As the spring semester began with in-person instruction Wednesday in the Cobb County School District, a small fraction of students were taking their classes online.
Of the district’s estimated 107,000 enrollment, around 2,400 are signed up for virtual classes across all grade levels (elementary, middle and high), according to a district spokeswoman.
That’s around 2 percent of the district’s student body.
“When given the choice last fall, about 98 percent of Cobb families chose in-person learning for the second semester of the 2021-2022 school year,” the spokeswoman said.
COVID-19 cases are rising more sharply than ever during the pandemic, which was declared 22 months ago, and school officials are bracing for high numbers reported as classes resume.
Cobb and Marietta also don’t have mask mandates. Gwinnett, which does, also is starting back in-person, while Atlanta, Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton and other school districts are starting at least this week remotely.
Cobb said said an additional 830 students signed up to go online via a lottery system announced by the district in October, after a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases at the start of the school year.
The district hasn’t said how many lottery slots were made available.
Students learning online are enrolled in the Elementary Virtual Program (K-Grade 5) or the Cobb Online Learning Academy (Grades 6-12).
The elementary students are enrolled in their current schools but are getting their instruction from what the district calls a “certified” EVP teacher for the full spring semester, which ends in May.
Students in middle school and high school who were awarded online lottery slots were pulled from their home schools and will be enrolled in COLA.
Aside from a Sunday night message to parents, the Cobb school district hasn’t elaborated on its reasons for returning to face-to-face classes.
When asked if there has been any update about that since Sunday, the spokeswoman told East Cobb News that the district “remains committed to providing our students with an internationally competitive education, ensuring a safe instructional environment, and prioritizing our community’s overwhelming preference for in-person learning. We ask for our community’s continued support in helping to keep our schools safe by not sending students to school sick and following the most updated CCSD protocols for COVID-19.”
She also was asked about staffing levels (teachers, administrators and support staff) to handle an in-person student return and how shortages will be handled with COVID-19 transmission rates so high.
“Our schools are open. Our buses are running. Our teachers are teaching, and our students are learning in the second largest school district in Georgia,” she said. “As in the prior semester, we remain committed to balancing the importance of in-person learning and the frequent changes associated with COVID-19.”
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Unlike regular school board public meetings, there will be no public comment period at the organizational meeting.
But it could be contentious, given the school board’s partisan divide over the last three years.
Each year the board votes on a chairman, which must be a different person from the previous year, and a vice chairman.
They are the presiding officers during the meetings and the chairman represents the board in an official capacity.
The chairman also has the power to place board business items on the meeting agendas unilaterally, as does Superintendent Chris Ragsdale.
Republicans hold a 4-3 majority, and while members of the Democratic minority have nominated one another for leadership positions, they have never gotten a GOP vote.
The 2021 chairman was Republican Randy Scamihorn of Post 1 in North Cobb, who under board policy cannot succeed himself.
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While some school districts in metro Atlanta are resuming classes in a virtual setting due to rising COVID-19 cases, Cobb will begin its spring semester on Wednesday with in-person instruction.
In a letter that went out to parents Sunday evening, the district said it “remains committed to providing our students with an internationally competitive education, ensuring a safe instructional environment, and prioritizing our community’s overwhelming preference for in-person learning.”
The Cobb school district urged parents to keep their children home if they are sick or have symptoms, which in the message included a fever of 100.4 degrees without medications, or if a student has a positive or pending COVID-19 test.
“If a student has a cough, shortness of breath or recent changes to taste/smell, we recommend you contact your health professional for guidance,” the Cobb message said.
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid issued a declaration of emergency through Jan. 22 that includes a mask mandate in county buildings, but it has no bearing on the schools.
The Cobb school district message comes after Marietta City Schools also announced it would be holding in-person classes when its spring semester begins this week.
Atlanta, Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton and Rockdale schools announced that they will have online-only classes this week.
Cobb schools were in-person for the fall semester, except for fifth grade students at East Side Elementary School in East Cobb for a 10-day period in August after an outbreak near the start of the school year.
That was as the Delta variant of COVID-19 was spreading.
The Omicron variant, which is more transmissable but has primarily yielded milder symptoms, has prompted some of the highest case figures in Cobb and metro Atlanta since the pandemic was declared in March 2020.
As of Friday, the 14-day case rate in Cobb was 1,505 per 100,000 people. A rate of 100 per 100,000 is considered high community transmission, and local health officials are bracing for more as schools resume this week.
Cobb reported 2,368 cases on Dec. 30, a single-day record in the date of report category, and closed out 2021 with multiple days of reporting 1,000 cases or more.
Those figures dwarf the numbers that started 2021, after three educators in the Cobb school district died from COVID-19.
Cobb and Marietta schools also are among the handful in metro Atlanta that do not have mask mandates.
The Cobb school district is being sued by the parents of four medically fragile students, who are claiming that under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act their children are not able to get a proper in-person education.
They’re demanding that Cobb follow CDC school guidance, including mask mandates, but a judge in October denied their request for a temporary injunction.
In its message to parents Sunday, the Cobb school district referred them to its latest COVID-19 protocols.
In early December, the district revised its quarantine policy to allow asymptomatic students identified as close contacts of someone with the virus to return to school immediately if the parent chooses.
That was as the Omicron variant was first identified. As the fall semester ended, only two schools in the 112-school Cobb district reported double-figure cases in the final week, including 13 at Walton High School.
