CCC spokesman's comment to School Board last night

Here are the remarks made last night to the Williamson COunty School Board by Citizens Calendar Committee member Dr. Greg Weaver.

Good evening. My name is Greg Weaver. I am a resident of the second educational district of southern Williamson County and an Independence High School parent.

I am speaking tonight on behalf of the Citizens Calendar Committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving the traditional school calendar. We ask that the board retain the traditional calendar for all Williamson County schools with a start date no earlier than August 14.

The burden of proof that our schools would be better off with a balanced calendar has not been met. Dr. Sharber has stated that, "There is no hard data that supports that achievement is increased by a balanced calendar." She has also acknowledged that the telephone poll conducted in early December would not hold up to scientific scrutiny. The results of this invalid poll should not be used to drive school district policy.

The national trend is away from year round school. After 40 years of focused efforts by proponents, no more than 4% of public school students are on a balanced calendar. Texas has been a leader of the year round school movement. The movement peaked in Texas in the 1996-97 school year when 359 schools were on the balanced calendar. (www.summermatters.com) Over 2/3 of those schools have since abandoned the calendar, and today only 102 of over 7,000 Texas schools are on this type of calendar. (www.NAYRE.org). Similar statistics are available for other states and school systems. The balanced calendar is not the wave of the future. It is, instead, a failed educational experiment and it is not necessary for us to repeat those mistakes here in Williamson County.

We on the Citizens Calendar Committee have spoken to hundreds of concerned citizens about the proposed balanced year round calendar. We have been amazed at the large number of different reasons cited by the citizens of Williamson County that the balanced calendar would be detrimental to our community. Almost every aspect of family life would be impacted. There would be significant effects on the local economy, other county institutions such as parks and recreation, and loss of learning opportunities ranging from summer jobs to college credit courses.

For instance, did you know that scholarships for swimmer athletes are awarded based on the student's performance at swim meets in July and August? Because they would be in school during these meets, Williamson County students would be excluded from this opportunity. I could list many other such examples.

The balanced year round calendar would harm our children, families, and community in many ways. As Dr. Sharber has pointed out, adopting two different calendars for the same school district would be very disruptive as well. The balanced calendar offers no substantial benefits. It should not be approved for any part of the school system. Please retain the traditional calendar for all Williamson County schools with a start date no earlier than August 14.