Jerry Jones For School Board District 5

beachygreen · 09-01-2006, 08:19 AM

I would encourage everyone to vote in the upcomming election.Vote for Jerry Jones for School Board District 5. We need change on our School Board and Jerry will help lead the way.

Jerry Jones has no personal agenda. He is seeking this office because he wants to help students succeed. He supports empowering the professionals and students with the proper tools to get the job done.
Jerry personally sponsors scholarships out of his salary for deserving students leaving our school system to enter college.

I know Jerry Jones personally and he is very passionate about helping students succeed and prosper. This position is not about status for him, it is about the future of our chldren.

everything is,

beachygreen

JB · 09-01-2006, 09:08 AM

Does he offer free Cowboys tickets to anyone willing to vote for him?

FLSunChaser · 09-01-2006, 11:42 AM

that jerry jones

kurt · 09-01-2006, 12:12 PM

Why do we need to change our school board?

FLSunChaser · 09-01-2006, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachygreen

I would encourage everyone to vote in the upcomming election.Vote for Jerry Jones for School Board District 5. We need change on our School Board and Jerry will help lead the way.

Jerry Jones has no personal agenda. He is seeking this office because he wants to help students succeed. He supports empowering the professionals and students with the proper tools to get the job done.
Jerry personally sponsors scholarships out of his salary for deserving students leaving our school system to enter college.

I know Jerry Jones personally and he is very passionate about helping students succeed and prosper. This position is not about status for him, it is about the future of our chldren.

everything is,

beachygreen

Just because he donates scholarship money doesn't mean he should get a school board position. What percentage of time does he spend down here and will he make the effort to attend the board meetings? After all, football season is upon us!

sunshine · 09-01-2006, 03:38 PM

Wrong Jerry Jones. The Jerry Jones running for school board is a long-time Walton County resident.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kurt

Why do we need to change our school board?

Kurt, I am very familiar as a volunteer with Emerald Coast Middle School and can tell you that we could use some change at the District level. The building housing ECMS was constructed in 2005 to serve as the school for the 6th, 7th and 8th graders in South Walton County.

Much to the district's surprise (

) the school opened at, or near capacity. The few extra, multi-purpose classrooms were immediately used as homerooms for the students.

The school was the second highest scoring in all of Walton County on the FCATs last year,

and that's without a library!

Yes, ECMS opened as a school and went its entire 1st year of existence without access to a school library. If it were not for the Walton County Library System Bookmobile, the students would not have had any access to books (other than teachers' personal collections) at all last year. Over the summer, a portable building was placed on the school site and this week, electricity was put in. Yesterday, my 7th grader went into a school library for the 1st time since leaving 5th grade. That, in my opinion is a problem. After renovations at Paxton were complete last January, the district had 9 extra portables. The district did not feel that putting a library in at ECMS was a priority.

The school has no athletic fields, no locker rooms, no gym, no art room and a science lab that is used for band and music (because there's no extra classroom for band); no extra space at all. Again, this is a brand new school.

To my knowledge, there are no plans to add on to the building at Emerald Coast. The District made an attempt last year to acquire the old Blue Mountain Landfill, on 83, north of 30-A to build a new middle school, but apparently that didn't happen. And I'm not sure I would want my child attending school on top of an old landfill anyway.

Emerald Coast Middle School has some of the best administrators, teachers and support staff that one could imagine. We have the heart and soul of a fabulous school. Just think of what we could do with arms and legs!

Sorry for such a long reponse, biased strictly towards one school, but I have seen firsthand the lack of attention paid to at least one school in South Walton County by the School District.

kurt · 09-01-2006, 04:09 PM

Thanks!

Please let us know who you like and why. I tend to vote for the candidates with the lowest budgets and fewest signs but that may be a bit simplistic.

John · 09-01-2006, 04:14 PM

The school board positions, and especially the county commision races, are sometimes like choosing the "lesser of two evils".

lifesabeach · 09-01-2006, 08:14 PM

Well, as the parent of a senior at SWHS, I feel that there is much room for improvement in this school district. I'm hoping that this situation can be improved with some new blood on the board. Even is this was THE Jerry Jones, I'm pretty sure that he would be more devoted than his opponet, that has missed 17 meetings in during his term in office. I realize that is probably too late to make a serious change for my child, but I have many nieces/nephews that are in this school district, and hope that improvements can be made through the efforts of voters like you and I.

JB · 09-01-2006, 10:32 PM

Thanks to all for some very enlightening info on local schools. Once I am vested in my retirement system (about four more years), we are selling my wife's business and moving to Walton County (I could shoot myself for not pulling the trigger on that lot on Redfish lake five years ago, but that's another story).

Our son will be just about ready for first grade at that time.

If we were to live say, near Burnt Pine, where would we be zoned for elementary school?

ShallowsNole · 09-01-2006, 10:50 PM

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I'm torn as to who to support in the D5 race, even though it's obvious I'm supporting a candidate in the D3 race...to make my decision, I was going to go back and look over minutes of School Board meetings from when Jerry Jones was on the school board before, but I can't for the life of me remember which years or even which district he served.

I know he served at least two terms...does anybody remember the rest?

SGB · 09-01-2006, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JB

If we were to live say, near Burnt Pine, where would we be zoned for elementary school?

There are 2 public elementary schools in South Walton. If the Burnt Pine you're referring to is in Sandestin, then your children would go to Butler Elementary, which is on the western end of 30A, near 98. The other elementary school is Bay Elementary, which is located in Point Washington on 395. You can choose to send your child to either school, but if you choose the one that isn't for your direct area, you have to arrange transportation. The buses will only pick up/drop off your child if they go to the school for your area. Both are good schools. Butler is bigger than Bay, which just opened this year for all elementary grades. My children went/go to Butler and we've been very pleased with their teachers and education. I've heard great things about Bay this year too.

seagull · 09-02-2006, 09:21 AM

One good reason to change leadership is the fact that the school board budget went up over $31 million dollars in one year. Spending is out of control! The incumbent, Darrel Barnhill has gotten too busy to attend board meetings. He has been going to the planning commission meetings instead. I just personally believe he has lost sight of the reason the board members need to be there and that is for the students.