What Safety Measures are in Cobb and Marietta Schools?

As a north Georgia community is reeling from a school shooting that killed four people, parents in Cobb County are left wondering how local schools are working to keep their students safe.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, two 14-year-old students and two teachers were killed at Apalachee High School in Barrow County Wednesday morning. Nine others were injured.

Colt Gray, 14, has been arrested and charged with murder, per the GBI. He will be tried as an adult.

The GBI said there is no evidence of a list of other schools being targeted, a rumor that has spread like wildfire on social media in the wake of the tragedy.

Local school leaders react

Panic, too, has spread far and wide as a result of the shooting, and parents in Cobb County are looking to their local school leaders for reassurance.

Both Cobb Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale and Marietta City Schools Superintendent Grant Rivera released statements Wednesday expressing grief, with Rivera scheduling a virtual town hall for 8:30 p.m. Thursday to discuss school safety measures. (For coverage of that meeting, see Saturday’s MDJ.)

“As we are learning of the tragic shooting in Barrow County, our thoughts and prayers are with all the families affected by this senseless violence. I am so incredibly thankful for our school district police officers and all first responders who work to shield and protect our students and staff every single day,” Ragsdale wrote in his Wednesday statement.

Ragsdale could not be reached for direct comment Thursday.

Speaking with the MDJ Thursday, Rivera said parents from Marietta Sixth Grade Academy and Marietta Middle School have asked him how the his district’s new cell phone policy, which locks their students’ devices in portable pouches throughout the day, will work in an emergency.

Rivera said because Marietta has given every middle-grades teacher a magnet to unlock the pouches, parents can rest assured that in an emergency, students will be given appropriate access to devices.

“Marietta is the only school district across the entire state of Georgia and one of few in the entire country that has committed to providing every teacher with a magnet (to unlock pouches) in their classroom,” Rivera said.

But, Rivera added, that access will only come once educators have secured their classroom.

“In a crisis, the top priority for our teachers will always be student safety, and in the event of an active shooter, their focus will be on locking doors and not unlocking phones. First responders and other safety experts tell us that children should not be on their phones during emergencies so they can fully follow adult instructions. Our goal is to ensure phone access when it’s safe, but safety always comes first,” Rivera said.

Police presence in schools

Another one of Marietta’s safety measures is a close partnership with the Marietta Police Department.

Rivera said there are seven MPD officers that work full time in Marietta City Schools. Four officers are at the high school, two are at the middle school and one circulates between the sixth grade academy and elementary schools.

On top of that, he said, the entire Marietta Police force and other local law enforcement agencies are always on call, ready to assist.

“We have full access to the Marietta Police Department in the event of any need. So whether it’s traffic control, whether it’s an emergency response, we are in close proximity to not only Marietta Police Department, but the sheriff’s office, and would have immediate support in addition to those seven officers assigned on our campus ... full time,” Rivera said.

In Cobb County Schools, there are 81 police officers in the school district’s police department, serving the roughly 107,000 students in the district.

“Although not popular with some who advocate for removing police officers from schools, we have heavily invested in 81 public safety officers,” the district’s communications department said in a Thursday email to the MDJ.

The district added that it also has unannounced trainings in every school, alert systems, tip lines, security checkpoints on all campuses and a “recently installed” weapons detection system.

Weapons detectors

The weapons detectors used in both school districts are open air, and resemble the detectors that sports fans pass through at Truist Park or Mercedes Benz Stadium. If a person is determined to be carrying a weapon, audible and visible alarms sound on the detectors.

Cobb County School District’s communications team did not respond to specific queries about its weapons detection system, including how many weapons detectors the district owns, where those detectors are operated and for what types of events.

According to Cobb school board member Leroy Tre’ Hutchins, there are weapons detectors being used at some Cobb County high schools for sporting events, including McEachern, Pebblebrook and South Cobb.

He said he believes all high schools in Cobb will have the technology placed at home games this year.

“I believe (the district) is going to start rolling them out in east Cobb this weekend. ... We should continue to see that being rolled out over the next month or so,” Hutchins said.

Hutchins said he doesn’t think the type of weapons detectors that are being used for after-school events would be effective on Cobb’s campuses day-to-day.

“I don’t think those (weapons detectors) are adequate ... You have to actually walk through them ... We need something that can scan the campus,” Hutchins said.

The Marietta Board of Education approved the $116,000 purchase of a weapons detection system in November 2023.

The Marietta district has six weapons detectors that will be used at all high school athletic events and large community gatherings, per the district’s communications team. The detectors were used at the 2024 Marietta High School graduation.

This year, Marietta also began enforcing a new bag policy at its sporting events. Only clear tote bags, one-gallon zip-top bags and small clutch bags are allowed into district events, according to district.

As to whether Marietta City Schools is eyeing additional safety measures this year, the district’s communications team said it is always evaluating safety procedures.

“While we do not speak to our specific safety protocols we have a full time staff member whose sole focus is on safety and security and are constantly reviewing to see how we can improve. Student safety is our top priority,” the Marietta district said in an email.

A proposed safety plan in Cobb

In Cobb, Hutchins, one of three Democrats on the seven-member school board, has attempted to improve student safety by drafting a safety proposal for the board that includes four items:

♦ Implement school support officers, non post certified officers;

♦ Request technology to assist with detecting guns and other weapons for large events, games and functions;

♦ Request technology to assist with day to day detection of weapons entering campus;

♦ Request financial analysis of three requested initiatives.

To have an item heard in Cobb school board meetings, it must be placed on the agenda by Ragsdale, or the board chair, now Republican Randy Scamihorn. There is a third, less often seen option. If a majority of the board — four members — comes together to support an item, it can be put on the agenda.

After a February shooting in the McEachern High School parking left two people injured and two students arrested, Hutchins held town halls where he once again proposed his safety plan.

At the second town hall, held Feb. 15, Republican Cobb school board member Brad Wheeler told the MDJ he would be willing to support Hutchins’ safety plan, adding that some of the Democrat’s requests were already being implemented by the district.

“I would support that ... I think (school safety) is everybody’s priority,” Wheeler said in February. “... Some of these things are already in the works.”

But Hutchins’ plan has not mustered the support necessary to appear on the agenda.

Speaking with the MDJ Thursday, Hutchins said his plan remains unchanged and that he submitted it to Scamihorn when he became the board chair in January.

Neither Scamihorn or Wheeler returned the MDJ’s request for comment Thursday.

“School safety plans are created by school safety experts and the police. To protect children from people who want to harm them, they are not and will not be made public,” the district’s communications team wrote in a Thursday email to the MDJ when asked why Hutchins’ plan has not made it onto an agenda.

Hutchins has little hope his plan will be put before the board anytime soon.

“I doubt it,” he said. “... Since school safety is the No. 1 priority, I would like for that to become a reality and action and be not just a nice phrase.”