Waiting for word

Earlier this month, Cobb School District spokeswoman Donna Lowry said the district was reviewing the application just as it would other facility-use agreements. She said the district’s facility-use office was checking to see if The Satanic Temple met all of the outlined requirements, which may include an inspection of the temple’s audited financial statements.

Lowry said there is no timeframe the facilities office has to respond within, and the school board will not vote on the issue.

Thursday, Lowry deferred to Grant Rivera, chief of staff for the Cobb School District, for comments related to The Satanic Temple, but Rivera could not be reached for comment.

Mephisto said he thinks the district is stalling.

“My feeling has been that they’re going to go as slow as they possibly can just in hopes of me going away by way of attrition,” he said.

With no plans of going away, he said The Satanic Temple views the district’s lack of response as a denial of the application.

“There comes a point in which legal representation says, ‘They’ve stalled enough that we have a case here,’” Mephisto said.

He said The Satanic Temple, which has 19 chapters in the U.S., prefers Mary Kate McGowan / MDJ

Fred Mephisto of east Cobb, head of The Satanic Temple’s Atlanta chapter.

dealing with cases in court.

The Satanic Temple’s Atlanta chapter has applied to use a classroom at Still Elementary that can hold up to 20 people — including 16 students — to meet for up to an hour-and-a-half immediately following school.

Mephisto said at least two adult volunteers — who have passed background checks and have educational experience — will lead the monthly meetings.

The after-school program would include a “healthy snack, literature lesson, creative learning activities, science lesson, puzzle solving and (an) art project” to teach curriculum based on “secular moral