Parents Revolt Against DeKalb School Calendar Changes to Summer Break

Parents of children in the DeKalb County school system have spoken, and one thing is abundantly clear.

Don't mess with our summer vacation.

The DeKalb system has backed off its plans to spread the summer vacation out across the year more because it irritated plenty of parents who claimed they already planned their vacations.

Do you think parents will feel differently if the school system plans ahead two years? Or is this simply a "save our summer" response from county parents? Tell us in the comments section below.

From an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story:

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.

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