East Cobb Schools

Cobb school board calls special meeting on accreditation

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Cobb school board COVID-19

The Cobb Board of Education will hold a special-called meeting Monday to hear from Superintendent Chris Ragsdale about a recent “communication” from its accrediting agency “regarding accreditation status.”

That’s according to a special notice issued Friday by the Cobb County School District. The meeting will take place at 12:30 p.m. Monday in the board meeting room at the CCSD central office (514 Glover St., Marietta).

The district indicated the meeting also will be live-streamed at this link, as well as shown on Comcast Cable Channel 24 and Charter Cable Channel 182).

There’s no other information about the specifics of district’s communication with Cognia, an Alpharetta-based education accreditor that conducted a special review of the Cobb school district in 2021.

In releasing its report in November, Cognia detailed what it called a “Progress Monitoring Review” that includes improvements the district must make in four areas: effective policy-making from the school board, board members adhering to a code of ethics, educational equity and financial accountability.

(You can read through the Cognia report and accompanying documents here, here and here.)

The district has until the end of the year to make those improvements before Cognia would consider whether to retain full accreditation status for Cobb schools.

In 2019, Cognia reaccredited the Cobb County School District—the second-largest in Georgia, with more than 107,000 students—through 2024.

But last March, 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 Ragsdale to discuss early literacy, educator and employee support and board governance training topics.

Since the Cognia report was released, neither the school board nor Ragsdale have discussed the findings in public.

The Democratic members have tried to get the report put on school board meeting agendas, but have not gotten a majority vote.

Some citizens speaking out at public comment periods of school board members have demanded that the district discuss the Cognia report.

The Cobb school district is considering switching accrediting agencies. The Georgia Accrediting Commission, which accredits individual schools and not school districts, has visited high schools in the Cobb school district in recent weeks.

Cobb school district officials chafed at Cognia’s special review process, saying the agency refused to specify the allegations that prompted the review.

Randy Scamihorn, the Cobb school board chairman in 2021, said when the Cognia report was released that “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.”

Public complaints to Cognia cited financial concerns, the district’s handling of COVID-19 matters and even the board’s refusal to consider requests to rename Wheeler High School.

Cobb district officials have cited a loss of accreditation in Clayton and DeKalb public schools in 2008 and 2011 respectively for their concerns about Cognia’s special review.

State Sen. Lindsey Tippins, a West Cobb Republican and former Cobb school board member, has proposed legislation that would restrict the scope of accrediting agencies.

His bill, SB 498, would remove school board relations from the purview of accreditors and would give accreditation authority for elementary and middle schools solely to the Georgia Department of Education.

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Sprayberry HS grad, educator running for Cobb school board

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Catherine Pozniak, a Sprayberry High School graduate who’s been a teacher and state education administrator, has announced her campaign for Post 4 on the Cobb Board of Education.Catherine Pozniak, Cobb school board candidate

Post 4 includes the Sprayberry and Kell and part of the Lassiter High School clusters in a seat that’s been redrawn for the 2022 elections.

The seat is held by third-term Republican David Chastain, currently the Cobb school board chairman.

Earlier this week Pozniak declared her intent to run in the May 24 primary as a Democrat.

Her campaign website can be found by clicking here.

Pozniak, who graduated from Sprayberry in 1997, also attended Kincaid Elementary School and Daniell Middle School.

She said she’s running because the current Cobb school board hasn’t done much planning to help students recover from disruptions caused by COVID-19 closures, including use of more than $250 million in federal relief aid to help students.

She said “it’s been disappointing to see partisanship from our Board’s leaders when our schools need their support the most.

“The Board hasn’t even laid out goals since 2018, before the pandemic,” Pozniak said. “So of course there isn’t a plan for any of this.”

Republicans currently hold a 4-3 edge on the Cobb school board. Chastain, who has indicated he will be seeking a fourth term, is the only GOP member up for re-election this year.

Pozniak earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Sydney in Australia, a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge, and a doctorate in educational leadership from Harvard University.

She taught in a school on a Lakota reservation in South Dakota and was an assistant state superintendent of education for fiscal operations in Louisiana and the head of an educational non-profit in Baton Rouge, La.

Pozniak currently is principal at Watershed Advisors, an educational and workforce consultancy started by the former Louisiana school superintendent.

Tammy Andress, a former Lassiter PTSA co-president who ran for Post 5 on the Cobb school board in 2020, said Thursday on her former campaign page that she was considering a run for Post 4 this year following redistricting.

But Andress, a Democrat, said she’s supporting Pozniak, whom she said has a “wealth of experience, knowledge, passion, empathy and determination she would bring to our School Board. She’s the real deal!!!”

Austin Heller, a Kennesaw State University student, previously announced his campaign as a Democrat for Post 4, but was drawn out in reapportionment.

Primary qualifying takes place next week.

