Davis ends Cobb school board tenure at Thursday meetings

The final meetings for two members of the Cobb Board of Education take place on Thursday.

First-term Democrats Charisse Davis of Post 6 (Walton, Wheeler clusters) and Jaha Howard of Post 2 (Campbell, Osborne clusters) did not seek re-election this year.

Howard ran for Georgia School Superintendent but was defeated in the Democratic primary in May.

Davis has not publicly stated her reasons for not seeking re-election. East Cobb News has left a message with her seeking comment.

The Cobb school board will have a work session that begins at 2:30 p.m. and a voting session starts at 7 p.m. in the board room of the Cobb County School District central office, 514 Glover St., Marietta.

The full agendas for the public meetings can be found by clicking here. An executive session follows the work session.

The open meetings will be live-streamed on the Cobb County School District’s BoxCast channel and on CobbEdTV, Comcast Channel 24. There will be in-person public comment sessions for both; information can be found by clicking here.

Among the agenda items is a request for $100 million in short-term construction notes for 2023, which would be repaid with Cobb Ed-SPLOST revenues at the end of next year.

The board also will be asked to approve contracts for new flooring at Lassiter High School and for concession and restroom renovations and replacements at Pope High School.

Pope’s state champion softball and volleyball teams also will be recognized,

Proposed administrative rule modifications to be presented to the board cover such topics as employee transfer policies, animals in schools and a parents’ bill of rights.

In the 2018 elections, Davis, a Fulton County librarian and former school librarian, unseated Republican incumbent Scott Sweeney in Post 6, which stretches from East Cobb to the Cumberland-Vinings area.

Davis and Howard’s arrival on the school board tightened the Republican majority from 6-1 to 4-3.

During their tenure, the school board was deeply divided and at times contentious on a number of issues, including racial, diversity and equity topics and the Cobb County School District’s COVID-19 response.

In late 2019, the GOP majority approved a policy to ban school board member comments at public meetings, triggering a series of mostly partisan disputes over the following two years.

That culminated with the three Democratic board members going to Cognia, the school district’s accrediting agency, to conduct a special review of the district in 2021.

After giving the district a year to make certain improvements, Cognia reversed its findings earlier this year.

By then, Davis and Howard had been drawn into the same post in redistricting. Post 6 was shifted entirely into the Cumberland-Smyrna-Vinings area, with Post 4 and Post 5 covering East Cobb.

Davis will be succeeded in January by Nichelle Davis (no relation), a Democrat who was unopposed in the primary and general election. She is a former Teach for America teacher and is the operations manager for Achieve Atlanta, an education non-profit.

Howard’s successor is Democrat Becky Sayler, who has been an English as a Second Language teacher and preschool teacher.

Thursday’s meeting also is the last for Post 4 member David Chastain as chairman.

He was re-elected to a third term in November, as the Republican majority will remain at 4-3.

In 2024 the terms of four members will expire, including three Republicans, among them four-term member David Banks of Post 5 in East Cobb.

In January Post 5 will include the Pope, Walton and Wheeler clusters.

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