Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 3/12/22
The
lead editorial in this past Tuesday’s Marietta Daily Journal was music to many
ears. It was titled, “Cognia due for a review of its own.”
What’s Cognia? Good question. First of all it
is one of those many prissy words/names, the likes of which are popping up
everywhere for businesses of all stripes. Remember how we twisted up our faces
when we first heard the name “Truist”? I mean, a baseball park and a bank named “Truist”? There are other examples of
facial-distorting names here and there, but you get the point.
Cognia is the name of the private accrediting
agency that either accredits or doesn’t accredit the school systems that employ
it to evaluate their schools. As for the agency’s name, I’m just guessing that
Cognia was chosen because it sounds like “cognition” or is perhaps a play on
the educational expression, “cognitive skills.” Lord, I don’t really know. I
only know that AdvancED and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, two
of Cognia’s former names, are fairly clear and don’t make you wonder quite so
much what the organization does.
Yes,
the MDJ editorial struck a chord with me. First, it clearly stated the reason
Cognia is in the news, that being its findings on Cobb’s public schools which
it recently voided, but only after “school administrators lost hundreds of
hours preparing hundreds of pages of rebuttals to Cognia’s original special
review report.” Cognia’s findings came from an interim evaluation prompted by
the Democrat members of the school board. Its report showed more concern for
infighting on the board than on things that matter most such as student
achievement. Has there ever been a school board that had no infighting?
The
editorial also claimed that Cobb County schools are “among the best; our students
among the most well-educated; and the district among the most well run.” I can
only testify that I taught in Cobb
County Schools for 32 years from 1971 to 2003. From working at three high
schools and the central office I can say that my colleagues and superiors were
the best that anyone could desire. Names like Kermit Keenum, Stanley Wrinkle, Larry
Hinds, Betty Gray, Jim Traylor, Don Murphy, Roger Russell, Dexter Mills, Dale
Gaddis, and Wade Scholes will dance around in my brain and heart for as long as
I live. The same is true for fellow classroom teachers who stepped into
administrative leadership like Corky Kell, Carole Kell, Grace Calhoun, Terry
Poor, Stella Ross, Carla Northcutt, and Hilda Wilkins. Cobb’s teachers and
administrators have been the finest of people and the finest of educators.
From all accounts,
except for Cognia’s original ill-conceived “volunteer” assessment of the
current board, current superintendent Ragsdale and his team are still carrying
high the torch. I can assure you that school board member and former student of
mine David Chastain is equipped to serve, by both intelligence and love for his
home county. I hope Chastain still has that touch of benign mischief that helps
people around him lighten up and have a good day. I’m also immensely proud of former students Ashlynn
Campbell, principal of Harrison High and Keith Hansen, head baseball coach at
Allatoona High.
Since our schools are
good, that necessarily means our county must be good. Cobb County has always reminded me of my hometown
of Forest, Mississippi. Forest was a forward looking place with political and
community leaders who worked hard to affect the quality of life for everybody,
even those out in the county. Its aristocracy was a friend to every commoner.
They all knew and respected my tenant farmer father. Forest had its own
separate school district and for reasons I don’t recall, bused in and educated
quite a few county kids. Like my own hometown and county, Cobb County is still a
good place and its schools reflect it.
What then should we
make of Cognia and its recent stumble? The editorial, penned by Vice President
of Content J.K. Murphy, addresses that too: “Cognia holds our schools and
students hostage and Georgia taxpayers cough up the ransom. That, on its face, is
wrong.” Murphy went on to tout the work of Senator Lindsey Tippins who has
filed legislation that would “change how Cognia goes about its business.”
There are things about public education
generally that drive me nuts, but with the present majority of our current
school board at the helm, I’ve no doubt common sense will prevail. Senator
Tippins is good at fixing things. So let’s get back to mathematics, science,
history, English, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson!
Roger Hines
March 10, 2022
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