EDITOR’S NOTE: Below is a selection of the responses from readers of MDJOnline.com in reaction to recent MDJ stories.
School board: Fewer jobs, more furloughs may be answer to deficit …

Teacher19 — The key to effective teaching is small class sizes. You have got to find somewhere else to cut.

Repeal the Raises — Let’s start the “shared sacrifice” by repealing all the raises that have taken place at the Central Office since July 1, 2011.

Skaz 53 — So let’s keep reducing the number of school days. Georgia already ranks well below other states. So what, a few less learning days. Larger classrooms are not an answer. If you have a child with learning disabilities they just get lost in these large classrooms. They can’t and won’t get the extra help they need with the parapro gone and 40 students in a class.

Didn’t the super — just want to get $200k approved to give to Teach for America? So 350 positions are going to be eliminated, but then the system will pay to train unqualified teachers. Doesn’t make sense. But yet the board left $1 million documented dollars by changing the calendar. Nice job CCSB.

Kennesaw Resident — Please don’t raise my taxes! I work for another school district and will have eight furlough days this year and next. I sure can’t afford to pay more taxes, so these folks don’t have to take furlough days! Helen and Tim already made sure that I had to pay more taxes so that county employees aren’t furloughed even with my eight days. I can’t afford any more!

Start at the top — Leave the teachers alone. They have already had so much taken away. Two more students may not seem a lot but with some classrooms at capacity already, where will they put the kids? My son’s school had kids sitting on the floor. I agree, how about the superintendent actually do something and maybe reduce his salary? Eliminate all of the levels of unnecessary Superintendent positions they have and keep the necessary staff. Leave the little people alone and start at the top!

Well maybe — We could cut all the raises the bigwigs at Glover St. got first?

Frankie58 — Are the ones at Glover Street that got those great raises going to cut them in the 2013 school year? I can without a doubt say they won’t due to their “additional duties” and “new job duties” assigned them by the Super. And let’s not forget that the Superintendant wants to spend an additional $200k of “undisclosed” funds to have Teach America to replace an additional 50 teachers. Fix it later... New faces on the board, a new superintendent, the same Baloney and in-fighting coming out of Glover St.!

@Frankie58 — The media parapros have nothing to do with the technology. They work in the library. The techs are considered central office, which always gets a bad rap because of the bigwigs. They forget there are little people deemed central office.

Around Town: Development Authority’s Powell, Rowe, shined light on charade …

Deep throat — follow the money.

Tony Cain —Thank you MDJ for your great service. Keep exposing the TRUTH and I’ll keep reading your newspaper. I used the published information to make my choices when I VOTE and I pass on this information to family and friends. Keep up the good work.

Cobb County Redneck — The reason that the Chamber needs subsidies from the County government is twofold: to maintain an extravagant lifestyle well beyond their means and because they can’t persuade the savvy business community in Cobb County to support them. If they were worth their salt they wouldn’t need public subsidies to exist.

NotSoPC — The Chamber’s shenanigans are inexcusable! The thought of having the county and the school system contribute Cobb tax dollars to the Chamber is distasteful on its face. There are 30,000 some odd businesses in Cobb. Let the Chamber gather funds from them.

FedUp Cobby — I want to thank Thea Powell and Donna Rowe and also the MDJ and their investigative reporters, especially Jon Gillooly, for exposing the Cobb Chamber-led CDA scam. Now let’s stop this mess. Citizen taxpayers are fed up with being scammed, kept in the dark and being ripped off!

T.B.C. — Take Back Cobb. The people of Cobb realized the unscrupulous problems when they decided to take back Cobb EMC. It appears we need another movement to Take Back Cobb after reading about the Chamber and CDA. Again, we owe a lot to Thea Powell and Donna Rowe for standing firm and making citizens aware of the problems. I question our Commissioners, why are they not looking into the CDA and Chamber? What are they getting in return? We should stop paying taxpayers’ money to the Chamber.