Dickerson, Dodgen classroom additions on Cobb school board agenda

Dickerson MS

The forthcoming classroom additions at Dickerson and Dodgen middle schools in East Cobb will get their first action Thursday when the Cobb Board of Education will be asked to set cost limits for both projects.

The Cobb County School District is recommending that the board set what’s called a “Guaranteed Maximum Price” for facility construction.

According to agenda items for Thursday’s meetings, the district is recommending a limit of $ 3.622 million for the Dickerson addition and $3.757 million for the Dodgen addition.

The recommended contractor for both is Carroll Daniell Construction Co. of Atlanta.

The estimated completion of the projects is July for Dodgen and November for Dickerson.

Specifics of the project were not included in Thursday’s agenda (you can read it here).

The projects will be presented for discussion at a work session at 1 p.m. and will be voted on at a 7 p.m. business meeting.

An executive session follows the work session.

The open meetings will be live-streamed on the Cobb County School District’s BoxCast channel and on CobbEdTV, Comcast Channel 24. There will be in-person public comment sessions for both; information can be found by clicking here.

The Dickerson and Dodgen classroom additions will be funded from the Cobb-Ed V SPLOST collection, as is the ongoing rebuild of Eastvalley Elementary School and new athletic facilities at Walton High School.

In 2021 Cobb voters approved extending the school SPLOST. Collections began on Cobb-Ed SPLOST VI in 2022 and is funding the rebuild of Sprayberry High School and classroom additions at Kincaid, Mt. Bethel, Murdock, Sope Creek and Tritt elementary schools in East Cobb.

Also on Thursday’s agenda is a request for the Cobb school district to purchase 59 air-conditioned school buses for $8.256 million.

At the work session, the school board will hear a proof of concept presentation about teacher retention.

At the business meeting, the board will be asked to adopt a strategic plan for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2023-28 update, presented last month, outlines a set of nine skills for high school graduates to master, broken into three categories.

The board also could extend the contract of Superintendent Chris Ragsdale. It’s not listed on the agenda but the board’s executive session includes discussion of personnel matters.

Ragsdale current contract expires in February 2025 and the board can extend it annually for up to three years.

He was extended last February at a base salary of $350,000 but for the last two years, the board’s Democrats have voted against those extensions.

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