When school ended on May 26 students and staff began their summer vacations. While school may be out of session for the summer, Dalton Public Schools has hardly slowed down at all. With a variety of summer activities for students of all ages, our district is full of students and staff continuing learning to help bridge the gap between one school year and the next. There are fun, engaging and educational opportunities happening all summer long, and I’m excited to take this opportunity to share some of them with you.
We know that our summer nutrition program provides the opportunity for many students in the community to continue to receive free lunch throughout the summer months. Our school nutrition department began serving meals on June 1, and will continue until July 21, closing only one day for the Fourth of July. They have stations set up at several locations throughout the Dalton community for all students under the age of 18 to receive a free lunch every day. Last year this program served almost 150,000 lunches throughout the summer months, so we know this is an excellent and well-used program for our community. For the full list of summer nutrition sites and times, you can visit our Summer Resources web page at www.daltonpublicschools.com/district-resources/summer-resources.
You know it’s summertime when you see the Big Red Reads bus driving around town. I am pleased that we are continuing this annual tradition, as we once again will be delivering free books to students. The bus is making a few stops this summer, so be sure to visit our Summer Resources web page for the full schedule.
For our youngest learners this summer, Dalton Public Schools is offering a Summer Transition Program for the tenth consecutive year. This program is a five-week academic program for pre-kindergartners and kindergartners in the district who did not attend a Georgia pre-k or Head Start program or who did attend one of those programs but needs additional academic support. Every year this program helps prepare our young students for school by providing high-quality instruction focused on literacy, language and math. This year there are 84 students participating in the program with 22 of our staff members serving these students.
Three different summer programs for elementary students are working together at City Park School this year. Kid City, our 21st Century-grant-funded summer program; Cat Camp, our educational enrichment summer program; and CATapult Camp, our summer program for new-to-country students, have all merged together to form Summer in the City.
The merging of the three programs helps save resources and reallocates funding to serve more students for a longer period of time this summer. A total of 240 kindergarten through fifth-grade students are attending Summer in the City. Every day, students receive 90 minutes of both math instruction and literacy instruction or language acquisition instruction. They also receive three hours of enrichment including physical education, art, technology and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) clubs.
Hammond Creek Middle School students are participating in Tiger Time. This program offers hands-on learning experiences four days a week, for six hours a day. There are 75 students enrolled this summer with nine staff members working with these students.
At Dalton Junior High School, the 21st Century-grant-funded Cat City is continuing into the summer. Forty-five eighth- and ninth-grade students and 18 staff members are participating in this summer program. There is an academic focus for all students, as well as enrichment clubs and weekly field trips.
This summer we are offering an exciting two-day camp focused on foundations of entrepreneurship. At IDEA Camp sixth- through eighth-grade students will learn real-world problem-solving, prototyping, presentation skills, business foundations and more. There is no cost to attend, and students will receive lunch both days. For more information, or to register for camp, visit our website at www.daltonpublicschools.com/district-resources/summer-resources.
High school students have the opportunity to make up credits during summer school this year. There are currently more than 140 students enrolled in high school summer school and eight teachers helping those students complete their courses.
In addition to these learning opportunities, there are a variety of athletic camps being offered for all ages this year. A list of all camps being offered by the district is available on our district Summer Resources web page.
As we continue the learning this summer, we are working to prepare our students, staff and schools for the upcoming school year. The first day of school is Tuesday, Aug. 8. I hope you all are enjoying your summer vacation, and I’m looking forward to seeing all of our students and staff back at school in the fall.