East Cobb Schools Archives

Cobb County School District responds to federal mask lawsuit

October 14, 2021 8:42 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb school district responds mask lawsuit — *John Floresta, Cobb County School District Chief Accountability and Strategy Officer*

The Cobb County School District is asking the federal courts to reject a lawsuit filed against it by parents of medically fragile students.

The district’s response, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia, accuses the plaintiffs of inviting the legal system “to weigh in on matters of local politics by second-guessing the wisdom of CCSD’s COVID-19 mask policy.”

The plaintiffs also are seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to impose a mask mandate, and a hearing will take place on that matter Friday morning.

The four parents have asserted in their lawsuit that their children are not able to get an appropriate in-person education due to the district’s masks-optional policy, which Superintendent Chris Ragsdale vigorously defended in September.

They are suing under provisions of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.

From the introduction to the district’s response (which you can read in full here):

“Though reasonable minds might disagree over whether schools should mandate masks, school districts have exclusive domain over these operational decisions. CCSD has made its safety decisions based on verified public health data, scientific guidance, and consideration of the needs of all students. It has chosen what it believes is right for Cobb County. Plaintiffs’ request for a TRO and preliminary injunction is just the latest attempt by one side of the political debate to usurp a school district’s operational autonomy over COVID-19 policy.”

Furthermore, the district said it has “reasonably accommodated” the disabilities of the affected students with “its numerous other pandemic safety measures, robust virtual offerings and individualized supports.”

The response also claims that the plaintiffs cannot show “irreparable harm because they are simply complaining about not receiving their preferred educational services—not a deprivation of access to education altogether.”

In a separate declaration, John Floresta, the district’s Chief Accountability and Strategy Officer, stressed that “the District’s position is not ‘anti-mask.’ The District strongly recommends wearing a mask. The District simply leaves the final decision on whether to wear one to the individual.”

In its reply to the district’s response, the plaintiffs contend (you can read it here) that “while the District claims that it has relied on verified public health data and scientific guidance to inform its recent decisions, it only cites a widely discredited pseudoscientist, whose opinions have been denounced by the public health and medical community.”

That’s a reference to Jay Bhattacharya, a former professor at the Stanford University medical school who currently teaches health policy there, and who is a high-profile skeptic of some COVID-19 mitigation, including masking school children.

In his declaration for the Cobb school district (you can read it here), he provided a copy of his recent report, “Scientific Evidence on COVID, Children and Mask Mandates” that concludes by saying “there is no scientific or medical reason to require masking school children.”

Cobb is one of the few school districts in metro Atlanta that does not have a mask mandate, something it had last year. Marietta City Schools announced Thursday that it was returning to a masks-optional policy, after requiring them in recent weeks.

The Cobb plaintiffs, who are being represented by two local attorneys and the Southern Poverty Law Center, have assembled documents from local and nationally known public health figures as well.

They include Dr. Janet Memark, director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, who has urged schools to follow current U.S. Centers for Disease Control guidance for universal masking in schools.

She reiterated that guidance in her declaration, saying that “CDPH has consistently advised the Cobb County School District that the use of masks is one of the primary intervention strategies to help control the spread of COVID-19. This remains CPDH’s recommendation today.”

The Cobb school district maintains in its response that it “has developed robust COVID-19 response and intervention strategies based on guidance from public health agencies.”

The district also claims in its response that “Cobb County school-aged children had lower rates of infection than two of its mask-mandated neighboring counties during the September peak, and it often had the same or lower rates of infection than the five neighboring mask-mandated counties since the start of the 2021-2022 school year.”

The plaintiffs’ attorneys included a recent e-mail by Cobb school board member David Banks sent to his East Cobb constituents urging people not to get the COVID-19 vaccine, with a message saying that the government is “intentionally killing its citizens.”

The Cobb school district was sued in April by parents opposed to the district’s mask mandate at the time.

The suit was dropped when Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced in May that there would be a masks-optional policy for the 2021-22 school year.

Cobb school board passes ‘Antisemitism and Racism’ resolution

October 14, 2021 8:53 PMOctober 14, 2021 5:23 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb schools antiSemitism antiracism resolution — *Cobb school board member Jaha Howard tried to amend the resolution to include a provision to change the names of schools named after Confederate figures, a reference to Wheeler High School.*

The Cobb Board of Education’s Republican majority approved what’s been titled an “Antisemitism and Racism” resolution Thursday despite efforts by their Democratic colleagues to delay the matter.

By a party line 4-2 vote, the board’s GOP members adopted a resolution during a Thursday afternoon work session that chairman Randy Scamihorn said would be forthcoming in September, following the discovery of swastika graffiti at Pope and Lassiter high schools.

The district has said it has brought disciplinary charges against the students involved, but has not elaborated. That didn’t satisfy some local Jewish leaders who wanted a stronger response that specifically mentioned antisemitism.

The resolution states in part that:

“These acts demonstrate that antisemitism, antiracism and other forms of hate still exist in our communities and must be addressed requiring our full commitment to actively work and continue to build an inclusive school district built on trust and respect for all.”

The resolution was added late to the board’s agenda, and a copy was not made available in advance of the meeting.

East Cobb News received a photo copy of the resolution from the district shortly after the work session (see below).

Cobb schools antisemitism racism resolution

Democratic board member Tre’ Hutchins of South Cobb tried to get the vote on the resolution delayed to November, saying that as a board member, “I prefer that we get it right the first time.

“I don’t feel like were in that place. . . . I want us to have more time to digest what has been presented to us, and make sure we get it right as a board.”

But his motion to table failed 2-4 (along the same party lines), as did a proposed amendment by Jaha Howard, also a Democrat on the school board.

He wanted the resolution to include provisions to change the names of schools named after military figures in the Confederacy—a reference to Wheeler High School—to names “that reflect the goal of inclusion.”

Howard also said that the board received the resolution only on Monday night, and that “we haven’t had time to digest it.”

His motion also failed by the same 2-4 vote. Democrat Charisse Davis, whose Post 6 includes the Wheeler and Walton clusters, was absent from the work session.

Both Howard and Hutchins said they thought the resolution would be solely regarding antisemitism.

“We are getting ready to vote on something that we have not read, that does not just include antisemitism,” Hutchins said.

Scamihorn said of the resolution that “the community helped put this together” and that it was not driven by the chairman.

A Republican from Post 1 in North Cobb, Scamihorn attended a Yom Kippur service at Temple Kol Emeth in East Cobb in the wake of the Pope and Lassiter incidents, and was asked to hold the Torah at that service, during the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

But the reaction to the resolution was not embraced by some in the Jewish community. The Southeast Division of the Anti-Defamation League in Atlanta issued the following statement Thursday night:

“The Cobb County Schools Board of Education’s resolution in response to recent antisemitic incidents is a good first step, but unless followed by specific actions, it’s an empty gesture. Hate in all forms must be responded to with action and education, not empty value statements.

