After failing to come to a consensus over a modified anti-racism resolution proposed in June, the Cobb Board of Education is tabling the matter once again.
This time it’s for 90 days, as the board agreed following a lengthy discussion at its work session Thursday.
Board member Randy Scamihorn presented a revised resolution but board members Charisse Davis and Jaha Howard said they could not support it and asked him to withdraw it.
Howard distributed his own version on social media earlier this week (you can read it below) that calls for the Cobb County School District to commit to “actively working against systemic racism and bias” and acknowledges that “systemic racism and racial prejudice” have left a “devastating legacy” in Cobb County.
He also wants the district to undertake “targeted anti-racist programs and policy.”
Scamihorn objected to the phrase “systemic racism” and said Howard’s resolution was “too stark” and not unifying enough.
“I’ve tried to build a positive document,” Scamihorn said, although he didn’t have his version available during the meeting. (We’ve asked for a copy and will post it when we get it.)
Both Howard and Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters are black Democrats; the board’s four-member Republican majority are white.
David Morgan, a black Democrat from South Cobb, kept pushing for a compromise that would get to a 7-0 vote. He said what Scamihorn revised “checked the boxes that would have had my support. I’m an African-American man and I want to get along with everyone.
“We need something to speak to that,” that speaks to all in a school district with 113,000 students and 18,000 teachers and staff.
“Mr. Morgan is optimistic we can come to a consensus, and good Lord, I hope he’s right,” Scamihorn said.
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