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Cobb schools say 98 percent of employees returning for 2022-23

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The Cobb County School District said Thursday that 98 percent of current employees in “full-time contracted, certificated” job categories have returned job offers for the 2022-23 academic year.Cobb County School District, Cobb schools dual enrollment summit

In a release, the district said that more than 8,000 contracts were sent out to those employees, including teachers, counselors, psychologists, administrators and district-level employees requiring certification.

The district did not break down those numbers by job categories.

The next academic and fiscal year in Cobb schools goes from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.

“Our District has some of the smallest turnover of any big district in the country, which, after the last couple years we have been through, is really impressive to see,” Cobb Board of Education chairman David Chastain said in the release.

The district has struggled to fill some positions in other job classifications, especially in staff support positions, such as bus drivers and substitute teachers.

In the current school year, Cobb has twice distributed bonus money to some of what it calls classified employees, including bus drivers and monitors, to improve retention rates.

The district said it is continuing to hire certified, administrative and classified positions for the coming school year, and lists vacancies here.

There also will be a virtual  K-12 teacher job fair March 29-31, 2022. More information can be found by clicking here; participants must fill out a formal job application beforehand.

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Cobb commission, school board redistricting maps approved

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Cobb redistricting
Democrats Charisse Davis of the Cobb school board and Jerica Richardson of the Cobb commission have had the East Cobb portions of their districts removed.


Two first-term Democrats who represent part of East Cobb on the Cobb Board of Commissioners and the Cobb Board of Education will have different electoral boundaries soon.

The Georgia Senate finalized redistricting bills for both bodies on Wednesday, clearing the way for Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature into law.

The bills were sponsored by Cobb Republicans over the objections of the county’s Democratic-led legislative delegation, and easily passed in the legislature, which has strong GOP majorities.

Cobb GOP BOC redistricting map
For a larger view of the new Cobb commissioners map, click here.

Jerica Richardson, who was elected to commission District 2 in 2020, was drawn out of her district in a map that for the next decade will place most of East Cobb in District 3 (in gold on the map at right).

District 2 has included the Cumberland-Smyrna-Vinings area and part of East Cobb. Richardson moved into a new home off Post Oak Tritt Road last year, but will have to move again by the end of the year if she seeks a second term in 2024.

The new District 2 (in pink) will include Cumberland-Smyrna-Vinings, some of Marietta and other areas along the I-75 corridor.

The bill’s main sponsor, Republican John Carson of Northeast Cobb, has said that his map will likely keep the commission’s current 3-2 Democratic majority.

But Richardson and other Cobb Democrats have been vocal at Georgia Capitol press conferences in opposing the GOP maps.

“This bill essentially overwrites the vote you made 2 years ago and creates a new map that doesn’t take the community’s input into consideration,” Richardson said on her Facebook page Thursday.

“This is a dangerous precedent, and I plan to continue making my voice heard in order to support this community and its needs.”

District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell, a Republican, is nearing the end of her third term this year. 

Charisse Davis, who has represented the Walton and Wheeler clusters on the Cobb school board since 2019, also was drawn into a new post that no longer includes East Cobb.

She lives in the Cumberland-Smyrna-Vinings area, which forms the heart of the new Post 6. Davis is up for re-election but has not announced whether she’s seeking re-election.

Cobb school board redistricting town hall
For a larger view of the new Cobb school board post map, click here.

East Cobb News has left a message with Davis seeking comment.

She noted on her Facebook page recently that the Cobb GOP maps affecting her, Richardson and current 6th District U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath are “ensuring that the east Cobb area will no longer have representation from any of the Black women whose districts currently include east Cobb.”

While East Cobb has been solid terrain for Republicans, Democrats have been making gains in recent elections as the once-conservative county undergoes significant demographic and political change.

Only on the Cobb school board do Republicans have a local majority.

For the last three years, the school board has held a 4-3 GOP edge (after Republicans previously enjoyed a 6-1 advantage), and has been roiled controversies that generally have fallen along partisan lines.

The shifting lines for the school board also reduce East Cobb representation to two members. They are current chairman David Chastain, a Republican who has said he will be seeking another term in 2022 for Post 4, and David Banks, the GOP vice chairman whose Post 5 will now cover most of the Walton and Wheeler areas.

Davis and fellow first-term Democrat Jaha Howard, also of the Smyrna area, have been in the middle of disputes over the senior tax exemption, equity issues, student discipline matters and the Cobb County School District’s COVID-19 response.

The new maps put Davis and Howard, currently of Post 2, together. But he has announced he is running for Georgia School Superintendent this year.

(PLEASE NOTE: The process of redistricting elected school board posts has nothing to do with the boundaries of school attendance zones, which are drawn by school district administrative staff and are done mainly to balance out school capacity.)

McBath, completing her second term, has switched to the 7th district, which includes most of Democratic-leaning Gwinnett County after the legislature redrew the 6th to create a GOP-friendly seat that includes East Cobb, North Fulton, part of Forsyth County and Dawson County.