“Adding the resolution to the agenda just before today’s Board of Education work session prevented members of the Cobb County community from making their voices heard and other board members from reviewing it thoroughly.

“We can’t support this as an adequate response without a commitment to a specific plan to use education to combat antisemitism and prevent future acts of hate in Cobb County Schools. We look forward to seeing the county’s action plan.”

At the Thursday night school board voting meeting, the board heard similar complaints. Some urged the Cobb school district to reintroduce the ADL’s No Place For Hate educational program, which was eliminated earlier this year.

Herschel Greenblatt, a 100-year-old Holocaust survivor who was recognized by the school board last month, was among them.

In his remarks, he told board members “I hope you go beyond words and take action,” saying the anti-Semitic graffiti in Cobb schools “should never, ever happen again.

In 2020, the school board was unable to come to a consensus on an antiracism resolution, after partisan differences over language, including the use of the phrase “systemic racism.”

Advocates for changing the name of Wheeler High School have complained that their attempts to communicate with school board members have been ignored for months.

The issue has not been included on any school board agenda since first coming up in 2020.

3 middle schools in East Cobb earn high U.S. News rankings

October 14, 2021 2:14 PM by Wendy Parker

Dickerson MS

For the first time, U.S. News and World Report is ranking schools below the high school level in its annual listings.

The first K-8 listings, which were released earlier this week, include three middle schools in East Cobb that are ranked near the top in the state of Georgia.

Dickerson, Dodgen and Hightower Trail come in at 5-7 in the state middle school rankings—you can read them here.

Other middle schools in the East Cobb area are Simpson at 25, Mabry at 34, Daniell at 120, McCleskey at 151 and East Cobb at 261.

There are no East Cobb elementary schools in the Top 10 in Georgia, but Murdock ES comes in at 12, Timber Ridge is at 17 and Mountain View is at 20—you can read the list here, and Sope Creek, Tritt and Mt. Bethel ES are in the 30s.

U.S. News explains its methodology here, and has a search tool by grade level and school name.

The database also includes preschools, but they’re not ranked (an example of what’s contained for each school is included here, of Bells Ferry ES).

U.S. News isn’t doing national rankings at the elementary school and middle school levels, unlike high schools. Currently, Walton is ranked No. 4 in Georgia and No. 197 nationally, the highest in the Cobb County School District.

Lassiter is 10/336, Pope is 20/369, Wheeler is 45/1,935, Kell is 74/3,187 and Sprayberry is 89/3,692.

Cobb school board to consider Sprayberry, Sope Creek projects

October 12, 2021 5:41 PM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry High School, Cobb Education SPLOST

A construction bid for a new gymnasium and the renovation of an existing career training center at Sprayberry High School will be presented to the Cobb Board of Education Thursday.

The board also will be asked to consider a construction bid for a new physical education building at Sope Creek Elementary School and the purchase of 12 air-conditioned school buses.

Those measures will be introduced at a work session that starts at 1:30 p.m. and be presented for voting action at a business meeting at 7 p.m.

Both meetings will take place at the Cobb County School District central office (514 Glover St., Marietta), and you can read through the agendas by clicking here.

The meetings also will be live-streamed on the district’s BoxCast channel and on CobbEdTV, Comcast Channel 24.

An executive session will take place between the two public meetings.

The joint Sprayberry projects total nearly $23 million in current Cobb Education SPLOST V funds. The Cobb County School District is recommending the bid go to Balfour Beatty Construction of Atlanta, with completion anticipated by March 2023.

Those projects have been on the wish list of those in the Sprayberry area for some time. Advocates for a rebuild of the school’s main classroom building are holding an open house Oct. 19 that also will include more details on the gym/CTAE projects.

The rebuild is included in the project list for a proposed SPLOST VI collection period that’s on the November ballot (early voting started Tuesday; see above link for details). If approved by voters, that extension of the one-percent sales tax for school construction, maintenance and technology projects would take place from 2024-29.

SPLOST IV funds have been earmarked for a replacement for the physical education building at Sope Creek Elementary. The district is recommending a bid of $2.8 million by Swofford Construction Inc. of Austell, with completion tentatively set for June 2022.

The district is also asking for $512,000 in SPLOST V funds to help purchase 12 new school buses from Yancey Bus Sales and Service. The total cost is $1.4 million, with $926,640 coming in state school bus bond funds.

At the school board work session, there will be presentations by Superintendent Chris Ragsdale and his staff on mathematics curriculum, hiring and compensation issues, a monthly financial status and a general fund report as of June 30, the end of fiscal year 2021.

There are no board business items included on the current agenda for the work session.

At the evening meeting, the board will hold recognitions for National School Bus Safety Week and the disrict’s Bus Driver Appreciation Week.

At both meetings there will be public comment sessions. Individuals must sign up online in advance at this link, which will be activated at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Cobb Ed SPLOST headlines 2021 ballot; early voting to start

October 9, 2021 11:48 AM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry High School, Cobb Education SPLOST

Cobb County voters can cast in-person ballots as soon as Tuesday as early voting starts for the 2021 elections, which culminate on Nov. 2.

Advance voting will conclude on Oct. 29 and will include two Saturdays, Oct. 16 and 23.

The only advance voting location in the East Cobb area is The Art Place (3330 Sandy Plains Road); for more on locations, dates and times, click here.

While citizens in Cobb’s six cities will be voting in municipal elections, voters across the county will be asked if they want to extend the one-percent sales tax to fund construction, maintenance and technology projects for the Cobb County School District.

It’s called Cobb Education SPLOST VI, and it would raise $894 million from 2024-29 (our summary story from May; full project notebook here).

Among the major projects on the project list approved by the Cobb Board of Education is a reconstruction of the main Sprayberry High School classroom building. Also slated for new classroom additions are Kincaid, Mt. Bethel, Murdock, Sope Creek and Tritt elementary schools in East Cobb.

Sprayberry rebuild supporters have been publicly advocating for several months for extending the SPLOST, noting that the 50-year-old building at Sandy Plains Road and Piedmont Road is wearing down while other high schools in the East Cobb area have had major renovations and rebuilds (Walton, Wheeler).

They’re holding an Oct. 19 open house to provide more information, where details of the new Sprayberry gymnasium and CTAE facility also will be available.

“We’re excited about being on [the ballot],” Sprayberry parent Shane Spink said.

In recent weeks some citizens have expressed concerns about renewing the SPLOST amid turbulence on the Cobb Board of Education. A reader wrote on the East Cobb News Facebook page this week saying that’s why she’s voting against a SPLOST for the first time.

“I have little confidence in some of the current Cobb County School District Board members and its Superintendent,” Melissa O’Brien wrote. “In a year and a half full of COVID-related chaos, one would expect the 25th largest school district in the country to step up to the challenge.”

She said she thinks the Cobb school district hasn’t wisely spent federal CARES Act funding and implemented stronger COVID-19 safety protocols, and was upset at board member David Banks sending an e-mail from his official address discouraging the vaccines.

