A strongly divided Cobb Board of Education engaged in more vitriolic rhetoric Thursday after the board’s Republican majority approved two measures a black Democratic member said were examples of “systemic racism.”
During a board work session Thursday afternoon, the board voted to abolish a newly-approved committee to examine naming policies for Cobb school district schools and buildings.
The board also approved a measure requiring a four-vote majority for board members to place items on the meeting agenda.
The votes were both 4-2, with the four Republicans—all white males—voting in favor: Chairman Brad Wheeler, vice chairman David Banks, David Chastain and Randy Scamihorn.
The two voting against were Charisse Davis and Jaha Howard, both black Democrats.
Board member David Morgan, a black Democrat from South Cobb, was absent from the work session.
The naming policy committee was approved by a 4-3 vote in August at the behest of Morgan, who said there is not a school in the 113-school Cobb district named after an African-American.
His proposal came after online petitions were started over the summer demanding name changes for Walton and Wheeler high schools in East Cobb. Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, signed the Wheeler petition.
The naming policy committee was to have included school board members and citizens, and Wheeler was the only Republican to vote in favor of it.
But he said at Thursday’s work session that he had “reconsidered” his vote because he thought that naming of schools should be a matter for elected board members, not an appointed committee.
“We shouldn’t delegate board authority,” Wheeler said. Nothing has happened since the August vote, and the committee had not been formed.
Jaha Howard, a first-term Democrat from the Campbell and Osborne clusters, lashed out, saying the board was being asked “to undo something that hasn’t been done.”
Howard said getting rid of the committee amounted to “systemic racism,” and ignored Wheeler’s explanation that he changed his mind after seeking community feedback.
Howard said it was still racism, and pressed Wheeler to say if he thought it was fair that there’s a school in the district named after a Confederate general (Wheeler HS).
Wheeler, who’s generally mild-mannered, took strong objection to Howard’s allegations of racism.
“That’s your opinion, not mine,” Wheeler said angrily. “We can change a vote.”
He also told Howard that “I am not a Confederate,” and ruled him out of order, reminding him he was chairing the meeting.
Matters got more acrimonious from there, when Scamihorn proposed a measure requiring board members to get a board majority before placing items on meeting agendas.
Scamihorn didn’t describe what he was proposing, but said it was needed to streamline the length of board meetings and do away items that that weren’t relevant.
Previously, board business items needed the approval of three members, the chairman or the superintendent to be placed on the agenda.
Scamihorn’s measure was not included in the board’s meeting agenda packet; when East Cobb News asked a district spokeswoman for a copy of his proposal, she said it wouldn’t be available until Friday.
Howard and Davis both objected strenuously to Scamihorn’s proposal, saying it smacked of censorship.
“This board doesn’t want any dissenting opinions,” Howard said, calling Scamihorn’s proposal “a rubber stamp for the superintendent.”
Banks interrupted him, and for a while he and Howard tried to shout over one another.
During his re-election campaign this fall, Banks said in an East Cobb News interview that Howard and Davis “are trying to make race an issue where it has never been before.”
Davis quickly accused Banks of “spewing racist trash” but has not directly addressed him at meetings as Howard has done.
The board also was unable to come to a consensus about an anti-racism resolution this summer after some of the Republican members objected to language demanded by Howard that “systemic racism” exists in the Cobb County School District.
At Thursday’s work session, Howard said Scamihorn’s proposal was “a maneuver to silence the minority.” Banks objected again, before Wheeler gaveled him down.
Howard said the matter was no different than when the Republican majority voted in 2019 to prevent board members from offering comments during board meetings.
He and Davis both then decried what they said was censorship aimed specifically at them.
“This same thing is playing out again,” Howard said, once again accusing his colleagues of systemic racism. “It’s extremely short-sighted and disgusting.”
He said he was disappointed in his colleagues and the superintendent, and said that “all of our voices matter.”
He also noted the timing of the measures, coming right after Wheeler, Scamihorn and Banks were all re-elected, maintaining the board’s Republican majority. Morgan, who did not seek re-election, will be succeeded by Democrat Tre’ Hutchins.
Davis asked of her Republican colleagues: “What are you afraid of?” She cited the school communities of a number of schools—including several in East Cobb—whose interests she said she could not advocate for if Scamihorn’s proposal were approved.
Addressing his response through Wheeler, Scamihorn said “I’m going to take it as a rhetorical question, but I don’t know what we need to be afraid of.”
He added that there was “no attempt to censor” any board member.
After the work session, Howard fired away on his Facebook page, saying that “systemic racism will support a person who doesn’t want to openly discuss safety during a freaking pandemic partially because outspoken Black people are the ones asking tough questions.”
He also said “systemic racism tells a colleague to essentially ‘shut up and dribble.’ ”
Several Wheeler High School students who support changing the school name spoke to board members during their Thursday evening meeting, condemning the vote to abolish the naming policy committee.
“It seems that you are actively working to silence what’s been started,” said Sydney Spessard, a senior. “It’s shameful that you don’t have the decency to follow through” to create the committee.
“Systemic racism is not an opinion. It is a reality,” she said.
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This is the standard Democrat play. Get out voted, claim race as the reason to bump up your case. I’ve lived in Atlanta for 20 years, never heard about the names of the schools being racist or hurtful until I read about this petition 6 months ago. Haven’t heard a single thing about it until this story. Clearly it is not a “hot button” issue for the local residents. Move along.