Cobb school board chairman John Abraham still doesn't get it.

He went to the annual "wish list" meeting of local officials with the Cobb legislative delegation and confirmed his low opinion of the public he's supposed to serve.

Apparently, Abraham had the idea that the legislators were totally ignorant of or oblivious to his back-of-the-hand treatment of citizens, such as summoning a police officer to try to intimidate a school mom seconds after she started speaking at a board meeting, calling his hand on flip-flopping in favor of an early start to the school year.

"Out of control" was how state Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-east Cobb) described the Cobb school board.

When Abraham invited the lawmakers to attend school board meetings, Cooper said, "There is no way that I am coming to a board meeting, not with the way that the public has been treated."

Did Abraham get the point?

Hardly. He broke in to say he did not see the purpose of discussing how the board treated the public.

Then Abraham got some of his own medicine. Rep. John Wiles (R-Kennesaw), chairman of the Cobb legislative delegation, interrupted Abraham.

"Doctor, this is my meeting. I'm chairing it," Wiles said. "Rep. Cooper is speaking. When she is finished speaking, then I will let you respond."

Rep. Cooper followed the time-honored line from the General Assembly to "tell it like it is."

She said, "This bizarre manner in which the school board acts really overshadows our great teachers. Ninety-nine percent of our teachers are doing a great job, many in difficult circumstances. It just really is sad."

Elaborating during a break, the longtime legislator said she's hearing from citizens and "there is a perception" that this is "a school board that is out of control and really more concerned about what they want to do than the interests of the children."

Cooper said the perception is that board members "know everything, just leave them alone and let them take care of their business and go away ... So why would they be interested in my coming to a board meeting or anything that I would have to say about it?"

Why indeed? She raised serious issues for the board to confront.

But instead, during the meeting with legislators, school board member David Banks, the other calendar flip-flopper, called for stronger "communications" as did Michelle Luckett, executive assistant to Superintendent Fred Sanderson, or perhaps more aptly, General Sanderson.

Luckett said, "We recognize there has been a delinquency, if you will, in communication for one reason or another."

This is hardly about a communication delinquency. What about the arrogance of the school board chairman as noted by Rep. Cooper, the disdain for the public and the intolerance of the chairman and board majority for opposing views by parents or against-the-grain statements by the two independent-minded members of the board, Alison Bartlett and David Morgan?

That's the "delinquency" that needs fixing.

dmckee9613@aol.com