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beachygreen

Beach Comber
May 20, 2006
6
0
:chill: I would encourage everyone to vote in the upcomming election.Vote for Jerry Jones for School Board District 5. We need change on our School Board and Jerry will help lead the way.

Jerry Jones has no personal agenda. He is seeking this office because he wants to help students succeed. He supports empowering the professionals and students with the proper tools to get the job done.
Jerry personally sponsors scholarships out of his salary for deserving students leaving our school system to enter college.

I know Jerry Jones personally and he is very passionate about helping students succeed and prosper. This position is not about status for him, it is about the future of our chldren.

everything is,

beachygreen
 

FLSunChaser

Beach Lover
Apr 26, 2006
66
0
:chill: I would encourage everyone to vote in the upcomming election.Vote for Jerry Jones for School Board District 5. We need change on our School Board and Jerry will help lead the way.

Jerry Jones has no personal agenda. He is seeking this office because he wants to help students succeed. He supports empowering the professionals and students with the proper tools to get the job done.
Jerry personally sponsors scholarships out of his salary for deserving students leaving our school system to enter college.

I know Jerry Jones personally and he is very passionate about helping students succeed and prosper. This position is not about status for him, it is about the future of our chldren.

everything is,

beachygreen


Just because he donates scholarship money doesn't mean he should get a school board position. What percentage of time does he spend down here and will he make the effort to attend the board meetings? After all, football season is upon us!
 

sunshine

Beach Lover
May 1, 2005
182
3
south walton
Wrong Jerry Jones. The Jerry Jones running for school board is a long-time Walton County resident.


Why do we need to change our school board?

Kurt, I am very familiar as a volunteer with Emerald Coast Middle School and can tell you that we could use some change at the District level. The building housing ECMS was constructed in 2005 to serve as the school for the 6th, 7th and 8th graders in South Walton County.

Much to the district's surprise :)idontno: ) the school opened at, or near capacity. The few extra, multi-purpose classrooms were immediately used as homerooms for the students.

The school was the second highest scoring in all of Walton County on the FCATs last year, :clap_1: and that's without a library! :eek: Yes, ECMS opened as a school and went its entire 1st year of existence without access to a school library. If it were not for the Walton County Library System Bookmobile, the students would not have had any access to books (other than teachers' personal collections) at all last year. Over the summer, a portable building was placed on the school site and this week, electricity was put in. Yesterday, my 7th grader went into a school library for the 1st time since leaving 5th grade. That, in my opinion is a problem. After renovations at Paxton were complete last January, the district had 9 extra portables. The district did not feel that putting a library in at ECMS was a priority.

The school has no athletic fields, no locker rooms, no gym, no art room and a science lab that is used for band and music (because there's no extra classroom for band); no extra space at all. Again, this is a brand new school.

To my knowledge, there are no plans to add on to the building at Emerald Coast. The District made an attempt last year to acquire the old Blue Mountain Landfill, on 83, north of 30-A to build a new middle school, but apparently that didn't happen. And I'm not sure I would want my child attending school on top of an old landfill anyway.

Emerald Coast Middle School has some of the best administrators, teachers and support staff that one could imagine. We have the heart and soul of a fabulous school. Just think of what we could do with arms and legs!

Sorry for such a long reponse, biased strictly towards one school, but I have seen firsthand the lack of attention paid to at least one school in South Walton County by the School District.
 

Kurt

Admin
Staff member
Oct 15, 2004
2,233
4,925
SoWal
mooncreek.com
Thanks!

Please let us know who you like and why. I tend to vote for the candidates with the lowest budgets and fewest signs but that may be a bit simplistic.
 

John

Beach Fanatic
Dec 3, 2005
397
91
SoWal
The school board positions, and especially the county commision races, are sometimes like choosing the "lesser of two evils".
 

lifesabeach

Beach Lover
May 16, 2006
59
6
BMB
Well, as the parent of a senior at SWHS, I feel that there is much room for improvement in this school district. I'm hoping that this situation can be improved with some new blood on the board. Even is this was THE Jerry Jones, I'm pretty sure that he would be more devoted than his opponet, that has missed 17 meetings in during his term in office. I realize that is probably too late to make a serious change for my child, but I have many nieces/nephews that are in this school district, and hope that improvements can be made through the efforts of voters like you and I.
 

JB

Beach Fanatic
Nov 17, 2004
1,446
40
Tuscaloosa
Thanks to all for some very enlightening info on local schools. Once I am vested in my retirement system (about four more years), we are selling my wife's business and moving to Walton County (I could shoot myself for not pulling the trigger on that lot on Redfish lake five years ago, but that's another story).

Our son will be just about ready for first grade at that time.

If we were to live say, near Burnt Pine, where would we be zoned for elementary school?
 
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