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DawsonCountyNews
WEDNESDAY I AUGUST 25, 2021 DaWSOflNeWS ^COITI DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA $1.00
Schools update COVID-19 protocol
Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
The Dawson County School
System will be resuming con
tact tracing within the class
room, according to an official
statement from Dawson County
Superintendent of Schools, Dr.
Damon Gibbs.
“We will notify the parent or
guardian of any student who has
been directly exposed to a posi
tive COVID case (within six feet
for 15 minutes or longer),” Gibbs
said in the written statement.
As of the end of the school
day on Monday, Aug. 23, there
are 67 students and 13 staff
members who have reported
positive cases of COVID-19
throughout all seven schools,
just for one day.
Any symptomatic children
must stay at home. If a parent
receives a letter from the
school system notifying them
that their child has been
exposed to a positive case of
COVID-19, the parent may
choose to self-quarantine their
child. If so, they must notify
the school system and the stu
dent will access their school
materials and assignments
through Schoology.
The school will also go back
to reporting daily COVID-19
statistics rather than weekly sta
tistics. Additional strategies and
policies may be added and can
be found on the district’s web
site.
“When we closed out the
2020-2021 school year in May,
we felt optimistic that the end
of the pandemic was in sight,”
Gibbs said in the written state
ment. “But unfortunately, that
is not the case.”
DCMS expands
art, other elective
programs with
new renovations
‘A beacon for Christ’
Jacob Smith Dawson County News
People gather for the ribbon cutting of theTree of Life Learning Center onThursday, Aug. 19.
Dawsonville United Methodist cuts ribbon on new learning center
Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
The Dawsonville United Methodist
Church officially opened their new
day school program, Tree of Life
Learning Center, by cutting the
Dawson County Chamber of
Commerce ribbon the morning of
Thursday, Aug. 19.
“The ministry had any idea to be a
light and a beacon for Christ here,”
DUMC pastor Sean Smith said. “Our
focus has been to focus on the young
er families in our area. We just wanted
to get the day school going to meet
them right where they are at.”
Smith’s daughter, Christina Smith,
will primarily run the day school for
children ages two through six. Their
doors will open officially on Aug. 30.
Classes will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Monday through Friday. Without any
external advertisement, four students
are already enrolled at Tree of Life.
“My passion was to have my own
program and work with children in
ministry,” Christina Smith said. “Every
child has a gift and we’re going to let
them discover that gift here.”
When first encountered with the
idea, Smith did not know how funding
for the day school would come about.
A stranger showed up with a check
for $25,000 and then a grant from the
city of Dawsonville for $20,000
brought thday school the funding they
needed, according to Smith.
A music teacher and a coach from
Playball, an international youth sports
program, will come throughout the
week to encourage students to take up
different hobbies.
The phrase, Tree of Life, is men
tioned in Genesis, the first book of the
Bible, and Revelation, the last book of
the Bible. That was important to both
Sean and Christina when determining
the name of the day school.
Eventually, Smith said she would
like to be able to run a youth summer
program out of the day school, but for
now, she “cannot wait” for the day
school to officially start.
By Erica Schmidt
eschmidt@dawsonnews.com
Dawson County Middle School started the
2021-22 school year with a number of new
renovations and improvements, allowing
administrators to expand the number of art,
music and other elective classes available to
the students.
According to DCMS Principal Kim
White, the back wing of the middle school
was previously used for storage and didn’t
house any classrooms. With new renovations
completed over the summer, students will go
back to school with a slew of new options for
elective, or “connections” classes.
“I’m so blessed that the board and Dr.
Gibbs has given us the opportunity to finish
the new area to give our students opportuni
ties,” White said. “Without the new wing, our
building was not set up to meet the needs of
twenty-first century learners, so it’s state-of-
the-art.”
Additions include larger chorus and band
rooms, an engineering and technology room,
and a computer lab where students can learn
computer coding and programming. In mov
ing classes like chorus and band into the new
wing, the middle school will also be expand
ing the athletic department with a new
weight room and wrestling room.
All of the new classes are aimed at offer
ing students more options for connections, to
help find what each student is passionate
about before they move up into junior high
and high school.
“The purpose of this middle school is so
that we can create a connection between us
all the way to the high school with the path
ways,” White said. “Our job is to really start
laying a foundation for the pathways so that
by the time they get to the high school and
See DCMS 12A
NGHS patients being treated in ambulances as delta cases surge
Conner Evans
DCN Regional Staff
As COVID-19 continues to
surge, the Northeast Georgia
Health System is near capacity
and some patients have had to
wait in ambulances for treat
ment.
Since the latest wave of
COVID-19 cases and hospital
izations started in late July,
NGHS has had to treat some
patients while they were still in
their ambulances waiting for a
bed, said Beth Downs, a
spokeswoman for NGHS. At
one point Wednesday, Aug. 18,
there were nine ambulances in
the bay waiting to deliver
patients, Downs said.
“The entire hospital system is
extremely full at all levels of
care right now,” according to a
statement from Dr. John
Delzell, the health system’s
incident commander. “We are
near capacity for both medical/
surgical beds and ICU beds,
and our Incident Command
leaders are working hard to stay
ahead of the community’s level
of need.”
Emergency beds have been
intermittently full with dozens
of patients waiting on a hospital
bed, Delzell wrote.
“We have put tents back up
on our Gainesville and
Braselton campuses to help
See COVID 14A
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Inside
Volume 7, Number 31
© 2021, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
2A
Classifieds
8B
Dear Abby
6B
Deaths
2A
Legals
9B
Opinion
9A
Sports
1B
5A Cody Hall
named to
UGAs £ 40
under 40’ list
6A McGriff leaving
position
at Chamber of
Commerce
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