‘Champions’ for students: City schools superintendent addresses vision, mission during convocation

Published 8:30 am Saturday, August 2, 2025

Addressing teachers and staff members of the Dalton Public Schools system from inside of a makeshift wrestling ring at Dalton High School on Thursday, Superintendent Steven Craft said every person, despite the grade level they teach, plays a role in a student’s graduation as an “undisputed champion of learning.”

During the school system’s annual employee convocation, which kicked off the 2025-26 school year, Craft shared Dalton Public Schools’ vision and mission statement after the unveiling of the district’s new logo.

“We graduated almost 700 students last year,” he said. “That’s what we’re here for. We’re here to provide and help them prepare for what comes next, whether that’s college or going into the workforce. Our job is to prepare them.”

Craft said teachers and administrators will focus on “culture” as they begin the new school year, along with four core premises: “Being a champion for students, expecting excellence, carrying the banner and being a merchant of hope.”

“If you’re going to champion a child, you never quit on them,” he said. “You invest more time in them. I do not want us to be a transactional district. I want us to be a district that builds relationships. We invest in our kids and we figure out ways to help them, because we’re going to champion them and we’re always going to expect excellence. You model the behavior that you want to see. You set that standard every single day.”

Craft said those in the school system have the “best jobs in the world.”

“We are lucky that we get to serve every single day,” he said. “And that means being that merchant of hope. What that means is, do you inspire? Did you reach out to a kid and inspire them? Find that inspiration and give that inspiration to your students. Be that beacon and the light for them. Those are the core premises of our culture, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Craft said a key focus for the 2025-26 school year is “recalibrating” and “flipping the culture.”

“Our goal is that we want to be at the schools, and with those are our Dalton Public Schools commitments,” he said. “We’ve got five of them and they’re very simple: safety and security, culture, standards-based Tier 1 instruction, literacy and customer service.”

Craft said safety and security is the “No. 1 priority every single day.”

“We owe it to parents and their children to make sure they’re safe,” he said. “And by the end of this school year, we will have a (school resource officer) in every single school. We are going to create our own Dalton Public Schools police force and we’re going to have a couple of officers that are part of that. When we think about the safety and security of a child, I want that child to know they’ve got a caring adult in that building that they can go to.”

He said the culture is the “foundation” of the school system.

“Every organization is built off of this,” he said. “How do we treat our students? How do we treat our co-workers? How do we treat our parents? How do we interact? Our priority is also standards-based Tier 1 instruction. This is instruction that every child gets in Dalton Public Schools. We’re going to implement a new Tier 1 instructional framework, integrate high leverage practices, and provide rigor. We’re also going to meet the needs of all students, and this is a challenge. We all know, in our classrooms, we have different levels of learners. So, are we engaging in assisting the struggling learners and at the same time challenging our highest achievers? Are we finding that balance with the rigor? Are we challenging them?”

Craft said teachers and officials will strive to meet those requirements while also “maintaining our commitment to student-centered coaching.”

“This was something that was brought up as we were working through our budget,” he said. “People kept saying ‘Cut the coaches.’ No. Never. We have invested in our coaches because we provide support for our teachers and our staff and our students, and we will continue to do that as long as I am the superintendent.”

Craft said Dalton Public Schools will continue to place an increased focus on the Dalton Reads! initiative, which launched last year.

“Literacy is our number one instructional priority,” he said. “This is our biggest challenge in our district. We reworked how we taught literacy last year with the new Savvas (curriculum), and it’s a process. And this year, we’re going to get more comfortable, knowing where the resources are and how we can do the instruction better. It is a growth process and we’re going to continue to look at that.”

He said every teacher in the school system is a literacy teacher.

“Every person has that responsibility,” Craft said. “We’re going to put books in the hands of our children. At every single elementary school, we now have a vending machine for books. When kids do well, when they join our district or when they get a reward, we’re going to give them a coin and they’re going to go pick out a book. I can’t think of a better way for us to promote literacy.”

Craft said “customer service” is also important.

“We are here to serve and that’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “Along with our new logo is our new mission and vision.”

Replacing “The Dalton Difference” as the district’s new tagline is “Learn, lead and succeed,” Craft said.

“That is what we want and it comes straight from our vision,” he said. “Dalton Public Schools’ vision is to cultivate a safe and innovative environment where every student gains the skills and confidence to learn, lead and succeed. If we’re being a champion for kids, if we are expecting excellence, if we’re being a merchant of hope, and if we’re carrying the banner at all times, then that includes every child.”

Craft said the mission is to “empower students through innovation, excellence and opportunity to thrive in an ever-changing world.”

“I’m going to say something that superintendents don’t normally say,” he said. “Not every child needs to go to college. Some people want to go straight to work, and some people want to make money. Our job is to make sure that we are preparing them for what comes next, whether that is college or to work in the medical field, to be a salesman, or to work in the flooring industry. That is our job.”

He said opportunities taken to prepare students for that next step include the introduction of new pathways.

“We will expand our pathways,” he said. “I’m excited that, for The Dalton Academy, we’re going to have a barbering and cosmetology pathway. We’re also going to invest in a welding and metals lab to train our kids, along with a new drone pathway. We are going to do what our kids need.”