The day after celebrating the formation of a new Cobb school board, members broke down over party lines Tuesday in choosing officers for the coming year.
After four votes, Northeast Cobb Republican David Chastain was elected by a 4-3 vote over Democratic newcomer Charisse Davis, who represents part of East Cobb.
Voting with Chastain were the other Republicans on the board: David Banks of East Cobb, Randy Scamihorn of North Cobb and Brad Wheeler of West Cobb.
Davis defeated Republican incumbent Scott Sweeney in November in the Post 6 election (Walton and Wheeler). She was joined by fellow Democrats David Morgan and Jaha Howard of South Cobb.
Cobb school board policy calls for members to choose a chair and vice chair each year at their organizational meeting in January. Republicans have held a 6-1 majority in recent years, and partisan voting lines have made such a proceeding uneventful.
Chastain and Davis were deadlocked at 3-3, with two votes for Scamihorn, after the first round of voting.
Banks (Pope and Lassiter), who initially nominated Chastain, wanted to retain Wheeler, last year’s chairman, which goes against board policy. He wanted to change the policy but got no support.
The board went into recess for around 20 minutes and after reconvening, Chastain again was nominated for chairman, this time getting the other three Republican votes.
Davis was nominated by Howard, who also is newly elected. He then nominated her for vice chairman, but Wheeler was chosen by a 4-3 partisan vote.
Chastain, who represents the Kell and Sprayberry clusters, served as chairman once before during his first term. He was vice chairman last year.
The board also adopted its meeting calendar for the rest of the year. Work sessions take place at 2 p.m. and regular meetings at 7 p.m. on the same day:
- Jan. 17
- Feb. 13
- March 21
- April 24
- May 16
- June 20
- July 18
- Aug. 22
- Sept. 19
- Oct. 24
- Nov. 14
- Dec. 12
- Jan. 16, 2020
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