Other School Districts

[timyandell]

Since putting my hat in the ring for a position on the school board, an overwhelming issue I'm hearing from many parents is whether to send their kids to high schools within Walton County or make the drive to Okaloosa County...specifically Ft. Walton High and Niceville High. I am very interested to see what opinions are on this. When I was in high school, Freeport was the only option for the south end of the county so we were bussed in. I can see where FWBHS or NHS would have been a somewhat logical option then, but I'm interested to hear thoughts on this now. Do the other districts offer something that we don't? How can we improve?

[trikkster101]

Well I went to South Walton for my freshman year. It was a good experience, made great friends, and learned a lot. I just want to say South Walton is better than it was (remember the food fight incident) but they are more into sports (even though we stink) and social skills than acedemics. They don't have enough teachers for AP courses, which are vital, so they are opening the Dual Enrollment center next to them. I went for OWC and I got in which I am glad about but it only takes 10th to 12th graders. My friends went to Niceville and thought it was great academics but they really didn't get close to anyone there because they were so busy. They were only a number not a name. They already have one AP course down and South Walton doesn't even allow freshmen to start to take a foriegn language or AP class. Let me put it this way.

South Walton's Ten Year Reunion- Many women who married doctors and became rich and men who work in the family business, not making much but enough to get by. But there are a few people with the skills to become the next president such as Matthew Christ.

Niceville- Many succesful people but they probably have lost contact with the friends (if they made any) they had.

Just from a highschoolers opinion I don't regret going to SWHS but I sure wish I had atleast tried NHS and I don't know a lot of people who go to FWBHS so I can't say anything there.

[trikkster101]

Oh and Freeport, just a vague thought in the back of people's head.

[ShallowsNole]

Niceville is a good school, but (that I know of) our kids who transfer there have done so in hopes of getting a sports scholarship to college. Niceville is 5A, and the big-time recruiters scout there.

Keep in mind that Mark Ewing is from Niceville. He is hoping to instill many of the programs that have made Niceville successful at South Walton. The challenge is that SW has a capacity of 600 students, which it has reached.

If Niceville and FWB are so wonderful, why do parents pull their children out of Freeport to send them to South Walton (I mean, Niceville is an easy hop down 20), and why does Destin want their own high school?

Just sayin'...

[florida girl]

My wish is that we could have bus service to Freeport schools. I went there when I was a kid and by distance, it's 6 in 1, half a dozen in another.

[beachmouse]

If Niceville and FWB are so wonderful, why do parents pull their children out of Freeport to send them to South Walton (I mean, Niceville is an easy hop down 20), and why does Destin want their own high school?



There used to be a larger number of kids along the 20 corridor who used to waiver into Niceville schools from Freeport both for school quality concerns and because it was convenient for parents who worked in Okaloosa County to have them there.

Then about six years ago, the school district announced they would stop taking waivers for Bluewater and Plew Elementaries from outside of their attendance zones because they were overcrowded and there was space at two other elementaries. Huge fuss- there were parents who were told they'd now have to send their kids to Edge instead of waivering into Plew, and you would have though they were being told their kids were now being sent to inner city Detroit instead of a school that got As from the state. (It really was an impressive drama king & queen performance by the parents, who were threatening to go form a charter school over it and all that jazz)

Under the circumstances, they just couldn't let kids from Walton go to Bluewater anymore if Okaloosa kids from outside the Bluewater-Plew area couldn't waiver in. I suspect a number of parents at that point figured that if Okaloosa didn't want their 3rd grader anymore, they'd keep their kids in Walton for the whole K-12 experience, and South Walton has come to be a much better educational option than Freeport.

The Destin high school movement seems to be driven largely driven by a parents group that thinks their fecal matter has different sensory characteristics than that of other south Okaloosa folks. The students that have spoken up aren't crazy about the commute but seem to like going to a bigger, less insular school for grades 9-12.

[mdd88jd]

Niceville High School is an excellent high school for several reasons. First, it's size allows the school to offer a wide and varied curriculum including a complete AP program. Second, the school is made up of students from sound families, usually with a military background or from households made up of parents with college and advanced degrees. Third, it has been, through the years, extremely well managed by its staff.

South Walton High is an excellent high school for different reasons. It's smaller size allows much more interpersonal involvement between teachers and students. It smaller size means the principal and other staff know each student on a more personal level and that creates a better, more tight knit community. Second, when competing for extracurricular spots, you are not competing against a larger pool of students so your student's opportunities are greater.

There are trade offs, advantages and disadvantages to each school. But, South Walton High is making great progress and continues to do so. If we ever need to expand it's student capacity, we are capable of doing so and would.

[mdd88jd]

By the way, the same is true for Freeport High as well.....I know some folks feel like Freeport High is not such a good school because of last year's school grade. However, I would argue, and have argued, that school grades for small schools will vary and do vary because when you test smaller numbers of kids, a few very low score skew the entire school grade downward. That happened at Walton High and Freeport High last year. I suspect both of their grades will be up this year because the kids have changed. In small schools, a really weak class academically can make a real difference in a school grade.

M

[trikkster101]

If Niceville and FWB are so wonderful, why do parents pull their children out of Freeport to send them to South Walton (I mean, Niceville is an easy hop down 20), and why does Destin want their own high school?

Freeport has a big problem with drugs and alchol, every school does but we have had i think about four kids transfer and that is not a lot. We have had more from NHS and FWBHS then FHS. Also Destin has an elementary school and middle school so they should have a high school to people more options.

[ShallowsNole]

My wish is that we could have bus service to Freeport schools. I went there when I was a kid and by distance, it's 6 in 1, half a dozen in another.

We did have bus service to Freeport, until we got our very own schools built! :razz:

On the other hand, I would have loved bus service to Butler Elementary when we lived in Freeport. It was only seven miles from my house to my office, but when you add 7 + 8 to Butler + 8 back to office and reverse it in the afternoon, I had a 46-mile commute every day! But that is the choice I made. ;-)

[seagrovegirl]

After being in Freeport for the 8th grade, my parents transferred us to Bruner JH and FWBHS. I was sent back to Freeport in the 11th grade as punishment for skipping school (going to the beach to watch surfers)......FWBHS is strong on acedemics and it was cool to be smart and make good grades. I found that Freeport was the opposite. If you made good grades, you were heckled and ridiculed. Admittedly, this was a long time ago....late 70's early eighties.

My beef now are coaches teaching. Most of them do not teach.....they write on the board, you take notes, then take a test. It seems coaches are passing their time during the day, making a pay check, until it's time to play sports. I think teachers should be enthusiastic and excited about what they teach...it rubs off on the students.