By Rebecca Gaunt
The Cobb County Association of Educators and its political action committee CCAE4Kids announced they were endorsing Democratic candidates Vickie Benson for Cobb County Board of Education Post 1, Leroy Tre’ Hutchins for Post 3, and Andrew Cole for Post 7.
Hutchins is the only candidate running unchallenged. The announcement also said Republican Brad Wheeler, the incumbent Cole is challenging, was considered acceptable for Post 7.
There was no endorsement for Post 5 in the race between Republican John Cristadoro and Democrat Laura Judge. They are running for the seat incumbent David Banks is vacating.
Board Chair Randy Scamihorn did not receive the endorsement due to using “coercive and threatening language against Cobb employees in the media– MDJ September 2023 and [he] openly used district communications “Just the Facts” to campaign for the reelection of the incumbents and against countywide initiatives in violation of state campaign law using taxpayer funds for political purposes,” according to the release.
From the CCAE announcement:
CCAE President Jeff Hubbard said, “This year’s Cobb Board of Education races became shaped around “the 3 P’s,” as stated by incumbent board members at the August 16 Cobb GOP women’s luncheon. The incumbents stated that this year’s elections were about “power, pornography, and property values.” (MDJ – August 16, 2024)
CCAE fully disagrees. CCAE’s position is that the 3 P’s are Process (where the board has still not crafted and adopted a policy regarding the review and removal of media center and instructional materials since Georgia HB 1084 was passed in 2023), Participation (where the four board members of the majority party have blocked the three board members of the minority party from introducing any meeting agenda items in almost 6 years, thereby disenfranchising the voices of over 300,000 Cobb residents), and Professionalism (where the current board chair has used coercive and threatening language against Cobb employees in the media– MDJ September 2023 and openly used district communications “Just the Facts” to campaign for the reelection of the incumbents and against countywide initiatives in violation of state campaign law using taxpayer funds for political purposes).
Hubbard continued, “A collaborative board of education does not worry about which party is in power, rather, they work for consensus on what is best for the children, employees, and citizens of the community. Far too much rancor has occurred within the board over the past two terms for there not to be a change within the makeup of the board for a healthy and robust operation. The seven members should be able to work as one body as other metro Atlanta systems in a respectful and successful manner. Instead, member discussions are suppressed, policy proposals are disregarded, and elected voices are muted. This should be unacceptable to all stakeholders.”
The CCAE endorsement is based on our commitment to continue improving Cobb County’s public schools for all 750,000+ stakeholders.
“Cobb County is extraordinarily fortunate in that our voters can vote to elect dedicated citizens to the Board of Education to represent our 106,000 children and 18,000 school employees. As every decision concerning the operation of our schools is made by elected officials, it is imperative that our tax paying citizens support candidates of academic, financial, and personal integrity who will make children and our schools the highest priority over all other issues.”
He concluded saying, “When elected, the individuals endorsed by CCAE will work incredibly hard to make sure all children have dynamic educational experiences in our schools and worksites with focus upon academic accountability, financial fidelity, and ethical efficacy.”
The members of the Cobb County Association of Educators and those supporters of a great education system have a history of very high turnout for elections. Cobb’s children are depending on our active political involvement. CCAE requests that citizens dedicated to having great public schools in Cobb show up in strength and elect Dr. Vickie Benson, Leroy Tre’ Hutchins, and Andrew Cole on November 5 for the well-being of our school system and county.
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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