Dalton Public Schools students to use PINES system

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Apr. 19—Dalton Public Schools students will soon have access to the PINES system's wealth of resource and entertainment materials.

PINES (Public Information Network for Electronic Services) has more than 11 million books, DVDs, audiobooks and other items, Nick Sun, a director of school support for Dalton Public Schools, said during a Dalton Board of Education work session. "Hopefully (this process) will be completed in May so that (students) will be ready to begin use over the summer."

"We've been trying to get students library cards for years," Sun said. These cards will be virtual, at least at the start, but "we'll work on getting" physical cards for students.

PINES is Georgia's "borderless library" system, allowing PINES card holders free access to materials in 300 library branches and affiliated service outlets throughout the state, according to the PINES website. PINES is a program of the Georgia Public Library Service, which is a unit of the University System of Georgia.

Students will be able to check out as many as five items at a time, and there are no late fees, Sun said. They can request items from any affiliated library, and they'll be delivered free to the local library branch (the Dalton-Whitfield County Public Library) for pickup, too.

The service is free for students, and it doesn't cost Dalton Public Schools, either, he said. All Dalton Public Schools students will be automatically enrolled in the program, and "this is a real game-changer for (them)."

Every Georgia resident is eligible to receive a free PINES library card. For more information, visit https://pines.georgialibraries.org/.

Employee stipends

School board members approved $1,000 stipends for full-time staff members, while part-time employees working less than 50% of the time will receive $490.

Gov. Brian Kemp had promised the stipends to educators as gratitude for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the state is using federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds to provide money to school systems for the bonuses, said Theresa Perry, Dalton Public Schools' chief financial officer. Dalton Public Schools is receiving more than $900,000 and using another $118,000 to make sure all employees receive stipends.

Testing

Dalton Public Schools is offering virtual students opportunities to take year-end exams, and "our plan right now is to offer tests on the same day the tests go on at (their) schools," said Laura Orr, chief academic officer for Dalton Public Schools.

Students, even if they're virtual, still have to test at school, not at home, Orr said. However, school systems won't be penalized for students who don't take these tests due to safety concerns.

"We can test until 8 p.m., and we can test multiple grade levels" in the same room at the same time, both accommodations which were unavailable in prior years to schools, Orr said.

At the start of this school year, nearly 40% of Dalton Public Schools' students chose virtual education, according to Superintendent Tim Scott. That number is now under 20%. Dalton Public Schools has more than 7,600 students.

School times

Despite a grade reconfiguration and new schools next school year, arrival and dismissal times for the 2021-22 academic year will remain consistent.

For the 2021-22 school year, the school system will open Hammond Creek Middle School for grades six and seven; the current Dalton Middle School campus is being remodeled to house both Dalton Junior High School, for grades eight and nine, and The Dalton Academy, a magnet school for grades 10-12; and Dalton High School will also shift to a 10-12 school next school year.

This year, elementary schools had a bus drop-off time of 7:30 a.m., a beginning bell at 8 a.m., an ending bell at 2:45 p.m., and a bus departure of 2:50 p.m., for a six-hour, 45-minute school day, while the middle school had a bus drop-off time of 8:10 a.m., a beginning bell at 8:35 a.m., an ending bell at 3:35 p.m. and a bus departure of 3:40 p.m. for a seven-hour day, and high schools had a bus drop-off time of 7 a.m., a beginning bell of 7:20 a.m., an ending bell of 2 p.m., and a bus departure of 2:10 p.m. for a six-hour, forty-minute day, according to Pat Holloway, Dalton Public Schools' chief of staff. Those times will remain the same for 2021-22.

Hammond Creek will be on the middle school schedule, which is what Dalton Middle School is operating on this year, Holloway said. The junior high, the magnet high school and Dalton High will all follow the high school bell schedule.