Parents Can Join Calendar Committee

The Cobb County School District is forming a calendar advisory committee proposed last fall and, after much discussion,

Each of the county’s four PTA councils—East Cobb, Jessye Coleman, South Cobb and Tom Mathis Sr.—gets two members on the committee, which also will include teachers, administrators and community representatives.

The plan is for the committee to meet three to five times, starting in August, and recommend a 2013-14 calendar to Hinojosa in September.

The hope is that the committee can come up with a calendar that bridges the bitter divide between advocates of a balanced calendar and those who favor a traditional calendar.

Will the calendar committee resolve the school dispute? Tell us in the comments below.

A balanced calendar starts at the beginning of August, ends the first semester before the end-of-December vacation, and scatters weeklong breaks through the school year. A more traditional calendar starts no earlier than mid-August, ends the second quarter in January, and doesn’t have weeklong breaks in September and February.

After the school board voted to drop the balanced calendar despite an unscientific online survey showing strong support for that schedule, board member David Banks to try to switch back.

The board shot down his most recent calendar bid in January.

Banks, up for re-election this year, represents most of Northeast Cobb, serving Lassiter, Sprayberry and Pope high schools. On the is Kathleen Angelucci, who represents North Cobb.

If you want to take on the very public task of jumping into the middle of the debate, your application is due Monday to Lori Sweet, the 9th District director of the Georgia PTA.

You can check the attached PDF for your PTA council if you’re a PTA member at a school elsewhere in the county.

A printable copy of the Tom Mathis Sr. Council application form is attached to this article, or you can download a Word document of the form at the school district website.

The district will let you know by May 1 if you’re selected for the committee, which will be unveiled to the public that month.

No word on how the district will make the selections, but parents surely will be watching closely for any signs of an effort to stack the panel for either side of the debate.