The Cobb school district message Sunday concluded by saying that “ensuring sick children are not sent to school helps control virus spread and keeps our schools open.”
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Another year of deep divisions on the Cobb Board of Education included a rare special review by the Cobb County School District’s accrediting agency in 2021.
In November, Cognia found that board conflicts, board members’ communications with the public and the elected body’s code of ethics, among other matters, warranted a year-long “improvement plan” to be evaluated at the end of 2022.
For now, the district maintains full accreditation, but must make strides under Cognia’s recommendations as part of a “Progress Monitoring Review.”
That the review was conducted at all remains a source of division on the fractured school board, which has been roiling along partisan lines for three years.
Cognia was approached in March by Charisse Davis, Jaha Howard and Tre’ Hutchins—the Democratic minority members on the school board—complaining that they were being silenced by the four Republican members who make up the majority.
The accreditor also received around 50 complaints from community members, ranging from district finances, equity and diversity issues and demands to change the name of Wheeler High School in East Cobb.
Cognia conducted interviews in August, with Cobb school district officials complaining that they were never given specific allegations, including the complaints from community members.
In June, the Republicans passed a resolution banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory in Cobb schools. The Democrats all abstained, after Republican board chairman Randy Scamihorn tried to prevent a discussion on the matter, including providing a definition of CRT.
The ban also extends to the use of the 1619 Project, which The New York Times published in 2019 as a historical critique of slavery in America.
Hutchins, the newest board member who represents Post 3 in South Cobb, said that CRT has never been taught in Cobb schools and “is not a real thing” in the district.
During that meeting, Hutchins and Scamihorn engaged in a lengthy and heated argument, as they raised their voices to interrupt one another for several minutes.
The Cobb vote was one of many in 2021 banning the teaching of CRT in school districts with Republican board majorities.
The vote came after anti-Semitic graffiti was found at Pope and Lassiter high schools. But the resolution was put on the school board agenda at the last minute, with no public notice, and included an anti-racism provision that the board haggled over to no avail in 2020.
The Democratic members said they were surprised by the anti-racism provision being added.
Davis, whose Post 6 includes the Wheeler and Walton clusters, was absent and did not vote.
Another source of conflict was over a reapportionment map to recommend to the Cobb legislative delegation, which will redraw the seven Cobb school board posts in January.
The four board Republicans approved spending $200,000 to hire Taylor English, a Cumberland area law firm, to draw the maps.
The map recommended by Scamihorn and approved by his GOP colleagues would draw Davis and Howard into a revamped Post 6, which would lose its East Cobb schools.
Most of East Cobb would be included in Post 5, represented by Republican vice chairman David Banks. and the rest would be in Post 4, where current GOP member David Chastain has said he will be running for another term next year.
Davis has not indicated if she’s seeking re-election; Howard has declared an intent to run for state school superintendent, but qualifying isn’t until March 2022.
In November, the same school board GOP majority amended Superintendent Chris Ragsdale’s contract without much public discussion.
The details were revealed through open records requests and included additional leverage for Ragsdale, who has been superintendent since 2015, to negotiate the terms of his departure.
The amended contract would give him extended notice if he is to be terminated for cause. He would receive full pay for the remainder of his contract if he leaves in another circumstance.
That would be if a special review panel determines that he has been “harassed” or “embarrassed” by school board members.
The three Democrats voted against the revisions. Ragsdale’s contract, which pays him a base salary of $350,000, ends in February 2024.
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Graffiti scrawled in a boys lavatory at Pope High School in September 2021.
Swastikas and “Heil Hitler” messages were scrawled on the bathroom walls of two high schools in East Cobb in September, prompting an outcry from the local Jewish community, and leading to the passage of a resolution condemning the actions by the Cobb Board of Education.
The messages at Pope and Lassiter high schools were similar, but the responses to them by school officials triggered different reactions in the community.
Rabbi Larry Sernovitz of Temple Kol Emeth in East Cobb spoke to Pope students but he and other Jewish leaders said the Cobb school district’s response was inadequate. In a letter to the Pope community, principal Thomas Flugum didn’t specify the anti-Semitic nature of the graffiti.
At Lassiter, principal Chris Richie was specific in a letter that went out to the school community, and further denounced the “deplorable symbols and language.”
Later, the Cobb school district issued a response that didn’t make a reference to anti-Semitism but only to “hate speech” and urged “families to talk to their students about the impacts of inappropriate and dangerous trends circulating on social media.”
The incidents took place apparently as part of a stunt on the Tik Tok social media app in which students vandalize school property and boast about it.
But Jewish leaders said the incidents showed that an educational program teaching about anti-Semitism was needed. The Anti-Defamation League of Atlanta, among others, called for the Cobb school district to reintroduce its “No Place for Hate” materials.
That did not happen, but school board chairman Randy Scamihorn attended a Yom Kippur service at Kol Emeth, and in October he introduced a resolution condemning anti-Semitism and racism.
The resolution passed by a party-line vote after some members and citizens complained that the matter was added to the agenda late, and saying that the district still needed to do more to address acts of hate in the school system.
A student at Pope was brought up on disciplinary charges that the district did not explain; the district did not indicate any similar punishment for the incident at Lassiter.
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A revised employment contract for the Cobb County School District superintendent would allow him to leave his position with full pay if a special panel determines he’s been “harassed” or “embarrassed” by school board members.
