No balanced calendar: Cobb parents launch petition to save summer
I have been receiving e-mails from Cobb parents unhappy with the new balanced calendar, which my district has also adopted for next year. I am not a fan of all this calendar tinkering only because I don’t see the academic argument and I think it diverts us from the more pressing issues in education. (I wrote my Monday AJC education column on this and will post it later this weekend.)
If academics are the real motivation, then let’s really reform the school calendar and embrace more time on task by adding to the calendar rather than simply rearranging it.
But enough from me. Many people do care strongly about this issue. Parents in Cobb are circulating a petition. I thought many of you might be interested in reading it:
To The Cobb County School Board:
Listen to us now or you will hear us loud and clear at the polls later!
First of all, we do NOT want our summers cut any shorter. Secondly, starting school during the hottest part of the year is not good for the students, the environment or the county’s budget. Thirdly, we resent that our elected School Board officials made a decision that affects our quality of life in Cobb County without getting the input of those who live in Cobb County. Furthermore, not one shred of evidence has been presented to us, including a cost analysis, as to the benefits of a new calendar system or why the current calendar is no longer acceptable. And lastly, we are totally frustrated that you didn’t bother to give us a transition year in order to plan around the new calendar. Camp deposits have already been paid and vacation plans have already been made.
We are disappointed in our elected officials, especially the ones who ran on the platform that they would support a later start to the school year. We would love to know the motivation behind the change of heart!
With Cobb County schools setting the example for education in the state of Georgia, surely we can figure out a calendar that supports our standards of excellence in education as well as offers our students, families and teachers the valued summer time off.
Please don’t jeopardize the reason people move to Cobb Count. We urge you to reconsider the calendar options for the 2010-2011 school year.
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61 comments Add your comment
Oh wow!
November 23rd, 2009
6:55 pm
No more or less time than you, Viv – it’s called “cut and paste” and knowing this blog has a hungry blog monster I do engage it frequently. It took me less than 5 minutes to post.
What part of “I am not an educator” do you not understand? No, I don’t work at Glover Street either. I’m most likely one of your neighbors who doesn’t agree with your stand – one of those you supposedly claim to speak for – if you are the Vivian I think you are. I’m the one who won’t sign your petition. Despite that, you have a Happy thanksgiving yourself.
tisk tisk tisk
November 23rd, 2009
7:42 pm
tisk tisk tisk!
kimmieko
November 23rd, 2009
8:10 pm
@concerned parent
Wow, I have tried to get your postings off my mind, but they have demoralized me to the point that I have to reply. Evidently, you have had very bad experiences with teachers ( like out of a Dahl or Dickens novel), and I am sorry for that. I know some nasty, mean-spirited, selfish, and/or burned out educators as a teacher myself, but they are RARE. I LOVE my students and teaching, and my students and their parents love (or like) me a lot.
I don’t know about the demands of your profession, but the teaching profession can be described as “intense”. For 190 days, I am working with 20 unique individuals that demand my full attention. I am not just “serving up” education; I am motivating, diagnosing strengths/weaknesses, planning instruction, cutting out learning games, attending numerous working meetings a week, etc, etc. Did I mention teaching?
Now I have a week of a break…want to know what I’m doing (just today)? I made 2 appointments for the doctor. I researched and found some great educational web resources like (http://peterpappas.blogs.com/copy_paste/pbl/). I uploaded class photos for a digital storytelling project. I entered my online writers’ workshop lesson plans for next week — 4 more subjects to go. And I found the best price for polar fleece as I’m making my students’ Christmas presents. Oh, I went to the grocery for Thanksgiving, and cleaned the living room and dining room for the first time since August.
Before you think I’m whining…this is the profession I chose after burning out in the corporate world! In my previous profession, I occasionally had time to clean my desk and go out for an extra long lunch, but I wasn’t happy selling things people really didn’t need. Now, I go to work EVERY day happy. I go home exhausted.
I voted for the balanced calendar, but not for me. The shortened summer will keep my kids in school longer. The students at my school don’t like summer, and if I could be in school year-around, I would be. I spent an extra 4 weeks in my classroom (without children) this summer…and I wasn’t alone.