Part of East Cobb also is included in newly redrawn 11th District, which is represented by Republican Barry Lowdermilk.

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Cobb schools to hold resource fair for students with disabilities

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The Cobb County School District will hold a resource fair for students with disabilities and their parents on March 8 at North Cobb High School.Cobb County School District, Cobb schools dual enrollment summit

The event will provide information about summer camps, ballet, swimming, sports, theatres, museums and other extracurricular opportunities.

The fair, which last was held in March 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, takes place from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on March 8 and reservations to attend can be made by clicking here.

More than 50 vendors will be on hand to provide information about sensory-friendly and accessible options.

They include the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Children’s Museum of Atlanta, Cobb Aquatics, Cobb County Public Library System, Cobb PARKS Cultural Arts, Girl Scouts, High Museum of Art, Rockstar Cheer, Six Flags Over Georgia, Tellus Science Museum and Zoo Atlanta.

“We are so excited to offer this fair as an in-person event again – it gives our families the opportunity to interact with representatives who can directly share their accessibility and sensory-friendly offerings! We have new participants joining this year along with the former,” said Dominique Terens, Cobb Schools Special Education Compliance Supervisor, in a release issued by the district.

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Cobb school students compete in Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl

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Cobb Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl
Rainey Sharrow, a Walton student, and her mother, Susan Sharrow, a Pope media specialist, volunteering at the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl at Mt. Bethel Elementary School. Photo: Cobb County School District

After being cancelled in 2021 due to COVID-19, students from the Cobb County School District gathered in hybrid fashion in January to compete in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl.

It’s a multi-stage, quiz-style competition started in 1986 by a former DeKalb County educator to encourage students to master reading skills.

After an initial competition that drew 37 teams in virtual format, Cobb students came to Mt. Bethel Elementary School in East Cobb in January in a face-to-face stage.

Among the volunteers was Pope High School media specialist Susan Sharrow, and her daughter Rainey, a senior at Walton High School.

“The talent our students have is remarkable, and I love witnessing their nerves turn to calm as they confidently buzz in and answer questions about the books,” Susan Sherrow said in a release issued by the Cobb County School District.

Six Cobb teams advanced to the West Regional competition, and Cobb teams swept first place titles in all grade levels.

Representing the Cobb school district at the virtual state competition in March are students from Kemp Elementary School, Campbell Middle School and South Cobb High School.

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Ga. House passes GOP Cobb school board, commission maps

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Cobb school board redistricting town hall
The proposed Cobb Board of Education map passed by the House would remove Post 6 from East Cobb. For a larger version click here.

Mostly along party lines, the Georgia House on Monday approved Republican-sponsored bills redistricting seats on the Cobb Board of Education and the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

They now will be considered by the Senate.

The bills drew opposition from members of the Democratic majority in the Cobb legislative delegation, who accused their GOP colleagues of skirting local courtesies during reapportionment.

But Republicans dominate in the Georgia legislature, and the House voted 94-59 to approve the school board map approved in December by the GOP-led Cobb school board.

The House also voted 95-64 to approve a commission map drawn by GOP State Rep. John Carson of Northeast Cobb that he said would likely still maintain the current 3-2 Democratic majority.

But Democratic lawmakers objected to redrawing current Democratic District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson and District 3 Republican Commissioner JoAnn Birrell into the same East Cobb-based district.

Birrell and Keli Gambrill, the other GOP commissioner from District 1 in North Cobb, are both up for re-election this year.

If the commission map is approved, Richardson would have to move inside the boundaries of the new District 2 if she runs for a second term in 2024.

Although redistricting bills must be passed by the entire legislature, local delegations typically move maps forward for full House and Senate votes.

Cobb GOP BOC redistricting map
Most of East Cobb would be drawn into District 3 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners in a map approved by the Georgia House.

But in the last election cycle, Democrats became the majority on the Cobb commission, which previously had a 4-1 Republican majority.

Republicans hold a 4-3 edge on an increasingly fractious Cobb school board, with a mostly partisan split on a number of issues.

The GOP map would move Post 6—the Walton and Wheeler clusters currently represented by Democrat Charisse Davis—into the Smyrna-Vinings area.

The Walton, Wheeler and Pope clusters would be included in a new Post 5, where four-term Republican David Banks is the incumbent.

The Sprayberry, Lassiter and Kell clusters would be reformed into Post 4, whose current member is Republican David Chastain.

Chastain has indicated he will be seeking a fourth term this year. Davis, in her first term, has not said whether she’s running again in 2022.

(PLEASE NOTE: The process of redistricting elected school board posts has nothing to do with the boundaries of school attendance zones, which are drawn by school district administrative staff.)

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Cobb school board extends superintendent’s contract to 2025

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In a partisan vote, the Cobb Board of Education on Thursday approved an extension of Superintendent Chris Ragsdale’s contract another year to February 2025.Cobb school superintendent contract

Without any discussion, the board’s four Republicans voted in favor of the extension, while the three Democrats voted against.

