After a great deal of condemnation,

I was finally told that it was expected that I call first and essentially

get permission from her before publishing anything relating to her or

the board. Clearly, this board member also needs a college course in political

science 101. In America, I do not need to get permission from her before

writing to the newspaper or to clarify her intentions as stated publicly.

In the end, she voted for the balanced calendar as a matter of public

record; and my article was proven by her after the fact to be absolutely

precise. It was never my intention to arouse hatred in anyone; and for

that I apologized.

However, the bottom line: The

BOE was not designed to function as a dictatorship; and because we are

fortunate to have a real newspaper in this community, censorship of the

facts from the public eye is also not permitted. Despite what a lot of

journalists and others today call freedom of the press, this clause in

the U.S. Constitution was absolutely meant to prevent such a dictatorship

from thriving. The public has the right to know the facts, and the right

and privilege to decide what's right for its own community in regards

especially to school functions. Getting permission before one goes to

print is a form of censorship.

First, a fully informed community,

then an empowered community, makes decisions. If the board we trust cannot

untie its hands to make all pertinent information available to the public

and let the people make informed decisions, then thank God for our free

press.

Knowing real facts and real

costs associated with balanced calendar implementation, we should not

be content to bend over and receive this burden the BOE has put on us.

There are several remedies we can do as a community to affect necessary

change, just as communities all around the country have been doing to

put this "balanced" calendar in the grave and just as our forefathers

set forth in our basic doctrines and by example.

We can sign petitions, and

we can elect new board members to replace those that are so gung-ho on

year-round school or those compromising into a modified balanced calendar,

which is just an in road to the smallest possible window allowed by the

community for a summer break.

There is one more thing.

I was told that some airline

pilot families find they need to have off-season vacations in order to

use their free boarding passes. So, to date, they've been keeping their

children out of school for one-week blocks for this purpose. Nobody seems

to realize yet that once the entire school system goes "balanced,"

the much-coveted off-season breaks for vacation will become the season

for everybody.

And, it only goes to follow

that instead of a 12-week block where families' vacation schedules are

scattered, they will all become compressed into very small windows of

opportunity and all accommodations will be much more difficult to secure.

Hence, they will still need to keep their children out of school for a

week not scheduled for an official school break in order to affect off-season

freedom for using their boarding passes.

School administrators have

expressed interest in wanting full attendance during the school year and

a willingness to accommodate those who want off-season vacations. Absenteeism

affects federal ADA funding. The issue never has been about memory loss

(as it has been proved through more than a hundred years of research that

memory loss occurs within four to seven d ays,

not just in three-month breaks. And, if material is forgotten, it was

never really learned in the first place). The main issue is funding.

As my grandfather (Charles

Coogler) pointed out so astutely, his generation quite simply would not

stand for the kind of treatment as demonstrated to date by the board.

They would not bother with time-consuming petitions which could take years

to circulate throughout the county, nor would they waste their breath

on people who were shortsighted, or so entrenched in their personal goals

that they would not do the right thing.

His generation would have simply

kept their children out of school until the season ended. The BOE could

post any start date they want, but the majority of students wouldn't show

up until school officially starts after Labor Day.

Emphasis on "official"

here, as a majority vote is the community standard. And, it's the BOE

that must make the adjustment to align itself with the community standard,

not the other way around. Lost ADA funding for a majority block-out would

clearly be more than substantial and greatly outnumber the loss of jet-set

socialites needing off-season vacations.

So, in this democracy we call

home, we are allowed several remedies to dictatorship control: Freedom

of the press; petition; vote; civil disobedience (also used as a quick

vote on a particular issue rather than a candidate).

One does not have to bend over

in a democracy. "Right is might," as my grandfather and my political

science professor both so aptly put it, and is what keeps America strong

as a living, breathing democracy!

If every traditionalist purposefully

schedules their family vacations for 11 Aug. through 2 Sept. out of town

or takes this time as a personal leave, just as the pilots' families have

scheduled their vacations off sync with the public school system, gross

absenteeism would make a huge impact on the boards' decisions. The BOE

would either listen to its constituents and make good on their wishes

or get caught between lost ADA funding and approved taxes to date. Not

reflecting the values of its community could cost the board the ability

to reconcile their budget, any positive advances on their individual resumes,

and eventually their jobs.

Dictatorship must be discouraged

and our system of government.

Most importantly, however,

is to determine our values as a community. Do we value intermittent breaks

scattered throughout the year above all else? I personally have deeper

values and more long-range goals for my family and my children. Highest

academic achievement to date was accomplished in the 1950s by schools

using the traditional calendar.

Kathie Prado

Peachtree City