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MARIETTA — After three committee meetings in August and numerous conversations with the school district staff and community members, the Cobb County school board approved Superintendent Michael Hinojosa’s calendar recommendationfor the 2013-14 school year.
The board also gave Hinojosa the green light to apply for a $20 million Race to the Top grant.
Hinojosa’s calendar recommendation, which included an amendment outlining when furlough days would be used, was approved 4-2, with members David Banks and Lynnda Eagle opposed.
The superintendent’s one-year calendar starts the school year on Aug. 7, 2013, and ends it on May 21, 2014. It includes a two-day break Oct. 7-8, 2013, a weeklong break for Thanksgiving, a two-week break for the winter holidays, a Jan. 20, 2014, holiday and a weeklong spring break the first week of April 2014.
“I don’t really care what calendar we have,” Hinojosa said when explaining his rationale behind the recommendation. “My idea was trying to get these very divergent thoughts, which people are very passionate and emotional about, and try to get back to you the board.
“There is not going to be a unanimous support for anything that anyone recommends. … I just ask you to decide so that we can move on.”
Alison Bartlett, who represents west-central Cobb, made the motion that the board approve his calendar with an amendment to use any furlough days proposed in the future during the October break or to push the school start date even further back.
Her amendment was approved 4-2, with Eagle and Banks opposed.
Bartlett said that whatever calendar was approved by the board Thursday night, she would be in full support of and would not try to change if re-elected in November.
Banks, who represents northeast Cobb, made a motion to modify Hinojosa’s suggestion to include weeklong breaks in September and February, but that was voted down 1-4, with Bartlett, Kathleen Angelucci, Tim Stultz and Board chair Scott Sweeney opposed and Eagle abstaining.
At the close of the hour-long discussion, Eagle made a brief statement about why she opposed Bartlett’s amendment and motion.
“I really wanted to be a team player, and I was prepared to vote for the superintendent’s calendar, but I feel like with all of those amendments and all of those changes, I could not do that,” she said.
A handful of Cobb Schools parents, all of whom served on the 21-member calendar committee, addressed the board during public comments at the start of the board meeting.
Lisa Miller, who was appointed by the Jessye Coleman Council in south Cobb, said “frequent breaks” were the group’s priority.
“Mr. Hinojosa disregarded the important factors in our calendar in which we presented to him, which were the breaks,” she said. “The committee did not come to a conclusion that a day was a break, and I do not feel that his calendar was a compromise.”
Rob Stanek, a member of the same Parent-Teacher Association, echoed Miller’s statements.
“I’m pretty frustrated with the end result (of the committee) because my understanding of what Dr. Hinojosa has proposed to you guys is not what the calendar committee actually consented to do,” he said. “I don’t consider a single day in the fall and a single day in the winter to actually be a break. That kind of really violated the priorities of the committee.”
He said the weeklong breaks were at the request of teachers, which in turn create “happy parents” and “happy students.”
However, Sarah Regitz, who was appointed to the committee by the East Cobb Council, said she didn’t have a problem with Hinojosa’s recommendation.
“Had the committee been able to develop a year-long calendar, I believe it would have looked much like the superintendent’s proposal,” she said. “Approval by the majority on the calendar is something I think we should look at in moving forward.”
In other business, the board approved Hinojosa’s recommendation to submit a Race to the Top grant application to the U.S. Department of Education, which is due by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
It passed 4-2 with Bartlett and Angelucci opposed. Both have previously said they are uncomfortable with any federal mandates that might be required by the grant and sustaining any implemented programs after the four years of funding runs out.
If Cobb wins the grant, which Chief Academic Officer Dr. Judi Jones is calling R.E.A.C.H., for rigor, excellence, attitude, challenge and hope, the money would be used at Griffin, Floyd, Lindley Sixth Grade and Lindley middle schools.
It would pay for professional development for teachers and administrators as well as for projects to improve students’ transitions into and out of middle school. The school day could also be restructured and individual graduation plans developed.
Cobb is competing against 222 other districts in their category and 900 overall for a portion of the $400 million grant, which is expected to be awarded to up to 25 districts, which will be notified by Dec. 31.
Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - Hinojosa calendar approved
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As far as the new schedule, I can probably do without it. I was in favor of the previous schedule that included the week long breaks. These breaks were not to give the lazy teachers a break, but to give everyone in the learning community a bit of time to re-engergize themselves. I know that my daughter really enjoyed her breaks to recharge her batteries periodically.
Just my two cents.
Please check your facts. R.L. Osborne H.S. has a phenomenal new administarive force and it presently is NOT a failing or low performing school. It was NOT placed on any negative list this year. The attendance rate has increased hugely thanks to a new administrator as has test scores in EVERY area increased due to excellent teachers and principal, Joshua Morreale. Stop perpetauting negative news about the schools on the southern part of the county. It is a school in transition and the change is to the positive.
2. teacher absenteesim decreases
3. student absenteesim decreases
4. better frame of mind
5. improved test scores
Are we scheduling around sports? Are we scheduling around testing? What? Why is it that the data of Cherokee, Bartow Counties and other counties are higher than Cobb and they have a balanced calendar?
Very perplexed - Please explain how a balanced calendar saves on Lunches! Maintenance!
In case you missed it, scores were also up last year over the balanced calendar year.
Being an educator, one might suppose you would know the inherent flaws comparing disparate populations. Saying Cherokee's/Bartow's data is higher than Cobb's is like saying Cobb's bands are better because we have more students in the program.
