School officials in DeKalb County just got one of the loudest messages ever from parents: Don't mess with our summer break.
After an overwhelming response to an online survey, administrators are backing off plans to curtail summer vacation next year.
The so-called "balanced calendar" would have reduced time off in summer in exchange for more vacation at other times of the year. Plans also called for releasing students earlier on Wednesdays.
The idea, officials say, was to limit students' loss of knowledge over the long summer and to give teachers more development time each week.
"I heard clearly from teachers ... that they wanted some time," Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson said Wednesday. She also heard clearly from parents who didn't want to give that time, at least not next year.
Nearly 37,000 people responded to an online survey that sought comment on three proposed calendars for the 2012-13 school year, said Deputy Superintendent Kathy Howe. About 1,500 responded in the first hour, more than typically respond to any kind of school district survey, she said.
The proposals chafed parents who had already made plans based on the previously approved calendar.
Dawn Sloan Downes, a mother of two, had paid deposits to lock in spots in a summer camp program near summer's end.
"I had planned to have my boys in camp that last week before school started, then suddenly three new calendars were released," Downes said.
She said she wasn't necessarily opposed to a balanced calendar, but said she needed more lead time.
Other parents were dead set against a shortened summer.
"I think kids need time in the summer to break up their social groups," said Randy Faigin David, a mother of four. "They need a break."
Other school systems have tried the balanced calendar, with varying success.
Henry County was among the first systems in Georgia to adopt a shorter summer break. A decade ago, the system took 11 vacation days from summer to create a week-long fall break and to extend the Thanksgiving and Presidents Day holidays. Officials there say surveys show strong support from teachers, students and parents.
But parents in Cobb County were less sanguine when officials there instituted a balanced calendar last year. It split the community and became an election issue for the school board. Soon after the new board was seated last year, Cobb restored the traditional calendar.
Atkinson, the DeKalb superintendent, is undaunted. She says she's still going to push a balanced calendar for the 2013-14 school year. She said she'll put the idea before the school board in May.
Atkinson will have to convince parents such as Downes, who wants to give her kids plenty of time to unwind from high-stakes tests and other school year stresses. Downes might be swayed, though, with a strong educational argument.
"It's hard for me to see the upside," Downes said. But, she added: "I have friends who are teachers and many of them like the concept of moving toward year-round school."
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