The Cobb Board of Education voted along party lines in November to revise the contract of Chris Ragsdale, who’s been superintendent since 2015.
His contract, which pays him an annual base salary of $350,000, was renewed in February to run through Feb. 10, 2024.
Under other financial terms of his contract, Ragsdale gets 25 days of paid vacation per year and an automobile allowance of $1,200 a month. The board makes contributions to his retirement, Social Security, Medicare and a tax-sheltered annuity plan, and provides health insurance for him and his family.
The revisions, which were adopted last month by the board’s four-member Republican majority without discussion or details, added provisions related to board relations and termination clauses.
You can read through the amended contract, which East Cobb News obtained through an open records request, by clicking here.
Those changes include that Ragsdale would receive 90 days advance notice from the board if he is to be terminated without cause.
There are several references in the revised contract of how disputes between him and board members would be resolved by a specially appointed resolution panel.
For the last three years, the Cobb school board has been embroiled in a number of conflicts, including racial and diversity issues and the Cobb County School District’s COVID-19 response.
The split has been largely along partisan lines; the four Republicans have also passed policies to prohibit comments by board members at public meetings and have used parliamentary maneuvers to limit how the three Democrats openly question Ragsdale at those meetings.
The contract revisions were also made as the Cobb school district received the report of a special review by its accrediting agency that outlined a plan for improvement focusing largely on fractured board relations and governance issues.
That review was sparked in part by the three board Democrats and members of the public who complained about what they said was a lack of responsiveness from the district and board majority about a variety of issues, including some who want to rename Wheeler High School.
In the revised contract, Ragsdale could call for the resolution panel to determine if he “has been subjected to a sufficient level of inappropriate or unprofessional conduct by a Member or Members of the Board” and “interfering with his performance of his professional duties or those of District employees directly reporting to him.”
That panel also could determine if board members cast him “in a false light, embarrass him or otherwise undermine his ability to be effective in the performance of his duties.”
If a panel determines that “sufficient harassment exists,” that body could make recommendations to prevent the behavior from continuing.
However, Ragsdale “may determine whether they are sufficient,” and if they are not, the board would “treat this is a termination without cause” and pay him “the balance of all compensation” through the end of his contract.
The revised contract also outlines how the resolution panel would be chosen, composed of a hearing officer and three others with “academic expertise.”
The school board would bear the burden of proof “and must offer clear and convincing evidence” that the SUPERINTENDENT’s suspension or termination is merited for the reasons permitted by this Contract,” the contract states.
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The buildings have been torn down; what remains now is to haul off the rubble, twisted metal and other debris to make room for the relocated campus of Eastvalley Elementary School.
Concrete, brick and other debris where the cafeteria once stood.
East Cobb Junior High School opened in 1963, two years before Wheeler High School across the street, then was renamed East Cobb Middle School in the 1970s.
The aging facilities continued to serve students until 2018, when ECMS moved to Terrell Mill Road, next to a relocated Brumby Elementary School.
Remnants of the gymnasium.Twisted rubble in the parking lot.
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For a larger view of the map to be submitted to the state reapportionment office, click here.
After having three representatives on the Cobb Board of Education in recent decades, the East Cobb area may be down to two for the next decade, starting with the 2022 elections.
A proposed map that’s being recommended by the board’s four-Republican majority would take Post 6 completely out of East Cobb.
That seat is held by Democrat Charisse Davis, who lives in the Cumberland-Vinings area, which would form the new heart of Post 6.
The current Post 6 includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters.
The school board voted 4-3 Thursday along partisan lines to submit a map proposed by GOP chairman Randy Scamihorn (see inset of East Cobb area above) to the state reapportionment office.
Cobb school board member Charisse Davis
In that map, Walton and Wheeler clusters would be included in Post 5, currently represented by Republican David Banks, whose new post also would maintain Pope High School.
Republican David Chastain represents Post 4, which would have the Kell, Lassiter and Sprayberry clusters. He’s up for re-election next year.
The Cobb legislative delegation will be drawing lines for Cobb school board, Cobb commission and municipal elected bodies in January; the school board’s proposal is only advisory.
The map was drawn by attorneys at Taylor English, a Cumberland-area firm that was paid $200,000 by the Cobb County School District.
Scamihorn said the map he proposed met all the criteria, including adjusting to shifts in population.
Davis, who said the map is not “fair and competitive,” made a motion to keep the current post boundaries. But that vote failed along partisan lines.
She and fellow Democrat Tre’ Hutchins had proposed their own maps, which they later withdrew.
“I will be losing two of the three high schools that I currently represent,” Davis said. “It is not a fair map.”
A declared candidate for the Post 6 seat also wants to keep the post maps the way they are.
Amy Henry, Cobb Board of Education candidate, Post 6
Amy Henry, a Republican who has four children in the Walton High School cluster, said she understands the need to shift lines to accommodate population changes, but Post 6 should remain largely as-is,” according to a statement issued by her campaign.
“She is prepared to run and win in a competitive post,” the statement said. “Early support for her campaign since the announcement has been strong and she looks forward to seeing how the Cobb legislative delegation weighs in on the final maps.”
Davis and fellow first-term Democrat Jaha Howard, who are both up for re-election in 2022, would be drawn together in Post 6; he’s declared his intent to run for Georgia School Superintendent.
