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Whitfield County BOE donates land
for Dalton State College facility |
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Release Date: February 23, 2007 |
The Whitfield County Board of Education voted recently
to donate 3.35 acres of land on its Career Academy
campus to the University System of Georgia (USG) Board
of Regents to be used for a college facility.
Dalton State College will build a 20,000 square foot
classroom building that will serve as a site for both
general education courses and technical studies.
“This is a collaboration that should benefit Dalton
State College, the Whitfield County Schools, and the
entire community,” said Richard Schoen, Executive
Director of Assessment and Accountability for the WCS
System.
“It is incumbent upon us to be able to offer
opportunities for our high school students so that they
can have access to courses at the college level,” Schoen
continued. “We have seen studies that show that dual
enrolment programs actually help with retention and high
school graduate rates by keeping students in school
while making progress toward a post-secondary
education.”
Dr. Jim Burran, President of Dalton State College,
agrees.
“As far as we know, this is the only example of a Board
of Regents’ building ever being constructed on a high
school campus,” Burran remarked.
“Even better, with Dalton State’s joint mission of
providing both University System and Technical and Adult
Education programs, we’ll be able to offer both at the
new facility to better meet the needs of high school and
college students.”
Burran said that he is excited about the potential that
the unique partnership should provide for the Dalton
area’s workforce development needs.
Now that the Whitfield County school board has approved
the transfer of land to the Board of Regents, College
officials will work with University System of Georgia
staff to ask the Board of Regents to accept the property
on behalf of the College, actions that should be
completed in April or May, Burran said.
“The facility is in the design phase and construction is
expected to begin in the fall of 2007,” he said. “The
new Dalton State classroom building should be ready for
operation by the fall of 2008.”
Whitfield County Schools Superintendent Dr. Katie Brochu
said that this collaborative effort should result in
positive outcomes for students.
“One of our goals is to make the transition between
secondary and post-secondary institutions as seamless as
possible,” Dr. Brochu said.
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