Cobb County School Board Delays Meeting For Yom Kippur

EAST COBB, GA — The Cobb County School District is postponing its monthly September meeting to recognize the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the district said Monday.

Two meetings were supposed to take place Thursday, but the district pushed them back a week in light of the discovery of anti-Semitic graffiti at Pope High School in Marietta.

Last week, the words “Hail Hitler” and a pair of swastikas were written in pen on the wall of the boys’ bathroom, according to multiple reports. The photos were posted to social media as part of a TikTok trend encouraging vandalism of school property, according to a report in the East Cobb News.

Pope Principal Thomas Flugum has promised a full investigation, and the attack has been condemned by the Pope High School PTSA and the school board.

The School Board did not directly mention the incident in announcing its postponement, though it did say, “We stand with all our stakeholders, including our valued religious organizations and our Jewish families, which is why we have decided to postpone the September board meeting.”

“We recognize that Yom Kippur is of vital importance to our Jewish community members and have decided to postpone our regular meeting to ensure that as many of our community members as possible can participate,” it continued.

Yom Kippur ends when the sun goes down Thursday. The board’s work session will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 23, and the regular meeting will begin at 7 p.m. that night.