Cobb school board member blasted for comments about Catholics

A social media comment by a Cobb Board of Education member that “the Roman Catholic Church cannot be Christian” is being used by the political opponent of one of his colleagues in next week’s general election.

David Banks, the board’s current vice chairman who represents Post 5 in East Cobb, was the subject of an MDJ political insider’s column on Tuesday after making the remarks.

The newspaper reported in an unsigned piece on its editorial page that Banks was responding to a Facebook post by Jason Shepherd, the former Cobb Republican Party Chairman, about Martin Luther and the Reformation.

The report carried a screen shot of Banks saying that Catholicism is “more paganism in its beliefs. If Roman Catholics read the Bible They would realize the false doctrines. Only Jesus Christ is the head of the church.”

The comment either has been hidden or removed from the Facebook thread. The MDJ quoted Cobb school board Chairman David Chastain saying that he couldn’t comment because “Mr. Banks is expressing an opinion, and it has nothing to do with school board business. All of our board members are free to express their opinions on social media.”

A school district spokeswoman echoed similar comments in a statement that the personal views of board members don’t reflect the school district or its policies.

Banks didn’t respond to the paper’s request for comment.

Chastain, a Republican, is seeking a third term representing Post 4 in Northeast Cobb in what’s become a testy campaign with Catherine Pozniak, a Democrat who’s running for public office for the first time.

On Wednesday, Pozniak denounced Chastain’s comments on her Twitter account, saying that “here’s what Chair #theotherDavid Chastain misses time and again: it’s OK to say hate is wrong. That’s the leadership test Chastain fails when he says this is a board member simply expressing an opinion. Well, so can you, Mr. Chair.

“Whether formal action follows, condemnation of such remarks should be clear and unequivocal. Families and staff should hear that @CobbSchools welcomes and embraces all faiths/religions/beliefs. And that message should come from leadership, not an anonymous spokesperson.”

East Cobb News has left messages with Chastain and Banks seeking comment.

In 2021 the Cobb school board approved a social media policy that limits the public comments that can be made by the nearly 18,000 Cobb school district employees.

One provision bans employees involved with official social media accounts from sharing content “containing personal or political viewpoints, or any information unrelated to the District or school it was created to serve.”

The provisions also include refraining from making comments that “place in doubt the reliability, trustworthiness, or sound judgment of the district, the Cobb County Board of Education, or any of its employees.”

Employees also can’t post anything on social media “that may discredit the district,” including comments that violate privacy laws or that use any type of “hate speech.”

There are no such provisions for board members in their adopted code of ethics.

This isn’t the first time Banks has made comments that caused a storm. He sent out a newsletter from his official board member account last year urging people not to get the COVID-19 vaccines, and previously dismissed the disease as the “China Virus.”

He also came under fire in 2017 for sending out an e-mail about immigrants in California, saying that 95 percent of murder warrants in Los Angeles were for illegal immigrants.

In that instance, Chastain, who also was chairman at the time, said the comments didn’t fall under the purview for the school board to address.

When Banks ran for re-election in 2020, he said in an East Cobb News interview that the biggest challenge facing the Cobb County School District is for it “not to become a school system like Atlanta, DeKalb and Clayton” that he says have declined due to “white flight.”

In response, Post 6 board member Charisse Davis, who also represents part of East Cobb, charged Banks with spewing “racist trash.”

Banks, who attends Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, has not weighed in on religious topics.

Last year, after swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti were scrawled on bathroom walls at Lassiter and Pope high schools—both in his Post 5—Banks condemned the acts, saying the perpetrators have “no Christian values.”

Some citizens, parents and educators unsuccessfully requested the Cobb school board to reinstitute a “No Place For Hate” program prepared by the Anti-Defamation League that the district had dropped.

Those individuals included Cobb resident Hershel Greenblat, a Cobb resident and Holocaust survivor, but the board hasn’t discussed or taken up the matter since then.

Banks, a retired technology consultant, is serving his third term, which ends in 2024.

The newly redrawn Post 5 includes most of the Walton, Pope and Wheeler attendance zones.

Related: