Parents tell Cobb board inadequate special-education staffing harmed a student; Georgia DOE cited rights violation

During the Feb. 13 public comment period, parents and caregivers urged the Cobb County Board of Education to address special-education staffing shortages, inconsistent classroom supports and procedural failures they say harmed students.

Tova Ringlin, speaking as a "special needs mom," said that over multiple years her child's classes lacked adequate staffing and behavioral supports, that requests for additional resources were ignored, and that classroom responses resulted in punitive measures including time spent in an office. Ringlin said her son was criminally charged after an incident that she described as a scripted line from a video game and said the juvenile court informed the family of those charges. She said the Georgia Department of Education determined the district had violated her son's rights to a free appropriate public education by not following his "30 year intervention plan," and she said the family incurred legal costs as a result.

Another public commenter, Michael Garza, told the board that proposed changes at the state level could weaken 504 protections for students and criticized board and district leadership for what he described as insufficient focus on supports for students with disabilities. He urged that district priorities should focus on providing supports to enable student success rather than public-relations or other initiatives.

What was said and what the board did

Ringlin described a sequence of classroom interventions, use of a student-resource officer for a time-out, and subsequent juvenile charges. The speaker said the Georgia Department of Education found the district violated the student's rights to a free appropriate public education; the public spoken record did not include a district response to that specific finding during the meeting's public-comment period. Later, in his superintendent's remarks, Superintendent Ragsdale restated district commitments to serve all students and to follow state reporting guidelines; he did not address the specifics of Ringlin's complaint during the public portion of the meeting.

Clarifying details and limits

- Ringlin said documentation existed showing the classrooms needed more support but said additional staffing requests were ignored; the transcript did not include copies of those documents or the DOE finding.

- The transcript records Ringlin's statement that her son's intervention document was a "30 year intervention plan." The public record did not supply a copy of the plan or clarify that phrase.

Ending

Parents urged the board to increase special-education staffing and support. The meeting record shows public concern and a cited state finding; the board took no immediate, public action during the meeting to address the specific complaint raised by Ringlin.