The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday adopted rules for the next year governing behavior by members of the public at school board meetings.
An amended resolution passed 6-1 Thursday night, with the vote against cast by board member Charisse Davis of Post 6 that includes some of East Cobb.
(You can read the new rules by clicking here.)
The measure sets forth terms for what constitutes disruptive behavior and how the board may take action in response, including allowing the school board to meet in an alternate location should disruptions get out of hand and calling on law enforcement to intervene “in any potential violation of law.”
A new state law gives local school districts until Oct. 1 to develop rules that must be adopted annually.
Cobb Superintendent Chris Ragsdale told the board at a Thursday afternoon work session that rules he proposed are “not to be confused with the public comment policy.” The rules “need a vote and have to reviewed every year.”
Darryl York, the Cobb school district’s Director of Policy and Planning, told board members that “a lot of the language” in the proposed rules are already on the books.
The new law, SB 588, states that members of the public “shall not be removed from such public meetings except for actual disruption and in accordance with rules adopted and published by the local board of education.”
In July several citizens protested at the Cobb school board meeting after the board voted to hire armed guards for schools.
Some attendees who shouted at the board to delay the vote continued their disruptions after, and chairman David Chastain called for a recess. The protests continued, with some shouting “Shame on you!” as the meeting was adjourned.
The new rules give the board chairman the discretion to enforce them.
During the work session Thursday, board member Tre’ Hutchins of South Cobb said he was concerned about provisions he said would discourage free speech and wondered about how they would be implemented in the case of serious disruptions.
“I would hate to see on TV a citizen escorted out of this room for exercising their Constitutional rights,” he said. “I’d like to know what that discretion looks like.”
But Ragsdale responded that “you don’t have a Constitutional right to disrupt a meeting.”
Board member Jaha Howard of Smyrna questioned a provision that would allow the board to meet elsewhere—with live streaming available for the public—if disruptions were an issue.
Chastain, of Post 4 in Northeast Cobb, said he doesn’t remember a meeting in which the board wasn’t able to finish its business.
Chastain also Howard that “you weren’t here in July,” a reference to Howard attending that meeting virtually.
“The goal is we will complete the people’s business,” Chastain said.
Board member Jaha Howard told him that “you have a lot more confidence in the board chair than I have. You haven’t been on the receiving end of being shut up.”
At the Thursday night voting meeting, the board agreed to a request by Howard to amend the rules to combine prohibitions on “jeers, shouting, or other disruptive noises” and “any other means an attendee may use to disrupt the meeting” into the same bullet point.
Davis did not explain her vote against the rules.
Before the vote, former Cobb schools guidance counselor Jennifer Susko, a regular critic of the district and the board, said during a public comment session that she and others speak out the way they do because they’re being constantly stonewalled.
“To avoid getting flustered by us, consider responding to your constituents at all, in any way,” she said. “The jeers, shouting and other disruptive noises only occur because ya’ll refuse to respond to your constituents.
“Most of us would rather not be here all the time disrupting, but we have no choice, since it’s the only way to be heard. I’ll look forward to the adjustments in all of our behavior.”
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