Melissa Marten pictured with two employees named in the lawsuit, Daniel Vehar and Zach Alderson — Photo by Rebecca Gaunt
By Rebecca Gaunt
Two mothers of Cobb County School District students filed a lawsuit Thursday against seven employees of the district for violating their First Amendment rights when they manipulated the line for public comment at the Sep. 14, 2023 school board meeting.
Jenny Peterson and Melissa Marten are asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to find the actions of the district employees unconstitutional and prevent them from taking similar actions in the future. They are also requesting nominal and punitive damages.
“For years we have watched the Cobb County school superintendent and certain members of the board dismiss feedback and criticism from the community, and what happened in September 2023 was they literally took actions to stop those of us who criticize them from having a chance at free speech,” Peterson told the Courier.
They are represented by Craig Goodmark of the Goodmark Law Firm and Gerald Weber of the Law Offices of Gerry Weber, LLC.
“Public officials serve the whole community, and the First Amendment means that they must hear from all parents, not just their chosen choir who will sing only their praises,” Weber said.
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, as are six employees who collaborated to relocate the sign up line for public comment when they became aware there were “bad guys” in line.
Read more here: Cobb schools staff acted to silence critics, Teams messages show – Cobb Courier (cobbcountycourier.com)
An open records request for Microsoft Teams messages showed that John Floresta (chief strategy & accountability officer), Julian Coca (director of content and marketing), Nan Kiel
(press relations coordinator), Daniel Vehar (assistant director of marketing), Zach Alderson (communications specialist), and Amanda Chambers (secretary) coordinated to abruptly move the line from its usual spot in the district office lobby, after people had stood in line for hours waiting to sign up.
Marten and Peterson lost their spots, and two people who were not in the original line successfully obtained spots to speak in support of district leadership.
Several people, including Peterson and Marten, were wearing red shirts with “Replace Ragsdale” emblazoned on the front, and “Ragsdale is Wrong” on the back. They had participated in a “Replace Ragadale” rally outside the building prior to joining the line. The Teams messages showed that district staff were watching them and discussing the turnout of people in support of Ragsdale and those who were not. When it became apparent that the evening public comment line was dominated by critics, staff acted to try and remove them.
Read more: Chaos and tension at Cobb school board meeting – Cobb Courier (cobbcountycourier.com)
“There had been not only a big lead up in the month prior to September, but years of harm inflicted by the district. We had been getting more organized as a community with a more consistent presence following what happened over the summer with Katie Rinderle,” Marten said.
Peterson said she went to the rally and meeting that day because she shared similar frustrations.
“Our board did not seem to give proper oversight to the superintendent,” she said.
Both submitted complaints via email about what happened to Keeli Bowen, the chief human resource officer, after the Teams messages became public. They’ve received no acknowledgement of what happened beyond Bowen’s confirmation the email was received, and her statement that she was unable to speak on personnel matters.
Marten said she approached Bowen at a subsequent board meeting to ask if she could agree that they at least shouldn’t have been referred to as “bad guys” in the Teams messages. According to Marten, Bowen responded, “Please don’t make me answer that.”
Bowen did not respond to the Courier’s request for comment.
“I want a broad reconsideration of how this board and CCSD leadership, district employees, communicate with constituents because this is just one example of the way that they manipulate the channels of communication to their own benefit,” Peterson said.
The Courier reached out to the district for comment, though it instituted a policy of refusing to respond to questions from the Courier in 2021. The staff members named in the lawsuit are part of the accountability and communications departments that are responsible for communicating with the media.
Read the lawsuit in full here
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.
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