Ragsdale, whose contract was amended by the GOP majority in November, is receiving a base salary of $350,000 in a current contract that was to run through Feb. 10, 2024.

Any changes in the financial terms or other portions of Ragsdale’s contract were not announced at the Thursday night board business meeting.

The meeting was not available on the district’s live-streaming link or on its Comcast cable channel due to what a district spokeswoman said were technical difficulties.

She said the meeting was being recorded and would be posted on the district’s website. Board member Jaha Howard, who was participating in the meeting remotely, recorded the meeting and streamed it on his Facebook page.

The extension vote took place as the board was acting on items discussed during an executive session on Thursday afternoon.

In making his monthly remarks after the vote, Ragsdale said that “I appreciate the vote of confidence” and “look forward to serving this board and district.”

In recent years the board has typically extended the superintendent’s contract during February, and for the most part it has been uneventful.

But in 2021 the Democratic minority voted against an extension for Ragsdale, who has been superintendent since 2015.

In November, the four Republicans voted for an amended contract that gave him increased flexibility in setting the terms for any eventual departure.

He could leave his position with full pay if a special panel determines he’s been “harassed” or “embarrassed” by school board members and he would receive 90 days advance notice from the board if he is to be terminated without cause.

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.

Under other financial terms of his existing 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.

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Cobb schools distributes more bonuses for bus drivers

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Cobb school bus safety

The Cobb County School District announced Tuesday that school bus drivers and monitors received another $1,200 retention bonus in their December paychecks.

The district distributed bonuses for drivers and monitors in May, and in a release said that new employees in those positions who have been hired by Feb. 28 will receive a $1,000 bonus.

“Our bus drivers and monitors are the reason 70% of our students make it to school every day,” Cobb school district Chief Operations Officer Marc Smith said in the release.

“They are valuable members of our Cobb Schools team, and we want to make sure we keep them on our team. At the same time, we also have the opportunity to hire new safety-minded professionals.”

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Blackwell ES employee accused of eavesdropping in bathroom

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Blackwell ES employee accused eavesdropping

An employee at Blackwell Elementary School in Northeast Cobb has been charged with eavesdropping and cruelty to children after Cobb Police said a student saw a surveillance camera in a boys bathroom this week and reported it to a teacher.

A warrant taken out on Friday against Justin Julian, 37, of Acworth, shows that he has been charged with three counts of unlawful surveillance and one count of first degree child cruelty—all felonies—after separate alleged incidents at the Canton Road school on Wednesday.

He was taken into custody on Friday and was released from the Cobb County Adult Detention Center Saturday on a $15,000 bond, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.

The warrant alleges that Julian placed a camera in a boys bathroom and on Wednesday afternoon observed a 10-year-old boy using the urinal. According to the warrant, the boy saw the camera “and was distraught and notified a school teacher.”

The warrant also alleges that Julian watched an 8-year-old boy and another 10-year-old boy use the urinal via a bathroom camera during the same time period.

Neither the warrant nor a message that went out to the Blackwell community specified Julian’s job at the school.

The Blackwell message said that school officials reported the allegations “to the local authorities and worked closely with them throughout the investigation.”

The staff member, the Blackwell message said, “is no longer allowed in our school building.”

The warrant states that Julian was required to wear an ankle monitor before he was released and he is not allowed to have contract with children 16 or under, or linger anywhere children of that age range are present.

 

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Cobb Republican legislators file school board redistricting bill

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Cobb school reapportionment map
The Cobb school board’s Republican majority is recommending a map that would leave East Cobb with two seats. For a larger view click here.

Republican members of the Cobb legislative delegation have filed a bill that would redistrict Cobb Board of Education posts along similar lines recommended recently by the school board’s GOP majority.

State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart of West Cobb filed HB 1028 on Wednesday (you can read it here) as the Cobb legislative delegation—which has a one-member Democratic majority—was meeting over reapportionment.

Co-sponsors of the bill include East Cobb Republicans John Carson, Matt Dollar and Don Parsons.

The delegation is carving out Cobb commission and school board lines for the next decade following the 2020 Census.

The local reapportionment process is usually completed within a county’s delegation before being submitted as a bill that must pass the full legislature, typically in consent fashion on what’s called a local calendar.

Instead, Ehrhart’s legislation will start in the House, after getting a first reading and committee assignment next week.

(PLEASE NOTE: The process of redistricting elected school board posts has nothing to do with the boundaries of school attendance zones, which are drawn by school district administrative staff and are done mainly to balance out school capacity.)

For the last three years, the Cobb school board has held a 4-3 Republican majority (after the GOP previously enjoyed a 6-1 advantage), and has been roiled in a number of controversies that generally have fallen along partisan lines.