Please don’t lump all teachers into one bad category. It’s hard enough to work with those teachers—thank God they’re not the norm.
Mom
November 23rd, 2009
8:58 pm
Geez, No wonder some of those kids are what teachers consider ’spoiled brats’. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree you know!
Ex-Cobb Student
November 25th, 2009
8:46 am
If this poorly written petition is an example of the work coming out of Cobb County, then maybe they should do something about the educational system.
A Cobb Highschooler
November 25th, 2009
10:56 pm
I personally LOVE this new calendar!!! Cobb parents: you WERE given a chance to talk to your representatives, but because you didn’t reply to it, they went off of what they had, which said that everyone wanted a balanced calendar. Also, you really shouldn’t have that big of a say in what the calendar turns out to be. I believe that the teachers should get the biggest say in what their work schedule should be, and then students. You as a parent don’t have to go to school, do homework, study, make lesson plans, deal with crazy students, or worry about other school related issues! We as students all LOVE this new calendar because we get to trade two weeks of summer for two new weeks off of school in each semester. I love getting a break, we and teachers get burned out after all of the stress of school, and we can even use breaks to catch up on things.
In direct response to the petition:
“Listen to us now or you will hear us loud and clear at the polls later!” You don’t have a majority, no one is going to get voted out of office over this!
“First of all, we do NOT want our summers cut any shorter.” You just don’t want to have to send your kid to daycare, and everyone but you wants the shorter summer!
“Secondly, starting school during the hottest part of the year is not good for the students, the environment or the county’s budget.” This will make the students have a nice air conditioned room when they could be sweating outside, and the AC already runs nonstop in our schools to start with. “Thirdly, we resent that our elected School Board officials made a decision that affects our quality of life in Cobb County without getting the input of those who live in Cobb County.” You aren’t really being affected that much, and your input WAS asked, you were simply ignorant to it.
“Furthermore, not one shred of evidence has been presented to us, including a cost analysis, as to the benefits of a new calendar system or why the current calendar is no longer acceptable.” Does the moral of students and teachers not serve as any evidence? Its not like we are going to loose any money on this!
“And lastly, we are totally frustrated that you didn’t bother to give us a transition year in order to plan around the new calendar.” Consider the time from now until next year your transition year. Plan around it now and next year as well.
“Camp deposits have already been paid and vacation plans have already been made.” Its two weeks, its a deposit, meaning you can get it back and plans can be changed.
“We are disappointed in our elected officials, especially the ones who ran on the platform that they would support a later start to the school year.” It was a 4-3 vote, and you entrusted that they would do what was best for you, not necessarily what you want at the moment.
“We would love to know the motivation behind the change of heart!” Umm, the reasons for this calendar are extraordinary, and nearly all of the students and teachers want it!
“With Cobb County schools setting the example for education in the state of Georgia, surely we can figure out a calendar that supports our standards of excellence in education as well as offers our students, families and teachers the valued summer time off.” We are setting an example by making this calendar. We are proving that we can get a summer off (10 weeks) plus breaks throughout the schoolyear. This calendar already supports standards of excellence as well.
“Please don’t jeopardize the reason people move to Cobb Count. We urge you to reconsider the calendar options for the 2010-2011 school year.” People will move here still, maybe even because of our awesome new calendar. We don’t need to rework the calendar. EVERYONE EXCEPT YOU STUCK UP PARENTS LOVES IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
T
December 11th, 2009
6:25 am
For everyone defending the new calendar…. You, along with the school board members, need to start donating to a fund to help pay for all of the court costs and attorney fees for custodial parents who will be unable to comply with their court orders. I’m not worried about paying for a week or two worth of child care, as my son is almost 16 years old. Even if he were at an age where he needed child care, it still would not be an issue. However, I am very worried about how this is going to interfere with a court order, which divides a 10 week summer in half giving 5 weeks to my son’s father and 5 weeks to me. My son goes to visit with his father for two weeks in June, two weeks in July, and the first week of August, as stated in the custody order. So my son will miss the first week of school, which may or may not be excused, lose any chance at a perfect attendance or I deny his father visitation, pay hefty court and attorney fees, a possible contempt of court fee, and risk having my child taken from me? Before my child has to watch his mother and father battle out custody in court, he will watch us team up and file a law suit against the school board for violation of our parental visitation rights and custodial interference. If there is not a precedence already set, then my case will be the one to set it. How much money is the school district saving now? You want to change something that is going to have that much impact on so many families, you might want to poll the families… NOT the teachers… and allow for a transitional period should the change be made… otherwise be prepared to spend a whole lot more money than you plan to save.
