Dalton Middle School enrollment, over the years
2009: 1,4472010: 1,5242011: 1,6232012: 1,6772013: 1,6972014: 1,7272015: 1,751*2016: 1,778**Capacity: 1,750
Dalton High School enrollment, over the years
2009: 1,4122010: 1,4732011: 1,4282012: 1,4232013: 1,6402014: 1,8742015: 1,8292016: 1,995**Capacity: 1,875
If brick and mortar melds with Dalton city leaders' ambitious ideas, a new energy will pulse through downtown.
But has their concept strayed too far from the people they first intended to help: teenage students in overcrowded schools?
The Dalton Board of Education and City Council met earlier this month to see a proposal for a multi-use building downtown. It would feature high school classrooms, a conference center for local executives and a small business incubator, hosted by Dalton State College.
Some local politicians and business owners believe the plan will bring more people downtown, boosting shops and restaurants. The concept under discussion would cost about $50 million.
Dalton Public Schools Superintendent Jim Hawkins said the proposal is still in its early stages. Officials don't know how many classrooms could be involved. Hawkins expects city leaders to negotiate the finer details of the concept for months before the Board of Education votes on whether to take out a bond.
Still, Hawkins is optimistic. So is the mayor. So are the board members.
But, Hawkins conceded in an interview this week, this concept is a far cry from the school system's original proposal to build a new school for grades 6 to 12 that could have reduced the student population at the existing middle and high schools by half, or about 1,800 students.
The Board of Education never voted on the new-school proposal first floated last year. Community leaders made clear they were unhappy about a potential tax hike for a new school.
Hawkins calls the new concept a compromise, and school administrators hope it will appeal to business leaders.
Under the proposed concept, Hawkins hopes to move about 600 high school students into the downtown building.
Most of those - nearly 400 - attend Morris Innovative High School, meaning those students aren't contributing to overcrowding at Dalton High. No students from Dalton Middle would go to the new school.
"If we had a second, comprehensive high school, it would go much further than our current proposal," Hawkins said. "But we couldn't get support for that one. This is our compromise. Fifty million dollars would not deliver all the things we would like to do."
TOO MANY DESKS
The roots for this project are in crowded classrooms. According to school records in September:
- 1,778 children attended Dalton Middle School, 28 above capacity
- 1,995 students attended Dalton High School, 120 above capacity
- 361 students attended Morris Innovative High School, 64 students below capacity.
Hawkins said the student body at Dalton's middle and high schools has grown by 32 percent since 2009, though he believes the growth has stabilized. Even so, the schools are now above capacity, and Hawkins said that hinders education.
The bigger the school gets, he said, the less connected students feel. They are less likely to be in clubs or play sports, and feel less motivated to go to school, he said. Hawkins believes this matters less in affluent, white areas than it does in a school system like his, where 73 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches and 70 percent of students are Hispanic.
Some students' parents don't speak English and can't help with homework. They can't provide the safety nets that other families can, Hawkins said. And that's why smaller schools matter to him: Smaller schools mean teachers and administrators can build stronger bonds with students.
Hawkins said last year's proposal for a new, $90 million school for grades 6-12 fell flat when he pitched it to Rotary clubs and Kiwanis clubs and a collection of Realtors. People didn't go for it, he said. Too expensive. Also, Hawkins said, some parents said they didn't want their 12-year-old daughters in the same school as 18-year-old boys. The Board of Education never even voted on the concept.
With help from a consulting firm, school administrators brought forward this new concept, hoping to bring more community leaders to the table by offering more for local businesses and the college.
"We're trying to balance," Hawkins said. "Different people are looking for different things - or they're looking for reasons not to support it. We're trying to balance that."
DOWNTOWN BOOST
Rob Bradham, president of the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce, said the concept seems promising, but it's too early to drum up outside financial support from local business leaders.
In particular, he said, members of the community want some Dalton State students to take some classes downtown, which would boost businesses in the area.
Dalton State President Margaret Venable is also intrigued by the idea. She said college leaders have discussed launching a business incubator like Chattanooga's TechTown, and a partnership with the public school system could be more affordable.
"It's something we would like to accomplish," she said. "But the stars have to align."
Mayor Dennis Mock said he is excited about the concept. Of the Board of Education members, only Steve Laird responded to a request for an interview. He did not commit to the current concept, though he said some sort of concept needs to become a reality - eventually.
"We have to look at what the best thing for our students would be," he said. "We need to do that option."
David Pennington, who cut taxes and spending as the city's mayor from 2008-14, has doubts. He doesn't see how the new building will help students, and a $50 million bond would be another burden on taxpayers.
He didn't like the 5 percent bump in property taxes for the schools in 2014. And he sure doesn't like the 58 percent increase in the property tax rate from Whitfield County government since then.
"We have to begin to make tough choices," he said, "and we're not willing to make those choices. And because of that, our economics is in a downward spiral. Local businesses, every day, are going down and down."
Hawkins said he welcomes the push-back. He wants to move slowly toward the school system's goal. The next step in the process is figuring out where to put the building, and how many students could actually attend classes there.
But there is a problem with the current schools, he insists. It needs to be addressed.
"We don't have a long-term solution at all," he said. "That's what we're trying to do."
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.