The Shelby County Board of Education, approved a 2008-09 calendar that would end the Vincent community's year-round schools.

Three board members -- Peg Hill, Lee Doebler and David Nichols -- voted for the new calendar. Board members Ann Glass and Steve Martin, voted against it.

More than 100 people from Vincent showed up to protest the end to year-round schools.
The new calendar will put all the county schools on the same schedule.

Superintendent Randy Fuller proposed a unified calendar at the request of the state Department of Education. Students' first day would be Aug. 7 and their last May 21.

They say they like the year-round calendar that has a shorter summer and two-week breaks after every grading period.

However, because of the No Child Left Behind act, the state superintendent of education has recommended school start after Aug. 6. On the year-round calendar, school starts in mid-July.

"For each of the four years I have been state Superintendent of Education I have asked school systems to comply with a voluntary school start date so I can guarantee them delivery of assessment data in order to be in compliance with federal law," said Joe Morton, state superintendent, in an e-mail message to a reporter prior to Thursday's meeting. "Last year all but three systems complied. The Vincent schools in Shelby County, Madison County and Sylacauga City did not comply. I wrote each superintendent in those three systems asking for their voluntary compliance this year."

Schools receive their Average Yearly Progress reports in early August.

The Vincent schools are the only ones in the state on a year-round calendar this school year. They were the first in the state to adopt one in 1993.

Laura McAlister