In spite of what you stubbornly choose to believe, the calendar has nothing to do with academic achievement.
Of all the board members I traded emails with regarding the calendar - she was the only one who wrote just plain rude and ignorant comments back - sniping at AB.
Accountability is the key, so the Superintendent will be held accountable. Transparency was asked for, so the Superintendent should be able to explain in detail (his staff will) which schools will receive funding and why.
There are two primary thoughts regarding the largest uses of our state tax dollars (education) and they are student achievement and the rest of the money. Accountability by NCLB or RT3..or other alphabet soup really doesn't matter unless we take a look back at the last 10 years of graduates and non-graduates and evaluate their life performance and happiness now.
Do they contribute or take from society? Are they happy in their work? Are they leaders? Do they bring innovation and industry to our state and our nation? What is their social impact on their neighbors and friends?
We should embark on a community study.. using volunteers.. and have a "real world" assessment on the many different pathways that we have outlined for our state education system.
The state of the county report on education should report on that.
Another example of teacher's unions destroying education.
There is sooooo much wasted time in schools today - conferences, numerous charity promotions, multiple field days, birthday parties, market days , etc etc etc
Then just laugh at all their comments. Because they'll never let it go. Never.
Honestly, it was YOU who called people who don't read papers "stupid." Not me.
And I don't laugh at BC people's comments because they are "stupid" -- that was your assumption. My problem with BC advocates is that they are largely ignorant of the history of the issue (because they rarely read the paper or just started paying attention last year) but mostly because they will continue to raise cain until they get their way.
Cobb Taxpayers MUST now demand great testing improvement!
How else can we evaluate Hinojosa and the CCSD Board?
find time during the school day to whine on blogs
The Superintendent just did what he wanted and appears to have NOT taken a thing from those committees into consideration.
He should apologize to those committee folks for just wasting their time.
For wasting the community's time with the stupid self-determined primary goal of "increasing breaks". Absurd
Many thanks to the committee members who spoke up against the nonsense and helped derail the train.
This constant whining from some teachers about needing a week off every few weeks to grade papers and otherwise do their jobs is just sad.
Kids and parents can tell within a couple weeks which teachers are excited and motivated and which ones are slackers and clock-watchers. You are not fooling anyone.
Hinojosa is right about this -- it just does not matter that much what the cal might be. Just work it.
Why are these teachers still teaching? Other than Obama's terrible economy, shouldn't these burned out types be able to see that they aren't inspiring to anyone? Either put your all into it, or GET OUT of the profession. The answer is NOT to put more breaks into the calendar, thinking it will somehow get you through a job you hate. The answer is, weed out those teachers who are not suited for the real work of teaching our kids to an acceptable level.
All of our other teachers over the years have been happy with their jobs, or if not sure hid it well. A select few should be given bonuses on par with top execs. As Jeff says, we can tell which type of teacher you are, usually by October. So let's get on with it. And be honest with yourselves teachers.
I'm not grading on my time off, I'm spending it with my family. I come back refreshed, just like the kids. I'm interested at what you do for a living. I'm also interested at which school/teacher did you so wrong that you're so bitter.
What gets me about this calendar fiasco is the county asked, the response was clear. They went against it. He forms a committee and then disregards what they say. Bartlett rails against the balanced, then makes her own. It's funny how Hinojosa comes up with this which is just what the majority of the board wants (doesn't he come up for renewal soon?). It's funny how Bartlett develops a balanced calendar now (isn't there a re-election bid soon?).
Your comments about whining teachers comes off as ill-informed and insulting.
I substitute teach at my children's school, and on the days that I sub, I come home exhausted. And I don't have lesson plans to do or papers to grade. Trying to educate a class of over 20 kids while maintaining control, getting them to lunch on time, and making sure they all get to the right place when school is over is a huge responsibility.
My sister teaches in a high school in another district. She regularly puts in 60-70 hour weeks, just to grade all the papers and carefully plan her lessons. Her district recently got rid of their fall breaks, and she, along with her fellow teachers and the students, are exhausted.
I have never felt that any of my kids' teachers are slackers or clock-watchers. Some of them have even gone way above and beyond, taking courses over the summer that weren't required, just so they could help one child with special needs in their class.
I think just the fact that teachers, despite their workloads and constant criticism from people like you, continue to do what they do says an immense amount about their dedication.
And there are absolutely no meaningful metrics which prove that regular breaks provide lasting benefit to -- wait for it -- The Children.
As it is the Aug. 7 date is incredibly early, nuking all manner of enriching summer activities for kids. But so long as we are done by Memorial Day, I'll deal. I suggest you do the same.
As for my motivations -- the fallacy argumentum ad hominem I here stoop to conquer -- I have several educators in my family and have always taken a keen interest in the efficacy of our public institutions. What has struck me about the overall very good Cobb system is the fixation by teachers and staff on the most exiguous details imaginable in the midst of a bounty of resources and high-quality raw material.
Sayre's Law immediately suggests itself -- In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the stakes at issue, that is why academic politics are so bitter -- but so do other axioms.
Although my experience suggests Cobb teachers individually range from adequate to outstanding, a collective madness seems to sometimes erupt when district-wide issues come up. Which suggests Nietzsche -- Madness is rare in individuals, but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule.
But most of all Bum Phillips, who said of Bear Bryant: "He can take his'n and beat your'n and take your'n and beat his'n."
Take what you got -- and win.