On January 17, Superintendent Russell Hughes and the School Board of Walton County attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new elementary school which has yet to be named. “We’re referring to it as “New Elementary South,” says Hughes. “There’s a procedure as to how we’re supposed to name schools and we want to get the community involved. “It’s probably going to be the largest school in terms of student stations in the county and will reflect the aesthetics of this community including retention ponds and water features.”
Challenging Each Student
“I want to make sure every child is challenged cognitively and that’s an overarching goal that has a lot of specificities underneath. From students in accelerated programs to students performing at lower levels, I want to build a path so that all students are challenged wherever they are. We want to challenge every child to be progressive.
Connecting Walton County Schools to meet Goals
I’m conducting data meetings in feeder patterns with my principals. I want South Walton to know what’s going on at Bay and Butler and I want Bay and Butler to know what the end result is at South Walton with Emerald Coast in the Middle. I’m doing that in Freeport and then Defuniak Springs as well as Paxton. That’s how we’re determining what the issues, challenges, strengths, weaknesses and threats are. We’re taking notes on a district level to determine what we need to do based on our feeder patterns for all of our schools to be successful.
Differentiation
“Because every child is different (and we love the uniqueness of every child), we have to address their needs differently,” says Hughes. “That’s an intent of ours. “The challenge is to make sure our teachers can meet all these differentiations and have great instructional practices that impact every child in every class.”
Re-looking at the Gifted and Talented
“We looked at students who are gifted and how many should perhaps be in talented and gifted but because of the IQ requirement they don’t qualify,” says Hughes. “We want to make sure that we have a plan and devise a path to serve those students. In the end we’ll see how things are happening with STEM courses at South Walton, Walton and Freeport. We’re developing that rigor, that cognitive strength and capacity to address those higher order thinking skills and that’s what we want to do with every child.”
What are some of the challenges?
“This is paradoxical I suppose because the main challenge is addressing the growth that we’re seeing. We’ve grown by over 1,300 students in the last two years. Over 630 last year. With that challenge comes some decisions that have to be made. Were instituting controlled enrollment for capacity. There are some schools that can’t take another child. That is why we’re building the extra 10 classrooms at South Walton. We’re trying to get them up as fast as we can because our capacity is different and I want to make sure that children are safe and they have a place to go to school that is conducive for learning. We’re having classes in locker rooms and that can’t be.”
Current Initiatives
“We need to address the restrictive square footage that we have, so children can be comfortable where they go to school. We have a variety of initiatives to meet the needs of this community:
We want to be visible in the community. I have visited every school, multiple times and that’s something I’m going to continue to do. I want to be visible, I want kids to know who I am. I want to see our programs in action and how we are meeting our goals.
We want to make sure that what we’re doing has a community impact as an end result. We know the residential growth is happening a lot in South Walton, so with that growth we want to make sure we are producing children that can stay in South Walton or even in Walton County which is a challenge for us district wide. We want to make sure we’re producing career ready children that even if they don’t go to college, they can have a skill that can be used in our community and they can stay.”
If you could send a message to South Walton students what would you tell them?
“Ironically, I just sent a personal message to South Walton High School basketball team. They’re in the playoffs and they’re going to District and I just wanted to wish them well because they’re important to me. I sent one to Paxton as well and am also sending one to Walton high School. We have three female basketball teams in the playoffs. I sent a message saying that we are one, that we’re proud of them whether they’re on the south end of Walton County or the north end of Walton County, that the superintendent is behind them, that the entire district is behind them.
They’re valued to us and in the whole child responsibility that we have, not just academically but taking into account that child that wants to pursue athletics or other extracurricular activities.”
Good things to come for Walton County Schools…
Author: SWal Life
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