john
December 11th, 2009
7:39 am
First of all if you were worried about academic excellance you would find ways to teach kids to do the basics , I agree with the person if you are worried you add more time to the school calendar that just rearranging it. Burn out come on, do the rearrange your work schedule because of burnout!! I don’t see what wrong with the 3 months off during the summer. I don’t see having that time off effecting the kids that much, The whole problem with this change is did they ask the counties parents if They wanted the change? It seems to me they poled the teachers and the teachers liked it because they got more time off different times of the year, I would like that at my Job.
If the Cobb parents want to protest then BOYCOTT the schools, PIcket the schools, make it KNow nationally that the board DID NOT do what they said they would do and lastly VOTE THEM ALL OUT OF OFFICE.
BUT I will say this IF the cobb parents are so outraged about this , Why don’t they pitch a fit like this about the crummy education Georgia has.
I think that we should have vocational education for the kids in High School if they are not planning on going to college, get them ready to join the work force, like so many states do.
PsychMom
December 12th, 2009
12:43 pm
Personally, I don’t think that the balanced calendar will affect our family one way or the other. I wrote to my school board rep. because I am more concerned about low income students and even middle-class students with 2 working parents. The odd breaks are very hard on these families. They are not going on vacations. They need to take off of work or find child care. My board rep wore me back saying that programs will be available for these families. I am skeptical- but if that turns out to be true, then OK. If the reasons they gave for this calendar pan out, then OK. Otherwise, my current board member will not get my vote in the future. I am not adverse to change. But I believe that it needs to show results and follow through on speculations.
August=summer
December 14th, 2009
10:53 pm
I am totally against the balanced calendar. My family enjoys summer and doing things outside on the long days. It makes complete sense to be outside when the weather is nice and to study when the weather less nice. Do you realize kids will have to go to bed 1 1/2 hours before sunset.
Many people get college kids as childcare over the summer and that is not available in sept and feb. I wonder what the teenagers will be up to during these odd breaks? Wouldn’t it be better if they could get a decent job over the summer instead. In terms of what month defines summer, it is much warmer in August than in the first weeks of June.
Voting Whiner
December 14th, 2009
11:04 pm
Don’t you wonder why the top schools in the nation don’t have balanced calendars? Where is the proof that this calendar has any impact on the quality of education? What is the real reason for this change? Re-arranging the breaks won’t fix what’s wrong. The parents need to have a voice in this decision – posting it to a website isn’t good enough. (Especially for those of us that work and don’t have time to check websites, go to meetings etc. Did I contact my rep? Yes. Did they vote against it? Yes.) A robo-call isn’t good enough. (My husband deletes them without listening or forgets to pass on the info.) Is daycare the schools responsibility? Of course not – but the options I’ve seen popping up are nearly twice as expensive as summer camps. ($40 per day, vs. $25 per day.) Might not be significant to all of you – but have some sympathy for those it does impact. Groceries or daycare?
Yes, I have a right to whine. I stay informed and I vote – therefore I have the right. My kids won’t see their cousins next summer – because our annual vacation with them is the first week of August (yes, we’ve missed sneak peak every year). Already booked and paid for. The cousins don’t start school until after labor day. At Thomas Jefferson H.S. in Alexandria, VA. Look up that school score will ya? Tell me again, what is the balanced calendar going to do and where is the research/proof?