BOE Supports Current School Calendar, Local Control

CANTON, GA — The Cherokee County School Board is backing its parents and employees who are overwhelmingly in favor of keeping its current school calendar — and maintaining local control over school start dates.

In response to media coverage of the formation of a Senate Study Committee to mandate a school start date after Labor Day for all Georgia public schools, the school district's Office of Communications over the past week conducted a brief survey of parents, employees and the school board's student delegates. The survey resulted in 8,305 responses from parents and 2,674 responses from employees.

The overwhelming majority – 80 percent of parents, 86 percent of employees and 83 percent of student delegates – voted against a mandated start after Labor Day. The groups cited the September and February break as the most important features of CCSD’s balanced calendar, which has been in place for more than 15 years.

Their responses were even stronger when asked which elected body should determine school calendars, with 92 percent of parents, 95 percent of employees and 83 percent of student delegates, opting in favor of local schools boards retaining that role. The full results of the survey are posted online here.

“We appreciate our community sharing their opinions,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian Hightower said. “Neither I nor the school board have any plans to change our calendar; we wanted to gather your input so the state legislature would know where we stand when it considers this issue. It’s clear that our community supports local control and keeping our school calendar.”

School Board Chair Kyla Cromer pointed out that the Study Committee is stacked with members who have ties to tourism, adding that she hopes the legislature will put aside special interest groups’ desires and focus on what’s best for students and their families.

The student delegates, who were invited to share comments, noted that the current calendar benefits their academic success and emotional well-being, citing the regular breaks, the ability to take finals before the winter holidays, and the month-long head start on preparing for Advanced Placement exams to earn college credit.

Cromer also said that the state legislators who represent Cherokee County all have said they will not support a state-mandated calendar. The survey results will be shared with the local legislative delegation, as well as with the Senate Study Committee’s leadership.

Board members also approved a property exchange with the Cherokee County government. The county government will receive enough land for a possible fire station adjacent to the school district's site for a future elementary school between the Free Home community and Ball Ground; CCSD will receive land adjacent to its Educational Services Facility campus.

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