State Rep. Erick Allen, a Smyrna Democrat and the Cobb delegation chairman, proposed a draft map of Cobb school board posts earlier this month that would make few changes to the current lines.

The four Republicans on the Cobb school board approved a map designed to maintain their majority. The map would take out most of the East Cobb portion of Post 6 that currently includes the Walton and Wheeler high school clusters.

That seat is currently held by first-term Democrat Charisse Davis, who under the GOP map would be drawn in the same post as Jaha Howard, another first-term Democrat who represents Post 2 in the Smyrna area.

The school board’s recommendation is advisory, but Ehrhart’s bill follows similar lines.

Post 6 would be centered in the Smyrna-Vinings area, keeping several precincts in the Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill corridors.

The Walton-Wheeler zones would mostly be shifted to Post 5, which covers the Lassiter and Pope attendance zones.

That seat is held by Republican vice chairman David Banks.

The new lines, however they might be drawn, will take effect for 2022 elections that include three school board seats.

They are Post 2 (Howard has declared his intent to run for state school superintendent); Post 6 (Davis has not announced her plans) and Post 4 in Northeast Cobb (incumbent David Chastain has said he will be seeking another term).

The Cobb delegation also will be redrawing the four district lines for the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

On Tuesday, the commission’s three Democrats voted in favor of a map drawn by Allen that makes minimal changes to the current lines.

But the two Republicans, JoAnn Birrell of Northeast Cobb and Keli Gambrill of North Cobb, voted against that map.

They are both up for re-election this year. Birrell said she does not support the proposed map because it has taken out some of her East Cobb precincts.

Like the school board’s map, the commissioners’ action is “more of an endorsement vote,” deputy county manager Jimmy Gisi said during the Tuesday meeting.

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Cobb schools update COVID cases as protocol changes continue

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Cobb school superintendent contract

The Cobb County School District resumed public reporting of new COVID-19 cases this week after not doing so to start the spring semester.

But changes are underway to alter the present reporting system, and in Friday’s update only the district-wide total number of cases—1,856— were disclosed in its weekly notification report.

That’s for the past week, Jan. 14-21, and is a single-week high during the current school year.

The totals no longer include a school-by-school breakdown, as has been done for most of the past two years.

There also was no information provided on COVID case numbers reported before that. The spring semester in Cobb began on Jan. 5.

Until Friday, district’s notification report page had not been updated since Dec. 17, 2021, the last day of the fall semester.

At the time, there were 6,709 cumulative cases reported among students and staff since July 1, 2021.

Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday night that as the Omicron variant subsides, reporting those figures will be done differently.

During a Cobb Board of Education meeting, he said that the district will continue to report positive cases to Cobb and Douglas Public Health (his remarks start around the 45-minute mark of the video at at this link.)

“Most organizations have encouraged case counts not be the primary emphasis,” said Ragsdale, reading from prepared remarks, and citing the CDC and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House COVID-19 adviser.

“We are taking the guidance to not focus on case counts,” Ragsdale said. Changing school district protocols is a “multi-step process that will result in no numbers being seen on a web page after the Omicron variant goes through. We will still report, as required, to DPH.”

On Jan. 6. Ragsdale said the district was changing some COVID protocols, including eliminating most contract-tracing, after a new state public health order was issued for schools.

On Thursday, Ragsdale later discussed mental health issues affecting youth, as well as learning loss caused by COVID-19 disruptions, saying some mitigation efforts have been “damaging to students.”

“The bottom line is that we are having school,” he said, “and we are trying to get back to normal as quickly as possible. Because we know a normal school day for our students is what’s going to benefit them most.”

He added that parents should keep their kids home if they are sick, but “otherwise, they need to be in school, where teaching and learning are going to be going on every day.”

Board memberJaha Howard tried to question Ragsdale at that point, but chairman David Chastain told him that “if you have any questions, you can call the superintendent. We’re going to move forward with the agenda.”

Howard voted against adopting the Thursday night business meeting agenda at a Thursday afternoon work session because it contained no specific COVID-related items.

The superintendent made the COVID remarks during dedicated time for him to speak on a variety topics and that typically aren’t published on the agenda.

Howard has attempted to question Ragsdale at previous board meetings about COVID and other issues, without much success.

After a brief interchange with Howard, Chastain repeated his comments, and the board began acting on other agenda items.

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Cobb school board to consider SPLOST loans, public comments

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The Cobb Board of Education will be asked to approve taking out $100 million in short-term loans for construction projects on Thursday.Campbell High School lockdown

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.

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

Another executive session will take place between the public meetings.

In recent years, the Cobb County School District has taken out short-term loans to get a head start on construction projects funded by its Special Local-Option Sales Tax, and to save money.

Among the major construction projects on tap for this year is the reconstruction of Eastvalley Elementary School on the former campus of East Cobb Middle School. 

If the board approves, the $100 million loan would be repaid at the end of the calendar year with SPLOST revenues.