Spink said he understands the concerns but said the SPLOST isn’t a partisan issue and has broad countywide impact.

“Every school benefits from this,” he said. “We shouldn’t be cutting off our noses to spite our faces. This is about our kids, the teachers and our community.”

As we noted previously, you can request an absentee ballot just as you did last year; the deadline for that is Oct. 22; absentee ballots will start going out in the mail on Monday for those who’ve already signed up.

Cobb Elections must receive your absentee ballot by 7 p.m. on Nov. 2, election day, either by mail or at an early voting location during voting hours. There won’t be the outdoor dropboxes that were available in 2020.

Voters who elect to go to the polls on Nov. 2 will cast ballots at their normal precincts between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

For questions and for more information, visit cobbcounty.org/elections email info@cobbelections.org, or call 770-528-2581.

Cobb schools report continuing drop in COVID-19 cases

October 9, 2021 7:55 AM by Wendy Parker

Reported COVID-19 case rates in the Cobb County School District are continuing to fall after the fall break.

The district reported on Friday that there are 262 active cases in the 112-school system, the lowest single-week tally since 185 cases the first week of the current 2021-22 school year.

Only four schools are reporting double-figures in active cases, including 11 at Tritt Elementary School in East Cobb. The others are Dowell ES (12), Teasley ES (21) and Osborne HS (11).

There are nine cases each at Eastvalley ES and Simpson MS.

A number of schools have no active cases, including Bells Ferry ES, Garrison Mill ES, Kincaid ES, Nicholson ES, Powers Ferry ES, Daniell MS, Dodgen MS and McCleskey MS in East Cobb.

Friday was the first reporting date since the fall break the last week of September. On Sept. 24, there were 394 cases.

The district’s figures are staff and students combined and do not include individuals under quarantine.

Since the start of the school year, reported cases rose sharply in Cobb, to 1,033 the week of Aug. 27.

The entire fifth grade at East Side Elementary School was sent home to learn remotely for nearly two weeks due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

Parents demanding Cobb schools mandate masks were met by counter protestors. But Superintendent Chris Ragsdale didn’t budge from maintaining a masks-optional policy, even after the Cobb Board of Health—of which he is a member—issued a position statement in favor of a mandate.

But in September, those numbers began falling nearly as rapidly.

At the September Cobb Board of Education meeting, Ragsdale defended the masks-optional policy further, even as nearby districts maintained their mandate.

Four Cobb school parents filed a federal lawsuit against the district last week, saying its COVID-19 protocols, including a masks-optional policy, are preventing their medically fragile children from getting a proper education.

The district is facing a deadline to respond next week to a motion from the plaintiffs seeking a temporary injunction to require masks.

A Fulton County judge this week sided with the Fulton County School System after parents challenged its mask mandate.

Wheeler Name Change group to hold virtual town hall

October 9, 2021 12:56 PMOctober 7, 2021 8:18 AM by Wendy Parker

Submitted information from Zoe Shepard of the Wheeler Name Change Initiative:

“We will be having our second virtual town hall on Monday October 11 at 6:00pm where we will be recounting our initiative, giving updates, and opening the floor to questions.

“We are continuing to reach out to the board and attend board meetings, though we are still unable to elicit a response. Over the summer, we attended the June board meeting then launched an email campaign sending emails three times a week throughout the month of July.”

More specifically:

“Each board member received 22 emails from students within the initiative, but majority of the Board failed to respond even once.

“If the Board cannot adequately address the concerns of the community, they cannot properly represent said community. The sole obligation of the Board members is being willfully neglected, and we deserve better.”

There are two ways to sign up to watch the town hall: GoTo Webinar and Linktree.

Previous ECN coverage can be found here.

Cobb school board member to run for state school superintendent

October 7, 2021 12:16 PMOctober 6, 2021 1:52 PM by Wendy Parker

First-term Cobb Board of Education member Jaha Howard has filed paperwork run for Georgia Superintendent of Schools in 2022. Cobb school board COVID safety letter

Howard, a Democrat from Post 2 (Campbell and Osborne clusters) registered his campaign committee with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission on Sunday.

In late June, he filed a Declaration of Intent form with the same agency but didn’t specify which office he was seeking.

Official qualifying begins early next year for the May 2022 primaries.

A pediatric dentist from Vinings, Howard has been a controversial figure in his nearly three-year tenure on the school board, pressing for action on racial and diversity issues and challenging the Cobb County School District’s COVID-19 policies.

When he attempted to question Superintendent Chris Ragsdale about those protocols at the September board meeting, he was cut off by chairman Randy Scamihorn.

He and fellow board Democrats Charisse Davis and Tre’ Hutchins then walked out of the meeting room in protest.

That was the latest of several instances of party conflict on the Cobb school board since 2019.

Earlier this year, the three Democrats requested a special review by Cognia, the Cobb school district’s accrediting agency, that is expected to be released soon.

Howard is one of three school board members up for re-election in 2022.

Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters in Post 6, has not announced whether she’s seeking a second term.

Also in East Cobb’s Post 4, Republican David Chastain has said he will be running again. Kennesaw State University student Austin Heller is an announced candidate as a Democrat for that post, which includes the Kell and Sprayberry clusters.

No candidates have yet announced for Post 2. That was one of two school board seats that swung from GOP to Democrat in 2018 (along with Post 6), reducing Republican majority to 4-3.

Howard unsuccessfully ran in a special election for a State Senate seat in 2017, losing to Jen Jordan. She has announced she’s running for Georgia Attorney General next year.

Cobb schools online learning lottery opens for spring semester

October 6, 2021 1:25 PMOctober 6, 2021 10:17 AM by Wendy Parker

Submitted information:

As Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced during the August Cobb Board of Education meeting, Cobb families will once again have an opportunity to choose the learning environment that best supports the needs of their student(s).

The District is offering all students (PK-12th grade) the option to enter a lottery for seats in the Elementary Virtual Program (EVP) or Cobb Online Learning Academy (COLA) at Cobb Horizon starting in January 2022.

Elementary lottery winners will remain enrolled in their current schools but will receive all instruction virtually from a certified EVP teacher starting in January. Middle and high school lottery winners will be withdrawn from their current schools and enrolled in COLA for the spring semester.

Enrolling adults may enter the lottery for full-time online learning between October 6th and October 19th, 2021.

Starting on October 6th, enrolling adults may enter the online learning lottery through ParentVue. Once logged in to ParentVue, enrolling adults should click Online Learning Lottery in the menu on the left and then click again at the top of the page. Select your choice for each of your students and click submit. You will receive an email confirmation regarding your lottery entry after the lottery window closes.

Lottery results will be emailed in early November.

Cobb school board member’s e-mail discourages COVID vaccines

October 5, 2021 1:41 PMOctober 5, 2021 1:01 PM by Wendy Parker

David Banks, Cobb school board member — *David Banks taking the oath of office at the start of his fourth term in January. Photo: Cobb County School District*

Cobb Board of Education member David Banks has sent an e-mail to constituents that strongly discourages them from getting the COVID-19 vaccine and accuses the government of “intentionally killing its citizens.”

