Walton County Schools

My children did have national board certified teachers, and teachers who obviously had outstanding teacher evaluations since they are all still employed in this district (if they made the choice to remain living in this district). Teachers do not look at National board certification as a huge incentive anymore due to the cost of renewal. Below you will see the cost and incentive for teachers....please note that South Walton schools are not schools with high needs/low performing.

Per FLDOE: The state funded fee subsidy was eliminated by the Florida Legislature during their fall 2008 session. For the next application cycle, only federal funds allocated to the state of Florida will be used for new candidates. These limited funds have been allocated to each district based on its teacher population and will be assigned only to teachers who teach in high needs/low performing schools within the district. Each eligible candidate receives a fee subsidy equal to 50% ($1,250) of the NBPTS application fee. The candidate is responsible for paying the remaining portion of the certification fee and the non-refundable $65 application processing fee. To receive a fee subsidy, you must apply between June 1st and November 30, 2011.

Through the amended Dale Hickam Excellent Teaching Program Act, legislation provides teachers, who achieve National Board Certification, up to a 10% annual bonus for 10 years, and an additional 10% to those who agree in writing to provide the equivalent of 12 work days of mentoring and related services to public school teachers within the state who do not hold NBPTS certification. Note: The mentoring bonus will not be funded by the state for the upcoming 08-09 fiscal cycle.

Hope this information helps you see why many teachers in Walton county most likely have decided not to get the certification. They have not had raises in over 3 years and would have to pay full price for the certification. The cost of living has went up yet, they still make the same base pay. Very sad.

School Accountability Report can be found here: http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/default.asp

Teachers must be doing something right.

Do you know whether the superintendent in fact did or did not advocate for teachers during the passing of the senate bill? Did you ask her what her stand is on this issue? And as for FCAT rates, that is just a small piece of education. Don't you think authentic learning is much more important than some grade? Remember the day when teachers could teach students, not teach a test. You have lots of concerns....but what are YOU willing to do to help bring change instead of placing blame and pointing fingers? Like I have said in this thread before...if you want change you must be willing to put aside the negative and work together for positive. We have great teachers and schools and we should be proud supports to bring forth a united change for the best interest of students.

It is proven that teacher effectiveness comes with experience and that effectiveness is more important than class size or any other factor.

So you are saying that an experienced teacher would be effective in an overcrowded classroom with little support from parents and their community

Teresa, I have not put words into anyone's mouth, instead quoted each poster. If you meant to say something different, then perhaps the post should have been written more clearly.

You put words in Teresa's mouth. Perhaps you should read and think more clearly.

Congrats on being a committed parent who is involved in his or her child's education. What some people call complaining, others call discussion. Hard to have an even discussion with a person on such a high horse.

Momofmany, you might be far too reasonable for this forum. Many (most?)of the posters here have preset agendas they are trying to advance. These agendas don't require an understanding of state and federal mandates that are imposed on districts/administrators/teachers because they want to assign blame to the superintendent for everything. Forget understanding the nuances of the issues facing today's educators, exploring multiple sides of an issue is useless to people who want to focus their energies on blaming instead. Reality doesn't meet their agendas, inflammatory statements do. Please don't bow to the crowd - keep posting your insightful comments.

To those who say federal/state mandates are to blame, I take offense. I do not agree with all parts of NCLB or FCAT emphasis, but all public schools are faced with the same mandates. Some systems manage them to success, others do not. Does Collegiate have the same mandates? Does Niceville? Of course they do. Both are considered top schools in the area. Do other excelling schools inside and outside of Walton County comply with the mandates? Of course they do!!! I do not "blame" people. I do, however, think they should be held accountable for their leadership.I will add one new thought to the conversation for purposes of feedback...While I see the advantages of school choice, I also see a drawback. Here goes....if parents can drive their academically advanced kids to Niceville or Collegiate instead of South Walton, do we create a self-fulfilling prophesy of South Walton being a failing school because the academically advanced go elsewhere? Do many parents decide SoWalton will never be good enough and are less inclined to "fight" for a better school because the choice to go elsewhere is easier? Does this create a high school that has a disproportionate percentage of academically challenged kids? I ask this because test scores from the middle school and Seaside are strong, but drop like a rock in the first year at SoWalton. Makes me wonder if the best students never get to SoWal in the first place. If this is the case, are there programs (charter school inside SoWal; IB school inside of SoWal) that would make SoWal a sough-after alternative to Niceville and Collegiate? Thoughts?

