Schools

School Calendar Changes in DeKalb Delayed One Year

Committee recommends new balanced calendar for 2013-2014

DeKalb County Schools parents will have an extra year to adjust to the possibility of early dismissal on Wednesdays and a shortened summer vacation.

In an announcement Thursday morning, a school district spokesperson said the school board will not make any changes to the 2012-2013 school calendar.

The board of education was set to vote May 7 on changes to the school calendar for the upcoming school year. 

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, start time in August would have ranged from Aug. 1 to Aug. 13, which parents said would have impacted summer camp and vacation plans already in place. In 2010, school started Aug. 9.

Each of the options would dismiss students from school one-hour early on Wednesdays.

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The DeKalb County School District Calendar Committee recommended Thursday to table the May 7 vote and instead "adopt a new balanced calendar for the 2013-2014 school year, one that includes more instructional opportunity for students throughout the year."

The district received more than 36,000 responses to on the proposed options for the school calendar.

It’s unclear what the majority of responses said, but a spokesperson for the district said the committee used these comments when recommending to delay the calendar changes.

District Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson will discuss the next steps in building the new calendar at the May 7 meeting.

If the 2012-2013 calendar remains unchanged, school is set to start Aug. 13.

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