Concerned parents stormed the Coweta County Board of Education meeting Tuesday night to voice their opposition to a proposed calendar that would start the new school year the first week of August.

When the dust had settled, the parents left a little happier with the school system's recommendation of starting school Aug.9, but vowed to continue to make their feelings known about what one parent called an attempt to force year-round school on the parents.

The school system had distributed a proposed calendar over the Christmas break that called for school to start Aug.2. Since Tuesday night was the first meeting since the calendar had been released, numerous parents unloaded on the board.

Frank Farmer asked why the system couldn't continue to use the traditional calendar the schools have used for years. Farmer asked school employees who had gone all the way through Coweta County schools to stand up. As the employees rose, Farmer complimented the level of education in the system and said the employees had gone through school on the old calendar without repercussions.

Bill Underwood chastised the board for trying to sneak a year-round calendar into the system.

"We've never been asked if we wanted a year-round program," he said.

Underwood also took the board to task for the way the calendar was released.

"I wish you would have let it be known when you're running for office instead of Christmas break," he said.

Colleen Sprayberry compli-mented the board for moving the start of school back a week and advocated dropping the idea of year-round school altogether. The county currently has one school, Newnan Crossing, that operates on a year-round program. She also urged the board to make a decision and inform the people.

"Your decision affects thousands of students," she said.

Some parents said the early start could adversely affect some of the school system's employees. Carrie Jones said the early start could interfere with some teachers who wanted to work on their master's degree and take classes in the summer.

After the parents spoke out, board chairman Mike Sumner said the board would not be making a decision on the calendar until the Feb.9 meeting. He urged parents to continue to voice their concerns to school officials until the next meeting.