Cobb school superintendent defends mask, COVID-19 policies

After coming under repeated attack for several weeks for not requiring masks, Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale made a lengthy and emphatic defense of that and other COVID-19 measures Thursday.

He took issue with what he said were false reports in the news media about school case figures, and showed a series of slides to illustrate how sharply infection numbers have been falling in the Cobb County School District.

Last week, the Cobb school district sent out a release showing that the case rate had dropped 44 percent since a peak in late August.

He also showed figures from a U.S. Centers for Disease Control study of elementary schools in Georgia conducted last school year—when Cobb schools had a mask mandate—concluding that “masks could not be said to be effective” at slowing the spread of COVID-19.

“We need to understand what is happening, why it is happening, and what will happen next. We need to understand our data and what it means,” he said during the school board’s Thursday night meeting.

“I felt it was time to get an accurate depiction of our data. When we are not presented with a forward-looking process, we will use our own data-driven process.”

He said his slide presentation would be posted on the Cobb school district website, but as of Friday afternoon that had not be done. Some of those slides are shown below.

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You can watch Ragsdale’s presentation in its entirety by clicking here; his remarks begin at the 1:07 mark.

“Good news today does not guarantee good news tomorrow,” he said, although Cobb school district data released Friday continues a downward trend.

Over the past week there have been 394 cases of COVID-19 among students and staff, the lowest single-week total since the school year began.

There are 13 active cases at Dickerson Middle School, down from 38 a week ago, and 11 cases have been reported at Eastvalley Elementary School.

No other school in East Cobb was in double figures this week, after previous outbreaks at several schools.

The district sent out a release late Friday indicating that the rate decrease is 62 percent since the peak five weeks ago.

In Cobb County the 14-day average of cases per 100,000 was at 605, according to Cobb and Douglas Public Health, well above the “high community spread” threshold of 100 cases but falling from more than 800 a few weeks ago.

Earlier this month Ragsdale was the only member of the Cobb Board of Health not to vote for a statement supporting universal masking in schools, as the CDC has recommended.

“This district will not be anti-mask,” Ragsdale said Thursday, adding that the current policy “strongly encourages” masks. Vaccinations are also encouraged, he said, but those will not be mandated either.

“We will not be requiring vaccinations to be employed in the Cobb County School District,” he said.

At the end of Ragsdale’s presentation—which was not specified on the school board’s meeting agenda in advance—the three Democratic members attempted to question him.

At a Thursday afternoon work session, the Democrats voted against adopting the evening meeting agenda because it mentioned nothing about COVID-19 policies.

When Republican board chairman Randy Scamihorn denied their requests to directly talk to Ragsdale, they walked out of the meeting room.

“We a get a surprise update and I think it would be nice to have a little Q and A,” board member Jaha Howard said to Scamihorn moments before. “Were you curious? Did you have questions? Because we’re hearing this for the first time.”

Ragsdale said he would be happy to talk to board members one-on-one about the data, but Howard pressed on for a public dialogue.

“The chair is not going to entertain questions at this time,” Scamihorn said. “Moving on . . .”

At that point, three Democratic members—Howard, Charisse Davis and Tre’ Hutchins—left the room, and Scamihorn paused. When he heard shouting from the back of the room, he slammed his gavel and said, “Dr. Howard, you’re out of order, sir.”

On her Facebook page, Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, wrote about the incident, referencing earlier statements by Ragsdale and Scamihorn about anti-Semitic incidents at Pope and Lassiter high schools but that like the COVID issue wasn’t listed on the meeting agendas for a public board conversation:

“Yes, the three of ‘us’ board members walked out of the voting session. It was the second time today we were refused an opportunity to ask questions about some of the biggest things going on in the district right now: acts of hate in the schools and COVID. We represent the public, so if we cannot ask questions then I hope you understand why that’s a problem for YOU.”

She also posted a graphic that said the following:

“I am on a school board, where in the same meeting, leadership both condemned hate due to antisemitism and did not let Black board members ask questions.”

East Cobb News contacted Davis seeking further comment, including what questions she would have asked him if she were permitted.

“It seemed like a big mistake for the superintendent to not take questions about his data. You either stand by it or you don’t,” she said.

Davis remained out of the room when the four Republican members later voted 4-0 to approve $378,000 in funding for a new robotics lab at Wheeler, converting the original auditorium.

The motion to approve came from board member David Chastain, a Wheeler graduate.

Cobb schools will be on fall break next week.