Banks, who is in his fourth term representing Post 5 (Pope and Lassiter clusters), sent the e-email Sunday afternoon via his official school board e-mail address, that cited figures about adverse effects of the vaccine from a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

The body of the message is as follows:

“It just gets worse and worse. The CDC has now published the Adverse effects of Covid Shots through September 24, 2021. (see item 8 of the attached.) The number of deaths resulting directly from Covid shots in the US alone are at a minimum of 122,592 based on the CDC September 24 report. Serious permanent injury from the shots has happened to more than 100,000 people. That is unacceptable. The government is intentionally killing its citizens. The Governments at all levels in America continue to take actions to force people to take the shots. There is no medical reason supporting those actions. Covid shots were proven NOT TO WORK almost two years ago in the governments own mandated trials performed by Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J. See item 2 of the attachment. My advice. Do not take the shots if you have not already done so. Contact your state and federal legislators and share the attachment with them.”

The attachment referred to, entitled “Things to Know About Covid19,” can be found by clicking here.

The source is from Macht Im Wissen Inc. of Georgia, and its CEO is Emery Leonard.

The phrase is German for “Knowledge is Power” and Leonard is an Atlanta resident and retired benefits professional.

At the bottom of the attachment, Leonard explained that he started an e-mail list to send “confirmed facts about current issues. My intention is to provide only true facts, show how they may interplay, or even affect you personally. Any factual information I may cite will not come from the media, as the media is not a reliable and trustworthy source.”

The attachment is broken down into several subjects, including the effectiveness of masks (“masks don’t work”), the COVID-19 vaccines, presidential COVID-19 advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci and alternative treatments.

Leonard claims the the COVID-19 virus was created in a lab in China “and does not exist in nature,” and advocates for the use of substances such as Ivermectin and Hyrdoxycloroquine, which have been controversial subjects..

He also alleges that “there is no valid test for Covid19” and “there is NO valid test for any variation of the Covid virus.”

East Cobb News has left Banks a message seeking comment.

A constituent who forwarded his e-mail and attachment to East Cobb News said that she found it “very disturbing that this information is being circulated from an elected official and makes me despair over the decisions being made for the safety of my three children in Cobb County schools.”

Banks is the board’s current vice chairman and is part of a four-member Republican majority. Most of those members have not worn masks during in-person board meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic (along with Superintendent Chris Ragsdale).

Banks has said previously he doesn’t wear a mask because he thinks they don’t work.

Last August, he included an item in his “Grapevine” e-mail newsletter to constituents making reference to COVID-19 as the “China Virus,” upsetting some constituents.

He didn’t reply to an East Cobb News story for comment, and later responded that he got few negative replies to that e-mail and that “these people are racists and you carried their water.”

The Cobb County School District is one of the few in metro Atlanta with a masks-optional policy for the 2021-22 school year, after requiring masks last school year.

Before school board meetings in August and September, there have been pro-mask mandate rallies met by counter-demonstrators arguing that mask use should not be a parental and student choice.

On Friday, Cobb schools were sued by the parents of four medically fragile students who said the district’s COVID-19 policies, including masks-optional, make it impossible for their children to have an in-person education.

On Tuesday, the non-profit news organization Pro Publica published a lengthy piece interviewing parents of Cobb school district students concerned about high COVID-19 case numbers at the start of the school year.

They included East Cobb parents and a family with students at East Side Elementary School affected by the decision for fifth graders to learn remotely for more than two weeks.

The story was written by Nicole Carr, an Atlanta journalist who has pulled her own children from Cobb schools because of the masks-optional policy.

Cobb school board to hold special called meeting Thursday

October 4, 2021 2:54 PM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb Board of Education will hold a special called meeting on Thursday to discuss legal matters, according to a notice posted on by the Cobb County School District website Monday.

The notice says the meeting will begin at 1 p.m. in the board room of the CCD central office (514 Glover St., Marietta) and then the board will convene to an executive session.

Elected bodies can discuss land, legal and personnel matters in executive sessions.

The district message didn’t elaborate what specific legal issues will be discussed.

On Friday, four parents with students in the Cobb school district filed a federal lawsuit, claiming COVID-19 protocols are preventing their medically fragile children from getting a proper education under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Cobb schools is one of the few districts in metro Atlanta with a masks-optional policy, which the lawsuit cites, along with other distancing and safety measures the plaintiffs have alleged are not adequate.

In response to a request from East Cobb News for comment about the lawsuit, a district spokeswoman said this on Monday:

“As is the case with any issue, individual student needs are supported on a student-by-student basis and we actively encourage any student or family to discuss their needs with their local school. We cannot comment on pending lawsuits but appreciate the support of Nelson Mullins on all legal matters concerning the school district.”

The Cobb school district also is awaiting a report from its accrediting agency, which conducted a special review in August after getting complaints from three board members and 50 community members about governance, equity and academic performance issues.

Cobb school district sued by parents over COVID-19 protocols

October 1, 2021 6:25 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb schools sued COVID-19 protocols — *The middle school son of East Cobb resident Sara Cavorley has been learning at home due to a rare form of cancer.*

Four parents of Cobb County School District students with disabilities or illnesses have filed a federal lawsuit against the district, saying its COVID-19 protocols aren’t protecting the students’ safety.

One of the parents is Sara Cavorley, whom East Cobb News profiled in August after she pulled four of her children out of schools in the Sprayberry High School attendance zone.

She did so, she said at the time, to protect her homebound son, a 13-year-old enrolled at Simpson Middle School but who suffers from acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rare form of cancer.

Cavorley said she was unaware of the district’s masks-optional policy when the 2021-22 school year arrived and was upset that parents could not switch from in-person to virtual learning, as they could do during the previous school year.

In their lawsuit (you can read it here), filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta by local attorneys working with the Southern Poverty Law Center, Cavorley and the other three Cobb schools parents allege that the Cobb school district’s “current COVID-19 response jeopardizes the health and safety of more than 110,000 individuals in the District, approximately 15,000 of whom are students with disabilities, like Plaintiffs, as well as the District’s employees and the entire Cobb County community.”

As a result, the lawsuit contends, their children can no longer attend classes in person, and they are being deprived of an appropriate education.

According to the lawsuit, the Cobb school district has “acted with deliberate indifference to Plaintiffs’ rights to inclusion, health, and education” and are seeking “relief from this Court to ensure they receive the educational services, programs, and benefits to which they are legally entitled” under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.

Ragsdale and each of the seven members of the Cobb Board of Education are listed as defendants.

The defendants are asking the court to require the Cobb school district to develop COVID-19 protocols that follow existing CDC guidelines for schools and to “maintain consistency with CDC guidelines in the event of subsequent changes.”

