The Cobb County School District’s new partner on safety issues is an intelligence firm that wasn’t identified last week when making a presentation about the new plans before the Cobb Board of Education.
The AJC on Friday revealed the company is the Servius Group, and its CEO and founder is Rob Sarver, and also reported that the district has confirmed that information.
At the meeting last week, the district wouldn’t say how much money it’s spending, but Friday told the newspaper it has has spent less than $200,000 on a non-contractual basis.
At the Oct. 18 school board meeting, four intelligence officials, including a man who identified himself only as “Rob” (above) , who said he was a former Navy SEAL, broadly outlined services they’ll be provide in what Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said would be a long-term association.
They include scraping social media accounts and using a bevy of behavioral indicators to detect possible threats and risks before they happen.
Other efforts involve counterintelligence techniques as well as employing data science and machine-learning components.
While the new partnership came about in the wake of the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School, the new measures are also designed to address gang activity, cyberviolence and other safety threats.
The AJC reported Friday that “the district said Servius would only get basic school directory information such as what schools share with the companies that produce yearbooks, textbooks and diplomas.”
The company has conducted risk assessments at three unidentified schools in the Cobb district and will be conducting others on all campuses, according to Ragsdale’s remarks last week.
The AJC report said it identified Servius through Sarver’s LinkedIn credentials, which indicate he’s the author of an upcoming book, “Warrior to Civilian: The Field Manual for the Hero’s Journey.”
The report said Sarver confirmed that information and said that Servius has worked with schools “elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad.”
Servius Group is based in Florida but there’s little other public information available. A domain name tied to the company is parked with no additional content.
Ragsdale said last week that most of the funding for the intelligence firm will come from previously budgeted sources and a state school safety grant.
The Georgia legislature this year approved an amount of $47,124 per school in state funding to be used for security initiatives.
On Thursday, State Rep. Devan Seabaugh, a Republican from Marietta, issued a release saying that after brainstorming with Ragsdale about the issue, “I was able to connect the superintendent with highly trained intelligence officials I’ve collaborated with on other projects to explore how cutting-edge technology might be utilized to proactively identify potential threats to school safety.”
“It is certainly a step in the right direction in helping keep our kids, teachers and staff safe, and along with the safety measures already in place I think this approach could serve as a model program for other school districts across the state.”
Related:
- Cobb teachers of the year honored at Wheeler HS celebration
- Cobb schools get intelligence help to boost safety plans
- Cobb revises graduation policy after Sprayberry HS exclusion
- Cobb schools remove six more books for explicit content
- Wheeler, Walton post best 2024 Cobb schools ACT scores
- Cobb school board candidate profile: John Cristadoro, Post 5
- Cobb school board candidate profile: Laura Judge, Post 5
- Lassiter leads Cobb in 2024 graduation rates
- Pope students named to Georgia schools advisory council
- 4 East Cobb high schools lead in 2024 SAT scores
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