COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County school district employees are being questioned over their actions during Superintendent Chris Ragsdale’s kickoff speech.
Jeff Hubbard, president of the Cobb County Association of Educators, confirmed to Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell that employees are being called into meetings with their principal and a school district representative, including teachers at eight different schools, for walking out of the superintendent’s kickoff speech.
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Ragsdale sparked controversy during his school year kickoff speech over some of his comments to teachers.
In the nearly hourlong speech, he addressed a recent visit to Wheeler High School by President Donald Trump, which he said has been described as “divisive,” and the district’s decision to remove some books from school libraries.
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“If I sound *bleep* off I am, everybody in education should be that they’re trying to use you as teachers to condition kids of something as tragic as trafficking,” Ragsdale said.
Hubbard says employees at two elementary schools and a high school have been asked if they left the speech before it was over and if they were given permission to do so.
“I’ve had one person who was a victim of sexual assault, and it triggered horrible memories. And the person for her mental health had to step out,” Hubbard said.
Watching the Funds Cobb, a citizens’ watchdog group, shared concerns from 30 anonymous teachers about the kickoff speech at last week’s school board meeting.
“What the teachers told us that he was equating books with child sex trafficking and telling these educators that if you don’t agree with me, then you’re complicit in sex trafficking our children,” said Heather Tolley-Bauer, Watching The Funds-Cobb founder.
Hubbard says teachers were pulled out of class and questioned five days after that meeting.
“Teachers all across the county being called into meetings with their principal and assistant superintendent and asked two questions: Why did you walk out of the superintendent’s speech and who gave you permission? They are being interviewed and possibly are facing consequences for standing up for themselves, and we will stand up for them,” Hubbard said.
“Our teachers deserve better than this, and it is up to our school board to rein him in and make sure that he is doing the job that he is tasked with doing,” Tolley-Bauer said.
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