Earlier this spring, parents opposed to the district’s mask mandate at the time filed a federal lawsuit, but their attempt for a temporary injunction was denied. They dropped their suit when Ragsdale announced that a masks-optional policy would be in place for the 2021-22 school year.

In the August East Cobb News profile, Cavorley said she kept her children at home in the Cobb school district’s virtual option last school year to protect her son Leland, who needs regular blood transfusions.

He also was not old enough at the time to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which is available to people ages 12 and older.

But she wanted her children to return to in-person learning for this school year, and said they were upset when they returned to classes to be around staff and other students who weren’t wearing masks.

The lawsuit said her son has been vaccinated and his doctors approved him returning to in-person classes “so long as the 2020-2021 safety protocols were in place, namely universal masking, plexiglass between students, and social distancing. [Her son’s] doctors advised against him attending school in-person if the District discontinued those safety protocols.”

Cavorley withdrew her son from in-school instruction and requested hospital/homebound (HHB) services for him, according to the suit, which further claims that “HHB is not an appropriate placement for a child who could attend school in-person with reasonable modifications.”

The lawsuit continues that he gets only five hours of instruction a week and is isolated from his peers, as are the children of the other parents in the lawsuit.

According to the suit, the Cobb school district threatened to disenroll Cavorley’s other children, and her homebound son’s siblings “now attend school fearful of bringing COVID-19 home” while he is “being denied access to in-person education opportunities because of his disability.”

The lawsuit also details Cobb school board discussions about masking and COVID-19 protocols, noting the partisan divisions on the board, and also how Ragsdale abstained from voting for a Cobb Board of Health statement in September calling for universal masking in schools.

That’s following guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the American Association of Pediatricians, as well as Cobb and Douglas Public Health.

At the Cobb school board’s September meetings, Ragsdale adamantly defended the district’s masks-optional policy, citing dropping COVID-19 case rates and saying its metrics weren’t much different from nearby school districts that mandated masks.

“This district will not be anti-mask,” Ragsdale said, emphasizing that mask use is “strongly encouraged” among students and staff.

After being refused a request to question Ragsdale, the three Democrats on the school board walked out of the meeting.

“Because of Defendants’ actions, Plaintiffs are being denied critical educational opportunities, including the social, emotional, and academic advantages of being in the classroom with their peers,” the lawsuit states.

Cobb schools awaiting accreditor’s special review report

October 1, 2021 3:41 PMOctober 1, 2021 3:08 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb school district

The Cobb County School District is still awaiting a report from its accrediting agency, several weeks after a special review process was conducted.

Alpharetta-based Cognia interviewed district officials and Cobb Board of Education members over several days in August, following complaints from three board members and 50 others in the community on a range of board governance matters and concerns over equitable opportunities and student performance.

Mariama Tyler, Cognia’s vice president of public relations, said Thursday in an e-mail response to East Cobb News that “I do not have a timeline for the release of the report. It will be released to the Cobb Board of Education once completed.”

East Cobb News has left a message with the Cobb school district seeking comment. Cobb schools have been on fall break this week.

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.

They sent a letter to Cognia in January outlining their issues and that the district released to the public when announcing the special review:

“The continued silencing of board members who would like to not only talk about positives, but also publicly address challenges, continues. The three of us remain concerned that our governing body is not adhering to the leadership standards set forth by Cognia.”

They asked for third-party assistance in to help the board “navigate our differences,” specific agenda items for COVID-related staff support and safety improvements and additional agenda items “related to the study and expansion of targeted literacy interventions.”

Ragsdale responded in late March to Cognia, defending Cobb’s record on all three matters.

In addition, community members lodged complaints citing financial concerns, the district’s handling of COVID-19 matters and even the board’s refusal to consider requests to rename Wheeler High School.

Depending on the findings, a special review—which is a rare occurrence—typically affords districts time to make recommended changes before a possible loss of accreditation.

At the time Cognia undertook the Cobb process, it also was conducting a special review of Gwinnett County Public Schools, the largest system in the state.

In mid-September, Cognia announced that Gwinnett would retain full accreditation.

The Gwinnett review evaluated that school district based on six performance standards. Cognia found that Gwinnett schools exceeded one of those standards, met three others, and recommended improvements for two other standards, both relating to governing authority issues.

In the months leading up to the special review, the Cobb school district openly expressed frustration that Cognia would not disclose specifics of the 50 community complaints.

But WSB-TV reported in June that it had obtained a copy of a report detailing those complaints, something the district has said it had not been able to see.

A number of them apparently focus on allegations that the Cobb school board—with an all-white four-member Republican majority and a minority of three black Democrats—has not adequately responded to community concerns.

“We are only aware of specific complaints to COGNIA through reporting from select media outlets,” a district spokeswoman told East Cobb News in August, just as the review was set to begin.

The MDJ also reported it has been rebuffed in its efforts to see the complaints after unsuccessfully filing open records requests. The newspaper, which appealed to the Georgia Attorney General’s office for assistance but was denied, also reported that Cobb school officials demanded unredacted copies of the 50 complaints, but to no avail.

For more than a year, students, parents and others associated with Wheeler High School have been speaking at school board meetings about a desire to change the school name, and to get a response.

Wheeler, named after a Confederate Civil War general, is among the most racially and ethnically diverse schools in the Cobb district. Students in favor of a name change have said publicly they’re embarrassed and ashamed their school is named after someone they say doesn’t reflect what their school is about.

But they have said that only Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, has responded in favor of their concerns—she signed an online petition supporting a Wheeler name change.

The issue hasn’t made a school board agenda because items can be added by members only with majority support, or unilaterally by the chairman or superintendent, none of which have happened.

On its Facebook page Thursday, the Wheeler Name Change group said that over the summer:

“We sent weekly emails yet only got a limited number of responses. We need to continue to increase public pressure on the Board so they can no longer ignore our efforts.”

Before the special review began, Cognia head Mark Elgart told the AJC that Cobb’s accreditation would not immediately be threatened by the special review.

Cobb district officials have cited a loss of accreditation in Clayton and DeKalb public schools in 2008 and 2011 respectively for their concerns about the process.

Shortly after the review was announced, the Cobb school district fired its longtime Marietta law firm and hired the Atlanta law firm of Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough.

At the same time, a Facebook group formed demanding a recall for the three board members who asked for the special review.

Pope HS students open Little Free Library at Green Acres ES

September 29, 2021 2:09 PMSeptember 29, 2021 8:05 AM by Wendy Parker

Pope students Little Free Library Green Acres ES

From the Cobb County School District:

Students at Green Acres Elementary School now have more opportunities to explore their love of reading. The Green Acres community and students from Pope High School recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the elementary school’s new Little Free Library (LFL).

Pope students Julia Acker, Abby Freed, Erin Kappel, Aila McLean, and Ansley Roberts chose to install an LFL at Green Acres as part of their Girl Scout “Silver Project.”

Recognizing the need of her students, Greens Acres Principal Ashley Mize has wanted to install a little library for several years. Thanks to the work of the Cobb Collaborative and the Pope Girl Scouts, her wish is now a reality.

