Last week: Should the Cobb County school year be longer?
AJC education reporter Rose French wrote this month that Cobb education leaders are considering the possibility of lengthening the school year to help the growing number of mainly economically disadvantaged students who need academic attention.
Among those students, nearly four in 10 did not earn a diploma last year compared to the state graduation rate of three in 10 not receiving a diploma last year, French reported. Also, disadvantaged students comprise 62 percent of the state’s enrollment.
We had nearly 200 responses to our question, mainly against longer school hours and/or days. Most of these responses may be viewed at
Here’s what some readers had to say:
NO! My child is a seventh grade student in Advanced Placement and STEAM courses. She is often up till 11 p.m. and early in the AM, completing multiple assignments. Not to mention her weekends are consumed with projects. There needs to be some balance for them to still be children. Cobb starts earlier than many school districts already. The teachers and the students deserve their breaks. — Rhonda Elaine
I think the school day is long enough, especially for the younger children. However, more days in school would be helpful. The current calendar has too many breaks. — GRS
Absolutely NOT! Children need LESS mini-breaks during the school year and a longer summer vacation, when they can be with family, go to camps and just be kids. If specific children need extra attention or individual tutoring, schools should provide a way to handle that… . If the Cobb school board thinks extra school days help keep kids off the streets, they should think again. This is NOT THEIR JOB! And it is not a reason for a longer school year. Sitting in a classroom is not the only way to learn. Kids need to run, play, work. They need to experience life. Give them time to do that. — Cheryl Beckham
No, I have elementary-age children and I do not want them hating school starting this early!! How about thinking of making smaller classes and giving teachers flexibility to teach and not test kids to death. — Tori Y. Harwood
No! Cobb should not extend the school day or the school year. However they SHOULD increase the QUALITY of education… . They should incorporate a real PTA, increasing parental involvement instead of using PTA solely for fundraising. They should follow practices that worked for prior generations before the education system went downhill… . I do believe that a lot of parents are failing their children by lack of involvement, but the schools do nothing to increase involvement for the ones that want it. — Chelsea Camp
Education is a three-way street. Parents, students and teachers. When they fail, the blame is always educators… . All suggested solutions require fixing the teachers = more training, pay for performance, longer school hours. Really! … It cannot just be the educator problem. — Cee Gee
LaVista Hills Alliance, a pro-cityhood group, decided earlier this month that they won’t contest their 139-vote defeat in court. A legal challenge was the last opportunity to try and overturn the Nov. 3 referendum’s results, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office. The group will, however, turn over information about voting irregularities to state authorities which may result in fines or prosecutions, but won’t change the outcome of the election.
LaVista Hills fell short by 1 percent of 13,733 votes cast.
Organizers for cityhood said they weighed the costs of court battles and felt it better to let the law handle the issue.
On the other hand, voters overwhelmingly voted to form a city of Tucker. The new city will include more than 33,000 residents from the Perimeter to the outskirts of Stone Mountain.
With the strong support for Tucker, do you think LaVista Hills should have continued fighting for cityhood? Those against cityhood said they’d rather work to make DeKalb County a better place to live and work instead of dividing resources.
What do you think? Does the LaVista Hills defeat show that the cityhood maybe isn’t such a good idea? Should the pro-city organizers kept pushing for light to be shed on the voting process?
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