During Thursday’s November meeting of the Dade County Commissioners, Commissioner Philip Hartline expressed concern over the state of Davis School’s promised renovation.
“In 2019, in my district, the School Board agreed to tear down (the upper building) at Davis School,” said Hartline. “(Some people) didn’t want to see it torn down, they wanted to see it remodeled. Well, I’m very passionate about the school and I went along and agreed to help promote tearing down the school. So we did …we have an end of the school with a tarp on it, blocked off. In March/April of this year it was confirmed that yes, they were going to go forward with the school. They were going to build back…
“The County did a land-swap with the school. They sent out an RFP, and it come back. And now they’re telling us they don’t have the funds and they are not going to build back the school. …I think all the citizens need to understand what the school’s doing. I don’t think it’s right,” continued Hartline. “We’ve been told twice that they were going to build it back…
“They’ve said the cost has went up,” said a passionate Hartline. “Well, their ESPLOST has went up, our property tax has went up; they’ve not rolled (any) of that back and it’s been over three years. If they had started the school back when they tore it down, it would have been done by now.”
Hartline continued saying how important this issue was to bring out in front of the public. “It’s not been talked about at any of the school board meetings and I don’t think it is right.”
Later in the meeting, during the Citizen’s Participation section, General Bob Woods spoke on behalf of renovating Davis School. Woods, as a former member of the Dade County Board of Education, said that while he was serving on the board he and the other members made a promise to the citizens of the Davis community and that promise should be kept. Woods expressed that when meetings were held about the Davis School renovations, “people came” to those meetings; showing that these are issues about which the public care deeply.
The Dade County Schoolboard meets Monday night, November 14th, at 5:00pm.
The Dade County Commission Work Session and Regular Meeting can be viewed below in their entirety;
by Orey Yates