“We are very excited at Green Acres to have our new Little Free Library! Many of our students live within walking distance of the school, so it is perfect for them to access after school and on the weekends. Building a love of reading is essential to our student’s success in school and life,” said Green Acres Principal Ashley Mize. “We can’t wait to see our students and community engage with the library and for our student’s love of reading to grow!”

To read more, please click here.

Cobb school superintendent defends mask, COVID-19 policies

September 25, 2021 12:03 PMSeptember 24, 2021 4:38 PM by Wendy Parker

After coming under repeated attack for several weeks for not requiring masks, Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale made a lengthy and emphatic defense of that and other COVID-19 measures Thursday.

He took issue with what he said were false reports in the news media about school case figures, and showed a series of slides to illustrate how sharply infection numbers have been falling in the Cobb County School District.

Last week, the Cobb school district sent out a release showing that the case rate had dropped 44 percent since a peak in late August.

He also showed figures from a U.S. Centers for Disease Control study of elementary schools in Georgia conducted last school year—when Cobb schools had a mask mandate—concluding that “masks could not be said to be effective” at slowing the spread of COVID-19.

“We need to understand what is happening, why it is happening, and what will happen next. We need to understand our data and what it means,” he said during the school board’s Thursday night meeting.

“I felt it was time to get an accurate depiction of our data. When we are not presented with a forward-looking process, we will use our own data-driven process.”

He said his slide presentation would be posted on the Cobb school district website, but as of Friday afternoon that had not be done. Some of those slides are shown below.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

You can watch Ragsdale’s presentation in its entirety by clicking here; his remarks begin at the 1:07 mark.

“Good news today does not guarantee good news tomorrow,” he said, although Cobb school district data released Friday continues a downward trend.

Over the past week there have been 394 cases of COVID-19 among students and staff, the lowest single-week total since the school year began.

There are 13 active cases at Dickerson Middle School, down from 38 a week ago, and 11 cases have been reported at Eastvalley Elementary School.

No other school in East Cobb was in double figures this week, after previous outbreaks at several schools.

The district sent out a release late Friday indicating that the rate decrease is 62 percent since the peak five weeks ago.

In Cobb County the 14-day average of cases per 100,000 was at 605, according to Cobb and Douglas Public Health, well above the “high community spread” threshold of 100 cases but falling from more than 800 a few weeks ago.

Earlier this month Ragsdale was the only member of the Cobb Board of Health not to vote for a statement supporting universal masking in schools, as the CDC has recommended.

“This district will not be anti-mask,” Ragsdale said Thursday, adding that the current policy “strongly encourages” masks. Vaccinations are also encouraged, he said, but those will not be mandated either.

“We will not be requiring vaccinations to be employed in the Cobb County School District,” he said.

At the end of Ragsdale’s presentation—which was not specified on the school board’s meeting agenda in advance—the three Democratic members attempted to question him.

At a Thursday afternoon work session, the Democrats voted against adopting the evening meeting agenda because it mentioned nothing about COVID-19 policies.

When Republican board chairman Randy Scamihorn denied their requests to directly talk to Ragsdale, they walked out of the meeting room.

“We a get a surprise update and I think it would be nice to have a little Q and A,” board member Jaha Howard said to Scamihorn moments before. “Were you curious? Did you have questions? Because we’re hearing this for the first time.”

Ragsdale said he would be happy to talk to board members one-on-one about the data, but Howard pressed on for a public dialogue.

“The chair is not going to entertain questions at this time,” Scamihorn said. “Moving on . . .”

At that point, three Democratic members—Howard, Charisse Davis and Tre’ Hutchins—left the room, and Scamihorn paused. When he heard shouting from the back of the room, he slammed his gavel and said, “Dr. Howard, you’re out of order, sir.”

On her Facebook page, Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, wrote about the incident, referencing earlier statements by Ragsdale and Scamihorn about anti-Semitic incidents at Pope and Lassiter high schools but that like the COVID issue wasn’t listed on the meeting agendas for a public board conversation:

“Yes, the three of ‘us’ board members walked out of the voting session. It was the second time today we were refused an opportunity to ask questions about some of the biggest things going on in the district right now: acts of hate in the schools and COVID. We represent the public, so if we cannot ask questions then I hope you understand why that’s a problem for YOU.”

She also posted a graphic that said the following:

“I am on a school board, where in the same meeting, leadership both condemned hate due to antisemitism and did not let Black board members ask questions.”

East Cobb News contacted Davis seeking further comment, including what questions she would have asked him if she were permitted.

“It seemed like a big mistake for the superintendent to not take questions about his data. You either stand by it or you don’t,” she said.

Davis remained out of the room when the four Republican members later voted 4-0 to approve $378,000 in funding for a new robotics lab at Wheeler, converting the original auditorium.

The motion to approve came from board member David Chastain, a Wheeler graduate.

Cobb schools will be on fall break next week.

ADL: Cobb schools response to hate incidents ‘disappointing’

September 24, 2021 12:34 PM by Wendy Parker

*Allison Padilla-Goodman, Anti-Defamation League*

The Southeast Region of the Anti-Defamation League isn’t satisfied with the initial response from the Cobb County School District regarding anti-Semitic incidents at Pope and Lassiter high schools.

Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday the students responsible have been identified and are facing disciplinary action, and Cobb Board of Education chairman Randy Scamihorn said he is crafting a resolution to address anti-Semitism.

But Thursday night, ADL vice president Allison Padilla-Goodman said in a statement that those responses don’t go far enough:

“It’s disappointing that after multiple antisemitic hate incidents in Cobb County schools this month, the Board of Education has still not indicated how it will respond. This goes beyond antisemitism — for years, incidents of racism, sexism, homophobia, and overall hate have gone unaddressed in county schools, and the disregard shown by the board illustrates a pattern of neglect in countering hate.

“If Cobb County’s goal is ‘One team. One goal. Student success’, disciplining those responsible for the hate incidents is not enough, a community-wide response that uses education is necessary. Stating values in a symbolic resolution is only part of combatting hate — we hope that the future actions from Cobb Schools contain commitments to action to achieve those values. The Cobb County community deserves a real response from their Board of Education and a commitment to specific actions and educational initiatives which can address the hate in their schools.”

Several members of the public, including two rabbis in East Cobb, spoke during the two board meetings Thursday about anti-Semitic experiences they or their children have had in schools. Some urged the board to introduce a broad educational program throughout the district going beyond anti-Semitism.

Until earlier this year, the Cobb school district had made use of the ADL’s “No Place for Hate” initiative, but that has been discontinued. More from the ADL statement:

“Beyond these recent antisemitic incidents, many Cobb County parents feel that the school district has a history of incidents of racism, sexism, homophobia, and overall hate, and a record of failing to effectively address those incidents.”

The statement included a video link provided by Stronger Together, which focuses on racial justice in Cobb schools, with parents making public comments expressing frustrations with how the board has handled some of those matters.

