The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday heard a proposed change to its bylaws that would open the door for major corporate donors to sit on the board of the Cobb Schools Foundation.
The latter is a non-profit the Cobb County School District operates to support school families in need with learning interventions, food distribution and scholarship assistance.
The district, which operates the foundation, currently requires that board members live in Cobb County. The proposed bylaw change, which was discussed at a school board work session Thursday, would require board members to meet one of three criteria.
They would include having a student in the district, being a graduate of the district or working for a business in Cobb County.
Board chairman David Chastain of Post 4 in Northeast Cobb said that the all-volunteer foundation board of trustees asked for the change. Trustees are volunteers who are appointed by the school board, superintendent and the trustees themselves (here’s a list of the current foundation board).
“Think of the large corporations for the most part, part of Cobb County, and imagine having an officer or a manager who wanted to serve—and I would like to think would want to write a big check—and if they don’t live in Cobb County they’re eliminated from being considered,” Chastain said.
But board member Nichelle Davis of Post 6 in Smyrna said that under the proposal, she wouldn’t qualify, and wanted to amend it to keep residency as a qualifier.
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale responded that “that would defeat the whole purpose of the amendment, because you’re saying you’d keep it as is.”
Davis said she meant to keep residency as an “additional”qualifier if someone didn’t meet the other three.
Board member Tre’ Hutchins of Post 3 in South Cobb welcomed the proposal, using Six Flags of Georgia and Wellstar as examples of Cobb businesses that might have potential board members, but also asked to keep the residency option.
Chastain and Ragsdale mentioned Publix, the Florida-based supermarket chain that has donated nearly $350,000 over the last two years to the Cobb Schools Foundation.
“That’s who we’re looking for,” Chastain said.
He said the foundation board members do “actual work” interviewing potential scholarship recipients and performing other tasks.
“It’s not a thing where you show up once a month and take a vote and go home. . . . You’ve got to find the person who really wants to do it.”
Board member Becky Sayler of Post 2 in Smyrna asked for the proposal to be tabled to sort through the residency issue, saying it could be unintentionally exclusive. “Maybe it was a typo in the way that it was prepared, it seemed kind of unusual.”
School board attorney Suzann Wilcox said the proposal, which was not written by her, wouldn’t exclude a parent of a student in the Cobb school district.
“What you could do, if you wanted to, is go back and ask questions of the foundation, and postpone it,” she said.
Chastain withdrew the bylaw proposal, with the intent of having it come back to the school board in July.
Related:
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- Silver Pen awards go to Addison, Powers Ferry, Rocky Mount students
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- Walton graduates told to ‘appreciate what you get to do’
- Lassiter graduates encouraged to ‘find your community’
- Kell graduates asked to ‘never forget where you came from’
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