MDJ Report on Cobb Delegation Forum
12/15/2009

Ga. legislator: School board out of control
by Jon Gillooly
j
gillooly@mdjonline.com
December 15, 2009 01:00 AM |

MARIETTA - State Rep Sharon Cooper (R-east Cobb) said she is disappointed that an "out of control" school board is overshadowing the work of Cobb's excellent teachers.

Cooper, who chairs the Health and Human Services Committee in the Georgia House, made her remarks during a Cobb Legislative Delegation meeting Monday at the Cobb County Public Library near Marietta Square.

"This bizarre manner in which the school board acts really overshadows our great teachers," she said. "Ninety-nine percent of our teachers are doing a great job, many in difficult circumstances. It just really is sad."

Every year, prior to the legislative session, state senators and representatives from Cobb's 19-member delegation host a meeting with officials from local municipalities. The meeting gives those officials the opportunity to express what they would like to see happen in the upcoming session.

This year, Marietta City Schools Superintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck, Kennesaw State University President Dr. Dan Papp, Chattahoochee Technical College President Dr. Sanford Chandler, Marietta Mayor-elect Steve Tumlin, and others presented their wish lists while boasting accomplishments.

The legislators congratulated those individuals, but changed their tone when speaking with officials from the Cobb County School District - specifically school board Chairman Dr. John Abraham, board member David Banks, and Michelle Luckett, executive assistant to Superintendent Fred Sanderson.

Cobb Legislative Delegation Chairman John Wiles (R-Kennesaw) said there was a consensus among the delegation that legislators did not feel welcome in the district's schools.

Cooper, who represents the area covered by school board member Dr. John Crooks, said, "I haven't been invited to one of my schools in four or five years."

State Rep. Judy Manning (R-Marietta) said the Cobb school district needs to improve its communications.

Luckett acknowledged a communication problem with the legislators.

"We recognize there has been a delinquency, if you will, in communication for one reason or another. Please bear in mind, I've only been in this job a little under three months. I think and I hope you will see a change in how the school district reaches out to the state delegation," Luckett said.

Abraham invited the legislators to attend board meetings, to which Cooper said "no way."

"There is no way that I am coming to a board meeting, not with the way that the public has been treated," Cooper said.

Abraham interjected, saying he didn't see the purpose of discussing the way the board treated the public.

Wiles then interrupted Abraham.

"Doctor, this is my meeting. I'm chairing it. Rep. Cooper is speaking. When she is finished speaking, then I will let you respond," Wiles said.

Cooper said she gets swamped with calls related to the recall of Crooks as well as complaints about other board members.

During a break in the meeting, Cooper said, "What I'm hearing is that there is a perception that we went from one school board that was a good school board that had maybe some problems with outspoken people, to a school board that is out of control and really more concerned about what they want to do than the interests of the children."

Whether it's perception or reality, Cooper said in her community, many citizens view the board as unreceptive to citizens.

"It's like the perception is they know everything, just leave them alone and let them take care of their business and go away. And so whether that's reality or not, that's the perception. So why would they be interested in my coming to a board meeting or anything that I would have to say about it?" Cooper said.

Cooper said she isn't suggesting that Crooks doesn't have supporters.

"There are people on both sides of that (recall effort). Here again, maybe it's more perception than reality, but when you make comments about the fact that a 90-year-old lady is insignificant - her opinion - because she is not going to live that much longer, then that certainly sends a signal out into the community that you're callous and not interested in what people have to say," Cooper said.

Cooper referred to Abraham interrupting her as arrogant.

"Here again, it was almost like he did not want to discuss that in open. Call him, so it could be in private," she said. "I will say, in the past I had a better relationship with past school board members."

Both state Rep. Don Parsons (R-east Cobb) and Sen. Chip Rogers (R-North Cobb) said they have never had a problem visiting schools to interact with students.

State Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth), though, said he had never been invited to a PTA meeting.

"A lot of people don't think to invite us because they think we're too busy," Wiles said.

Board member David Banks called on the board and delegation to have stronger communications.

"We have the best quality education," he said. "I don't want to see that diminished. I think this year we're probably at a caution level. Next year we may be at a danger level, and if things don't really start to pick up, we could get to a crisis level. That, we don't want to get to."

A few weeks earlier, several Republican legislators stopped by the MDJ to express their dismay with the Cobb school board's legislative priorities, which they said conflicted with conservative principles.

Democratic board member Holli Cash of Smyrna, the school board's liaison to Cobb's predominantly Republican legislative delegation, has called on the Legislature to raise taxes, which the Republican legislators soundly rejected. Cash was absent from Monday's meeting.

Link to Article