Cobb school calendars

The proposed Cobb school calendars for the next two academic years were taken up by the school board Wednesday, with none of the widely diverging differences that have marked previous deliberations.

Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale has proposed Aug. 1 start dates for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years. It’s his intention to establish an Aug. 1-3 range for the first day of classes further into the future, but acknowledged at a work session that “there’s not going to be a template is going to make everybody happy.”

This summer, some parents objected to this year’s July 31 starting date, a protest that included an online petition seen as a way to influence future calendar dates. (There’s an ongoing petition that advocates keeping frequent breaks in the Cobb school calendar, and has generated nearly 5,000 signatures).

In their discussion, board members were generally receptive to the proposed calendars (previous East Cobb News post here), especially a consistent range of starting dates, scheduled breaks and graduation dates.

The board considers and approves calendars in two-year cycles to avoid having to go through such a process every year. At Wednesday’s work session, Connie Jackson, executive director of the Cobb Association of Educators, suggested the board consider indefinite “rolling calendars” that would have the same date range for the first day of school.

Board member Susan Thayer said she would prefer keeping a two-year calendar approval process. “I don’t want to do any more than that,” especially if the state changes testing dates or other major changes come about, she said.

Board member Randy Scamihorn asked about syncing the Cobb school calendars to those in Cherokee County, which has a later starting date. Ragsdale said Cobb’s is currently synced with Marietta and Paulding, and that “we choose ours around grading schedules.”

However, the issue of starting the school year later in Cobb continues to come up with parents.

Scott Sweeney, who represents the Walton and Wheeler high school districts of East Cobb on the school board, noted that there’s no data showing differences in student achievement results and other metrics based on a school starting date.

But he did say that “there are a lot of people who favor a later start,” and that 76 percent of the e-mails he’s received since early September “want a later start.

“This is still very much a split issue,” Sweeney said.

The board is scheduled to vote on the calendar proposals at its Oct. 26 regular meeting.