Schools in SoWal?

[ShallowsNole]

Re: Schools in South Walton?

Hi Dabell,

Emerald Coast Middle is directly behind Van R. Butler Elementary on the west end of Hwy 30-A. Parking is on the south side of the schools. School begins at 7:30 a.m. and is dismissed at 2:00 p.m. They do not leave for lunch.

I did read that enrollment may be capped due to the large number of families that have relocated due to Katrina. That might be something you want to check on. When my son was at Butler Elementary, there were normally 25 to 30 per class. Walton County as a whole has been working to reduce class sizes, but with the influx from Katrina that may have temporarily gone out the window.

Next time you are down, you may want to call them at (850) 622-5025 or visit them. Having grown up here, I am very proud of our schools and the fact that we now have quality K-12 education in South Walton. However, if I were relocating, I agree that schools would be one of my biggest concerns.

 

[beachmouse]

Re: Schools in South Walton?

Forida Department of Education web site including district-wide and individual school grades:

http://www.fldoe.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1

Okaloosa (Destin-Ft. Walton Beach) generally does better on FCATS and school grades than Walton does, but they've also got an easier student population to educate than Walton does- about half the percentage of kids qualify for school lunches, and there are a number of schools with a scarily overeducated parent population.

Walton district web site:
http://www.walton.k12.fl.us/

Okaloosa district web site:
http://www.okaloosaschools.com/

 

[SGB]

Re: Schools in South Walton?

Butler has capped their enrollment due to the high number of Katrina evacuees. They reached capacity. New children are being bused to Freeport for a few weeks and then they can go to Bay Elementary in Point Washington which is finishing building new classrooms. My son's class size went from 21 to 32 in less than a week after Katrina. Some of the 32 are now temporarily going to Freeport. Butler is a great school with caring, professional teachers and a very nice facility. Their hours are 8am to 2:30pm and I don't recommend you go anywhere near there during the start and end hours. The traffic has been incredible since getting all the new students.

ECMS is directly behind Butler (you can't see ECMS from the road). This is their first year in the new building and they have a new principal that seems awesome. I think this school will end up to be a huge asset to the community.

Seaside Neighborhood School is a charter public middle school in Seaside. They have a total of about 110 students (6, 7 & 8th grades). It is a wonderful school. The small size means that everyone knows each other and supports one another. The staff there is incredible. Because it's a charter school it doesn't get as much funding from the county as the regular public middle school, so the facilities, although adequate, aren't as all inclusive. For instance, they don't have a lunch room or gymnasium. However, they do have the town of Seaside and the nearby beach to use as a classroom, and often do. Their FCAT scores are generally better than those of the middle school that used to be located at the high school. In some cases their FCATs are much better. I believe they had the highest score in the state for 8th grade writing. You have to go through a lottery to get into SNS since there are more students than slots. Although you don't have to be a Walton County resident to be in the lottery, if you're out of county, you will end up last on the waiting list since you have last preference.

We have been very pleased with the schools here since moving here 3.5 years ago. We haven't yet experienced the high school, but it has a new principal that was the principal at Niceville, which is one of the best schools around. Many Walton county high school kids chose to get waivers to Niceville last year, but many of these have returned to South Walton High School this year. The high school has the potential to become as good as Niceville, but has a ways to go still.

 

[Dabell]

Re: Schools in South Walton?

Yes! This is why I am asking. I didn't even THINK about some of the facts you brought up. And I rather my son stay with kids that are going to be there until the 12th grade. It's hard to make friends then loose them do to a move. I'll just stay on Long Island until things now there get more steady. Thank you!

 

[Dabell]

Re: Schools in South Walton?

So what you are saying in Walton Schools are where the poor kids are?
How could you be OVER educated? And Destin has fewer poor kids?

 

[SGB]

Re: Schools in South Walton?

Don't get scared off by a very temporary situation at the schools which is a result of Hurricane Katrina. Most of these kids that have enrolled recently are just here temporarily. I would be surprised if too many are still here by the end of this school year. They have already started to return home. So the total enrollment of the school is starting to decrease again. One of the reasons we're so happy here is knowing that our children are making lifelong friends that they will go through their entire school years together.

Walton County is a fairly large area and the economic circumstances vary widely. I don't think anyone would say that the kids in South Walton are considered "poor". There are many middle and upper middle class people and there are many children that come from families that don't have a surplus of money. The pay scale here isn't great for service employees. The average income of families in the northern part of walton county is probably much less than in South Walton.

 

[beachmouse]

Re: Schools in South Walton?

Florida school indicators report has Okaloosa free and reduced school lunch percentages at 37.5% elementary, 27.6% middle school, and 28.7% high school

Walton free reduced lunches are at 59.4% elementary, 50.5% middle school, and 51.5% high school.

Lots of kids in Walton whose parents are making working class wages in the service industry would be my bet. Generally most education studies show a positive correlation between family income and academic achievement. Not to say kids from poor families are going to be poor academic achievers, but it can take more time and resources to get them to reach the same academic standards that the kids from more affluent families can get to without as much help.

As for overeducated, Okaloosa's got one of the highest concentration of engineers and rocket scientist-types of any metro area in the country because of a large volume of Air Force weapons R&D work. It's something of a running joke that even if I had the right security clearances to read some of my neighbor's Ph.D. dissertations, I still wouldn't understand more than one word in ten of them.

 

[Dabell]

Re: Schools in South Walton?

I get it! If you pay taxes you can go to any school. South vs North Walton doesn't have thier own schools.
Is there any Catholic high schools around?

 

[beachmouse]

Re: Schools in South Walton?

School districts in Florida are all at the county level, not at the city/township/consolidated region level. Each district has rules about attending schools within the countywide district other than the one you're zoned for. These rules are usually based on space available concerns. You can cross county and school district lines with the permission of both the sending and receiving districts. For several years, there were families in the Walton County communities of Villa Tasso and Choctaw Beach who got waivers for their kids to go to Bluewater Elementary in Okaloosa because it was much closer than sending them all the way to Freeport, and Niceville High used to get some kids who wanted more AP Classes than Freeport High school had.

Nearest Catholic high school is in Pensacola, which I don't see as a workable commute from any place east of Navarre. For Christian high schools, there's Rocky Bayou Christian in Niceville. The people I've met on their school board have been uber- Southern Baptist. Not sure if there's a Panama City area non-denominational Christian high school option.

If anyone was curious about the school numbers, accrording to the latest state numbers, Butler was 26% free/reduced school lunch, the middle school part of South Walton HS was 33%, and the high school part of SWHS was 18.3% Freeport Elementary school was 64%


Destin Elementary- 12.6%, Destin Middle school- 8.8%, Ft. Walton Beach HS (where Destin kids usually go) 14.0%, Niceville HS (a few Destin kids) 8.1%

http://info.doe.state.fl.us/fsir/default.cfm

 

[Hollibird]

Re: Schools in South Walton?

I'm sorry because I realise this is aWalton County forum....but I live in destin and I REALLY don't want my 6th grader to go to Ft. Walton Beach for Highschool...too far away and I am not impressed with the performance there. Is Destin EVER going to get it's own high school? there are more and more families living here and in a few years..we will need one. At this point, I will apply to send him to a south Walton high school. I moved from Tierra Verde (St.Pete) to avoid safety problems in school (kids stealing shoes, beating uo in the bathrooms) and I am starting to worry about the safety of Ft Walton beach, especially adding the Katrina population. Any idea if destin has a plan for a high school? or is there no land left? I will move again if i have to.