The Dawson County School District kicked off its school year with a time to celebrate successes and learn some of whats ahead for 2014-15.

A district-wide meeting was held at First Baptist Church in Dawsonville on Monday to share information with all staff members.

First-year Dawson County School Superintendent Dr. Damon Gibbs also took time to celebrate the success of state tests administered last year and honor this school years teachers of the year.

From our meeting yesterday, it is clear there is great excitement for the 2014-2015 school year, Gibbs said. We have wonderful educators that, along with our new employees, are poised to have the best year ever.

According to Assistant Superintendent Lisa Perry, 54 new employees were hired into the Dawson County School System. Of those, eight positions are new or being put back into the school system now that additional funding from the increased tax digest has become available.

Last Friday, the school system spent time in orientation with new teachers coming to Dawson. They range from brand new teachers to veterans moving into Dawson County, Gibbs said. What became clear very quickly is just how easily they will become part of the Dawson County family. We look forward to the great ideas and teaching strategies that our new employees bring to their class rooms this year.

And with a new school year beginning Thursday, Gibbs asked the community to be careful when traveling. We would urge all of our community members to be extra cautious on Thursday morning, he said. We will have 54 buses traveling hundreds of miles to transport a few thousand students to their respective schools. We do anticipate longer car rider lines and traffic delays with students and drivers learning new bus routes. Nothing is more important than the safety of our students.