By Rebecca Gaunt

Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced that two teachers are no longer with the Cobb County School District and others have been placed on administrative leave over social media posts about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s murder on the Utah Valley University campus during a scheduled appearance last week.

Ragsdale did not clarify at Thursday’s school board meeting whether the two staff members had been fired or if they had resigned.

“This behavior has been incredibly disruptive to the operation of schools and our administrative staff. Far too much attention and resources have been diverted away from our core mission of education,” he said.

With verbiage reminiscent of his previous remarks on book removals and the sexualization of children, he called the situation a matter of good and evil, right vs. wrong.

“You either support school shooters, or you are against them, regardless of who their victim is. In Cobb County, we are against them and we will not be moved,” he said.

Kirk, 31, was the founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization focused on high school and college students.

Public comment pushback

Public commenters at the afternoon work session and evening voting session pushed back on the district’s actions.

“Do we really want to incentivize parents and school staff to tattle on our teachers? Is this the way that we build a strong school community?” said parent Tracy O’Connor.

Wheeler High School parent Jenny Peterson, one of the plaintiffs in a First Amendment lawsuit alleging the district blocked her from speaking critically at a meeting in September 2023, said, “And the most confusing part to me is that you say this impacts the classroom. But when did they read their social media posts in the classroom?”

Rebecca Ivanov, the chair of the Cobb chapter of Moms for Liberty, characterized Kirk as standing for “conservative Christian values and open respectful dialogue.”

She said, “I do not agree with statements made by some teachers and administrators about his death across the country. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequence, however, silencing teachers and staff for any public political opinions as a private citizen outside of the classroom should be carefully examined.”

Parent Micheal Garza said, “I don’t agree with any statements that might seem like we’re celebrating a very heinous act. But we also should be toning the rhetoric down. We should be trying to bring our community together, and we’re not doing that when we’re so publicly chastising our teachers and saying that we’re trying to take away their teacher’s license.”

Rich Pellegrino questioned the district’s publicized approach to the issue.

“Why would the superintendent and board sacrifice the safety of its teachers, its staff, and its students, by putting out a press release saying that it’s investigating some heinous remarks by teachers and educators when no other district in the state of Georgia did that…in the handbook it says the only time you can discipline the speech of your staff is when a major disruption occurs. Who caused that disruption? You did by putting out that statement when no other school district did,” he said.

On Wednesday, Essence Johnson, chair of the Cobb County Democratic Committee released a statement accusing the district of picking and choosing “which employees get a pass, and which are harassed to the ends of the earth.”

Johnson shared a statement that John Floresta, the chief strategy and accountability officer for Cobb schools, gave the Courier in 2023 when asked about central office employees with ties to an SPLC-designated hate group. 

Floresta told the Courier, “We aren’t interested in the personal or political views of any of our staff and are equally disinterested in the doxxing of veteran classroom teachers who don’t share your, or the SPLC’s, opinions. Our only focus is on success for Cobb County’s children.”

In her statement, Johnson wrote, “Now, after two years, the school system has changed its stance on the personal or political views of its staff…This teacher allegedly posted about the late Charlie Kirk and the district decided to politicize the post and turn it into a circus.”

The superintendent’s remarks can be viewed in full on the district website. In July, the school board voted 4-3 to no longer broadcast the public comment portion of the meeting. Those comments can be viewed in full on the Cobb County Courier’s Facebook page or on YouTube.