Cobb school calendars Archives

Cobb school calendars adopted for 2018-2020; Sweeney lone opposing vote

November 8, 2017 2:34 PMOctober 26, 2017 8:31 PM by Wendy Parker

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.

Scott Sweeney, Cobb school calendars — *Scott Sweeney*

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

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Proposed Cobb school calendars discussed by school board members

October 12, 2017 11:19 AM by Wendy Parker

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.

Proposed Cobb school calendars for 2018-20 call for Aug. 1 start dates

October 9, 2017 12:10 PM by Wendy Parker

Draft proposals for the 2018-19 and 2019-2020 Cobb school calendars have been released, and they will be discussed at Wednesday’s school board work session.

The two proposals submitted by the Cobb County School District administration for board consideration both include Aug. 1 start dates. Those dates are on a Wednesday for 2018-19 and a Thursday for 2019-20. This would be a departure for Cobb schools, which typically have had the first day fall on a Monday.

After some parental outcry this year, when classes began on July 31 and prompted a petition drive (previous East Cobb News post here), the proposed Cobb school calendars for the next two academic years would revert to starting in the first week of August, which has been the case in recent years.

Both proposed calendars have generally the same scheduled breaks—late September in the fall, mid-February in the winter and early April in the spring—as well as the usual Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Year’s holiday breaks.

For the 2018-19 proposed calendar, the last day of school would be May 22, and for 2018-19, the final day would be May 20.

The school board adoption of the calendars is expected at their Oct. 26 business meeting.

The work session (full agenda packet here) on Wednesday begins at 8:30 a.m. in the board room of the CCSD Central Office, 514 Glover Street. The meeting also can be seen live on Comcast Cable Channel 24 and Cobb edTV.