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Thanks Andy, always enjoy your posts....

Sorry for the delay in responding, but, I just saw the thread. I am running again for the School Board. I wasnt' really sure that I was going to run again, but, I do feel I have been effective in certain areas and I still have a contribution to make. I have been there 17 years this summer and...

Present company excluded I hope:D..... assuming I run again, which I really have not yet decided. Running for office is time consuming, can be expensive and if elected (be careful what you ask for), is hard on your family. Having said all of that, I have enjoyed being an elected official...

Meeting times That is true. Heck, we have had many budget meetings and workshops where we are discussing massive changes and cuts to our programs and have no one from the public in the audience. We'll see how it works. I appreciate public comments and participation. I don't pretend I have...

Meeting Times Yes, we changed the meeting times and how we schedule. As you know, we rarely have any public participation in our meetings. Part of the reason for that is that we do so many things during meetings that are routine, i.e., approving trip requests, purchasing, contracts. Our idea...

Believe it or not, there are places in this county where those attitudes about corporal punishment have not changed. I would venture to say that the more north you go in the county, the stronger those feeliings and attitudes are held. It is an incredibly diverse county. That is brought home to...

Thanks, I appreciate your opinion. I doubt corporal punishiment would be effective in every school in our district or for every family in our district. I understand you concerns about having the policy in place.

Thanks JDARG. I believe individual school districts can opt out. Given the incredible diversity in our county, I thought the individual parent opt out was a decent compromise.

Corporal Punishment Policy As most of you know, JDARG and I usually agree on matters regarding our school district. And, I have to say, I am encouraged by the positive comments on this board regarding the district. We are certainly progressing throughout the county, but, with any organization...

Thanks to all who voted for the referendum. The passage of the referendum makes this year's budget process much less painful. I wanted to chime in about the outdoor athletic facilities project at Walton High School. We are not building a new stadium. The old stadium will be be remodeled...

Thanks Bob for the yes vote. We can discuss those capital needs at length. I will tell you that I will not vote to undertake that project until I know our classroom needs can be met. I really believe we can. Believe it or not, I am not a big fan of air-conditioned buses. There are some...

Bob: I have not heard about the ipads. We get significant grant dollars for technology on occasion. Maybe? I don't know but will find out if there is any truth tot that rumor. Yes, we voted (last November) to make some large changes and additions to the Walton High School outdoor athletic...

To answer the first question, on the operations side, we have discretion over one millage called the "local discretionary" millage. The state has a "local required effort" that we must set according to their dictated levy. On the capital side, we can levy up to two mills. I am not sure how...

Lousy Job You are preaching to the choir. Remember I am the "tax and spend" democrat on the board. :roll: This year we have the local option millage as high as it will go and that it is the only millage we set that has any effect on the operations budget. The operations budget is based almost...

.5 Mill Referendum Please vote yes on the referendum. Bob is right. It is tax neutral. We are asking the voters to allow us to transfer a .5 mill from the capital outlay budget to the operating budget. As you know, the capital outlay budget is a budget where we can levy up to 2.0 mills for...

We certainly agree on that point. I figured you were joking a bit. In the 15 years I have been on the school board, funding has been all over the place. We have had exceptionally fat years and then exceptionally lean years. Many times back to back. It is very difficult to plan out more...

Bob: I believe we will have sufficient revenues in capital outlay to build the classroom space in south Walton even with the half mill transfer. That opinion is based on the projections I have seen regarding our tax base. Obviously, I agree that classrooms come before the improvements to...

By the way, neither South Walton High School nor Butler opened at or above capacity.

It was a tough call Tuesday. Here is what happened at Butler. Yes, we have now constructed a new middle school (which, by the way, many people said was not needed when we started it) and the old ECMS is available to the Butler kids beginning next year. There would be roughly 144 extra student...

My recollection is that we do not own the property between the road and school. We had to get an easement from the Florida Forestry Department. Certainly, they will not want to cut those trees! Thanks for the kind comments. I will try to get some more photos and will keep a look out for...

The tour in September was for the staff at ECMS. The building and grounds are coming along pretty fast. The contractor should have the building to us before school is out this year. That will leave us plenty of time to get moved into the building. I am sure we will have open house and tours...

Great post. How do we recreate that world? The key factor is having parents that value education and care. That doesn't mean that the constantly battle the school, but, rather support and defend discipline decisions when their children are involved. Second, I believe we need to strengthen...

I don't want to overstate a building's importance. Certainly, quality teachers, parental support and an enthusiastic administration are more important. But, it is hard to teach in an environment where the AC and heating do no work consistently, the power fails, the roof leaks and there is...

Yes, I really believe students perform better and teachers' teach better in clean, modern, nice facilities. I know Walton's school grade went down to a "D" the first year they were in the new building. But, there were reasons for that decrease that are correctable. The building itself cost...

