Two of the three black members of the Cobb Board of Education have sent a letter to Superintendent Chris Ragsdale asking for several “action items” to address racial and diversity issues within the Cobb County School District.
Charisse Davis of Post 6, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, and Jaha Howard of Post 2 (Osborne and Campbell) dated the letter on Friday.
On her Facebook page, Davis said Friday afternoon that the other five board members were asked to sign the letter before it was sent to Ragsdale, but “there was no response.”
That includes the other black board member, David Morgan, who is one of three Democrats on the board with Davis and Howard.
The letter (you can read it here) states that “we acknowledge that racial discrimination permeates our courts, housing, employment, healthcare and yes—our schools” and requests the district “commit to the practice of anti-racism” by adopting the following measures, and this is verbatim from the letter:
- Provide consistent cultural relevancy and bias training for all employees
- Seek nontraditional solutions for increasing teacher diversity in all schools
- Examine the discrepancies in disciplinary outcomes by race
- Reevaluate the requirements of standardized test scores as criteria for program admittance
- Formally speak out against state level policies (such as voucher bills) that redirect public school funding and contribute to inequities.
Davis noted on her Facebook page that “we are weeks into a national conversation on systemic racism in this country and neither the board as a whole nor district leadership has made a statement.”
In response to a message from East Cobb News seeking comment, a district spokeswoman said late Friday afternoon that board member Randy Scamihorn—one of the board’s four Republicans—has requested a resolution condemning racism be included on the board’s agenda for its June 25 meeting.
Davis and Howard have been pressing the district and other board members on diversity issues for several months, including asking for the designation of a chief equity officer.
They have openly clashed with board members on related matters, and last year claimed the Republican majority was censoring them by banishing board member comments during meetings.
Some of those comments centered around racial issues that Howard was addressing at the local, state and federal level, and not just related to Cobb schools.
In late May, Davis and Howard held an anti-racism rally in Smyrna in the wake of the recent killings of black citizens George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery by police in Minneapolis, Louisville, and Brunswick, Ga., respectively.
Their names were included in the letter to Ragsdale, their deaths, Davis and Howard wrote, being “symptoms of this much larger issue.”
Earlier this week the Cobb Board of Commissioners passed an anti-racism resolution, but not after clashing during a work session and behind the scenes over revisions. The cities of Smyrna, Marietta and Acworth also have passed anti-racism resolutions in the last two weeks.
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