creating a championship-level standard aligns strongly with the direction we want for Raider Athletics.

What became clear during the interview process is that Coach Smith is not simply focused on winning games; he is focused on building a program that our students, families, alumni, and community can rally around for years to come. He understands that sustained success is built through relationships, consistency, visibility, and daily investment in people.

Coach Smith brings tremendous energy, proven success, and a championship pedigree to Alpharetta Basketball. He embraces the challenge of elevating our program and is eager to become an active and visible part of Raider Nation. His experience as a player, his success as a coach, and his vision for excellence, both on the court and in life, position him to elevate Alpharetta Basketball to new heights.

Please join me in welcoming Coach Ben Smith and his family to Alpharetta High School.

The future is bright for Raider Basketball.

All In, All Raider.

 Alejandro Romero, Ed.S

Athletic Director | Alpharetta High School  

Congratulations to Our Valedictorian and Salutatorian!

 

Alpharetta Debate In Top 8 Teams in State!

 

At the Varsity State Debate Championship, Alpharetta finished with three of the top 8 teams in the state. Congratulations to Rhea Sankar, Derek Baek, Abhinav Ivaturi, Kailash Muthukumar, Luis Montalvo and Reyha Raghavaraju for an outstanding performance. Rhea was also the 10th best speaker in the state. 

Congratulations to Our Employees-of-the-Year!

 Teacher of the Year

Jake Hood

Supporting Professional of the Year

Annie West

Congratulations to Our January Employees of the Month

  

We would like to congratulate the following individuals for being selected as January Employees-of-the-Month.  They exemplify everything that makes Raider Nation great.  Congratulations, Raiders!

Teacher-of-the-Month:  Ginni Priya

Ms. Priya spent dozens of hours this July - and it is still ongoing - tracking down and reviewing records for incoming ESOL students.  This required nearly a hundred phone calls and emails to schools and families across the U.S. and around the world to obtain records in multiple languages.  She also spends 2-3 hours individually screening each new student's language proficiency.  All of this is in addition to leading the ESOL team and teaching full-time.  She is doing work that few could or would do, in service of some of the most vulnerable students in our schools.

 

Team-of-the-Month:  On-level Bio PLC

The failure rate for the on-level Biology students first semester was 4.5%.  This is the lowest failure rate for this group of students in AHS history!  The team has worked so hard and developed such a great program that truly supports their students.  We all remember the days when Biology was used as the example of a course with a lot of failures.  Thanks to the relentless work of this team, that isn't the case anymore!

Welcome Our New Head Football Coach, Danny Carlisle!

 Dear Alpharetta High School Community,

I am excited to share an important and hopeful step forward for our football program. After a thorough search and careful consideration, we are pleased to announce that Daniel Carlisle has been selected as the new Head Football Coach at Alpharetta High School.

Our goal throughout this process was clear: to determine which candidate best aligned with the current needs of our program, both immediately and long-term. Alpharetta football is at a critical reset, one that requires not only energy and vision, but also organizational capacity, proven program-building experience, and the ability to execute complex systems across multiple levels of the program.

As we evaluated candidates, a key factor was organizational readiness and execution capacity. Coach Carlisle’s background as an educator and coach in our area, combined with his deep knowledge of our community, youth programs, and the local school landscape, gave us confidence that he is well positioned to step into this role. His experience leading programs, building strong relationships with families and administrators, and understanding the unique expectations of our community were essential in our decision. We believe this familiarity with our competitive region will allow him to set realistic program goals and move Raider football forward with clarity and purpose.

Our shared goal is to create a stable, unified, and thriving football program for our student-athletes. We believe Coach Carlisle’s experience, paired with the strong foundation already in place, provides the best path forward for Alpharetta football at this time.

I would also like to extend a sincere thank you to Athletic Director Alejandro Romero for his leadership, communication, and commitment throughout this process.

Raider Nation, please join me in welcoming, with great excitement, Coach Daniel Carlisle.

Congratulations to Our December Employees of the Month!

 

We would like to congratulate the following individuals for being selected as December Employees-of-the-Month.  They exemplify everything that makes Raider Nation great.  Congratulations, Raiders!

Teacher-of-the-Month:  Dottie Davis

Ms. Davis is a dedicated and experienced math teacher who leads with both passion and professionalism.  Her contributions to the AP precalculus and AP statistics PLC's have strengthened collaboration and curriculum across the department.  She consistently supports both students and colleagues, making her a standout educator.

 

Professional-of-the-Month:  Paula Cisneros

She's gone above and beyond to support the counseling office and student/community needs.   She never hesitates to step in and help.  During Janet's leave, she did the work of a full-time position in 2.5 days, working countless hours without complaining or even telling us.