COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The Cobb County school board voted Thursday night to approve new school safety measures for the next school year.
More than a dozen community members gathered outside of the district headquarters, wearing orange shirts that read: "We demand safer schools." Those parents included the mother of two Cobb students, Jenny Peterson, who argued that more needs to be done.
"I can speak specifically to my experience as a volunteer. When I was leading a girl scout troop of elementary-aged schooled kids I would go into my elementary school, which at the end of the day was completely open, there was no security about who was coming in and out," she recalled.
Peterson, along with a handful of community members stood up, with signs that read: "Bring back no place for hate," and "Failed leaders," demanding that Superintendent Chris Ragsdale do more for their children.
"We are concerned about our children in school," one mother exclaimed, while another said, "Mr. Ragsdale, be a leader. Is Wheeler the next Marjory Stoneman Douglas?"
Ragsdale also announced a new alert system where staff can call for help with a push of a button. It's a similar idea to the more than $5 million AlertPoint system, which was hacked last year, prompting a false code red alert in Cobb’s 115 schools.
Peterson remembers that day well. She was grateful her two children were home, but that didn't take the fear away.
"My blood ran cold when I got the first notice that something was happening at Dodgen, which is where both of them went, because I felt that my children could be sitting in the playroom, looking at their monitors, watching a tragedy unfold in real-time," she said.
Laura Judge is a member of Watching the Funds Cobb, a grassroots group, dedicated to watching how and where the Cobb County school district spends tax dollars.
“We want to know the spending around that – if we’re getting money back by breaking our contract [with AlertPoint], if teachers are trained?”
Parents are concerned that the new system, Centegix, was - according to our sister station WCNC - sued by a school district in Charlotte two years ago for having technology that wasn’t working well, or at all.
“Why is it going into cobb county schools? The teachers say they were not trained on AlertPoint. The school superintendent says they were," added Peterson. "I know from my experience right now, I trust the teachers.”
The district adds it’s hiring more psychologists, implementing unannounced drills, and is looking into recruiting retired military for security.
But parents say more needs to happen: entry points to schools should also be monitored, the anti-bullying program “No Place For Hate” needs to be reinstated, and mental health services must be increased.
“With the American Rescue Plan Act, we requested $12 million and there was a line item for mental health and it had zero for that spending," Judge added.
The budget for these new safety features was not released Thursday night. 11Alive reached out for an interview with Ragsdale but he was not available.