Scamihorn noted that Davis and Howard—who have battled the Republican majority repeatedly on a variety of topics—live so close together.
Scamihorn said he’s losing 40 percent of his Post 1 seat in northwest Cobb, and reminded his colleagues that he didn’t draw the map.
“The dice rolled where it rolled,” he said.
But Democrats weren’t buying any of that.
Jackie Bettadapur, an East Cobb resident whose two sons graduated from Walton, said during a public comment session at Thursday’s work session that “by stonewalling and shutting down the three minority members” the Republican majority has “cancelled the voices of nearly half of Cobb’s constituents.”
Bettadapur is the chairwoman of the Cobb Democratic Party, but did not identify herself as such during her comments, which accused the GOP of pushing “a political agenda and not the best interests of our county.”
Should the board’s recommended map be adopted, current Post 6 voters living in the Walton and Wheeler clusters would not have a school board election on their ballot for six years.
Banks, a Republican and current board vice chairman, was re-elected last year to serve a fourth term.
Bettadapur warned the board not to assign “Wheeler and Walton high school representation to a board member that trafficks in quack science, conspiracy theories and the old Southern Lost Cause politics of segregation and racism.”
Critics of the Republican-approved map also complained about the process for making them public and the short time for citizens to offer comment.
The proposed maps were added to the agenda late Wednesday and were voted on at the work session Thursday afternoon.
The state reapportionment office will review the recommended map and could request technical changes that may require more action by the school board before Cobb legislators draw the final lines.
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A group of students and others advocating to change the name of Wheeler High School in East Cobb will take part in a panel discussion on the Confederate Symbols movement sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The forum, entitled “Public Art and the Politics of Remembering Georgia’s Confederate Past,” will take place next Thursday, Dec. 16, starting at 7 p.m.
The event, whose sponsors include the City of Atlanta and local artist Lisa Tuttle, is free and open to the public and you can RSVP by clicking here.
Starting Monday, members of the public can submit questions in advance at the registration link. The SPLC said a complete agenda will be announced before the forum.
The Wheeler Name Change Group organized in 2020, following the death of Georgie Floyd that sparked nationwide protests about racial and social justice.
Wheeler, which opened in 1965, is named after Confederate Civil War general Joseph Wheeler, who later was readmitted to the U.S. Army and served in Congress. He’s one of a handful of Confederate veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery and has a statue in his honor at Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.
An online petition was started to push for the Wheeler name change, and received several thousand signatures, including Democratic Cobb Board of Education member Charisse Davis, whose Post 6 includes the Wheeler cluster.
The name change group said that their research has shown that the Cobb school board purposely named the high school located on Holt Road after Wheeler, who wasn’t from the area, in defiance of integration.
Wheeler is the only school in the Cobb County School District named after a Confederate figure. Name-change advocates said it’s not a fitting name for one of the most diverse schools in the district.
They have held online town hall meetings and spoken during public comment periods at Cobb school board meetings, but the board has not formally considered the name change proposal.
Group members have complained that a board policy limiting how agenda items may be added has prevented that from happening, and that their e-mails to board members have gone largely unanswered.
In late 2020 the board’s Republican majority voted to dissolve a newly formed committee to consider school name changes, prompting cries from board Democrats that it was an act of “systemic racism.”
On Thursday the Cobb school board voted along party lines to recommend new elected boundaries that would take the Walton and Wheeler clusters out of Post 6 and place them into Post 5, represented by Republican David Banks.
The SPLC forum topics next Thursday include “Correcting history is not the same as erasing it,” data on Confederate symbols remaining in public spaces in Georgia and legislation aimed at helping the state “break up” with the Confederacy.
Other panelists include the following:
Lisa Tuttle, artist, Postcolonial Karma exhibition at Gallery 72
Kevin Sipp, City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs
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The map proposed by board chairman Randy Scamihorn. For a more detailed view, click here.
UPDATED:
The school board voted 4-3 along party lines Thursday to submit the map proposed by Scamihorn to the state legislative reapportionment office.
The four Republicans voted in favor and the three Democratic members voted against.
A motion by Davis to keep the current lines failed 3-4, along the same party divide.
Original Report:
A reapportionment map to be proposed by the outgoing Cobb Board of Education chairman on Thursday is designed to maintain the board’s slender Republican majority.
Two others proposed by Democratic members attempt to prevent the GOP from building on that advantage.
The maps are included in the school board’s agenda for its December work session starting at 2 p.m. Thursday (previous ECN post here).
The GOP holds a 4-3 edge on a Cobb school board that has been deeply divided along partisan lines for the last two years, after Republicans held a comfortable 6-1 margin before that.
The proposal by Republican chairman Randy Scamihorn of Post 1 of northwest Cobb (see map at top) was added late Wednesday, and was crafted by Taylor English Duma LLP, a law firm based in the Cumberland area and which was hired to draw a new map for the Cobb legislative delegation to consider in January.
Democrats hold a one-member majority in the Cobb delegation, which also will decide new district lines for the Cobb Board of Commissioners, the six Cobb municipal council districts and Marietta school board boundaries.
The proposed Cobb school board maps are purely advisory.
In Scamihorn’s map, the East Cobb area of Post 6 that includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters would be shifted entirely to Post 5, represented by Post 5 Republican member David Banks, the board’s current vice chairman, who was re-elected in 2020.
