The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

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March 20, 2010

A new middle school would push Dalton forward

Dalton Daily Citizen

DALTON — As we all know, Whitfield County Schools is expanding its high school count to three.

This process has had some controversy, but at the core it is a simple philosophy — smaller schools with smaller student counts is a good thing for the learning process.

We believe this is the right time for Dalton Public Schools to take a page from the Whitfield playbook and look at its own middle school population situation.

There are approximately 1,312 students at Dalton Middle School. It is being projected that within the next couple of years the population at Dalton Middle will exceed that of Dalton High School.

By contrast, the largest middle school in the county has approximately 805 students.

At a time when children are arguably going through some of the toughest physical and emotional changes in their young lives we are asking them to join a new school with a lot of new faces and rules and pressures. Should our goal not be to make it as close to the environment they are transitioning from as possible?

This is not an indictment on Dalton Middle School. They have an incredible environment and a very strong track record of success with great parental involvement.

But could we be even better?

Even Dalton Public Schools is realizing the value of small when it comes to Dalton High School with its development of the Morris Innovative High School.

At time when the economy is struggling should we as a community tackle this obviously expensive process?

The answer is absolutely yes. As the state and federal governments lose the ability to help invest in our local education we cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and wait for their help. We must recognize that a great education and especially a public one is a rare thing in this country. We have a great public education system and it continues to improve, and we must stay ahead of that progress and set ourselves apart not just at the state level but on the national stage too.

We encourage all to support Dalton Public Schools and the Board of Education should they see this need as important as we do.

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