East Cobb mother of four declares intent to run for school board seat

Oct. 22—An east Cobb mother of four has declared her intention to run as a Republican next year for the Board of Education seat currently held by Democrat Charisse Davis.

Amy Henry filed paperwork Tuesday declaring her intention to run. Henry told the MDJ she plans on announcing her candidacy at November's Cobb GOP breakfast, but otherwise declined to answer questions about her candidacy.

Henry is a founder of the Cobb County Parents for Choice, a group that, in August 2020, fought the Cobb County School District's decision to begin the 2020-21 school year without an in-person option. At the time, cases of the coronavirus were on the rise, prompting the superintendents of the Cobb and Marietta school districts to announce there would be no in-person learning to begin the coming school year.

At a protest in Glover Park Aug. 15, 2020, Henry said families should have the choice to send their children to in-person classes.

"We will not stop until we get our choice back because face-to-face learning is the best learning for these kids," Henry said. "This virus is not going away. We need to learn to live with it."

Henry is also a member of the East Cobb Cityhood Committee, a group pushing for the incorporation of a swath of east Cobb.

According to the committee's website, Henry is a sales professional, fitness instructor and nutritionist and moved to east Cobb two years before her involvement with the group.

In her campaign paperwork, she listed Cindy Cooperman, another booster of east Cobb cityhood, as her campaign committee chairperson.

Two seats on the seven-member school board are up for reelection next year in addition to Davis' in Post 6: the Post 2 seat held by Democrat Dr. Jaha Howard, who intends to run for the state superintendent position, and the Post 4 seat held by Republican David Chastain.

Democrat Austin Heller, a student at Kennesaw State University, has previously said he plans to challenge Chastain.