Cobb School Board Faces Long Day

The Cobb County Board of Education is putting the "work" into work session today with an agenda crowded with controversy.

The school board will on the ninth-grade center at the request of West Cobb board member Lynnda Eagle, who hopes to reverse a 4-3 vote in March to postpone the center indefinitely and delay other renovations and improvements at the school by at least a year.

The swing vote appears to be Vice Chairman David Morgan, who will see one of his favored initiatives, the hiring of Teach for America teachers for South Cobb, brought back to the board thanks to Chairman Scott Sweeney.

The Teach for America proposal was pulled without a vote earlier this year.

The Cobb County Association of Educators sent out an email blast Tuesday, calling for people to take action against Teach for America.

"Tell them NO to bringing in untrained, non-certified, unqualified people when we have REAL, CERTIFIED,QUALIFIED TEACHERS who still need jobs! The research is showing that TFA is NOT the answer, real, dedicated teachers is the answer!" the email message from CCAE President Connie Jackson reads.

The TFA discussion for fiscal 2014 comes as the board grapples today with alternatives to a that cuts 350 teaching positions, includes five furlough days and delays teacher pay raises by half a year. The final budget will be voted on May 17.

Board member Alison Bartlett has added a discussion of possible teacher layoffs to the agenda. if attrition doesn't account for the 350 job cuts. The Marietta Daily Journal reported that the had 35 positions to go at the start of this week.

Bartlett also wants to talk about the reapportionment of the school board's electoral districts. Her central Cobb district has been pushed westward to encompass Harrison, while the Osborne community, which she represents now, is broken into several districts.

She, Morgan, Eagle and Northeast Cobb's David Banks face re-election this year under the new districts if they received Justice Department or court approval under the Voting Rights Act.

Bartlett indicated at the board's meeting April 26 that she'd like the board to challenge the new districts.

The crowded agenda today also includes the school district's strategic plan, the hiring of a consultant to prepare a SPLOST IV project list to take to voters next March, a facilities plan for the next four years and the usual mix of monthly business that will come up for votes at the regular meeting May 17.

This morning's meeting starts at 8:30 with a public-comment period, which comes less than 38 hours after at a public hearing on the budget.

The meeting is at the Central Office, 514 Glover St., Marietta. You also can watch it live on cable Channel 24 or at the school system's website.