Whitfield County Schools plans early August start for next school year

Mar. 5—After starting this school year nearly a month later than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Whitfield County Schools plans to return to a typical start date for 2021-22.

During Monday's meeting, the members of the Whitfield County Board of Education approved a calendar with a first day for students of Aug. 6 and a final day of May 25. Students have historically started the school year in early August, but this year didn't begin until the end of August.

Whitfield County Schools coordinated with Dalton Public Schools for the 2021-22 calendar, as it's common for families to include a parent or parents who work in one system but have children in the other, said Karey Williams, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. Whitfield County Schools teachers will begin their preplanning days Aug. 2, "which is when they usually start," and the calendar will have 190 days for employees and 180 days for students, "a regular school year."

Students will be off the entire week of Thanksgiving, and the final day for students before the holiday break will be Dec. 17, Williams said. Students will return from that break Jan. 5.

Graduation dates

The system has also set high school graduation dates for this year. Coahulla Creek High School, Northwest Whitfield High School and Southeast Whitfield High School will conduct commencement on their football fields, at 8 p.m. on May 20, 7 p.m. on May 21, and 8 p.m. on May 22, respectively, while Phoenix High School will hold graduation at the Northwest Georgia College & Career Academy on May 27.

Instead of high schools celebrating commencement at the Dalton Convention Center as usual, proceedings for members of the class of 2020 were moved to the football fields of Coahulla Creek, Northwest and Southeast high schools last June, and there were several sessions over multiple days to manage crowd sizes due to the pandemic. Phoenix also usually holds commencement at the convention center, but last year did so at the Northwest Georgia College & Career Academy, and the school had three sessions to limit the number of students gathering at one time.

That will again be the plan this year for Phoenix, said Principal Sherri Travisano. The sessions will be at 6, 7 and 8 p.m.

Coahulla Creek, Northwest and Southeast will each have one large ceremony for their entire classes this year, said Superintendent Judy Gilreath. Guests would not have been permitted if the ceremonies were at the convention center, but students will be allowed to have guests at the football fields, as "you can't have a graduation (without) inviting (family members)."

Contracts

The school board members approved spending $35,727 for Chromebooks, licenses, service agreements and carts from CDW-G for Westside Elementary School.

The board members also approved contracts with 2080 Media, Inc., doing business as PlayOn! Sports, to install streaming equipment at Coahulla Creek and Southeast. This will allow those schools to have athletic contests streamed, said Mike Ewton, assistant superintendent for operations and student services. "Northwest had it done a couple of years ago, (and) there's no cost to us."

The company recoups its investment through advertisements during those streams, Ewton said. Whitfield County Schools has final approval over any advertisements.

Surplus equipment

The board members also approved using an online auction site, Chattanooga's Compass Auctions and Real Estate, to sell surplus maintenance equipment and four 1997 school buses.

Usually, the school system utilizes govdeals.com, a government surplus auction site, but "we believe this will be better for us," Ewton said. More than 30 surplus items, including tractors and mowers, will be available, as will the quartet of buses.

Proceeds will be used by the maintenance department to purchase "heavy equipment they need, like a backhoe," Ewton said last month. "If we don't sell it" in the next year or two, "it'll be worthless."