Ragsdale said he could not provide details about the disciplinary action but stressed that the Cobb school district “does not and will not tolerate hate in any form.”

Scamihorn, who attended a Yom Kippur service at Temple Kol Emeth last week, said his resolution is still in the works and that he wants to “take the time to do it right.”

He didn’t specify what elements and language might be included in that resolution.

In 2020, the Cobb school board could not reach a consensus on an anti-racism resolution in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis that sparked nationwide protests.

Democratic members Jaha Howard and Charisse Davis insisted on language that said that the Cobb school district has a history of “systemic racism” and urged the district to undertake “targeted anti-racist programs and policy.”

Republicans, including Scamihorn, objected, saying those words and demands undermined the ability to send a unified message.

The ADL is asking parents, students, teachers and staff to report hate incidents at its online portal.

Cobb schools bring disciplinary charges in anti-Semitic incidents

September 24, 2021 5:17 PMSeptember 23, 2021 3:44 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb schools anti-Semitic incidents — *“We are united in our disappointment” by the response of the Cobb school district, Congregation Etz Chaim Rabbi Daniel Dorsch told the Board of Education Thursday.*

Cobb County School District superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday that student disciplinary charges have been brought in anti-Semitic incidents at two East Cobb high schools, but he didn’t elaborate.

Ragsdale said during a Cobb Board of Education work session Thursday afternoon that student disciplinary procedures required by state law preclude him from providing further information.

He also asked school board members to refrain from making public comments about the situation unless and until after any students subjected to disciplinary action would have an opportunity to appeal.

“The district does not and will not tolerate hate in any form,” Ragsdale said, reading from prepared remarks.

Before a public comment period at the work session, board chairman Randy Scamihorn said he was preparing a resolution condemning anti-Semitism but that it wasn’t ready.

There was nothing specific on the board’s meeting agendas about the anti-Semitic incidents at Pope and Lassiter.

Ragsdale’s comments came after several public commenters, including two rabbis in East Cobb, were critical of the district for its response to swastika and “Heil Hitler” graffiti found at Pope and Lassiter high schools over the last two weeks.

Those incidents also took place amid more general vandalism in lavatories as part of a social media stunt on the Tik Tok application that’s spread nationwide.

He said the district’s disciplinary recommendation is “sufficiently significant that the board’s members could likely hear it on appeal.

“I realize this may have begun as some kind of social media dare,” Ragsdale continued, saying that while such incidents are extremely rare in a school district with more than 100,000 students, “this district refuses to dismiss this incident as as some kind of prank.”

Those were his first public remarks since the incidents took place at Pope and Lassiter. Jewish and community leaders decried an earlier district reference only to “hate speech” and a similar response from Pope principal Thomas Flugum that didn’t specify anti-Semitism.

Lassiter principal Chris Richie did specify anti-Semitism in his letter to the school community, but Jewish leaders and community figures speaking before the board Thursday continued to express displeasure.

Rabbi Daniel Dorsch of Congregation Etz Chaim in East Cobb said he was speaking on behalf of several Jewish organizations that were “united in our disappointment” that “the school’s response specifically failed to address the hate by name—anti-Semitism, hatred against Jews.

“The failure by the administration to label it by name has left us feeling unheard and unseen.”

Rachel Barich, a past president of Temple Kol Emeth in East Cobb, recalled an incident when her brother experienced an anti-Semitic vandalism of his locker after his Bar Mitzvah. That prompted their parents to pull them out of public schools in the St. Louis area.

“The district has a responsibility. There is much more work to be done,” said Barich, whose children are Cobb public school graduates.

“No child should attend a school full of hate and none of us can continue to believe that the problem has gone away.”

Scamihorn attended a Yom Kippur service last week at Kol Emeth at the invitation of Rabbi Larry Sernovitz, who thanked him at the board meeting. They have been discussing a possible resolution.

But Sernovitz also demanded specifics of what the school district would be undertaking along safety and educational lines.

“Right now, some of our students don’t feel safe in schools in Cobb County,” Sernovitz said. “It starts with swastikas and grows from there.”

Cobb schools parent Keith Hanks referenced the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish pencil factory manger, at a spot near what is now Roswell Road and Frey’s Gin Road in Marietta.

That’s the only known lynching of a Jew in American history, and in 2018, former Kol Emeth Rabbi Steven Lebow led the rededication of a memorial to Frank as he continues exoneration efforts.

“The wounds of Leo Frank still ring true today,” Hanks said. “Cobb does not get the luxury to kick the can [down the road] because of its past.”

Scamihorn said he wants to discuss his resolution with colleagues and “take the time to do it right” before he brings it to the board for action. “But I wanted our community to hear that from me.”

At the Thursday evening school board meeting, Lassiter sophomore Hannah Levy said that as a Jew, she and some of her fellow Jewish students “do not feel safe at Lassiter.”

She said her parents were concerned about her speaking out, and that she’s afraid to wear her Star of David necklace to school.

“What is the school board going to do to fix this,” she said. “The longer you wait the more it’s going to fester.”

Levy said she and other Lassiter students want anti-hate and Holocaust education to be provided throughout the Cobb school district.

You can watch replays of both meetings by clicking here.

Wheeler HS robotics lab funding on Cobb school board agenda

September 22, 2021 2:11 PMSeptember 22, 2021 8:03 AM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday will be asked to consider spending nearly $378,000 to convert an unused theater on the Wheeler High School campus for a robotics lab.

The matter will be up for discussion at a 2:30 p.m. work session, with action scheduled for a 7 p.m. voting meeting Thursday.

Both meetings will take place at the Cobb County School District central office (514 Glover St., Marietta), and you can read through the agendas by clicking here.

The meetings also will be live-streamed on the district’s BoxCast channel and on CobbEdTV, Comcast Channel 24.

An executive session will take place between the two public meetings.

The agenda item for the Wheeler robotics lab calls for completion of the project by March 2022.

It’s part of a continuing effort to establish robotics programs in all Cobb County School District high schools. The funding would come from current Ed-SPLOST V funds.

As East Cobb News reported Monday, several Jewish groups in metro Atlanta have called on the school board to publicly condemn anti-Semitism after swastika and “Heil Hitler” graffiti was found on bathroom walls at Pope and Lassiter high schools in East Cobb.

But there’s not an item on the board agenda to discuss the matter. Chairman Randy Scamihorn told us while he condemns the incidents, he wants ongoing school-level investigations to be played out.

Some of those Jewish groups and individuals have organized an online petition and are expected to speak to the incidents during the public comment periods at Thursday’s meetings.

A traveling party from Temple Kol Emeth in East Cobb is organizing an appearance for the evening meeting “to call out the board’s inadequate response to the recent acts of anti-Semitism at two of its schools and to ask for the reinstatement of anti-hate educational programming to help prevent more in the future,” according to a social media posting for the synagogue.

“Please bring signs. Anti-Semitism has no place in our schools!”

