Cobb Post 2 Board of Education member Becky Sayler posted to her Facebook account the following comments about President Donald Trump’s visit to Wheeler High. We’re reprinting the post with her permission:
Yesterday President Trump visited Wheeler High School. In the words of the CCSD communications team, it was “for an event highlighting education and student achievement.” In the phone call I received prior to the news announcement, it was described as a visit to promote Trump Accounts, a kind of investment account that parents can open for children.
As a board member, I thought it was important to go to this historic event and witness for myself what happened. I appreciated that Board Chair Randy Scamihorn arranged for the board to sit together.
What I saw was quite different from the way the event was promoted. As an elected Democrat, it was very strange sitting in the audience of an event that is supposed to at least mention the excellence of Cobb schools, but to hear campaign speeches from four Georgia Republicans running for state office who said things like “This is a fight to save western civilization” (Greg Dolezal), and “129 people move to Georgia from other states every day…insane states…blue states…they are not checking their policies at the door” (Brian Strickland).
The President opened his remarks by calling the Democrats “Dumb – o – crats” and complaining about how when he came into office our country had “wide open borders” and “transgender for everyone.” He claimed that he built the army but “they gave it away to the Taliban,” and “We won Venezuela.”
The audience was enthusiastic towards the president inside the arena, but it was not a crowd made entirely of our Cobb neighbors. The President recognized many people in the crowd, including two large groups originating outside of Cobb, for following him around to different rallies across the country.
He did eventually meander to Trump Accounts, the topic of the day. If he was a student giving a presentation, he would have lost points for being late (Student Code of Conduct JCDA-R, subsection II, B), using a curse word (Student Code of Conduct JCDA-R, subsection II, G), harassment and bullying (Student Code of Conduct JCDA-R, subsection II, L) and making up facts (Student Code of Conduct JCDA-R, subsection II, I).
If he was giving this talk as a Cobb teacher, he would have violated district policies, including almost all of IKB-R, subsection B. Sections from that policy include “District employees shall refrain from using classroom instruction or their relationships with students to influence students, or through them, their parents/guardians, regarding any one political or partisan side of an issue” and that employees should refrain from “espousing personal political beliefs.” The president also took the time to endorse several candidates, which violates that same policy: “Objectivity on all issues shall be observed in instructional procedures; Balanced points of view on issues shall be presented; and Employees shall refrain from identifying their personal position on issues or preference regarding political candidates.”
But, the president is not a student or an employee in Cobb. He is the president, which somehow means he has less accountability. It is a great honor for the president to visit – usually. However, this president, who uses inflammatory and derogatory language to refer to populations of people who go to our schools, is not usual.
I still do not know if the White House paid the rental fee to use Cobb schools facilities or the cost incurred by the groups usually on campus who needed to find alternative locations. I don’t know if Cobb employees who were working the event were given a choice to be there. We have a school board meeting today where I anticipate asking those questions and learning more about how this event came to be.
I appreciate the hundreds of you reaching out with your perspective on this. Thank you for caring about our community.