The school board last fall approved creating a committee to make recommendations on the oft-controversial issue. Committee members were chosen by Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa, district staff and parent-teacher groups.
The panel is to meet two more times this month, and by Aug. 29 is to make a recommendation to Hinojosa, who could then make a recommendation to the Cobb school board this fall for the 2013-2014 and 2014-15 calendars.
Hinojosa’s chief of staff, Dr. Angela Huff, and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Hungerford facilitated the two-hour meeting last Wednesday. Hinojosa addressed the group early in the meeting, and stayed about 30 minutes.
“I feel like if we can make our best case, a group this big, this powerful with this kind of representation, that we can have the support that we need, with whatever recommendation we come up with,” Hinojosa told the committee. “Ultimately it will be up to the school board.”
The group came up with its top five priorities. At the top is having breaks around late September/early October, and again in February.
The other priorities are: ending the first semester at the winter holiday break; considering testing schedules; ending the year on a Wednesday for graduation purposes; and considering the district’s budget and the economy when creating the calendar.
Darryl York, Cobb’s policy director, and John Stafford, the district’s graduation coordinator, will draft several possible calendars before the committee meets again Aug. 22.
Each activity sparked a lot of conversation.
While the group was talking about how morale may affect teacher attendance and student achievement, Glen Brown, the district’s acting director of SPLOST, asked if the current traditional calendar affected all teachers’ morale, or just a few.
Parent Brandi O’Reilly, appointed by the north Cobb PTA council, said: “I basically would love to ask the teachers, ‘What makes you the happiest?’ because if they’re happy, then they’re at school and they’re teaching my kid.”
York asked if a student’s happiness and achievement is defined by fall and winter breaks.
Robb Stanek, a parent from southeast Cobb, said: “Achievement to me is my student being happy in school, wanting to go to school, not being burned out on school. It’s defined by frequent breaks.”
Parent Lisa Miller, also of southeast Cobb, said: “We need to look at the data … discipline, test scores, absenteeism,” said. “I want to make sure (the calendar) is based on real data, not just the whims of everybody. I want to make sure it’s a very thoughtful process.”
The 21 members were named last spring. The committee includes eight parents, two community representatives, five central office employees and six local school employees.
The eight parents, who were selected by the PTA Council, are Sarah Regitz and Abby Shiffman, of east Cobb; Stanek and Miller, of southeast Cobb; O’Reilly and Kevin Jabbari, of north Cobb; and Carolyn Pusey-Wade and Janis Stevenson, of south Cobb.
The two community representatives, who were selected by Hinojosa, are Dr. Arlinda Eaton, dean of Kennesaw State University’s education college, and Wayne Dodd, a member of the Cobb Chamber’s board of directors.
Besides Stafford, York and Brown, other central-office employees on the committee, who were selected by the senior staff, are Gary Markham, supervisor of band and orchestra; and Leanne Wood, assessment program manager.
The six school employees on the committee were selected by area assistant superintendents. They are Coy Dunn, Kennesaw Mountain High drama teacher and the district’s 2011 teacher of the year; Anthony Pearson, Mableton Elementary; Lisa Williams, Osborne High; Carole Brink, Dickerson Middle; Ed Wagner, Kell High; and Cindy Stigall, Due West Elementary.
Jabbari and Pearson missed Wednesday’s meeting.
The Aug. 22 and Aug. 29 meetings will be held in the boardroom on Glover Street in Marietta between 2 and 4 p.m. They are open to the public.
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I know it sounds like I am whining but I am not really. I love my job. You just don't have ANY idea what it's like in the "real world of teaching"
Sure, teachers don't make great money for the education they've got, but the benefits aren't bad!
A 30 years and out retirement with a guaranteed 60% of your salary plus insurance for the rest of your life isn't all that bad at the ripe old age of 52!
can to avoid the truth. The year around calendar for
our school is inevitable or we'll be left behind.
love to see how long you would last.
Here's an idea... Teach a well-balanced, proven, curriculum. If you're not "happy", choose a different career. My employer doesn't cater to my "happiness". That's why it's called a "job" - and they pay us to do it.
And the students can find happiness at home, in extracurricular activities, clubs, friends, and family. It's okay for them to not be "happy" while working hard, learning, studying, and meeting challenges.
I've never seen such a pathetic public quorum in my life.
more balanced than that of the public schools. Did
you go to college in the Gulag?
Where did this idea come from that teachers can't teach for more than a few weeks at a time and then they need a break? I don't for a moment feel these teachers have the interest of the students at heart. By the way teachers work for the school board - not the other way around.
Either calendar doesn't have anything to do with performance. It's simply preference.
The loud ramblings of the traditional calendar mob has said spoken the performance lie loud enough that people believe it.
This decision needs to be based on academics, not a vacation agenda. But based on the tone of this article, I can certainly see where we are heading.
Also, I live in Post 5 and I am disgusted that we as a community elected Banks to another 4 years of paying for his naptime at board meetings. Our kids deserve better than this clown, who, coincidentally, will be leading the pack on pushing for the balanced calendar. Yippee.
And also wanted to add that it's not a coincidence that test scores were the highest they have been in years this past school year. I can't wait to hear how the balanced calendar supporters explain this one.
“I was real pleased that Pebblebrook, South Cobb and Osborne (high schools) all had double-digit growth in some of the areas that were of concern to them,” Cobb Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa said.
Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - State releases schools’ test results
Most real teachers will tell you that they just get students settled down to work, then up pops another vacation. They must start over with the students after the vacation.
I really wish people would quit trying to change the schools. The plan, ultimately I think, is to go to a year 'round school schedule. More vacations for teachers?
How many people in the real world get paid time off every few weeks???
No one knows what it's like to be a good teacher unless they've done it. Certainly not the school board, and certainly not parent's who's biggest concern is how their vacation time is structured to "their" whims, irrespective of the needs of the students and teachers needs. Cutting salaries, more bureaucracy, more uneducated demands from every corner is making for a very stressful teaching environment. One which is not only bad for teachers, but ultimately and more importantly, bad for the students.
You have no clue.
And to No Clue: More than 30 years experience in school systems. I know how hard you work. This isn't about that. It is about breaking up the school year to please special interests.