The mother of four children in the Walton High School cluster who pushed for the Cobb County School District to drop its mask mandate during the 2020-21 school year has declared her intent to run for the Cobb Board of Education.
Amy Henry, who moved with her family to East Cobb from DeKalb County in 2019, filed her declaration with the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration on Tuesday.
It says she is running as a Republican in Post 6, which includes most of the Walton and Wheeler clusters and part of the Campbell cluster.
That seat is currently held by first-term Democrat Charisse Davis, who has not announced whether she’s seeking re-election.
Henry was the leader of a group called “Let Parents Choose” (since renamed CCSD Parent Alliance) that pushed for in-person learning at the start of the 2020-21 school year.
That school year began with all-virtual learning after Superintendent Chris Ragsdale initially announced in-person classes, but switched due to high COVID-19 metrics.
Henry also spoke at school board meetings as a mask mandate continued in Cobb schools through the school year, urging the district go make masks optional.
“They need to have a normal childhood,” Henry told the school board in March. “We’re teaching them that they’re dirty. We’re creating a fearful environment that for these kids cannot be normal.”
That was right before other Cobb school parents filed a lawsuit trying to overturn the mask mandate (Henry wasn’t one of them). The suit was dropped when Ragsdale said in May that masks would be optional for 2021-22.
When contacted by East Cobb News, Henry declined to comment on why she’s running and to state her priorities, saying she wanted to wait until she makes a formal announcement at the Cobb Republican Party breakfast on Nov. 6.
She’s also involved in the revived East Cobb Cityhood effort, and has listed as her campaign chair Cindy Cooperman, who handles publicity for the current Cityhood committee.
Post 6 has traditionally been in Republican hands. In 2018, Davis, who lives in the Campbell cluster, edged two-term GOP board member Scott Sweeney, who is now the chairman of the state board of education (and also is part of the Cityhood group).
That seat is one of three up for grabs in 2022 elections, with the lines for those three posts expected to change.
Members of the Cobb legislative delegation will redraw Cobb Board of Education post boundaries after the first of the year, following Congressional and legislative reapportionment.
In Post 4 (Sprayberry and Kell clusters), three-term Republican incumbent David Chastain has said he is seeking re-election but hasn’t formally announced; the only announced Democrat is Kennesaw State University student Austin Heller (previous ECN story here).
Democrat Jaha Howard, a first-term board member from Post 2 (Campbell and Osborne clusters), recently announced his intent to run for state school superintendent.
Republicans hold a 4-3 majority on the school board. In 2020, three of the current GOP members won re-election to maintain that edge.
Davis and Howard have challenged their GOP colleagues on racial and equity initiatives and have questioned the Cobb school district’s COVID-19 protocols, often leading to contentious disputes at board meetings.
In 2019, the Republican majority passed a policy change to bar board members from making comments during public meetings, with Davis and Howard objecting, calling it censorship.
In late 2020, after the elections, the GOP members approved a policy change that allowed board members to add agenda items to public meetings only if a board majority approved.
At the October board meeting, and in a party-line vote, the Republicans approved a resolution condemning Antisemitism and racism that the Democrats said took them by surprise. Davis was absent from the meeting.
Related stories
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- Cobb superintendent defends SPLOST funding distribution
- Judge rejects restraining order in Cobb schools mask lawsuit
- Cobb school district responds to federal mask lawsuit
- Cobb school board passes ‘Antisemitism and Racism’ resolution
- 3 middle schools in East Cobb earn high U.S. News rankings
- Cobb Education SPLOST headlines 2021 ballot
- Cobb schools report continuing drop in COVID-19 cases
- Cobb school board member sends e-mail discouraging COVID vaccines
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