A candidate for the Cobb Board of Education says he’s withdrawing after he announced that he may file a lawsuit against the Cobb County School District.
Rob Madayag, an attorney, said late Monday that he wouldn’t be qualifying for the Post 5 seat currently held by two-term incumbent David Banks.
Madayag had been one of four GOP hopefuls to announce for the seat, including Banks, as qualifying began Monday.
Post 5 includes the Pope and Lassiter clusters.
In a post to a Cobb schools-related Facebook page, Madayag said that “based on several factors, I do not think I am the best candidate at this time.”
Madayag filed notice last week that he may take the CCSD to court, saying it doesn’t properly report bullying incidents under the state’s school anti-bullying law.
“I intend to win the lawsuit and will not be able to dedicate the amount of time to campaign and win that i think necessary,” Madayag said in his statement on Monday. “I do not plan on losing, and with the number of depositions and document requests in the litigation I have mapped out, I expect to have most of my free time taken up.”
In a letter sent to school board members and Superintendent Chris Ragsdale on Feb. 25 (you can read it here), Madayag said he was skeptical of huge reductions in reported instances of bullying in Cobb schools under Ragsdale—to be specific, 86 percent between 2014 and 2018.
Madayag, who said his daughter has been bullied in Cobb schools, wrote that it’s “a rate that defies all logic and reason and is a significant outlier with respect to all the other school districts in the metro-Atlanta area, and quite possibly the entire United States.”
In addition to Banks, the other Republican candidates for the Post 5 season are Shelley O’Malley, a Delta Air Lines pilot, and IT consultant Matt Harper.
Two Democrats also have announced, current Lassiter PTSA co-president Tammy Andress, and physical therapist Julia Hurtado.
Qualifying for the May 19 general primary ends at noon Friday.
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Cobb County schools are ignoring the bullying problem. I was bullied in Cobb County schools and the painful memories don’t go away. It is sad that Cobb County school officials would rather do what is easy(hide the truth) instead of what is right. Cobb County DA is just as corrupt by supporting the zero tolerance policy only when a victim stands up to a bully.