RATIONALE/OBJECTIVE:

Textbooks as defined by the State Department of Education (the State Board defines textbooks as systematically designed material in any medium, print or non-print, that constitutes the principle source of study for a state-funded course shall be selected and adopted for the Cobb County School District through the following procedure:

(1) A selection committee composed of teachers, local school administrators, and supervisory personnel shall be appointed by the Superintendent or designee. This committee shall be responsible for reviewing the submitted textbooks and making recommendations for system-wide adoption.

(2) The Superintendent is further authorized to establish procedures for public review and representative citizens' involvement in the process of textbook adoption. However, the process established shall in no way mitigate the rights and responsibilities of teachers and other instructional personnel in the textbook selection process.

(3) Publishers of textbooks for the subject area under consideration shall be invited to place sample sets of their books in the textbook area maintained by the curriculum supervisor(s) of the discipline(s) being adopted.

(4) Members of the selection committee shall examine and rate the sample texts based on pre-determined criteria. These criteria should include but not be limited to the following: accuracy of information, content, organization, appropriateness, durability and utility, and, on the basis of compiled ratings, make recommendations for adoption to the Superintendent. Committee members will request consultation with their own faculty members, members of other faculties and supervisors. The names of committee members shall not be furnished to publishers. All contacts with the publishers shall be with the committee as a whole and only at the request of the committee. Final recommendations of the committee made after the completion of the selection process shall be reviewed by the Superintendent who will then recommend the adoption of textbooks to the Cobb County Board of Education.

(5) In no instance shall a local school purchase textbooks which supplant the county adopted materials without following the procedure for pilot projects as outlined in Rule ICD.

(6) The Superintendent or designee shall conduct textbook adoption procedures to assure the introduction of newly adopted textbooks no later than eighteen months after the Georgia State Board of Education provides its adoption lists.

(7) The Superintendent shall be responsible for securing Board approval prior to the opening of each school year for any course or program K-12 for which students will not be provided textbooks on a one per student basis.

RULE:

Adoption Cycle

(1) The State Board of Education adopts textbooks on a six-year rotation basis. All textbooks fall within one of five areas. Each year at a specified time, one of these broad areas comes up for adoption and all textbooks presented by the publishers are considered by the State Textbook Committee.

(2) During the school year following the state adoptions, the Superintendent or designee will select a committee to consider adopted textbooks in the appropriate area. This does not imply that a completely new adoption of basal texts will be made.

(3) In the event that an adopted text is no longer available or that supplementary material is needed in an area that is not up for adoption, the Superintendent or designee may select a committee to consider and recommend material for this need.

(4) Prior to finalizing the recommendation of textbooks to the Board of Education, procedures for citizens' input shall be implemented as follows:

(a) All textbooks recommended by the textbook adoption committee shall also be on display for public review for 15 working days. Public notice of the review period will be made through the local news media.

(b) After the development of recommendations by the textbook adoption committee, recommended materials will be made available for review by the Superintendent's Citizens Advisory Council for review. These persons will be asked to review and to make written comments concerning the textbooks reviewed for the purpose of identifying any content which may be considered offensive to the parents of Cobb County as instruction is provided to their children.

(c) Any materials considered to be inappropriate shall be brought to the attention of the Superintendent or designee.

(d) Material determined to be inappropriate to the general population of Cobb County shall be returned to the textbook selection committee for further consideration.

(e) All written comments shall be made a part of the recommendation document submitted to the Board of Education for its decision on textbook adoption.

Legal Reference: OCGA § 20-2-1010

Reclassified an Administrative Rule: 9/1/04