It wasn’t quite unanimous, but close. The Cobb Board of Education Thursday voted 6-1 to adopt Cobb school calendars for the 2018-20 academic years after a brief discussion.
The board didn’t make any changes to the calendars proposed by Superintendent Chris Ragsdale (see charts below). The first day of school for each of the next two years will begin on Aug. 1, and will include regularly scheduled breaks that have been the case in the last few years.
The “balanced” calendar had been the subject of strong board and community division in recent years, but not for this calendar scheduling cycle.
The only vote against was Scott Sweeney of Post 6 in East Cobb, who repeated comments he made at a recent work session that a large number of messages he’s received (63 percent) were in favor of a delayed start to the school year.
He also cited other issues, such as extracurricular activities, that are affected by a balanced calendar, and said he hasn’t received any evidence of academic improvements based on the adoption of a balanced calendar.
Connie Jackson of the Cobb County Association of Educators repeated the organization’s support of the balanced calendar and urged the board to use the adopted calendars to serve as a template for future years.
Also on Thursday, the board accepted the resignation of Mary Elizabeth Davis, the Cobb County School District’s Chief Academic Officer. She has been named the new superintendent for Henry County public schools.
Adopted 2018-19 Cobb school calendar
Adopted 2019-2020 Cobb school calendar
