Cobb County School Board Members Called to Appear Before Grand Jury

On March 25, the Cobb County grand jury sent a request to meet with all seven members of the county’s Board of Education on April 1 at 9:30 a.m. in the Grand Jury Room at 10 East Park Square in Marietta.

“We can’t discuss anything that the grand jury does,” said Kathy Watkins, director of communications for the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office.

Watkins said the grand jury will not release its actions, recommendations or discussions to the public until its May 5 "general presentment."

"But until then, it's private," Watkins said.

A source close to the situation told Patch that the balanced calendar is one of the issues to be discussed.

Patch contributor Ethan Fowler spoke to board member Lynnda Crowder-Eagle, whose Post 1 includes , , Allatoona and Hillgrove high schools.

"It’s not a grand jury indictment, this is the civil grand jury," said Crowder-Eagle. She said this is the first time the grand jury has asked the entire board to appear in front of them.

However, it is not unusual that the grand jury subpoenas the chair or the superintendent, said Crowder-Eagle. Last year she was asked to appear before the jury for transportation questions.

Crowder-Eagle said she is not sure what the request is about this time.

"That’s all determined from the district attorney’s office (Pat Head, civil and criminal)," she said. "The only topics that we know for sure is the balanced calendar and other topics."

Post 5 Board Member David Banks, who earlier this year asked to rescind the calendar vote, also spoke to Patch.

"I don’t know what the other issues could be about," he said. "I don’t know what sparked it. I don’t know who’s on the panel unless there was a lot of complaints that went in to Pat Head about the balanced calendar, but that’s speculation on my part."

"When you’re riding a wild horse, it’s best to get off of it. There’s a lot of stuff going on," Banks said.

Banks said he received an e-mail at 3:44 p.m. Friday that the board had been requested to speak to the Cobb County grand jury.

The e-mail from Pat Head’s office read: “The grand jury has recently been impaneled and has requested to meet with the entire school board. They would like them to come to the grand jury room, located at 10 E. Park Square, Marietta, Ga., on Friday, April 1, at 9:30 a.m.

“Topics: Balanced calendar and there were other subjects discussed by them (the grand jury), including the number of employees at the central office, in administration and etc.”

"This is just a civil grand jury. They’re just going to issue their findings and opinions. It’s not really that serious, but if they find something wrong, it could get serious. You never know what could come out of it. They might release a report, but I don’t expect anything," Banks said.