Schools

Cobb School Calendar Issue Resumes

Proposals by Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and board member David Banks will be discussed at Wednesday's work session.

Multiple school calendar proposals will be brought before the Cobb Board of Education on Wednesday, restarting a debate that embroiled the board for much of 2011.

Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, who urged the board to create a committee to tackle calendar planning, will be offering a different calendar than conflicting recommendations by the panel.

School board member David Banks, a central figure in the school calendar controversy when it first came up in early 2011, also will be submitting his own proposal.

Find out what's happening in Kennesawwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The discussion will take place at the board's monthly work session, which begins at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in the board room of the Cobb County School District central office, 514 Glover Street, Marietta.

The entire agenda is available in the attached PDF format.

Find out what's happening in Kennesawwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Hinojosa is suggesting that the 2013-14 school year begin on Aug. 7, and is proposing that only the next school year be approved now.

As he told The Marietta Daily Journal, he wants to take the calendar approval process out of the election cycle: "The next time we would then do a two-year calendar."

Cobb school board chairman Scott Sweeney expressed similar thoughts at his town hall meeting Monday night.

"It's very important for this district to the calendar off the election cycle," he said. "We need to adopt them in non-election years."

Hinojosa's proposal (see attached PDF) would include the following breaks:

  • Thanksgiving from Nov. 25-29;
  • Christmas and New Year's from Dec. 23-Jan. 7, 2014;
  • Spring break period from March 31-April 7, 2014;
  • Other student breaks would be scheduled on Nov. 5 and Jan. 6, 2014;
  • District-wide holidays would be slated for Sept. 2 (Labor Day), Oct. 7 (Columbus Day); Jan. 20 (Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday); Feb. 17 (President's Day); and May 26 (Memorial Day).

The last day of school would be held on Wednesday, May 21, 2014.

The calendar committee is divided on start dates of Aug. 1 and Aug. 6. Hinojosa's proposal is being offered as a compromise between the two.

But Banks, who strongly protested the board's vote in 2010 to adopt a "traditional" calendar over a "balanced" calendar with more breaks, denounced Hinojosa's proposal.

"To disregard in their totality any recommendations of this [calendar] committee does not speak well of either their efforts, the public or business input during their deliberations or future committees the Board of Education may wish to convene," Banks wrote in his e-mail newsletter released Monday.

His calendar for 2013-14 (see attached PDF) would include more extended breaks for students, teachers and staff. Banks' proposal includes the following:

  • A starting date of Aug. 5, with the last day of school scheduled for May 30, 2014;
  • Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holiday breaks from Nov. 25-29 and from Dec. 23-Jan. 6;
  • "Interval" breaks from Sept. 16-20; Feb. 17-21; March 31-April 4 (Spring Break);
  • The same official single-day holidays as Hinojosa's proposal.

Banks said he is continuing to push for additional break periods based on feedback he has received from parents, teachers and school staff.

Also on the board's agenda Wednesday are the following items:

  • A presentation of the district's legislative priorities by Hinojosa;
  • Continuing discussions about the SPLOST IV project list;
  • The system's upcoming academic strategic plan targets;
  • A proposal to spend $15,000 to hire a polling company to elicit feedback pertaining to Hinojosa's performance evaluation.

Don’t miss any of the local news you care about. Subscribe to Kennesaw Patch’s free newsletterlike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Kennesaw