Cobb schools reopening plans protest Archives

The Cobb Board of Education is holding its monthly meetings starting Thursday morning, and at least two groups critical of reopening plans are staging a protest later in the day.

A group of parents calling itself School ROCS (Reopen Our Classrooms Safely) has called for a march to start at 5 p.m. Thursday at Larry Bell Park in Marietta, then to proceed to the nearby Cobb County School District central office.

On Wednesday, the Cobb County Association of Educators said it would join in, and asked its members to wear red to “protest the lack of information regarding returning to school and working conditions for employees.”

The school board is holding its work session, executive session and voting meeting in succession in virtual form starting at 10 a.m. Thursday. (Agendas here.)

The board hasn’t met in person or heard public comments since the COVID-19 outbreak shuttered schools in March.

Since announcing its protest, ROCS has blistered Cobb school district officials, primarily in social media forums, for its reopening plan.

The group thinks the district’s plans, which were revised last Friday, are not complete and have left parents, staff and students confused.

The start of the school year has been delayed by two weeks to Aug. 17, but ROCS said it wants a further delay for a “safe, realistic, comprehensive plan” that includes information on how it plans to respond to CDC guidance, contingency plans for what to do when students and staff test positive for the virus and to make masks mandatory.

The district is “expecting” staff and “strongly recommending” students wear masks, but is not requiring them.

ROCS, whose leaders including incoming school board member Tre Hutchins, also wants the district to lay out plans to assist low-income families who may need more digital resources as the school year goes along.

Hutchins was among those speaking this week at a Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting to protest the district’s CARES Act funding request that calls for online content acquisition only, and not funding to aid students already at a disadvantage.

Parents have until Friday to choose a classroom or remote learning option for their students. They will not be allowed to switch options until after the fall semester.

An East Cobb parent who’s been critical of the district on bullying issues has launched an online petition to make masks mandatory in Cobb schools.

Rob Madayag, who briefly was a candidate for the school board seat held by David Banks, said in a social media posting that he’s “still in disbelief that the Cobb County School District would think it’s fine to put an adult teacher in close proximity to 20 or 30 bioweapons factories the entire day without reducing the risk to the teacher by requiring kids wear masks.”

Madayag has long disputed Cobb school district discipline figures. Those will be one of the items to be discussed Thursday at the board’s work session.

(You can read through the agendas for all three meetings here.)

The agenda also includes discussion of an anti-racism resolution that was delayed from last month, and another interim spending resolution until the board can finalize a fiscal year 2021 budget.

District officials are expected to present a budget proposal to the board in August. That’s been delayed due to the COVID-related delay in the legislative session, and Thursday’s meeting also calls for what’s called a tentative budget adoption.

Cobb schools gets around half of its $1.1 billion budget from the state, and is anticipating a $62 million shortfall due to state budget cuts.

A virtual budget public forum begins at 9 a.m. Thursday, followed by a virtual tax digest public hearing.

All of Thursday’s meetings can be viewed online here on the Cobb school district’s website, or on Comcast Cable Channel 24.