By DON PLUMMER , KRISTINA TORRES
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/08/05

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Cobb County's failed plan to give laptop computers to thousands of students and teachers has become the subject of a rare special grand jury investigation.

A 25-member jury of Cobb citizens will be empaneled Nov. 4 to consider whether any laws were broken when Cobb school officials awarded the contract, potentially worth more than $88 million to Apple Computer, court officials said.

Former Cobb schools Superintendent Joseph Redden, who led the state's second-largest school system for five years before resigning Aug. 24, defended the contract again Friday and denied exerting any undue influence favoring Apple.

Redden, who had been the top contender to lead the school system in Virginia Beach, Va., said he had withdrawn his candidacy for that job.

The special grand jury will be a concern "until we get to closure on this issue," said Redden. He defended his administration by saying, "We've done nothing wrong."

Cobb District Attorney Pat Head, who had been investigating the computer contracts at the request of the county school board, said Friday he requested special grand jury  which he believed to be the first ever in Cobb  because it would focus on this case and have no time limit on its investigation.

A regular grand jury in Cobb, which sits for two months, hears between 350 and 400 cases a month, Head said.

Two investigators working the laptop case for two and a half months have interviewed more than a dozen people and accumulated more than 10,000 documents for the grand jury's review, Head said. The investigators will remain assigned to the case to assist the grand jury.

The jury will determine if anyone should be indicted for falsifying documents, conspiring to rig bids or committing perjury in connection with the computer contracts. Maximum penalties for falsifying documents and bid rigging include fines and prison terms of up to five years. Perjury carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

The ambitious technology program proposed by Redden in February would eventually have provided 63,000 laptop computers for all Cobb teachers and all students in grades six through 12.

In the midst of a divisive public debate, a lawsuit brought by a former county commissioner stopped the program July 29  not on its merits but because of the plan to fund it with proceeds from a special sales tax approved by county voters in 2003.

After a witness testified during the lawsuit that the bidding process was tainted, the school board hired an outside investigator and asked Head to look into the deal. The school board's investigation came back Aug. 13 critical of the bidding process but cited no criminal wrongdoing.

When Redden resigned Aug. 24, he still had the support of four of the seven school board members. He called Head's investigation politically motivated, a suggestion the prosecutor dismisses.

Board Chairwoman Kathie Johnstone declined Friday to comment on the grand jury, saying, "[I]t's now an official investigation. It is out of my hands, out of the district's hands."

But board member Lindsey Tippins, an outspoken critic of Redden, called the special grand jury "the correct venue to make the determination if anything criminal was done."

Cobb interim Superintendent Jill Kalina, as well as other employees involved with the laptop deal, declined comment through schools spokesman Jay Dillon.

Head said Friday he completed his probe of the laptop contract last week but waited to file his request until Thursday, when the county's Superior Court judges could vote on it. The judges approved the request 8-0 with one judge, Dorothy Robinson, not present for the vote, according to court officials.

Special grand juries have seldom been created in Georgia since they were authorized in 1974, said Alan Cook, a University of Georgia law professor and former district attorney of the Alcovy Judicial Circuit.

The most recent special grand juries in Georgia were empaneled in DeKalb, where two were seated in 2001. One investigated the murder of Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown. The second looked into allegations of corruption during the tenure of Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, later convicted of ordering Brown's assassination. Those special grand juries were the first in DeKalb since 1987.

Head would not say whether Redden or any other person was a target of the Cobb investigation.

"I don't want to get into the scope of our investigation."

Redden's top aide, Deputy Superintendent Donald Beers, said Friday he remained steadfast.

"It's troublesome  you try to do what's right for kids and it gets so twisted," he said. "Certainly the district attorney has to do due diligence. I'm confident they will walk through the process and the (school) system will be vindicated."

Superintendent Joseph Redden Resigns, effective August 24, 2005

Cobb County Schools Superintendent Redden resigns over Apple iBook imbroglio
Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - 07:51 PM EST

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"Cobb County schools Superintendent Joseph Redden announced his resignation Tuesday evening, ending months of controversy over a groundbreaking technology program that became a litmus test on his leadership," Kristina Torres and Mary McDonald report for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"'We've got a divided board, we're spending far too much time (on this),' Redden, a retired Air Force general who came to Cobb in Nov. 2000, told a reporter. His last day is Wendesday. 'For the good of the district, this helps us move forward. No individual is more important than the organization.' In a statement released to the school system's staff, he said, 'Clearly, the best interest of the district lies in moving forward to serve the children of Cobb County, and I don't believe that under current circumstances we are able to do so effectively.' Redden told staff he hoped they would be able to focus on student achievement without 'the added distractions that have consumed our energy of late,' a reference to scrutiny of his role in awarding a multi-million dollar contract to Apple Computer," Torres and McDonald report.

MacDailyNews Take: So, are the people that ginned this whole thing up finally happy?

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