That new post would also include the campus of Pope High School and some of the Lassiter High School attendance zone that Banks has represented since 2009.
He won a third term in November by fewer than 3,000 votes.
The new Post 6 that Democrat Charisse Davis has represented since 2019 would move to the Smyrna-Cumberland-Vinings area under the chairman’s proposal.
She lives near Teasley Elementary School, and that post would also include the residence of current board member Jaha Howard, another first-term Democrat who was elected to serve in Post 2, which includes the Campbell and Osborne clusters.
Davis has not made public whether she’s seeking re-election. Amy Henry, a parent of four children in the Walton cluster, has announced her candidacy as a Republican.
But Davis also has proposed a map that would keep some of East Cobb in Post 6 (see below).
That includes most of the Wheeler cluster and some of the Walton cluster; Davis and Howard also would both be drawn into Post 6 and a new board member would come from Post 2.
Howard has declared his intention to run for Georgia school superintendent.
Under Scamihorn’s proposal, the clockwise shift in the new lines would push Post 3 into the McEachern High School cluster. That’s currently in Post 7, where GOP incumbent Brad Wheeler barely won re-election last year.
The realigned Post 7 would include the Hillgrove, Harrison and Kennesaw Mountain high school clusters.
Scamihorn, who was was re-elected last year, would just barely fit into the new Post 1, made up of the Allatoona and North Cobb high school clusters.
Scamihorn’s proposed Post 4 would continue to include the Kell and Sprayberry clusters, and well as part of the Lassiter cluster.
Republican David Chastain, who has held that seat since 2014, has said he will be seeking a third term.
The only other candidate who has announced for Post 4 is Democrat Austin Heller, a Kennesaw State University student.
Davis’ map would keep most of the Kell and Sprayberry clusters in Post 4, and Post 5 would include the Lassiter, Pope and Walton campuses.
Her map would place Chastain and Scamihorn in Post 1, prompting a new board member to come from Post 4.
Post 3 board member Tre’ Hutchins, a Democrat in his first year in office, also has a map proposal that will be discussed Thursday afternoon (see below).
His Post 6 would retain some of the Wheeler and Walton clusters, but it would call for a new board member.
That’s because he’s proposing a Post 2 with Davis and Howard drawn together.
The South Cobb-area post Hutchins represents would include the Pebblebook, South Cobb and McEachern high school clusters.
For a detailed view of the Hutchins map, click here.
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Current Cobb Board of Education posts have been in effect since 2012; for a larger view click here.
The Cobb Board of Education is expected to be presented with proposed reapportionment maps at its December work session on Thursday afternoon.
The board is meeting in public at a 2 p.m. work session and a 7 p.m. business session Thursday at the Cobb County School District Central Office (514 Glover St., Marietta).
There will be public comment periods at the start of both meetings, but speakers must sign up in advance by clicking here.
Each public comment session is limited to 30 minutes, and individual speakers have a maximum of two minutes.
The agendas for both meetings can be found here; the work session technically begins at 1 p.m., but members will convene, go into an executive session and return for a public work session at 2 p.m.
Another executive session will take place between the public meetings.
The three board business items listed on the work session agenda are all related to reapportionment but don’t have much detailed information.
In August, the board voted along partisan lines to hire Taylor English Duma LLP, a law firm based in the Cumberland area, to redraw the seven school board districts, or posts, following the release of the 2020 census.
(PLEASE NOTE: These boundaries have no bearing on specific school attendance zones, which are drawn administratively by the Cobb County School District staff.)
Reapportionment for elected political subdivisions is required every 10 years. The Cobb legislative delegation will be redrawing the Cobb and Marietta school boards and Cobb Board of Commissioners districts in January, as well as city council wards in the county’s six cities.
Cobb school board chairman Randy Scamihorn, part of the four-member Republican majority, brought the measure to present the legislative delegation with a map proposal. His board business item for Thursday says only that it will be for “Redistricting/Reapportionment Presentation (for potential action).”
Before that, board member Tre’ Hutchins will present a reapportionment item. He is a first-term Democrat from Post 3 in South Cobb.
Charisse Davis, a Democrat from Post 6, which includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters, also will present a board business item labeled “Redistricting/Reapportionment Update.”
Her seat is one of three school board posts that will be up for the 2022 elections.
She’s completing her first term, and currently her post includes part of the Smyrna-Vinings area, where she lives.
Davis has not indicated if she will be seeking re-election. In October, Amy Henry, a parent in the Walton High School cluster, declared her intent to run for Post 6 as a Republican.
Also up for re-election in 2022 is Post 4 Republican David Chastain (Kell and Sprayberry clusters) who has indicated he will be seeking another term.
The board also will be presented with a request to take out $100 million in short-term loans to finance construction projects.
The money would be repaid at the end of 2022 with collections from the school district’s Special Local Option Sales Tax, and the board wouldn’t adopt a formal resolution until January.
Among the major projects slated to begin construction next year is the rebuild of Eastvalley Elementary School on the former campus of East Cobb Middle School on Holt Road.
At the work session, the board will receive a presentation about the Cobb Teaching and Learning System online portal.
At the Thursday evening meeting, two state champion sports teams from East Cobb high schools—Walton volleyball and Lassiter softball—will be recognized by the board.
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The Cobb County School District is having a job fair for support staff positions next Tuesday, Dec. 7.
