Petition for the August 1st Calendar

After all the due diligence the School Board went through before initially putting in place the Balanced Calendar, I don't think that it is appropriate for the new Board to overturn it. I would only feel that doing so is appropriate if there was new data presented or new factors brought to light that were not considered in the initial decision. As it stands now, the Balanced Calendar has not been in place even a full year. No conclusions can yet be made about the merits of spacing the year and summers out (as they are in the Balanced Calendar), as it relates to student information retention, absenteeism, etc.

This reversal of a prior Board decision also impacts families who have already made vacation plans in reliance on the calendar dates for 2011-12 previously published. What about these people?

I also read that 84% of the educators in Cobb County support the Balanced Calendar. These people are teaching our children. Wouldn't they know perhaps what is truly best for students' learning?