Good Work Walton County School System

[John R]

Agreed 30A, the arts cannot be the red headed stepchild as they have been forever, considered by some students as a free class and basically 'forgotten' by administration. Imagine if the candidate who was running on the 'reading, writing,mathematics' platform had been voted in ::shudder::

Maybe interested girl has some insight. he's been awfully quiet lately, possibly printing up some kind of partisan tshirts.

 

[ShallowsNole]

So. JohnR, will you run against Barnhill and represent South Walton in two years? Since you know so much about being a good school board member, that is.

Seriously, SOMEBODY viable

 

[Carol G]

Lets not forget the band program at SWHS. Though small in number this year, they have been the premier band in Walton County for the past 4 years. There has been at least one member selected for Florida All-State each of the past 4 years, the band has performed at State Concert Contest the past two years and is considered to be one of the best bands in Northwest Florida. The Sowal band members have established a proud tradition of being selected as "first chair" or best player on their instruments. As recent as two years ago, 11 Sowal students tried out for the District II honor band and 8 were selected as first chairs.

The majority of the band members balance their schedules with AP classes, extracurricular sports, jobs and community involvement. Most of the students are on the A or A/B honor roll as well. I also am not aware of any of last year's 13 band graduates that are not attending college.

It is my worry that when people start pushing AP, dual enrollment and other college prep agendas, they leave out the arts. As you may be aware, many studies have shown that being involved in the arts helps a student's developement in mathematics and language.

I feel that one skill that students are reluctant to embrace is developing proper study habits. This needs to be pushed in every grade, especially during high school. Many teachers at Sowal, my wife included, do a great job at stressing this important skill but their efforts need to be reinforced and supported at home.

Just my two cents...

Great post... I went to the FSU Orchestra concert presented by the Bay Arts Alliance at the Marina Civic Center last Saturday night, and in her pre-concert speech Jennifer Jones made the comment that statistically, music majors have the highest acceptance rate into medical school, even higher than biochemistry majors. I thought that was a very interesting tidbit; and seeing how I and all of my (very bright) friends were involved in the arts throughout our high school & college careers, I am not a bit surprised. Check out this page: http://www.amc-music.com/research_briefs.htm
Scroll down to the third "Did you know?" for this:

Did You Know?
Music majors are the most likely group of college grads to be admitted to medical school. Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66 percent of music majors who applied to med school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. For comparison, (44 percent) of biochemistry majors were admitted. Also, a study of 7,500 university students revealed that music majors scored the highest reading scores among all majors including English, biology, chemistry and math.
Sources: "The Comparative Academic Abilities of Students in Education and in Other Areas of a Multi-focus University," Peter H. Wood, ERIC Document No. ED327480
"The Case for Music in the Schools," Phi Delta Kappan, February, 1994

 

[ShallowsNole]

So. JohnR, will you run against Barnhill and represent South Walton in two years? Since you know so much about being a good school board member, that is.

Seriously, SOMEBODY viable needs to.

 

[scooterbug44]

It is my worry that when people start pushing AP, dual enrollment and other college prep agendas, they leave out the arts. As you may be aware, many studies have shown that being involved in the arts helps a student's developement in mathematics and language.

We were always told that the arts (along with other extracurriculars) were an essential part of being the kind of well rounded student colleges are seeking.

 

[John R]

So. JohnR, will you run against Barnhill and represent South Walton in two years? Since you know so much about being a good school board member, that is.

Seriously, SOMEBODY viable needs to.

Don't know I'm qualified to be a school board member, just know what I feel would be a well rounded curriculum for my children if I had any in this school district. Are you going to run? You had some interesting ideas up above. The BCC needs some southern representation:scratch: I'll keep you posted.

 

[ShallowsNole]

Don't know I'm qualified to be a school board member, just know what I feel would be a well rounded curriculum for my children if I had any in this school district. Are you going to run? You had some interesting ideas up above. The BCC needs some southern representation:scratch: I'll keep you posted.

I need to keep my day job - and there would be a direct conflict of interest with my position and running for/holding an elected office in Walton County. Additionally, my older and wiser brother ran and lost two years ago, so I fail to see how I would do any better.

Plus, I'm a pinata-holding Republican and none of y'all would vote for me anyway. ;-)

 

[John R]

Plus, I'm a pinata-holding Republican and none of y'all would vote for me anyway. ;-)

all depends on what's in the pinata

 

[mdd88jd]

Sorry I have not been around much lately, but, I wanted to add a school board member's two cents worth....
Block Scheduling. We have used the Block Scheduling model for at least ten years now. It has its advantages and disadvantages. It really helps struggling students because there are 32 opportunities for credits and thus more opportunity for remediation to get caught up if you get behind. That really helps FCAT scores as well. It also helps the arts, i.e., band, chorus, etc., because they get a longer period (usually 85 minutes) during the school day for rehearsal. However, it does have its downsides. The teachers must be highly trained and motivated to engage high school students for the entire 85 minute period. Our success there is mixed. And, good students, the AP students, many times run out of challenging classes and are forced to dual enroll. We are trying desparately to fix that with more teachers and classes, but, that is a challenge. So it has it ups and downs.
I suspect we will end up with a mixed block schedule over the next few years with some classes that last the entire year. Some classes, like those mentioned by ShallowsNole, will last a full years, other just the semester.

As you all know, I am a huge arts supporter in our schools. I am proud that we have not cut those programs to death like other districts in our state. I firmly believe that strong arts and extra-curricular programs help keep kids in schools.

I am proud of SWHS this year. Its football, band, and other extra curriculars have excelled. So exited to see so much enthusiasm during the football state playoffs. A real dream come true for some many in that community.

Finally, I agree with JDARG that we need more college prep at all of our schools. Our Career Development Center is putting out some outstanding students in the technical fields and they are constantly expanding their offerings in DFS and throughout the various high schools. Thanks guys.....

 

[mdd88jd]

P.S. we are doing our own investigation into the drop out rate. We are concerned that our various 9th grade classes with have 200+ students and our 12th grade clasees will have 120. Where are the 80 kids. We have staff doing some individual tracking to get a handle on where they went.....Will let you know results...