c	Say no to year-round schools in Cobb and Georgia DEAR EDITOR:   The Cobb County School Board is attempting to quietly change our school calendars to year round schools without considering all the facts. When Cobb and Georgia school boards continue to shorten the summer, they are robbing children of a multitude of educational programs and traditions.   A nontraditional school year undermines public education and Georgia's school kids. As we continue to push the start of the school year earlier and earlier, teachers lose opportunities to continue their own education or participate in needed second sources of income. Students lose opportunities to gain workplace experience. What's more, it provides no additional class time or educational benefit for our students. Honest and unbiased studies on year-round schooling consistently report no significant difference in academic achievement compared to schools following a traditional calendar.   Those that favor the idea of year-round schools promote it under the guise that our kids will experience less summer learning loss. But studies done by the Phi Delta Kappa, the honorary education fraternity, and others found that the greatest learning loss occurs in the first two to three weeks away from school, thus affecting short-term memory loss. The start-and-stop nature of the year-round calendar could actually promote memory loss more often.   If year-round schooling was a good idea, then why have 85 percent of school systems that attempted year-round education reverted back to traditional calendars? Why do only .0015 percent of private schools (inner-city Catholic schools) operate under the year-round schedule? Why did the Los Angeles Unified School District give up on year-round calendars after their 23-year failed attempt at year-round education? According to Assistant Superintendent Gordon Wohlers there, "Year-round schools have hurt students badly. Intense calendars have led to tired students and tired teachers."   What about the economic impact? Utilizing other states' resources, the office of the Texas Comptroller in 2000 reported that early school start dates and shortening the summer tourist season annually cut an estimated $332 million out of the Texas economy. Is Cobb County going to take a similar hit?   Combine that with the additional costs of air conditioning our schools during the year's hottest months (July and August) and adding school buses to the roads in August, which adds to the emissions, causing ground level ozone and air-quality indexes that pose serious health hazards, and year-round schools are a bad idea.   Summers are traditionally the time when kids learn to swim, climb trees, attend computer camps, church camps, art schools, play Little League baseball, visit grandparents and non-custodial parents. We believe in year-round education, not year-round schools.   Parents need to take a stand - and protect our kids, our traditions and Georgia summers.   Scotti Madison founder, Georgians Need Summers BACK