The job fair will take place at the Cobb Energy Centre for Performing Arts (2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway) from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The available positions include bus drivers, custodians, Food & Nutrition Services, substitutes, and special education paraprofessionals. The district said that candidates for other jobs, including teachers, are welcome to attend.
Participants can register in advance by clicking here or onsite at the job fair.
In August, substitute teachers and other support staff members received bonuses through the end of the current 2021-22 school year.
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At the Nov. 11 Cobb Board of Education meeting, East Cobb Middle School was recognized as having earned STEAM certification from the Cobb County School District.
It’s the third school in the Cobb school district to earn such certification, which combines the traditional STEAM disciplines science, technology, engineering and math) with the arts.
The other STEAM-certified schools by the Cobb school district also are in East Cobb, Simpson Middle School and Tritt Elementary School. Here’s more about the STEAM program at East Cobb MS.
The Georgia Department of Education has recognized two Cobb schools as STEAM schools: Wheeler High School and Mableton Elementary School.
Also on Nov. 11, the Cobb school district recognized Garrison Mill ES, Rocky Mount ES and Sprayberry HS with having earned STEM certifications.
Here’s more from the district about those designations:
“The Cobb STEM Certification recognizes schools that provide students with STEM-enriched learning opportunities and are committed to helping students cultivate critical thinking and problem-solving skills necessary for future success in STEM-related college and career fields. ”
A total of 39 of the Cobb school district’s 112 school have earned STEM certifications along with three earning STEAM certification.
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Among the many East Cobb area events that didn’t take place in 2020 was the Sprayberry PTSA Craft Show, the organization’s biggest fundraiser that benefits school projects and helps students get volunteer hours.
It’s also among those events that’s back on the schedule for 2021, and it’s taking place this coming weekend, Nov. 20-21.
This is the 39th year for the craft show, which includes more than 200 craft booths and in the past has attracted around 10,000 to do some early holiday shopping over two days.
More information can be found on the flyer at right and by clicking here.
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Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Activities involving the Cobb Board of Education—in particular open conflicts in public meetings, members’ communications with the public and the elected body’s code of ethics—constitute a considerable portion of a special review report compiled by the Cobb County School District’s accrediting agency.
In its report delivered to the district this week, Alpharetta-based Cognia said it was continuing to maintain full accreditation status for the 107,000-student CCSD, the second largest public school district in Georgia.
But it cited several areas for progress over the next year for the district, and especially for the school board, to address.
The district released the report and accompanying documents late Thursday night, after the school board held a previously unannounced executive session.
Cognia, which announced it was doing an unusual “special review” in April at the behest of three Cobb school board members and after receiving nearly 50 complaints from the public, conducted more than 170 interviews during that week-long process in August.
Of the four areas of its focus, Cognia said the Cobb school district met the highest ranking on its 4-grade system on only one of them—educational equity, and that was with some conditions.
The other three—board policy-making, the board’s code of ethics and fiscal responsibility in the school district—were cited as needing improvement.
Cognia is giving the district until December 2022 to meet the requirements of what it calls a “Progress Monitoring Review.”
Among Cognia’s major findings, it concluded that the school board ethics code “is not adhered to with fidelity by most board members.”
The Cobb school district also was found to lack “a consistent and formal process for making resource allocation decisions raised questions about how the Board handles its fiduciary responsibility,” in particular its purchase of equipment related to its COVID-19 pandemic response, and the board’s appointment of a law firm to draw reapportionment maps.
The accrediting agency urged the district to “revise [its] strategic plan to “include measurable goals, initiatives, and budgetary allocations would better ensure the presence of a comprehensive plan to guide the system during its continuous improvement process.”
And fourthly, the report concluded that while standardized assessments show that academic “progress is being made in subgroup performance even though there is still a need for a continuous focus on closing the achievement gaps.”
In a statement accompanying the district’s release, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said that “as is the case with any feedback we receive, our educators will review Cognia’s process and recommendations closely and consider areas of recommended growth. I am committed to keeping our focus on high-quality teaching and learning and meeting Cobb County’s high expectations for all students.”
He did not specify those areas of improvement, nor did he mention issues regarding school board relations.
A Fractured School Board
Cognia’s report concluded that divisions and “the lack of trust among board members projects a negative light on the district and hinders the Board’s ability to lead the district toward its mission of ‘One Team, One Goal: Student Success.’ ”
Charisse Davis
The current school board is made up of four white Republicans and three black Democrats, and for the last two years sharp partisan divisions have deepened over issues involving race and equity and COVID-19 response, among others.
Those Democrats—including Charisse Davis, whose Post 6 includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters—first went to Cognia, complaining that they were being silenced by their GOP colleagues.
In late 2019, the Republican majority voted to change board policy to ban board member comments at the end of meetings.
That enflamed differences even more, even as the board tried to find consensus on an anti-racism resolution in 2020, but could not.
After the 2020 elections—in which then-chairman Brad Wheeler and vice chairman David Banks—narrowly won re-election to maintain a Republican board majority—the GOP contingent pushed through a policy change to limit how board members can place items on meeting agendas.
While the chairman and superintendent can unilaterally add items, any other board members must now get a majority of his/her colleagues to agree.
For most of 2021, issues that Democratic members have wanted to discuss—including a possible name change for Wheeler High School—have not been aired in meetings, other than from citizens making remarks during public comment.
