c	School calendar may grow   Cobb, Cherokee study extra days, shorter summer   By Kristina Torres Atlanta Journal Constitution   Two north metro Atlanta counties have broached the idea of extending their school years, a creep toward year-round schooling that has upset some parents.   Cobb and Cherokee counties would be the latest in Georgia to turn toward a more year-round schedule.   Officials in both districts say the calendar changes would be meant to boost student success, although a Cobb County parents group calling itself Georgians Need Summers (www .georgiansneedsummers.com) touts research that shows minimal student gains when such changes are made. Research, however, also shows extended school years may help at-risk students.   Cobb, the state's second-largest school system, would beef up its calendar 10 days beyond what the state requires -- to 190 school days -- by shortening summer break but offering more time off during the year.   Cherokee also would shorten summer break and offer more time off during the year, but stick to the usual 180 days.   Cobb Superintendent Joseph Redden said he and his staff still want to study the idea, with all community ideas welcome. No formal proposal has been made. If the district goes forward, the extended year could begin as a pilot program in part of the 101,000-student district within the next couple of years.   Cherokee's proposal is "not a slam dunk. . . . We're looking for feedback," said Mike McGowan, spokesman for the 29,700-student district. Superintendent Frank Petruzielo also will consider a more traditional calendar and make a recommendation in December. Whichever calendar the school board approves will be in place next school year.   In metro Atlanta, at least six districts have schools that have moved to more of a year-round calendar, including one of Georgia's highest-performing districts, Fayette County.   Nationally, about 3,000 schools have some kind of year-round calendar, and the numbers have grown steadily since the mid-1980s. Supporters of year-round and extended-year school calendars trumpet, among other benefits, the lessening of catch-up time for kids gone months on summer vacation.   "You find you need to very rapidly identify [a student's] deficiency . . . then remediate that deficiency," Cobb's Redden said. An extended-year program could help in that battle, he said, pointing to district students who are poor (about one-third in Cobb qualify for free and reduced-price lunches) or not able to speak English well.   Supporters of the longer school year also believe it would help in the burgeoning arms race of student achievement, heightened recently by changes in federal education laws that judge a school's progress and standing based on student test scores.   Cobb has 29 schools that did not meet federal education standards last year; Cherokee has nine.     Playing catch-up   Two or three extra breaks of one week or so could be used to try to catch up students who have fallen behind, or even offer enrichment programs to those looking for something to do.   However, it also would mean more expenses in a tight economy, including salary and benefits for personnel and utilities and transportation costs. The average daily pay rate for teachers in Cobb is $325.70. An extended-year schedule as envisioned would tack on 10 to 15 days for at least hundreds of Cobb's 7,500 teachers, depending on how many of the district's seven attendance areas switch.   Vivian Jackson, a Cobb parent opposed to the extended calendar proposal, notes Georgia school districts already face budget crunches because of state cutbacks. If a district is going to spend the extra money, she favors putting it in programs, such as foreign language in elementary schools.   Besides, she asks, what's wrong with a kid having more than a two-month summer break?   "They need year-round education; they don't need year-round school," said Jackson, who includes activities such as summer camp in that equation.     New law sought   The Georgians Need Summers group, which will have an information meeting at 10 a.m. today in east Cobb's Hampton Farms subdivision, wants state legislators to back a law similar to one passed in Texas two years ago that mandates a school start date no earlier than Aug. 21. They also touch on research about the possible financial impact of an extended-year calendar on community businesses that depend on summer activity and student workers.   An Arizona State University study found that increasing a school year by 10 days or fewer did not appear to produce enough academic gains among most students to justify the higher cost.   The ASU researchers also cited previous studies. One suggested money would be better spent on increasing teacher salaries, hiring remedial specialists or purchasing new equipment. Another noted that students from lower-income families were more likely to lose some of what they learned during a more traditional summer break.   School officials say anything they can do to help all students is worth considering.   "I don't know what the answers are to all the questions" about year-round schools, Redden said. "But how do you know if you don't ask the question? If you have that attitude, we'd never have put somebody on the moon." BACK