DAWSON-BRYANT SET FOR NEW ELEMENTARY

Jim Payne is looking forward to the ribbon cutting on Aug. 29 for the
Dawson-Bryant Elementary School.

Over the past couple of years, the school superintendent has seen the
renovation of the high school building and the construction of a
middle school and the phased construction of the elementary.

"We are going to celebrate what's gone on the past couple of years
trying to get that ready," said Payne, who added the elementary has
more classrooms, four new tech labs, an expanded library with a
computer lab and a music room that leads right onto the stage in the
cafetorium. In all it has about 25,000 more square feet of space.

"It was a matter of providing the students with all the things we
could," he said.

Another aspect of the construction has created separate drop-off
points for buses and for parents who bring their kids to school.

"Before the traffic was intermingled and we were concerned that there
was going to be an accident," he said. "Now, they don't even come
into the same lot."

The elementary has new security features. People have to be buzzed
into the school and the classrooms can be locked from the inside or
the outside.

"That was if there is a security breach, teachers don't put
themselves in harm's way to secure their classroom," Payne said. "In
all, we feel pretty good about the improvements."

Payne is proud of the fact that they were able to build the schools
without having to put a levy on the ballot.

"We started off with a $12 million project and we ended up with a $20
million project," Payne said. "The nice part of it is that all the
improvements were done without a tax increase. It has been totally
funded by the state and Dawson-Bryant local schools."

Also new this year, the Dawson-Bryant school system has named a drug
program director, Dave Lucas, who was already on staff.

"What we did was go through quite a planning and policy development
process last year," Payne said. "Dave has the qualifications and has
the respect of the community and the faculty."

The program is to make sure kindergarten through 12th graders aware
of the perils of drug use as well as preventing drug use and
providing intervention.

"He will talk to parents, he will talk with teachers," Payne said.
"The goal is to be 100 percent drug free and provide students with
reasons not to go that direction. So it is going to be a very
intensive program and our board is very committed to this process."

He added that the process is to get to students before they get
involved in drugs.

"I believe this is one of the only programs of this type in the
area," Payne said. "And we are committed to it and supportive of Mr.
Lucas. We are going to be rolling out a lot of programs related to
this. I think it will be very beneficial to not only our students but
to our community as well."

One new educational program is a new service learning program at the
high school.

There will also be two additional advance placement courses planned
for next year. There are already three up and running, statistics,
chemistry and calculus. The new advanced classes will be in English
and social studies.