Board Meeting Celebrates Cobb Successes, Looks Forward to Season of Thanks

Nov. 15, 2024

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, parents have another reason to give thanks. In Cobb Schools, the focus on academic excellence and student success will continue, as highlighted during the November Board of Education meeting.

The Cobb School Board and Superintendent Chris Ragsdale kicked off the meeting recognizing multiple Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) achievements for schools and staff.

Hayes Elementary School, Sedalia Park Elementary School, Russell Elementary School, and Sprayberry High School earned Cobb STEM Certifications. Nearly 50 Cobb County schools are Cobb STEM certified, recognizing their commitment to providing students with STEM-enriched learning opportunities that strengthen critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed for future success in STEM fields.

Dr. Hannah Oldham was congratulated for being named the Air & Space Forces Association STEM Teacher of the Year for her work with Sprayberry High School's STEM program and overall commitment to STEM education. Dr. Oldham is behind Sprayberry students' twice-winning of the Worldwide Plant Mars Competition.

The November Board meeting also provided Superintendent Ragsdale an opportunity to reassure the school community of the District’s continued commitment to student safety and ensuring Cobb remains “the best place to teach, lead, and learn.”

The District’s focus on safety means the book review process will continue, and Superintendent Ragsdale plans to keep the community updated as more books are reviewed.

“The sexualization of children will always be a battle between good and evil. There is no middle ground. You are either for providing sexually explicit material to children, or you are against it. I have been and will always be against it, and I will still not be moved,” Superintendent Ragsdale stated.

During the evening meeting, the Superintendent’s remarks emphasized how the District prioritizes Cobb students and educators, not the agendas of those whose goal is “disrupting the educational environment.”

The Superintendent’s full remarks are included below the video.

“Earlier this month, the voters of Cobb County reaffirmed their support for our schools, our vision, and the future we're building together. Every board member up for re-election received overwhelming support from our community, a testament to their belief in the work we're doing and the direction we're heading.

This result reflects the deep, shared commitment, across Cobb, to our vision for education one centered on academic excellence, student achievement, and preparing every child for success.

The product Cobb voters asked us to continue providing speaks for itself.

We invest heavily to keep schools safe and are proud to include every available, effective safety support, in all of our schools.

We spend our money and time on high-quality academics, focused on the Georgia standards, and are one of the most respected and highest-performing school districts in the country.

We prioritize educators with dollars, leading the state not only in educator compensation but also in increasing educator compensation. We were the first school district to pay for hundreds of our educators to earn strategically identified college degrees through Georgia's BEST. We also provide significant supports in the classroom. This allows us to recruit and retain the best teachers in Georgia, ensuring Cobb remains the best place to teach, lead, and learn.

And fundamentally, we believe educators and parents are both members of our one team. On that team, teachers should teach, and parents should parent. We support the impossibly difficult work you care most about, raising your children, and are committed to respecting that work just as much as you respect ours.

However, we also know there's a different - and competing - perspective out there. It is a vision of seeing education as a tool for social activism. A vision viewing children as potential recruits to a cause - whatever that cause is - rather than students. Some believe schools should spend time and money on a whole variety of ideas that have nothing to do with keeping students safe or the knowledge necessary to prepare them for a life of success. It is a vision in which parents and the social and religious beliefs in a child's home are seen as barriers to overcome rather than partners. It is a vision built entirely on the goal of disrupting the educational environment, with little to no concern about how it affects and impacts children, families, or educators. It is a goal requiring unreasoning criticism of everything the district attempts to do, regardless of whether the critic knows anything about it.

For example, following the tragic events at Apalachee High School, we asked ourselves whether we believed such an event could happen in Cobb. One of the items emerging from that shooting and others was the possibility that certain indicators were missed that might have necessitated an early intervention. These included social media posts and other virtual behaviors. Consequently, we looked at solutions that might have been early warning indicators. Beyond this, the nature of threats are changing. Following Apalachee, we received a number of false threats. I cannot tell you how many conversations I have had with parents concerned about what we are doing to hold the perpetrators of the many false threats accountable for their actions. We must evolve our safety strategy to make sure we can move and respond quickly in this new era of digital threats. This not only includes appropriately responding to false AND real threats but being able to quickly determine which is which.

After meeting with the Servius Group and seeing the potential of their solutions during last month's meeting, I asked Rob Sarver of the Servius Group to present to the Board and community regarding a new, supplemental approach to student and staff safety, one that could augment our already robust structures supporting student and staff safety. Again, this is augmenting and in no way would be replacing nor diminishing our investment into hardware, software, and people solutions such as cameras, Centegix, and our awesome CCSD police officers. However, when it comes to student and team safety, just as threats evolve, our prevention and response strategies and tools must evolve. The Servius group brings the level of experience and expertise in the gathering of, but most importantly, the analysis of intelligence, which can help us get ahead of potential events (left of launch).

Despite our additional efforts to keep our students and team safe and prevent false threats from disrupting schools, some critics, knowing little to nothing about our efforts, have nonetheless openly criticized them. They have referred to this as some type of secret police, incorrectly suggesting students will be profiled and even harassed. Again, nothing could be farther from the truth. The Servius team's expertise will allow us to address issues before they become problems and problems before they become tragedies. They will hopefully allow us to intervene with troubled students before something unthinkable and irreparable happens. While there is no perfect solution, it is incumbent upon us to make sure we are truly placing student and staff safety as our top priority.

While we cannot publicly share the details of our school safety measures - to do so would actually endanger our students and staff - we do provide detailed information to the Board in executive session. For example, information and updates were provided to the Board this evening in the executive session, which, of course, is confidential. Similarly, it is being asserted - again - that we are violating state procurement law. Again, that is simply untrue. That is an old but frequent allegation - one repeatedly and consistently proven untrue by multiple state audits and frivolous complaints.

I would ask this of our critics. The election is over. Perhaps you could take a break from the political rhetoric and false allegations for just a bit, allowing us to perform the duties Cobb County expects of us - providing its children with a world-class education in a safe environment.

In the past four years, more activists than can be named or remembered have attempted to take control of your children's education and our schools.

While there is a time and place for political debates, they never have a place in our schools.

Our community has made it abundantly clear what they expect of our schools and our team. Our families want a school district focused on academics, one that values and respects every perspective while keeping a laser focus on providing a world-class education that equips students with the skills necessary for success.

They believe success for students, supported by dedicated teachers and a highly effective school system, is what makes Cobb one of the best places to raise a family in the country. They expect us to not only provide that education but provide it in as safe an environment as possible. Cobb's success has been built on this foundation.

While national debates about what school should be will continue, please know we continue to share your goal - that we will remain a district that delivers high academic performance, gives parents high-quality choices, keeps politics out of the classroom, and prioritizes safe schools.

Let me be clear: again, we respect critical thinking, which goes into informed decision-making, and the differing viewpoints that can emerge from it. We expect reasonable adults will differ about policy, politics, religion, and how they wish to raise their children.

However, we also respect, and expect, and will protect educators who wish to remain focused on education, allowing families and communities to debate social issues that do not belong in a classroom. We remain committed to not abusing the privilege of and power in educating your children to usurp what the US Supreme Court consistently recognizes as the role of parents and families. And despite the best efforts of activists and unreasoning critics, we will not be moved from that commitment.

This is Cobb: One Team with One Goal-Student Success. We are here for over 105,000 students and over 800,00 citizens and appreciate your confidence in what we have done - and what we will.”