The board will be asked to accept a “best bid” for the purchase of the loans that will be presented at the work session. The final vote would come in the evening session.

The board also will be asked to consider changing the policy for signing up for public comment periods. 

Last year the board approved an online registration process but a proposal to be presented Thursday would revert to the previous in-person sign-up process.

The board also will be asked to spend $3 million to purchase 25 air conditioned buses that hold 72 passengers each.  

What’s not listed specifically on the agenda is any mention of the Cobb school district’s changing COVID protocols that were announced in December by Superintendent Chris Ragsdale.

He said that per a new state public health order, Cobb will eliminate most contact-tracing and will be changing staff quarantine policy for employees who are identified as close contacts.

Since the spring semester began earlier this month, the district has not been revealing any COVID case data.

A district spokeswoman told East Cobb News last week that the policy for counting cases is “under review” and that “once determined, we will provide an update on our COVID-19 webpage about what process we will use going forward.”

There could be information provided by Ragsdale under agenda items at both meetings regarding superintendent’s remarks.

The only items listed under board business at the work session are for annual board member compliance reports and appointments to the district’s facilities and technology committee, which conducts SPLOST oversight.

Thursday’s meetings will be the first with board member David Chastain of East Cobb presiding as chairman.

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Cobb schools 2022 graduations return to KSU, campus sites

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Lassiter graduation, Cobb schools 2020 graduation schedule
Most Cobb County School District graduations will return to KSU after a two-year absence. 

After two years of socially-distanced graduations at a single venue, the Cobb County School District is returning 2022 commencement exercises to familiar locations.

Most of the district’s 16 traditional high schools will have their graduations at the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center, the primary venue before the COVID-19 pandemic.

That’s where all six East Cobb high school Class of 2022 seniors will be getting their diplomas.

McEachern High School, which was the site for all Cobb graduations the last two years, will be having its commencement at Cantrell Stadium on campus, and Allatoona High School will hold graduation at its Allatoona Stadium.

Wheeler High School had been having its graduations at Wildcat Arena on campus but this year will be at KSU.

  • Monday, May 23: Kell High School, 7:30 p.m., KSU
  • Wednesday, May 25: Lassiter High School, 3:30 p.m., KSU
  • Wednesday, May 25: Wheeler High School, 7:30 p.m., KSU
  • Thursday, May 26: Walton High School, 10 a.m., KSU
  • Thursday, May 26: Sprayberry High School, 7 p.m., KSU
  • Friday, May 27: Pope High School, 2:30 p.m., KSU

More graduation will be forthcoming in the following weeks; click here for the full graduation schedule.

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Cobb legislators to hold school board redistricting town hall

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Cobb school board redistricting town hall
State Rep. Erick Allen’s draft map of Cobb school board posts. For a larger view, click here.

Democratic members of the Cobb legislative delegation will be holding a virtual town hall meeting Tuesday to go over proposed redistricting maps for the Cobb Board of Education.

The event, which is organized by State Rep. Erick Allen, the delegation chairman, begins at 6:30 p.m. and can be accessed by clicking here.

The other lawmakers involved are State Rep. Teri Anulewicz and State Rep. David Wilkerson.

Democrats hold a one-member majority in the Cobb delegation, which will redraw lines for the school board as well as the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

(PLEASE NOTE: This process has nothing to do with school attendance zones, which are drawn by school district administrative staff and are done mainly to balance out school capacity or when new schools open.)

Redistricting for elected offices is done every 10 years by legislators after the Census is updated. In November, Georgia lawmakers redrew Congressional and legislative lines.

County legislators are responsible for redrawing the lines of districts for county commissioners and city council members and school board posts.

In December, the Cobb school board voted along party lines, with its Republican majority in favor, of a recommended map designed to keep that razor-thin majority.

The map would reduce the number of school board members representing the East Cobb area from three to two.

Cobb school board redistricting town hall
Cobb school board Republicans are recommending a map that shifts Post 6 out of East Cobb. For a larger view click here.

The current Post 6, represented by Democrat Charisse Davis, currently includes most of the Walton and Wheeler clusters.

But the Cobb GOP school board map would shift that post into the Cumberland-Smyrna-Vinings area completely, drawing current Post 2 board member Jaha Howard into the same area.

Allen’s map retains most of Post 6 as it looks now.

Like Davis, Howard is a first-term Democrat who’s openly challenged the Republicans on a number of issues, including race, equity and diversity, school discipline and COVID response.

They also prompted a special review of the Cobb school district by its accrediting agency last year.

At a Jan. 6 school board organizational meeting, the GOP majority elected East Cobb Republicans David Chastain and David Banks to serve as chair and vice chair, respectively, for 2022.

It was the latest in a series of contentious public meetings along sharp partisan lines that have roiled the school board over the last three years.

Chastain, who represents the Kell and Sprayberry clusters, has announced his intention to seek re-election this year.