I stronly suspect that the difference in school grades can be largely attributed to social/economic factors. Walton High School is an interesting case study. The school grade has varied from a B down to a D and has done so through three principals. Usually, they make a C. The two Bs and two...

Hey Shallow Noles. I understand. Hard to get past those old high school rivalries. I know you well enough to know you have deep connections to the three stand alone high schools. Like you, I have such deep connections to all four high schools. It's hard for me to pull for one against the...

Agree with all posts, except Shallownoles.....we are all proud of South Walton High School's "A." To respond to the poster about the percentages, remember what the grade represents. It represents how many of the students in the botton 25% of the FCAT scores improved their reading, math and...

Idlewind, so much of what you say about education is true. We have not, even something as important as education, defined what we really want the system to do. Do we want public education to produce college bound students, vocationally skilled kids, teach life skills, citizenship skills or do...

You are right. Most teachers, vast majority, work extremely hard under difficult circumstances. We can do better for them.

I started a long post. But, I agree with some of what has been said. We first need to address the tax system. I know this sounds strange coming from a liberal like me, but, the federal tax code needs to be simplified. The federal tax code needs to encourage investment and savings, not...

The drop out rate has been a focus for a couple of years. I think we are doing a better job of identifying potential drop outs early. But, there is still much work to do and we will do it.

One take on this discussion In my opinion, opening a cold shelter is a legitimate government function. While I understand that others may disagree, I feel that such an activity serves a legitimate public purpose. And, in our current tax and economic enviroment, it will probably save tax...

congratulations:clap:

[/U][/I][/B] The lack of scholarly publication on the true effect of A plus for education, Florida's Accountability program, is truly staggering. There have been some feeble attempts, but, nothing really completely done. We do know that our standing relative to other states in reference to...

or do teachers now have to teach a child to read in a certain way in order to be successful on a certain TEST? That is what I havve been trying to explain. Yes, that is a perfect way to describe the FCAT reading and writing tests. :bang:

Typically, although I won't opine "always," the kids that go through AP, IB or honors classes will learn those critical thinking skills. However, kids in the regular education course will not get those skills. It is truly an example of teaching to the test. The test is very specific in terms...

Certainly did not mean to appal anyone. I was just commenting that a number of kids are only motivated to come to school, study, make good grades, etc., so they can participate in sports and other extra-curricular activities. And, I certainly do not want to imply that other extra-curricular...

From someone who played a variety of sports from middle school through high school, I promise football and other team sports, when done right, teach more than sportsmanship. Goal setting, teamwork, discipline, leadership and many other character traits are learned in that unique environment...

Don't remember what Mr. Laird said exactly. I don't think any of the school board members would have agreed to cut those two positions if the administration felt that they could do what was needed without the two positions. I know this. If we cut out Friday night football completely, a tax...

I agree. It is a huge problem. Part of the problem lies in the current curriculum. The type of reading that kids are taught is not that type of reading that you and I learned. And, I do not believe that it prepares all kids for the college environment. Please do not get me started on writing...

Oh, as for the last poster. We did have a significant fund balance (savings) three years ago. However, with the declining tax revenues over the past three years, we have spent that trying to maintain all services to kids. Unlike most districts in the state, we were not forced to make draconian...

Sorry guys that I haven't chimed in before but, I have been busy with my day job lately. First, the district itself provides some assistance for extra-curricular sports, but, not as much as you would think. A few years back we started paying for the costs of officials and transportation for...

Thanks for the information. I am checking into this....I am not a big fan of fundraisers in any event. Mark.

Sorry, had one more thought. Yes, I can think of several good teachers who got fired, not for performance, but, because they were too political (spoke out at board meetings, etc.,) or out of favor with a particular administration. It happens less with teachers because of tenure, but, it...

I appreciate your response. Obviously we do not agree, but, that's okay. I think the biggest difference between the private sector and teachers is that you want to protect good teachers from those politics as much as possible precisely because they are teachers with a profound impact on our...

Sorry, I will admit to a bad vote. I think we got this fixed. The vote was dependent on the contractor being able to comply with the Jessica Lunsford Act. Don't think it will happen. I will let you know later. M

No, I do not have tenure. But, my livelihood is almost entirely dependent on me. And, I earn a lot more money that even the highest paid teacher in the system. For that much higher pay, I am willing to accept the risk of being "fired." But, should a teacher have that same risk, earning a...

This bill is a radical change in the law in the State of Florida and a real change for teachers. Obviously, we will do what the State mandates but, I have several concerns. Fundamentally, the bill requires school to base at least half of a teacher's performance review on the results...

I wanted to post a few thoughts on the calendar. I was on the calendar committee this year. Was not on the calendar committee last year. I felt pretty strongly that getting out of school in the middle of June was not a good idea. But, even more importantly, I really did not like that the...

thanks, I will pass along the date to our food service coordinator....