At Monday evening’s Habersham County Board of Education meeting, the board unanimously approved the appointment of Murray Kogod as the Director of School Safety. The Board also appointed several other key school administrators for next year.
School Superintendent Matthew Cooper presented a list of administrators to the school board that he was recommending for contracts. Cooper stated, “There’s no drama here; I want them all back, everyone, every assistant principal, every principal, and every director.”
Cooper addressed the school board about the Director of School Safety position that was on his list of personnel recommendations. He stated, “We have an opportunity to make our schools among the safest in the state. It’s time to have a full-time School Safety Director. This small investment will bring a huge return for our students, staff, and our schools.”
Cooper continued, “We need this. Shouldn’t have to work too hard to make a case for it. Should be something everyone can get behind and support and celebrate frankly.”
Cooper explained to the board members and to the audience that the Director of School Safety would be working with principals, assistant principals, directors, nurses, the mental health professional, teachers, the SROs, the sheriff’s office, and other law enforcement agencies as well as GEMA and Department of Homeland Security.
Over the last week, comments and reports about the appointment of the Director of School Safety have been met with scrutiny, more specifically, the appointment of Murray Kogod to that position.
“It’s my hope we can get some facts out tonight and set the record straight on some things. Let’s all get behind our new Director of Safety,” Cooper said.
Cooper referenced an article that was published on Now Habersham on March 12. He stated, “It sounds like Colonel Kogod did something wrong. I don’t know how else you read it; he did something wrong by reaching out to POST (Peace Officers Standards and Training Council).”
Cooper explained to the board that after it was determined that Kogod was going to be the recommendation, “We asked Murray to reach out to POST to check on our status of our school system police department and to give them a heads up, that pending board approval, Murray Kogod is the recommendation March 13th. All of this was shared with POST.”
He explained that POST did as it should have done and updated its records. However, Cooper never mentioned this in his interview Friday with Now Habersham.
Cooper continued that the reason for checking on the status of the school police department was that the Director of School Safety “needs to have the full powers of a law enforcement officer, including the ability to carry a firearm. It should be pretty clear why we want our Director of School Safety to carry a firearm.”
The new Safety Director will also “technically serve” as the Chief of Police for this school system, he said.
Cooper also addressed that there were rumors that the school system was going to bring back the police department and fire all of the SROs and make them school employees. “Neither is true. We aren’t bringing back the police department – we’ve always had it.” He explained that they never took action to disband it.
Cooper explains that the police department will have only one employee, and that is the Director of School Safety.
He emphasized that they are not hiring a “police chief” but for the new position to have the full powers of a law enforcement officer, that language was included in the job description.
Cooper again referenced the article from Now Habersham that reported that POST was requested to investigate Kogod’s actions for updating his POST profile for a position that he was not yet hired. The article states that “Sources say an investigator is looking into the matter.”
He referred to a letter that he received on March 13, the day of the board meeting, from Mike Ayers, POST Executive Director. In this letter, it excuses Kogod’s actions over the last 10 days and states, “There was no violation of POST rule by Chief Kogod.” It continues, “There is no POST investigation being conducted on Chief Kogod, as there was no violation of law or of POST rule by his request or the granting of his request by POST staff.”
Now Habersham’s article also references questions raised over Kogod’s use of county resources to run a private, nonprofit from the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office. Kogod incorporated the Georgia Alliance of School Resource Officers and Educators (G.A.S.R.O.E.) in 2020. Ayers is a member of G.A.S.R.O.E.’s Board of Directors.
Cooper defended Kogod and G.A.S.R.O.E. saying it is a “good thing, and it makes schools safer. Murray’s work with the Alliance should be commended, not scrutinized.”
Cooper commended Dr. Adam Bagwell for a job well done as the School Safety Coordinator, a part-time position he has held for eight years that is has now evolved into the full-time position of Director of School Safety. Bagwell said of Kogod, “One, I trust him. Two, I respect him.” He continued, “This move makes our school system safer.”
Cooper asked Sheriff Joey Terrell to come up and speak to the board. Prior to giving up the podium, he reiterated that, “Our goal is not make sheriff’s office employees our employees. That is not the goal.”
Sheriff Terrell shared with the board how G.A.S.R.O.E. came about and how the sheriff’s office and the board of education are one team and stated, “If the Habersham County Board of Education doesn’t hire Murray Kogod tonight, somebody will, because there are schools that are after him all the time.”
Six people applied for the job of school safety director. Kogod was the only one who was interviewed. Now Habersham is pursuing information about the other applicants.
The board unanimously approved Cooper’s personnel recommendations. No one came forward for the public comments section of the meeting.
After the meeting, Sheriff Terrell had a prepared memo answering questions related to the effects on the sheriff’s department with the Chief Deputy leaving.
According to the memo, the sheriff will not have a chief deputy, and all other senior supervisors will remain at their current rank and position. He states that the SROs will remain sheriff department employees, and said the sheriff’s office currently has seven of its approved 14 SRO positions filled, with potentially one more coming on board soon.
The salary for the new Director of School Safety will be $89,270. Currently, Murray Kogod makes an annual salary of $85,321.60 as Chief Deputy.
His first day on the job with the school system is March 20.
To watch the full board meeting, click here.
