Cobb school board asked to consider public conduct policy

The Cobb Board of Education will be asked on Thursday to adopt a policy to govern conduct by members of the public at school board meetings.

Proposals include the possibility of 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.”

Those proposals are on the agenda for both a work session and possible action Thursday night by the school board.

The work session begins at 2 p.m. and the voting session starts at 7 p.m. in the board room of the Cobb County School District central office, 514 Glover St., Marietta.

The full agendas for the public meetings can be found by clicking here. An executive session follows the work session.

The open meetings will be live-streamed on the Cobb County School District’s BoxCast channel and on CobbEdTV, Comcast Channel 24. There will be in-person public comment sessions for both; information can be found by clicking here.

The agenda item (which can be found on pages 28-29) comes as local school districts in Georgia are required under a new state law to develop rules of conduct policies by Oct. 1.

The provisions of SB 588 mandate that public school districts provide public comment sessions. Cobb has been doing so for several years, but the law also calls for boards to adopt policies for those commenters.

The law 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.

In recent months, numerous speakers have addressed the board wearing shirts declaring an advocacy group or cause, and there has been some heckling. On some occasions, disrupting citizens have been removed from the board meeting room.

Public commenters at Cobb school board meetings are notified by the school board attorney when their allotted time has expired, and if they continue, their microphones are cut off.

The issues that have sparked their ire have included those that have been roiling in school districts around the country in recent months—school safety, especially in light of the Texas school shootings; the COVID-19 response; diversity, racial and equity issues—and Cobb school district spending.

Last November, the Georgia School Boards Association broke off from the National School Boards Association after the latter asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate parents who protest at school board meetings.

Entitled “Rules of Attendee Conduct for Public Meetings,” the Cobb agenda item states that “the requirement that all meetings of the Board ‘shall be open to the public’ does not prevent governing bodies from maintaining order at meetings.”

The item states that because “children have access to meetings and meeting broadcasts/recordings, the public is advised that the content of these meetings should be appropriate for all ages.”

The agenda item said that existing board policy doesn’t allow use or display of “abusive, obscene, profane, vulgar, defamatory, or slanderous” language or gestures. Citizens may not block others from entering or leaving the meeting room and are not allowed to make threats and disruptive noises.

“Any attendee(s) disrupting or attempting to disrupt the meeting in any manner will be addressed,” the agenda item states. “No attendee shall endanger others by acts of violence or abusive conduct. No attendee shall cause, provoke, or engage in any physical confrontation, fight, brawl, or riotous conduct so as to endanger the life, limb, health, or property of another. Any attendee(s) with signage that blocks or may block the view of others will be addressed.”

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

The seven-step Cobb policy proposal to address public conduct starts with a verbal reminder “of the expectations” and is followed by a verbal warning and removal from the room if someone’s behavior makes “the orderly conduct of the meeting unfeasible.”

The law enforcement intervention and relocation of the board meeting would be the measures of last resort, with the latter requiring that the continuing board meeting would be available via an audio and video stream made available to the public.

“As a general rule, the Board will attempt another method or methods to resolve the issue prior to employing this action,” the agenda item states.

However, the proposed policy would allow the board, depending on the circumstances of a situation, to take actions “in any order and is not bound to follow each step chronologically.”

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• Cobb school board chairman trailing in campaign fundraising
• Kell HS students create artwork for Sports Hall of Fame inductees
• Cobb DOT to start Bill Murdock Road-Pine Road realignment
• Eastside Christian School to begin high school in fall 2023

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