I hope that everyone remembers that it is important for SWHS to improve and have as much community support as possible. This school will be serving 90% of the kids, and I have said it before and I will say it again, if the parents that are always looking for greener grass would put the same effort towards SWHS, the effect would be transforming. I don't understand why is it easier to start a new school instead of work to improve and add programs to the one that already exists- if everyone got together, I am certain that we would have quite a strong group to work to get what we need here, including fundraising for more technology and teacher incentives. There is no reason why SWHS can't be one of the strongest schools in the state- we have the parent base down here to do it.

Also a VERY good point! Thanks for sharing....I know people like options, I kinda like your suggestion much better!

I hope that everyone remembers that it is important for SWHS to improve and have as much community support as possible. This school will be serving 90% of the kids, and I have said it before and I will say it again, if the parents that are always looking for greener grass would put the same effort towards SWHS, the effect would be transforming. I don't understand why is it easier to start a new school instead of work to improve and add programs to the one that already exists- if everyone got together, I am certain that we would have quite a strong group to work to get what we need here, including fundraising for more technology and teacher incentives. There is no reason why SWHS can't be one of the strongest schools in the state- we have the parent base down here to do it.

I agree with you in theory. We do have a strong parent base. Sadly, they are walking with their feet, so to speak to Okaloosa County. I understand why. While I would like to think that I am committed to improving the educational environment for all students for years to come, that would not be completely honest. I, like all parents, am focused foremost on making the best decisions for my child -- not all children. The larger issue (investing in improving SWHS v. going to Collegiate) falls by the wayside for most of us. Fortunately, my child is only in second grade. I have some time to invest. I will invest it. If for no other reason, so that I do not have to drive all the way from 30a to Niceville twice a day to drop off and pick up my child from school!

Check out South Walton Charter High School on Facebook. They just had a meeting a few weeks ago. Get connected.

I am an optimist about this because to be anything else is unproductive. This community manages to do some really amazing things, and I am puzzled about the school thing- I know that choice of options is very important, but maybe we are going for too many options for a community of our size? Why can't some of the choices and options that parents want be somehow incorporated into one school? With our lack of dollars, wouldn't it be smart to expand and enhance what we have, instead of adding more stress by wanting a new school to the already stressed budget of the county (I am talking about the charter school in this example).

To the people who claim everything is hunky dory, those of us who are parents only want the best for our children and conduct from elected school officials to act in an ethical manner. We have concerns and questions aren't answered by those who can answer them. The truth is that some excellent teachers have been dismissed for undisclosed reasons and teachers who are still teaching live in a world of fear and intimidation. The teachers with tenure can be thankful for job security. And thanks to Florida's political machine, new teachers can look forward to being dismissed even if they do a great job.

I'm speaking as a former teacher. I taught for 27 years in another state and when my husband retired we moved to Walton county where we had owned a home for 20 years. I had no trouble getting a teaching job in an elementary school and was told the district wanted experienced teachers. I started teaching when I was 21 with no interruption in service until 2010. I feel that I'm a good teacher but after 4 years in Walton county with excellent student performance and good evaluations, I was told to clean my room out on the last day of school. I would love to know the reason. What did I do wrong? Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I was being paid a salary based on my years of experience and my masters degree. I was replaced with an entry level teacher from Washington County. I taught first grade and my kids had great test scores. These are facts and I can document them, since there have been calls for the truth in this discussion.

That is very unfortunate that this has happened. I would like to think that you are one of few that perhaps did not have just cause for nonrenewal...just curious, did you attempt to apply at other schools within the district after this happened?

I found this petition online concerning the non-renewal of teacher, Cindy Busbee, at West DeFuniak Elementary School. It was posted in July of 2011.
http://www.change.org/petitions/stand-up-for-someone-who-stands-up-for-our-children[/QUOTE

Teachers that I know have said this is typical of the way Walton Schools treats teachers. And they're scared out of their wits that this will happen to them. Florida has some screwed up laws but I seriously doubt that school districts are required to strip hard working teachers of not only their jobs, but self esteem.