Cobb school board chairman David Chastain is accusing his November election challenger of “trying to score some cheap political points” in comments she made about a special review conducted last year by the Cobb County School District’s accrediting agency.
In a campaign e-mail sent Wednesday, Chastain accused Catherine Pozniak of being “a politically activist opponent” for her criticisms of the board regarding the special review.
Chastain, a Republican, is vying for his third term representing Post 4, which includes the Kell and Sprayberry clusters and a portion of the Lassiter attendance zone. Pozniak is a Democrat who graduated from Sprayberry and only recently returned to East Cobb after attending college, teaching and being a school administrator in other states.
Near the top of Chastain’s e-mail was a headline entitled “The Discredited COGNIA Report,” under which he said he was “very proud of the SUCCESSFUL and VIGOROUS defense of our school’s accreditation.
“Engaging in selfish political behavior, which puts our students at risk, is not the type of leader we need on our Cobb school board.”
In March, just before Cognia, the Alpharetta-based accrediting agency, reversed findings of its special review, Pozniak blamed the board’s Republican majority for “not having a clear plan for teaching and learning.”
In an interview with the Cobb County Courier, Pozniak said “I think it’s unfortunate the way the board leadership has approached this, which is to not talk about it at all. These are not unfixable problems and issues, and while they are avoiding the topic, they are also not coming to a solution.”
In his e-mail this week, Chastain included the first part of the first sentence and highlighted it in yellow, as well as her charge about the board “avoiding the topic.” He didn’t cite the specific source except to say “local media blogs.”
Under an italicized headline in red, “NEWS ALERT,” Chastain said “the problem for my politically activist opponent comes directly from the recanted accreditation report. . . . ‘there was no real issue.’ ”
That’s a quote from Cognia president Mark Elgart, who in announcing the reversal told the board that the agency’s special review team “did not adequately contextualize or incorporate factual evidence provided by the School District, drawing erroneous conclusions.”
The initial report, issued in November 2021, gave the district a year to make improvements in several areas. All of them were rescinded with the exception of board governance.
The Cobb school board has a 4-3 Republican majority, and the Post 4 race could determine party control.
Chastain is the only Republican board member on the ballot this year.
He easily defeated Democrats in his first two elections in a post considered to be strongly conservative.
But Pozniak has outraised Chastain, who held a fundraiser last month at Atlanta Country Club.
She has $18,357 in cash on hand and has raised $7,505 since January, according to her latest financial disclosure reports. In all, Pozniak is reporting she has raised nearly $23,000.
Chastain, a Wheeler High School graduate, has collected $5,625 in the first six months of 2022 and has $4,850 on hand.
In his e-mail this week, Chastain wrote that Cognia realized it had been “played” by “some political activists and some rogue board members,” a reference to the board’s three Democrats who asked the accreditor to conduct a review.
He accused Pozniak of “joining the assault on our students and our schools.”
Pozniak told East Cobb News that in her discussions with parents on the campaign trail, “Cognia doesn’t come up” that often.
She said the comments she made to the Courier were published on March 3. The following day, the school board announced a special-called meeting for March 7, at which the accrediting agency reversed the findings of the special review.
“My quotes in that article were not in reaction to Cognia’s reversal–it hadn’t happened, yet,” she said
“I hear a lot from parents who have reached out to him and they hear nothing from him,” Pozniak said of Chastain.
“People who have not heard back from him are now being reached out to under these circumstances,” Pozniak said, a reference to Chastain’s campaign e-mails.
She said she’s seen the most recent e-mail and said it contains “petty stuff.”
Pozniak also called out board leadership for not publicly responding to more recent issues, including complaints of a new East Side Elementary School logo resembling a Nazi symbol, and school safety measures that include hiring armed non-police personnel at schools.
“People are dissatisfied with what they are seeing from this board,” she said. “There’s not one issue that’s driving this race.”
East Cobb News contacted Chastain seeking comment, and he requested questions via e-mail. He replied late Friday afternoon.
When asked to identify the “political activists,” Chastain said the following, via a campaign media coordinator:
“It has been extensively documented who has sought to tarnish the Cobb County School District’s great reputation, in public comments, emails, social media comments, and those who aggressively seek face-time on television and the radio. In addition, a quick review of Pozniak’s campaign donation list clearly demonstrates groups and individuals who do not share Cobb County values in limiting instruction to the state standards.
“We will consider putting some links on our website and other platforms in the very near future to assist voters to understand who those groups or individuals are. On the first review, it seems like it would be a good addition to our messaging and education of the voters.”
He also was asked who is receiving the e-mails and whether some of the addresses may have come from a list kept by fellow East Cobb board member David Banks, who sends out an occasional e-mail newsletter.
Chastain said that “while it is unfortunate that Catherine Pozniak has only lived in Cobb County for only a few months as an adult, the harsh reality is that her failing campaign simply does not have the right to know where our numerous email lists come from and how far our broad base of support extends.”
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