With school starting for Dalton Public Schools Thursday, Aug. 8, Superintendent Steven Craft said the system has 7,635 students enrolled.
“But, we are expecting that to increase,” he said. “Normally within the last few weeks we’ll get probably somewhere between another 50 to 75 kids.”
At the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, 7,776 students were enrolled according to data from the Georgia Department of Education.
During the Dalton Board of Education’s Monday meeting, Craft provided updates focusing on summer programs, including summer school.
“We had 91 students participate in summer school this year,” he said. “And this is only for high school students. We had 15 students from The Dalton Academy and 76 from Dalton High School.”
Craft said there were 132 courses attempted, with 108 currently complete.
“So, that puts us at about 82% right now,” he said. “We expect that number to go up a little bit more.”
Craft said the system provided professional development training for faculty during the summer.
“This includes the rollout of the Dalton Reads! initiative, including the Savvas curriculum.”
In May, board members approved the purchase of new core literacy curriculum from Savvas’ myView Literacy and myPerspectives programs for $1.647 million.
According to Director of Literacy Ali Finley, leaders and faculty participated in a “kickoff” event on July 16 when Savvas representatives provided initial information and training.
Craft said the system also recently held a prekindergarten and summer transition program.
“This is a six-week program that we do and it served 36 rising pre-K students and 42 rising kindergarten students,” he said. “It had a focus on language, literacy and math, but it also included some STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), art, music and (physical education).”
Craft said the system hosted weekly parent workshops for incoming students.
Board members voted 4-0 to approve a second guaranteed maximum price amendment to a renovation project at Roan School for $3.707 million. Chief Financial Officer Theresa Perry said that involves the project’s electrical package, including the installation of new wiring and electrical equipment.
Board members previously approved an amendment in March “due to the long lead times necessary to order and receive (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) equipment,” according to system officials.
The previous amendment was for $3.263 million.
Perry said contractor Reeves Young, headquartered in Sugar Hill, anticipates three amendments before the renovations are finished.
“We anticipate the third GMP (guaranteed maximum price) will come in the next few months and that really would encompass the final GMP,” she said.
Board Chair Matt Evans said the approved amendment will “all be coming out of ESPLOST (Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) VI.”
Director of Operations Rusty Lount said the final amendment is expected to be voted on “later this fall.”
“And that will be for the finishes of the renovation,” Lount said. “As of now, we’re still on track with the scheduling Reeves Young provided, which says we’ll try to start sometime in the early spring of 2025.”