There also was no discussion on the board regarding a resolution to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory, a measure that passed by another partisan 4-0 vote, with the Democrats abstaining.
In its report, Cognia said faulted board leadership for not fully communicating with colleagues about what’s on agendas, and not giving them adequate time to review them before a meeting:
“Debate related to the removal of Board Member Comments highlights the Board’s recent lack of transparency and trust and the change in Board dynamics. The discussion also shows that some board members may not be able to fully represent their constituents due to their lack of knowledge of what will be discussed and voted on before the board meeting and in time to study the issues fully.”
The Cognia review also outlined that the district is aware of 113 “potential Board policy violations” by Howard, 41 by Davis, 13 by Tre’ Hutchins (the other board Democrat) and two by Banks, all “through social media, traditional media, or other interactions with the public or the District.”
Wheeler, current chairman Randy Scamihorn and board member David Chastain—all Republicans—were found not to be in apparent violation of any board policies.
The review also found “some inappropriate comments by board members” that violated board policies encouraging them to make comments to the news media that “should be helpful to the District and not harmful.”
Cognia’s directives include having the board find an “external expert” to facilitate a self-assessment process “about best practices in school governance and develop a plan to use findings from the self-assessment to improve the Board’s effectiveness, collegiality, and trust among board members.”
Purchases in Question
Another area of concern were financial matters related to the Cobb school district’s COVID-response.
In December 2020, the board approved a request from Ragsdale to spend $12 million in general fund balance to purchase UV disinfecting lights and hand sanitizing stations that would first be installed at the elementary school level.
A contract for disinfecting UV lights was abruptly cancelled.
Ragsdale explained at the time he was confident the district would be reimbursed through additional federal CARES Act funding.
While noting that the district has historically excelled in financial reporting, the Cognia report stated that “a review of board meeting work sessions and board meeting videos may demonstrate a lack of clarity about the collection and analysis of data used to assess the impact of resources on meeting identified goals and priorities.”
Among the recommendations are for the Cobb school district to “develop, implement, and monitor board actions regarding fiduciary matters to ensure adherence to adopted policies.”
In the Cobb school district release Thursday, Scamihorn issued a statement saying that the district still hasn’t been provided with all of the “specific allegations” that led to the special review.
The district said it spent $75,000 to prepare for the review. Cognia fully reaccredited Cobb in 2019, through 2024.
In its report, Cognia did not indicate what might happen if the Cobb school district doesn’t meet the directives of its improvement plan.
“It is disappointing the Special Review Team chose not to consider much of the context leading to various Board decisions, and their review of evidence requested from the District appears to be cursory and incomplete,” Scamihorn said. “While I am pleased this review is unlikely to have an immediately negative effect on the District’s students, it did serve as a significant distraction for the staff.”
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The Cobb school district Thursday night released the Cognia special review report, which does not recommend changing the status of the district’s full accreditation.
The agency did note several areas of improvement for the district to address over the next year, especially involving school board policy-making and ethics and fiscal responsbility.
Our follow-up story to the report below can be found by clicking here.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
The Cobb County School District has received the findings of a special review conducted in August by its accrediting agency, but isn’t commenting on them for now.
Nor is the district immediately releasing the report from Cognia, based in Alpharetta, which was responding to complaints from three members of the Cobb Board of Education and around 50 others from the community.
A Cobb school district spokeswoman told East Cobb News that “the District is in the process of carefully reviewing the report from Cognia in preparation for release in the near future. Cobb Schools remains committed to providing a world-class education and continuing the District’s legacy of student success.”
When asked if the report would be provided to media representatives upon request, the spokeswoman said that request should be directed to the district’s open records officer.
Under the Georgia Open Records Act, public agencies have three business days to respond to open records requests.
Cognia delivered its report to the Cobb County School District on Monday.
During its special review (previous ECN story here), Cognia representatives interviewed school board members, district staff, principals, teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders in its special review in August on a range of board governance matters and concerns over equitable opportunities and student performance.
The district announced in April that Cognia would be conducting the review, expressing concern that “determinations made through a Special Review Team can negatively impact college acceptance rates, college scholarships, enrollment, funding, and educator recruitment and retention . . . Impacts can also negatively affect a county’s economy, property values, and bond credit ratings.”
In 2019, Cognia reaccredited the Cobb County School District—the second-largest in Georgia, with more than 107,000 students—through 2024.
But Democratic board members Charisse Davis, Jaha Howard and Tre’ Hutchins went to Cognia after saying they were being ignored by the board’s Republican majority and Superintendent Chris Ragsdale to discuss early literacy, educator and employee support and board governance training topics.
Depending on the findings, a special review—which is a rare occurrence—typically affords school districts time to make recommended changes before a possible loss of accreditation.
In September, Cognia released its findings in a special review of Gwinnett County Public Schools, indicating several areas of improvement. But the accrediting agency did not recommend any change in that school district’s full accreditation status.
At a Cobb school board work session Thursday afternoon, the Cognia report was not on the published agenda, nor was it discussed until the very end, and then only in procedural terms.
The board heard several presentations about the district’s legislative priorities and its quarterly financial report.
Just as the board was to approve the agenda for the Thursday 7 p.m. business meeting, Howard asked board chairman Randy Scamihorn if an item for discussion of the Cognia review could be added.
