East Cobb News

A group of private high-tech professionals with experience in military and national security operations has conducted safety assessments at three schools in the Cobb County School District and will eventually do the same for other schools.

That’s according to Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, who on Thursday announced a new “partnership” with a company that signals “a new era” in an effort to become more proactive about school safety.

He did not identify the schools, nor did he name those doing the assessments.

“Although they were impressed with our schools’ preparedness, they identified safety solutions that could be employed and tailored specifically for each Cobb school,” the district said in a statement issued later Thursday.

Nor did Ragsdale say how much that partnership will cost, but that “local funds are available” that have previously been secured and that there is state funding for school security and safety efforts that he could explain in executive session.

In the wake of a fatal mass-shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Cobb and other school districts have been responding to increased concerns about safety and in particular the presence of guns on school campuses.

Ragsdale said the intelligence operations will supplement, and not replace, existing safety measures headlined by the Cobb Shield program and that feature regular Code Red drills.

The Cobb school district spends around $35 million a year for safety and security measures, mostly with its police department of 85 officers.

“No price is too high to protect students and staff,” he said.

Since the Apalachee shootings, threats have been made at a number of Cobb schools, including Walton High School and Dickerson Middle School, but the district said there have been no active threats on campuses.

The safety presentation Ragsdale promised in September took place at a Cobb Board of Education meeting Thursday night and featured four individuals with intelligence expertise.

Citing security concerns, they also used only their first names when explaining an overview of the services that will be provided in an ongoing relationship.

“It’s a process, not a product,” Ragsdale said of the district’s work with the intelligence company.

It’s a multi-level process that involves collecting intelligence information on potentially threatening individuals, including using counterintelligence techniques, making a “socio-cognitive” analysis of behavioral risks as well as employing data science and machine-learning components.

The intelligence company was co-founded by a former Navy SEAL, who led the presentation, along with a former federal counterintelligence officer, a cognitive scientist and a data scientist.

To view following slides that were presented to the school board Thursday, click the middle button.

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The intelligence officials focused on proactive strategies that are designed to help students, teachers, staff and parents detect trouble before it arises.

A woman who told school board members she has been a counterintelligence agent supporting the Federal Bureau of Investigation explained 16 safety indicators that will be employed “to help equip school officials to stop these threats themselves.”

Another woman summarized data science and machine-learning elements that provide real-time risk monitoring indicators.

And “Robert,” a cognitive scientist, laid out strategies to identify psychological, cultural and social drivers behind potentially threatening behavior.

When asked by school board member Becky Sayler how these measures would involve community, he responded that they were designed to identify “early on where support is needed and then work with stakeholders to get those kids the support they need.”

When school board member Brad Wheeler asked “What can parents do?” Ragsdale responded that “parents need to know the warning signs . . . . but we’re educators. We don’t know how to spot the warning signs.”

The monitoring would include, but not be limited to, scraping social media data “to customize a solution for the community,” he said.

“One school will be different from the others.”

“Rob,” the intelligence company CEO, explained that the crux of his company’s work is to customize down to the school level, since every campus has different layouts, entry points and logistics, as well as socio-cultural dynamics.

“If you have seen one school, you have seen only one school,” he said. “An off-the-shelf solution will not work.”

He also said that “over the past months, our work has put Cobb County on the forefront of school safety in the state of Georgia and on a national level.” 

Ragsdale said the next steps are to identify “the next set of schools” to undergo security assessments, but a timetable wasn’t mentioned.

“Our parents have to know that when they bring their kids to school, they’re safe,” Ragsdale said.

Taking additional steps to enhance safety by working with those whose expertise is beyond what Cobb currently provides is the only option, he said.

“It’s not needed, it’s required, if we want to maintain student and staff safety. This is not a proof of concept. This is our partnership, and we’re looking forward to a long relationship.”

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