Barr Spars with School Calendar Debate

The calendar debate before the Cobb County Board of Education has brought out teachers, parents, students and now a political celebrity, Bob Barr.

The former Republican congressman and Libertarian presidential candidate had the final word during the public-comment period , and like dozens of fellow Cobb residents before him at meetings since early February, he addressed the change from a balanced calendar to a traditional calendar.

Griffin Middle School PTSA President Donnette Konneker indicated that Barr had earlier this week met with concerned Smyrna parents and school officials about the calendar. Unlike most speakers on the issue, Barr did not express a preference for one calendar or the other on Thursday night.

In that neutral stance, he paralleled another politician who had the final word on the calendar during another comment period: former Post 2 school board member Holli Cash, who spoke at the end of the extended comment period Feb. 17, the night the to end the balanced calendar. During her comments that night, Cash, who was defeated narrowly by Tim Stultz in last November's election, said she voted for the balanced calendar when she was on the board despite a personal preference for the traditional calendar.

In his remarks, Barr noted that he has lived in the county since 1978 and joked that David Banks is the only current member of the school board who was even alive then.

Barr said he has seen government at its best and its worst, and he said the job of an elected representative is to reflect the will of the people and to be fair and transparent.

“It is never too late to go back and correct errors” based on new information, Barr said, without indicating whether the decision to use a balanced calendar this year or to switch to a traditional calendar next year was an error.

Barr urged the board to “make all of us proud of our school system and proud of our county.”