“There was some big news that came out, and we haven’t talked about it yet,” Howard said. “I would like the agenda to reflect that urgent matter.”
But Scamihorn said the agenda can be revised for an emergency, and said he didn’t think Howard’s request was “applicable, as the agenda has been developed.”
When Howard appealed to Suzanne Wilcox, the board attorney, she said such an item would could be added if the board determined it was “necessary” and in particular if it was a matter that was “not known about in advance.”
When Howard asked her why she didn’t recommend revising the agenda, she said that state law says an item has to be considered an emergency to be added.
“At this time, I’m not aware of anything that makes it necessary to address,” Wilcox said.
Howard then asked if a Cognia discussion could be added to the board’s December agenda, but Scamihorn said he couldn’t give an “absolute yes or no” since “none of us have seen the report yet. . . . But the chair appreciates your concern.”
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Four parents of medically fragile students in the Cobb County School District are appealing a federal judge’s denial of their request for an injunction over COVID-19 protocols, including the district’s lack of a mask mandate.
Attorneys with the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a notice of appeal on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta (you can read it here).
On Oct. 15, federal district judge Tim Batten denied their request for an injunction and a temporary restraining order. The parents wanted the court to order stronger COVID-19 measures in the schools, including mandatory masks, saying their children are unable to learn in-person as a result.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys have said the parents have removed their children from in-person learning, which “has had a negative effect on them socially, physically, and emotionally.”
The parents “further allege that unless and until the school board reimplements safety measures, they will be unable to attend school and will continue to suffer irreparable harm.”
The four parents, including Sara Cavorley of East Cobb (previous ECN story here), filed suit on Oct. 1, claiming that the Cobb school district’s policies are denying their children a proper in-person education under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.
The SPLC issued a press release Wednesday saying that “this case isn’t just about masks, this is about disability discrimination in the Cobb County School District and ensuring that all children have an equal opportunity to access an in-person learning environment.”
Cobb schools have a masks-optional policy this year after mandating them for the 2020-21 school year.
But unlike last year, the 2021-22 school year does not provide virtual learning options that are identical to classroom instruction.
The Cobb school district is making a limited number of virtual options available for the spring semester via a lottery process (the deadline for applying for that has passed).
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Turnout was low, just under 10 percent across the county, with most East Cobb precincts in the 10-20 percent range;
The highest turnout was in the City of Marietta, which had mayor’s, city council and school board elections.
As we noted then, “yes” votes in the SPLOST referendum won every precinct, and handily.
What follows below is the vote count in East Cobb precincts. These include election day, advance, absentee and provisional totals, as well as the turnout at each polling station.
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There won’t be any classes Friday in the Cobb County School District, which has declared a “student and teacher” holiday due to festivities surrounding the Atlanta Braves.
The Braves are holding multiple events Friday after the team won its first World Series in 26 years Tuesday over the Houston Astros.
Here’s from a Cobb school district announcement Wednesday afternoon:
“The Atlanta Braves parade and celebratory events will occur in Cobb County during the day and this holiday will also keep anticipated high traffic, throughout Cobb County, as manageable as possible for everyone who lives in Cobb.
“Friday will be a student and teacher holiday while all annual and hourly staff will receive direction from their direct supervisor. After-school program (ASP) will not be available and Friday night athletic activities will remain as scheduled.”
Some of the details of the celebrations are still to be released; for now, the Braves are saying that they will have a parade in downtown Atlanta, then head up Interstate 75 for a celebration near their home stadium at Truist Park.
The downtown Atlanta parade begins at noon Friday along Peachtree Street, from Marietta Street to 10th Street, before heading to Cobb.
Cobb DOT sent out the following message at 4 p.m. Wednesday:
“Braves parade will be on Friday (11/5) starting in Atl and ending in Cobb. Major impacts to traffic & bus service anticipated. Known areas of impact include Cobb Pkwy (Riverwood Pkwy to Battery Ave) & cross streets. Please plan accordingly. Details will be shared as available.”
Marietta City Schools and the Fulton County School System also have called off classes for Friday because of the Braves’ events.
The World Series championship is the second for the Braves since they moved to Atlanta in 1965. The Braves also won Game 6 of the 1995 World Series at Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium, before moving to Turner Field from 1997-2017.
The franchise’s other World Series titles occurred in Boston in 1914 and Milwaukee in 1957.
Nearly 20,000 fans showed up at Truist Park Tuesday for a viewing party for the clinching Game 6 in Houston.
Crowds of more than 100,000 were reported at Truist and The Battery Atlanta for the three World Series games played last weekend in Cobb County.
A Veterans Day parade is scheduled for The Battery on Saturday.
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Last week the Cobb Chamber of Commerce held a celebration luncheon for the teachers of the year at each of the schools in the Cobb County School District and Marietta City Schools, as well as overall recipients.
As we noted previously, Pope High School graduate Beth Foster was named the Cobb teacher of the year for 2021, and Michelle Gottenberg of Mabry Middle School was the middle school teacher of the year for the district.
They also were recipients of new automobiles, courtesy of the local Ed Voyles dealerships that they will pick up at the Cobb Chamber luncheon on Nov. 8.
Foster, who teaches at Osborne High School, also unveiled her handprints on the Teacher Walk of Honor at Glover Park in the Marietta Square.
Here are the other teachers of the year from East Cobb schools who were honored at the Chamber gathering:
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