Jewish groups ask Cobb school board to condemn anti-Semitism

September 20, 2021 2:22 PMSeptember 20, 2021 1:25 PM by Wendy Parker

*Cobb school board chairman Randy Scamihorn*

As we reported over the weekend, the chairman of the Cobb Board of Education appeared at a Yom Kippur service in East Cobb last week following two anti-Semitic incidents at nearby high schools.

When East Cobb News spoke with Randy Scamihorn, who was invited to the high holy day service at Temple Kol Emeth by Rabbi Larry Sernovitz, we asked if he was considering asking the school board to issue a statement about the discoveries of swastikas and “Heil Hitler” scrawlings at Pope and Lassiter high schools.

Leadership teams at the individual schools are conducting investigations.

Scamihorn condemned the attacks, saying those who committed them are “woefully ignorant of what the swastika means.”

As chairman he could bring an item to Thursday’s school board meeting agendas unilaterally, but said in our interview Friday that “at this time, I’m going to let the investigations play out.”

Other board members need the vote of a majority of the board to add agenda items, following a late 2020 policy change.

Board members also are prohibited from offering public comments during their meetings on any subject. A policy change was made in 2019 that’s part of ongoing conflict among the seven-member body, typically along partisan lines.

On Sunday, Kol Emeth and other Jewish organizations in metro Atlanta launched an online petition that’s already surpassed 1,700 signatures out of a targeted 2,500:

“We are asking the Cobb County School Board and its associated schools to recognize and condemn all forms of antisemitism that occur on campus and to allow school principals the authority to condemn these acts and offer programming to proactively educate the student body and community about antisemitism and to prevent further occurrences.”

The groups include the Atlanta Initiative Against Anti-Semitism, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and other metro Atlanta synagogues.

Sernovitz and other Jewish leaders have been critical of the Cobb school district’s response, saying a message by Pope principal Thomas Flugum didn’t specify that they were anti-Semitic incidents.

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.”

In a statement issued Monday, Lauren Menis, a co-founder of the Atlanta Alliance Against Anti-Semitism said the following:

“In refusing to call out the hate by name, as antisemitism, the Cobb County School Board is sending a clear message that these acts of hate are not significant. This is a teachable moment, and we need to seize it. By not naming it and not allowing anti-hate educational programming to address this in their schools, the schools have denied a valuable opportunity to help students learn from these events. Downplaying hate is unacceptable. We will hold Cobb County’s school board accountable. Their silence is unacceptable.”

The Cobb school board is delaying its September meetings—a work session at 2:30 p.m. and a business meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday—by a week in observance of Yom Kippur.

That schedule change was announced last Monday, after the Pope incident. On Wednesday, Lassiter school officials announced a similar incident had taken place.

Also on Monday, the Democratic House Leadership Caucus of the Georgia legislature issued a statement condemning the Pope and Lassiter incidents, including David Wilkerson and Erica Thomas of South Cobb.

Democrat Jon Ossoff, Georgia’s first Jewish U.S. senator, also condemned the Cobb incidents in a Yom Kippur appearance at a Sandy Springs synagogue.

The Pope PTSA organization is planning a Nov. 20 event in response to the anti-Semitic incident there that will include a campus cleanup project as well as assemblies involving faith leaders from local Jewish, Catholic and Episcopalian congregations.

Response to anti-Semitic East Cobb school incidents: ‘A lesson in solidarity’

September 18, 2021 2:59 PM by Wendy Parker

*Rabbi Larry Sernovitz, Temple Kol Emeth*

Instead of presiding over Cobb Board of Education meetings Thursday, chairman Randy Scamihorn was attending a Yom Kippur service in East Cobb.

He had received an invitation from Rabbi Larry Sernovitz after anti-Semitic graffiti was found on bathroom walls at Pope High School last week.

As Scamihorn was asked to hold the Torah at the Temple Kol Emeth synagogue on the holiest of Jewish holy days, another investigation was underway for a similar incident at Lassiter High School earlier this week.

“Like many non-Jews, I am woefully inadequate in my knowledge of the Jewish religion,” Scamihorn said Friday in an interview with East Cobb News.

“I saw it as an opportunity to enhance my education.”

He said he was pleasantly surprised not just at the invitation to attend, but to take a leading part in one of the most meaningful aspects of the Yom Kippur observance.

Sernovitz and others in the local Jewish community are pushing for that receptiveness to spread throughout the community, and in particular the Cobb County School District.

After the Pope incident, the school board postponed Thursday’s scheduled monthly meetings for another week due to Yom Kippur.

But Sernovitz and other Jewish leaders said the district’s response has been inadequate. In a letter to the Pope community, principal Thomas Flugum didn’t specify the anti-Semitic nature of the graffiti, which included swastikas and “Hail Hitler” written above urinals.

Similar scrawling took place in a boys bathroom at Lassiter, where principal Chris Richie was specific, 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.

The “devious licks” challenge is being addressed by the social media company, but other reports of anti-Semitic incidents are unknown.

The Pope PTSA organization is planning a Nov. 20 event in response to the anti-Semitic attack that will include a campus cleanup project as well as assemblies involving faith leaders from local Jewish, Catholic and Episcopalian congregations.

It’s called “Team Up to Clean Up: Building Relationships through Service,” and details will be forthcoming, said Kelley Jimison, a Pope parent who’s leading the organizing effort.

“I see it as an opportunity to teach our students lifelong lessons,” she said. “What matters to me is that we have a chance to turn this around and make positive change out of this.”

Jimison stressed that what happened at Pope involved only a small number of students on a campus of around 2,000 students.

What she calls “a lesson in solidarity” is already taking place, as Pope students and staff produced the video below this week.

At an earlier Yom Kippur service on Thursday. Sernovitz addressed a congregant who’s soon to be Bar Mitzvahed and applauded him for being “proud of his Judaism” as he attends school.

“We’re proud of the education that you gave to your fellow students,” said Sernovitz, who also thanked parents for “staying strong and raising your kids in the face of indignity.”

Sernovitz was traveling this weekend and could not be reached for comment.

The Cobb school board will be meeting next Thursday, at which public commenters are expected to address the anti-Semitic incidents.

In speaking with East Cobb News, Scamihorn was reluctant to say whether he may bring forward an item condemning the attacks.

As chairman he can do that unilaterally, but said that “at this time, I’m going to let the investigations play out.”

Those responsible for the incidents, he said, are “woefully ignorant of what the swastika means.”

Board vice chairman David Banks, whose Post 5 in East Cobb includes the Pope and Lassiter attendance zones, also condemned the incidents, saying it’s “disappointing that we have students who would do something like that.”

What they did, Banks said, “has no Christian values.”

But he said the district processes for investigating alleged student misbehavior need to be followed, and that he’s not sure of all the details.

“We’re not going to hash it out in public,” Banks added, saying that by doing so it might become a national story. “It’s a local issue. Let the schools take care of it.”

Pope HS swastikas

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