City school board to honor several students

Published 5:00 pm Friday, February 7, 2025

Several Dalton Public Schools students excelling in extracurricular activities will be honored by the members of the Dalton Board of Education on Monday, while system officials are scheduled to provide financial and literacy updates.

The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the City Park School auditorium at 405 School St. and will be livestreamed to the Dalton Board of Education’s page on the system’s website. The meeting is open to the public. A work session is at 5:30 p.m.

Scheduled to be honored is Dalton High School senior Lanier Land, who was named the Georgia Cheerleading Coaches Association’s Cheerleader of the Year for the Georgia High School Association’s 4A-6A classifications.

Land is the second cheerleader in Dalton High history to be selected for the association’s All-State Cheer Squad. She was chosen for the 2024-25 school year. Dalton High graduate Grace Anderson received the distinction before becoming part of Clemson University’s national championship-winning cheer team in 2021.

The board members will also honor Dalton High’s cheerleading team for receiving a top six spot in cheerleading for Region 7-4A.

Christian Verdel, a Dalton Junior High School eighth-grade student who was named to the Georgia Music Educators Association’s All-State Band in January, will be honored as he prepares to perform on March 1 at The Classic Center in Athens. Verdel plays both tenor and baritone saxophone for the high school band.

Hammond Creek Middle School student Jack Redding and Dalton High senior Hayden Poe will be honored for being named to the association’s All-State Chorus in January. As part of the distinction, Redding and Poe will perform with chorus students from across the state in Athens on Feb. 15.

Redding is the first student from Hammond Creek Middle, which opened in 2021, to be named to the chorus. Poe, who took home an Outstanding Individual Performance award from Atlanta’s Junior Theater Festival in January for his performance in the Artistic Civic Theatre’s 15-minute production of “The Little Mermaid Jr.,” will join the Georgia All-State Chorus for the third time.

Superintendent Steven Craft will provide the Dalton Public Schools administration report and the superintendent’s announcements, while Chief of Finance Theresa Perry will provide the financial report for January. Associate Superintendent of Academics Brandi Moore and Director of Literacy Ali Finley will deliver a presentation on updates to the system’s Dalton Reads! literacy initiative.

The board members are also expected to vote on the possible purchase of a new Ford F-250 from Ford of Dalton for $70,900. The truck, which includes a ladder rack and spray bedliner, would be used by the system’s maintenance department.