Community members held a moment of silence for the victims at Apalachee High School — Photo by Rebecca Gaunt
By Rebecca Gaunt
Requests that safety be added to Thursday’s Cobb County Board of Education agenda went unheeded, resulting in frustration from community members, which was displayed outside before the meeting and inside during public comment.
The Sep. 4 Apalachee High School shooting in Winder that left two teachers and two students dead has brought renewed attention to the topic. Cobb, like many other Georgia school districts, waded through dozens of false threats in subsequent weeks. A bomb threat at Walton High School Tuesday was one of the most recent examples. A Dickerson Middle School student is also facing charges for making threats.
“I’m coming forth as a parent to ask or figure out what we can do, how we can come together as a community for the preventative plan, not what to do when it happens, but to prevent these code reds from happening,” said parent Cherry Peterson at the evening session’s public comment.
The district has maintained that it won’t discuss safety publicly, but parents have questioned why the district won’t hold a townhall similar to the one Marietta City Schools Superintendent Grant Rivera held after Apalachee.
“We aren’t asking for a blueprint,” said one of the parents who joined a circle outside that was holding a moment of silence for Christian Angulo, Mason Schermerhorn, Christina Irmie, and Richard Aspinwall, the victims at Apalachee.
Democratic board member Leroy Tre’ Hutchins said he has tried to put his safety plan, which focuses on technology to keep guns out of schools, on the agenda for over a year, but lacks the support required to have a discussion. Only the board chair and the superintendent can place items for discussion. Otherwise it requires the support of four board members. Democratic board members Becky Sayler and Nichelle Davis have voiced support. Hutchins needs one Republican board member to join them.
“We are not asking you to share everything. We are asking you to consider everything,” said parent and co-founder of Watching the Funds-Cobb Heather Tolley-Bauer during the afternoon work session’s public comment.
While there has been no indication that Hutchins’ safety plan will be up for discussion in October, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale did inform the board that there will be a safety presentation next month.
“Our board receives briefings in executive session. For example, tonight, I informed the board of expanded threat assessment and abatement measures we are investigating in a more detailed discussion. Following the board’s input, I anticipate bringing a public presentation on those aspects which we can share without endangering students and staff…,” he said.
According to Ragsdale, the district spends $35 million annually on “multi-layered plans, systems and strategies developed by experts on school safety and emergency management, and in cooperation with law enforcement.”
Ragsdale called CCSD’s measures the most comprehensive and layered in the state, and possibly the nation, including a police force with 81 armed, POST-certified officers.
Some of the speakers questioned the district’s ability to keep parents, students, and staff safe by noting that this meeting marked one year since the district’s communications team collaborated to prevent participants in a “Replace Ragsdale” rally from speaking at the September 2023 board meeting by moving the line.
“Maybe it’s because you couldn’t even keep safe citizens who wanted to make public comment here a year ago, when too many of us, including me, who’ve been critical of you, lined up to speak,” said parent Jenny Peterson.
An open records request showed that district staff planned the move to intentionally knock the “bad guys” out of line, and also accessed the records of a student they believed was planning to speak that night.
Parent Tovah Ringland routinely speaks to the board regarding special education matters, and was not part of the rally that day. She was one of the people who nearly lost her spot that evening.
“I remain disappointed that no one took ownership of the decision that put me in danger and caused others to be hurt,” she said.
The meetings can be viewed in full on the district website at Watch Meetings Online (cobbk12.org).
Rebecca Gaunt earned a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree in education from Oglethorpe University. After teaching elementary school for several years, she returned to writing. She lives in Marietta with her husband, son, two cats, and a dog. In her spare time, she loves to read, binge Netflix and travel.