Davis also is up for re-election but hasn’t announced her plans. Amy Henry, a Republican who has four children in the Walton High School cluster, has declared her intent to run for that seat, and has said that “Post 6 should remain largely as-is.”

Howard has declared his intent to run for Georgia school superintendent.

Qualifying starts in March, with a May primary.

The Cobb school board will meet at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Thursday and and include time for public comment.

Agendas for the meetings will be posted at this link on Tuesday.

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Cobb schools not updating COVID cases to start spring semester

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After a week and a half of classes in the spring semester, the Cobb County School District has not updated its COVID-19 case data.CCSD logo, Cobb 2018-19 school calendar

Each Friday during the 2020-21 school year and in the fall semester of 2021, the district revised those figures each Friday, with breakdowns according to each school.

But for the last two Fridays, those numbers have not been provided on the district’s COVID Case Notification page.

Instead, the page shows it was last updated on Dec. 17, 2021, the last day of the fall semester, with a figure of 6,709 cumulative cases reported among students and staff since July 1, 2021.

In December, Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the district was changing some of its COVID protocols, including eliminating much of its contact-tracing and revising procedures for staff quarantine if they’re identified as close contacts.

At a Cobb school board meeting, Ragsdale didn’t reference how the district may be counting and publicly reporting COVID cases.

On Friday, East Cobb News asked the district about the status of keeping those figures current.

A spokeswoman responded by saying only that “recent changes to our public health protocols, and their impact on accurate COVID-19 case counts, are under review. Once determined, we will provide an update on our COVID-19 webpage about what process we will use going forward.”

That’s the same answer she has given to other news outlets.

Nearly two years into the pandemic, and the highly infectious Omicron variant is yielding record transmission levels in Cobb, Georgia and elsewhere.

As of Friday, the 14-day average of cases per 100,000 people in Cobb County was around 2,500, far higher than the “high” transmission rate of 100/100K.

Cobb government leaders said at the end of last week they will likely extend an emergency declaration through most of February, for another 30-day period.

That doesn’t affect the schools.

The Georgia Department of Public Health issues a weekly School Aged Surveillance Data report, and notes the numbers in Cobb are decreasing slightly.

As of Jan. 13, the 14-day case count in Cobb County between the ages of 5-17 has been 2,169, with a 14-day case rate of 1,642 per 100,000.

Those figures are not broken down by public school district or private schools.

The single-day high recently reported in Cobb was 252 on Dec. 30; on Jan. 12, the number was 171, part of a downward trend that’s generally dipping below 200.

The spring semester resumes on Tuesday. The COVID protocol changes may be discussed Thursday at Cobb school board meetings, which are scheduled for 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and include time for public comment.

Agendas for the meetings will be posted at this link on Tuesday.

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Cobb school board chooses 2022 officers with partisan sparring

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David Banks, Cobb school board
For the third year in a row, the vice chairman of the Cobb school board is David Banks, whom one of his colleagues said is “an embarrassment to this county.”

The first Cobb Board of Education meeting of 2022 went just like quite a few of their public gatherings last year, and included votes and arguments along predictable partisan lines. 

The chairman and vice chairman for the new calendar year both come from posts in East Cobb.

David Chastain, of Post 4 (Kell and Sprayberry clusters) will be the chairman, and David Banks, of Post 5 (Pope and Lassiter clusters) will serve as vice chairman.

They’re part of the four-member Republican majority, and were elected in 4-3 party line votes.

Each year the board holds a special meeting in January to elect new officers, with the proviso that the chair cannot serve two consecutive years.

That policy doesn’t apply to the vice chair, and it was the nomination of Banks to that position for the third consecutive year that sparked charged rhetoric during the brief meeting.

Banks, who is serving his fourth term, came under fire in 2021 for sending an e-mail on his official school board account discouraging recipients from getting the COVID-19 vaccines. and publicly said he doesn’t wear masks because he thinks they don’t work.

Democratic member Jaha Howard, who nominated fellow Democrat Tre’ Hutchins for both leadership posts, said Banks’ statement on masks is “contrary to our policy.”

He also said Banks has some “concerning behavioral issues that have been discussed behind the scenes and for some reason he’s continuing to be nominated. 

“He’s also done several things that have been an embarrassment to this county. I’m very concerned that he would be nominated at all, let alone having potentially four votes.”

Howard, who represents Post 2 in Smyrna, attended some of the same public schools in southwest Atlanta as Banks, whom he referred to as his “classmate, whom I do love as child of God. But I do have very significant concerns about his leadership.”

Outgoing board chairman Randy Scamihorn said Howard’s comments were inappropriate, and ordered his microphone to be cut.

“Do you feel powerful doing that?” retorted Howard.

Howard laid out a laundry list of issues he’s referenced during his time on the board for supporting Hutchins, saying that Tre’ “encourages leaders to look beneath the shiny surface of our academic and discipline data in order to get even better as a district . . . believes that our schools should not be named after confederate generals . . . believes it’s bad to sympathize with the January 6th insurrection” among other things.

