Dawson Board of Education announces projects on the horizon

DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – The Dawson Board of Education announced that they will qualify for approximately two million dollars worth of funding for two projects to take place in 2022.

Superintendent Dr. Damon Gibbs said that the projects will be formally brought in front of the board in December, but the intended projects would be to replace the roof and HVAC system at Kilough Elementary School and a new roof at Dawson County High School.

Gibbs explained that the way the funding would work is after it has been approved and after the projects are completed and paid for, then they would be refunded that money through the grant.

“We don’t earn money for roofs until the building is at least 20 years old and HVAC systems are at 20 years. Those schools are in excess of those age requirements, so we qualify for those funds,” Gibbs said.

He stated that every year the state asks the legislature for monies for capital improvements and that they have funded those fully for many years now.

“We are confident will the way the economy is, they will fund it at 100%,” Gibbs said.

There was no further discussion on the topic as it was mentioned that it will be brought back before the board formally in December.

COVID-19 Updates

During the October 5th meeting, it was reported that the Covid numbers were “about at an all time low.”

Dr. Gibbs said that since the peak of  Covid in the Dawson County School System, things have progressively gotten better.

“We have five students and one staff member currently and those numbers have trending in our favor very quickly since that peak.

The predicted peak of COVID for the school system was around September 10th.

“I have to be honest; it is a little scary how accurately they predicted that,” Gibbs said.

The superintendent remained optimistic about the future numbers and said we are on the other side of the worst part of that and we are fortunate to be there.