By: Eddy Gifford, Publisher

The Dade County Board of Education held its regular monthly meeting Monday night will all members present with the exception of Ronnie Page. Page hasn’t attended a meeting since the August election when he was defeated by Johnny Warren.

Superintendent Shawn Tobin opened the meeting by recognizing Tim “Magic” Morgan and Robert Goff for their years of service to the Wolverine football program. Morgan is a fixture on the Wolverine sideline and at every practice. Both men were recognized for their faithful love and support for Dade County athletics.

The two candidates for the State Legislature – Republican John Deffenbaugh and Democrat Tom McMahan – spoke to the board about the Charter School issue coming up on the November ballot.

Both candidates voiced their concerns about how it could affect public school funding as well as other issues with the legislation. Neither candidate would support the charter school proposal.

The Board approved the purchase of brass, woodwind instruments and other miscellaneous items for the band program at a cost of $104,983 from Interstate Music. SPLOST funds will be used for the purchase. Also approved from the same company were percussion instruments at a cost of $31,029.

Physical education mats were also purchased from Dollumar at a cost of $7,391.

The Board also discussed several projects that are being considered for summer renovations and approved an application for capital outlay funds for the projects. The cost of the projects above the capital outlay funds will be paid for with SPLOST money.

While the final projects haven’t been decided several will be submitted for approval.

The Board also approved the purchase for three narrow bandwidth radios. This was the final purchase of the radios as all buses are now equipped as well as two maintenance vehicles. The three radios were purchased from Communications Electronics at a cost of $6,274.23.

Jat Oil was awarded the bid for 7,200 gallons of diesel fuel at a cost of $3.534 per gallon.

Superintendent Tobin announced that Sean Martin, a recent graduate of Dalton State College and a first-year teacher at the high school has been selected to receive a $1,000 New Teacher Assistance grant from Georgia Power. The money is to be used in the classroom.

Tobin also announced a system wide Anti-Bullying Campaign that will be started soon. This campaign will be in addition to the current Math Matters campaign.

Superintendent Tobin also informed the board of a committee to the evaluate school lunch program. The committee will consist of two parents and two students from each school and will evaluate the school lunches on a regular basis.

The 2012 Dade County Teacher of the Year winners was announced. Heather Mahan, kindergarten teacher at Davis; Pam Morgan, second grade teacher at Dade Elementary; Fancher Nakhleh, teacher at Dade Middle and Jessie Potts, a science teacher at Dade High School are this year’s winners.