Roan School improvements expected to take years

Nov. 3—A large crowd turned out at the Roan School in Dalton on Wednesday for a special called meeting of the Dalton Board of Education.

The "listening session" came on the heels of a demonstration over conditions at the elementary school on Oct. 26.

At that protest, parents raised concerns about several issues — including the safety of modular classrooms on-site and a lack of amenities for students.

The Wednesday meeting lasted roughly two hours and began with remarks from Dalton Public Schools Superintendent Tim Scott.

"Kindergarten through fifth grade, in 2012, Roan had 433 students," he said. "Fast-forward 10 years to 2022-2023, which is the end of last year, they had 418, add on to that two pre-K classes ... that gives us 458 students in the building or on the area."

With those numbers in mind, Scott said the school still had room for eight more kindergartners; nine more first-graders; 12 second-graders; no additional third-graders; 13 fourth-graders; and nine fifth-grade students.

"Our plan, after I talked to those parents, is to renovate this building just like we renovated Brookwood and City Park and do a good job with it," he said. "And after we finish, remove modulars from the campus and not have any modulars."

Dalton Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Theresa Perry led a presentation on the district's $12.38 million plan to renovate the facility.

"Some of the major components is HVAC," she said. "You have an old boiler system and so we want to modernize your HVAC — that requires an electrical upgrade, as well."

She said new LED lighting, kitchen replacements and media center upgrades are also in the works at Roan.

Renovations at Brookwood were tabbed at about $7.2 million while improvements at City Park were listed at about $9.5 million.

At 67,308 square feet, the Roan School is considerably smaller than Brookwood (87,859 square feet) and City Park (127,070 square feet).

The improvements at both of those facilities, Perry said, took more than two years to complete.

"We're anticipating that kind of time frame for this school, as well," she said. "We need to move on ordering our equipment — HVAC and LED lighting — there are some long lead times."

Perry said she anticipates the installation of new HVAC and lighting to carry on well into 2026.

"As we go through parts of the building, we would address the flooring, the paint and the classroom wings," she said. "It's possible some of those spaces could occur in 2025, but it would certainly be by 2026."

Perry said that Roan School improvements — at the time, tabbed at about $3.6 million — were included in the Educational Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) V capital expenditures list, which covered a period from January 2018 through December 2022.

"There were some changes and we're now addressing Roan with ESPLOST VI," she said. "Roan is No. 1 on the ESPLOST VI project (list)."

Several parents addressed the board at the public meeting.

"I was always told to stay away from Roan," said Lizbeth Martinez. "I was always recommended other schools elsewhere ... the reality is, the other elementary schools in the district seem to have a little bit more love, a little bit better taken care of."

Martinez said she understands that some displacement of students is inevitable during renovations.

"But I think it's very important for the board to see how they can minimize the disruption for students and teachers," she said. "Especially because this project could potentially take up to two years or more, these children, these staff, are not going to have the same learning experience that other students are having."

She also said she was worried about the safety of the modular units.

"I would like to know what the safety procedures are in the event that there's a severe storm, tornado," she said. "There's going to be a total of 14 classrooms at some point in these mobile units — will teachers be able to escort up to 280 students safely into the building in the event of a severe storm or an intruder?"

Also addressing the board was Karen Pimentel.

"Our pre-kindergartner learns every day in the same trailers that I was in in 1997," she said. "The trailers they said were going to be temporary."

For years, Pimentel said Roan had a reputation of being "the forgotten school" of the district and the school known "to do the most with least."

She said she believes the district's ESPLOST VI list is still "heavily focused" on secondary schools.

"Goal No. 3 from the strategic plan identifies Roan School as needing the most attention, attention that will yield higher enrollment," she said. "Because we know that there are 110 students who are zoned for Roan but are enrolled elsewhere in the district."

She said the district has not adequately addressed the issue of equality among the system's primary schools.

"The children's development is at risk," she said. "We have heard the argument that Roan School does not have the number of students and therefore it does not justify the cost. However, funds have been spent on The Dalton Academy and funds were used to build a new field, press box and for bleachers."

Roan School Principal Anne Fetzer said she thought renovations would be taking place in 2023.

"I chose not to move Pre-K into the building because I thought at some point we would have to move them to a trailer and move them back in," she said. "For 4-year-olds, that's a lot of movement for them ... Had I known that we really wouldn't be doing any moving this year, I definitely would've brought them in the building."

Fetzer said she expects a state audit to occur within the next six weeks.

"We really cannot move our Pre-K until that audit takes place, because everything has been done to their specifications in the existing classrooms," she continued. "Once that's done — and it may be over Christmas break, I'm not sure whenever they come — we have a plan to move both Pre-Ks into the building."

Dalton Public Schools Director of Operations Rusty Lount also spoke at the meeting.

He said utilities issues limited the school's options when it came to the placement of the modular units.

"There's a subdivision behind the school on the Roan Street side that has a sewer main that feeds that subdivision — it's an old, old clay pipe and it runs through the parking lot," he said. "I begged them to try to move the line, you have to have a certain amount of slope on that line so it goes downhill ... it also means that if they try to move it, the whole subdivision would be without sewer for months, potentially, because there's a lot of utilities in the ground over there."

Following a major asbestos removal project, Lount said enough modular units to hold 14 classrooms were brought onto the Roan School campus.

"We will have to do this building in phases, just like we did Dalton High, just like we did City Park, Brookwood, Westwood and all the ones that I've renovated in the last 11 years that I've been in the district," he said. "It is the only way we've been able to successfully do it because our campuses are not very big at any we have, including Dalton High."

At this point, he said a contractor is working on the design of Roan's new HVAC system.

"When they are done with that they will order that equipment," he said. "Once the board gets that amount and they approve that at a regular board meeting."

The lead time for switch gears, he said, is one year out.

"The main switch gear for the building will have to be changed over summer because you will have no power in the facility at all for an extended period of time," he said. "In the past three years when we talked about it, and since the time we hired the contractor, they've had dates anywhere from 18 to 24 months."

Dalton Board of Education Chairman Matt Evans said "it has never, ever not been the plan" to renovate Roan School.

"We rotate based on need, longevity, the HVAC issues, roofing issues," he said. "So we have to make these choices."

Scott closed out the meeting stating he believes the district can do a better job relaying information to parents.

"I have given my phone number to numerous people in here," he said. "And if there's ever a question, you do not have to worry —you call me, you text me, I will get back in touch with you. I can't promise we'll always agree on everything, but I can promise you we will sit down, we will talk about it, I will listen to you."