Howard also said Hutchins “would not take weeks to return phone calls from other board members . . . demonstrates a love for the entire county . . . believes in listening to experts when making decisions, especially during a pandemic.”

Banks, who did not respond to Howard’s remarks, was elected 4-3.

In an October 2020 candidate profile with East Cobb News, he said that he thinks the biggest long-term issue facing the Cobb school district is “white flight” and accused Howard and Charisse Davis, a Democrat who represents Post 6 (Walton and Wheeler clusters) of “trying to make race an issue where it has never been before.”

Davis said she couldn’t support Chastain, who is in his third term, because “I do not feel he is the leader we need now.”

He was chairman in 2019, the first year on the school board for Davis and Howard, and proposed a policy change to ban board member comments during public meetings. The newcomers alleged the measure was aimed at censoring them, but Chastain said it was needed to prevent board members from having to judge the appropriateness of colleagues’ remarks.

“This chair does not want to be the scorekeeper,” he said at the time.

After Chastain was elected on Thursday, Scamihorn didn’t turn over the gavel, as school board attorney Suzanne Wilcox had suggested.

Instead, Scamihorn presided as Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale provided an update to COVID-19 protocols and did not permit board discussion.

The school board on Thursday also approved the 2022 meeting schedule by a 5-2 vote, with Davis and Howard opposed.

Chastain, who is up for re-election this year along with Davis and Howard, will preside starting with the first public school board meetings on Jan. 20.

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Cobb schools revise COVID-19 protocols after new state order

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The day after the spring semester began in the Cobb County School District, superintendent Chris Ragsdale said revised measures for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and employee quarantine will be implemented.Cobb schools revise COVID protocols

Speaking at the end of a Cobb Board of Education meeting Thursday afternoon, Ragsdale said he had received “hot off the presses” a letter Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp sent to all public school districts in the state.

That letter included provisions to conduct more COVID-19 testing at schools, allow for optional contact tracing of cases at schools and to extend quarantine provisions for employees that currently have been for students.

The latter permits students identified as close contacts and who were exposed in a school setting to return to school right away if they are asymptomatic and wear masks for seven days.

The new guidance, which comes in the form of a new order from the Georgia Department of Public Health, also would permit teachers, administrators and support staff, regardless of vaccination status or point of exposure, to return to school immediately if they are asymptomatic and wear masks for seven days.

“It will greatly assist us in maintaining all our classrooms being open,” said Ragsdale, who informed parents Sunday that Cobb schools would begin the spring semester in face-to-face settings.

Several other metro Atlanta school districts are beginning classes this week online.

The revised Cobb school district protocols can be found by clicking here. The changes go into effect immediately.

Cobb and Marietta schools both resumed on Wednesday in-person and also do not have mask mandates.

Regarding the new contract tracing changes, Cobb has chosen not to contact-trace all suspected COVID-19 cases: “We continue to encourage families to make health decisions which are best for their families and to not send students to school sick.”

Ragsdale said during the Thursday meeting, which was called to elect 2022 school officers and meeting schedules, that contract-tracing duties has been “the biggest lift on staff resources . . . to have that accomplished and in a timely manner.”

He said there’s been considerable communication from parents about contact-tracing that occurs after a student’s quarantine period is over.

“This is a great option for some school districts,” Ragsdale said, referring to the new optional provision. “We will be choosing not to contact-trace all cases. There can be a situation where we do need to contact-trace, in some of those cases.”

More testing along the lines of “test to stay” provisions are included in the new protocols, and Ragsdale said he’s hopeful further resources will be coming from the state for schools to conduct those tests.

Ragsdale’s remarks came at the end of the meeting, but before he spoke, outgoing board chairman Randy Scamihorn said there would be no discussion of the new protocols among board members.

After Ragsdale was finished, the half-hour meeting was adjourned.

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Cobb schools: 2.4K students enrolled online for spring semester

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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.Cobb online learning spring semester

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.

Cobb and Marietta schools were among those in metro Atlanta that began the spring semester with face-to-face, rather than remote, instruction.

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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Cobb school board to select officers, set 2022 meeting schedule

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Cobb school board COVID-19

The Cobb Board of Education will meet Thursday afternoon for its 2022 organizational meeting.

Board members will be voting on who will serve as chairman and vice chairman during the year, and also to set the meeting schedule.

Thursday’s meeting begins at 1 p.m. in the board room of the Cobb County School District central office (514 Glover St., Marietta).

The meeting agenda can be found here; the proceedings also will be live-streamed on the district’s BoxCast channel and on CobbEdTV, Comcast Channel 24.

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.

Last year he was at the center of several controversies that involved procedures and votes during board meetings.

The first Cobb school board meetings of 2022, if adopted Thursday, will take place on Jan. 20.

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