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March 7, 2010

Reception honors Dalton schools’ time in Hamilton Street offices

Rachel Brown Dalton Daily Citizen

DALTON — Today might mark the last time Dalton Board of Education members meet at 100 S. Hamilton St.

Dalton Public Schools officials are trading the 98-year-old building that was once a United States Post Office to the city of Dalton in exchange for the city’s 5.2 acres at the corner of Waugh Street and Jones Street. The old jail there is currently used for city court, but school officials hope, several years from now, to tear it down and build administration offices. Several offices — including the superintendent’s staff, community relations, teaching and learning and human resources — are in the process of moving from Hamilton Street into the second and third floors of City Hall.

School board chairman Steve Williams said officials hope to have the move complete by the board’s April 12 meeting in the City Council chambers, although there is a chance it could take longer. To celebrate the move, school officials are hosting a reception at 6 tonight at the Hamilton Street building just before the board’s 6:30 meeting.

“We’ve invited all the old school board members we can think of to join us for our last meeting,” Williams said. “I think the community has for years and years known that building as the school central office, and there’s some nostalgia about it from that standpoint. But, of course, the building is going to be preserved. It’s not like it’s going to be destroyed, and hopefully it will be better than it’s been in many years once it’s been restored.”

The school system moved into the old post office in 1967.

City officials have not announced what they plan to do with the building, but Mayor David Pennington said he believes the city can obtain grants to refurbish it. School system officials have said the system will see a substantial savings from the move because the building is aging and expensive to maintain. Director of operations J. Palmer Griffin Jr. said an exact savings isn’t known, but the roof was nearing need for replacement. He said the City Hall space is 11,000 square feet while the Hamilton Street location is 7,000 square feet.

The school system will stay rent-free in City Hall and will pay half the cost of utilities while the city will pay the other half.

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