Schools in SoWal?

[Dabell]

I am thinking about making My 2nd home my "Home Sweet Home". My son is 12 and he is in 7th grade here on Long Isalnd in South Massapequa (23), The schools are very good here.What I need to know about Walton school (The Jr. High and High), do only So.Wal kids go to South walton schools? Do any other counties go to these schools? Do any other kids get bused in? My work takes me all over so that will remain the same. When we come down, we hardly see kids playing anywhere. Where do kids play there? How is the PTA? Is it strong?
Dabell

[ShallowsNole]

I have a 12-year-old son in the seventh grade too. Our middle school, Emerald Coast Middle School, is new this year and so far I'm happy. There is also a charter/neighborhood middle school at Seaside; maybe someone else can chime in on that. Both would be excellent. I know several families that shipped their middle-schoolers out-of-county to Destin Middle, but most have come back now that ECMS is open. I believe you would have the choice of ECMS or Freeport (or Seaside) as far as in-county goes. Again, the PTO at ECMS is new but is already active.

For seeing kids playing, try checking out the neighborhoods north of 98, or those with a number of year-round residents. My son doesn't play outside much unless he goes to a friend's house, primarily because there aren't any other kids within a mile of our home. You can also check out Helen McCall park on most Saturdays during football or baseball seasons - although being 12, he is probably too old for the youth league sports. ECMS does have a football team, and will be having basketball, baseball, wrestling, soccer, and (I think) tennis.

[Dabell]

Why would anyone send thier child to Destin's Schools? Do people have a option? Where I am living (mainly) If you do not pay Massapequa taxes YOu CANNOT go to Massapequa shcools.

[ShallowsNole]

Since South Walton High opened, the middle school and high school were combined (until Emerald Coast Middle School opened last month) and, as with any new school, there were significant growing pains. Some parents, particularly those in or near Miramar Beach, chose to drive their kids into Destin, where the middle school has been open a little bit longer.

Until very recently (last 5 -10 years or so), South Walton kids went to middle/high school in Freeport and Destin kids went to middle/high in Fort Walton Beach.

[Dabell]

Can they still do that? And can Ft. Walton school in Destin or Walton?

[ShallowsNole]

You can still cross the county line, but never having considered it, I do not know what is entailed.

In any event,

[Landlocked]

If I were 12 and lived at the beach, I know where I'd spend my time!

[Dabell]

Thank you for your welcome. We'll I'll be down there on Oct 1st for a few days with my son ( he'll be off from school for a few days). I will pass the school. What time does your school end?

[kathydwells]

If I were 12 and lived at the beach, I know where I'd spend my time!

Yep, me too, LL. My son is involved in every sport here, but that is because that is all there is to do in my neck of the woods. I would imagine that if we were lucky enough to live that close to the beach, he would be a surfer dude.

OH, and Dabell.

[Dabell]

Thank you Kathy! Do u Know when school ends for the day? Like in what time does it start and how long are the classes ( 45min?) Lunch time do the kid get to go out side? Can they go out to lunch? As in walk to a deli or something? Do they have Hot lunches to buy? And I know this maybe a bit to much to ask for, How many kids are to a class room? here it's 17 to 21 after that they must have a teacher's aid in the class room but, never more than 30 in one class yet you never see 30 maybe 24, 25 like that.

[ShallowsNole]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[beachmouse]

A couple years back, there was talk about a joint Destin-SoWal high school that would be on the Okaloosa County side, but then SoWal went and built a school on its own without telling Okaloosa of the plans, one of the reasons why relations between the two districts were kind of pissy for a while.

Destin doesn't have enough school age kids right now to justify a seperate high school, and since it's essentially built out, it probably never will unless the condo developments somehow become mostly primary residences. Up until Katrina, Destin Middle had enrollment problems because Destin proper didn't have enough middle school kids, so they zoned the Bluewater Bay area as "family can pick either Ruckel Middle or Destin Middle" in order to prop up the DMS population with kids from the north side of the bridge.

[Camp Creek Kid]

A couple years back, there was talk about a joint Destin-SoWal high school that would be on the Okaloosa County side, but then SoWal went and built a school on its own without telling Okaloosa of the plans, one of the reasons why relations between the two districts were kind of pissy for a while.

Destin doesn't have enough school age kids right now to justify a seperate high school, and since it's essentially built out, it probably never will unless the condo developments somehow become mostly primary residences. Up until Katrina, Destin Middle had enrollment problems because Destin proper didn't have enough middle school kids, so they zoned the Bluewater Bay area as "family can pick either Ruckel Middle or Destin Middle" in order to prop up the DMS population with kids from the north side of the bridge.

So South Walton High School magically appeared one day to the surprise of Destin and Okaloosa County, who had no idea that the school was being built? School Board meetings are open to the public and the plans for South Walton High School were certainly no secret. If Okaloosa County had been serious about building a high school in Destin, there would have been ample time to work out an agreement with Walton County even after the school voted to build the school. South Walton High School is already near capacity so if Okaloosa County built a high school in Destin, I'm sure there would be a great deal of interest in Walton County. To blame Destin's lack of a high school on Walton County seems a bit far-fetched.

[beachmouse]

I don't remember all the details, but it was something like the two districts had talked for a couple of years about a joint HS, and then talks broke off for a little bit, and the first that Okaloosa heard about the new high school project was when it appeared on the public school board agenda.

I'm not trying to blame Destin's lack of a high school on anyone else here, since it doesn't make sense to have one there for a relatively small student population that can't get much bigger, just trying to give a little background info on the area.

[Teresa]

I've heard from several locals that Niceville has the best schools around. In fact, parents actually drive an hour one way to take their kids to Niceville Highschool (it's suppose to be outstanding), and I also know of a Montessori school that friends take their children to from sowal.

We have an excellent Montessori school here as well - preschool through 6th grade. Waiting list I'm sure.

St Rita Catholic Church has started a preschool program with plans to expand to elementary. we're hoping they will go through highschool one day.

overall, however, parents are very pleased with public schools in sowal. especially Bay Elementary in Pt Washington, a small neighborhood school that offers kindergarten through primary grades with plans to expand.

[ShallowsNole]

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.

I agree with Tootsie - if you live on the Okaloosa County side of the line, you might want to look into Niceville High when the time comes. We would love to have you at South Walton, but I think Niceville would be closer for you (except for that blasted toll, which is reduced if you get the SunPass).

[beach_umbrella]

Hi Dabell,....I am also from Long Island. My Daughter attended Our Lady of Mercy in Hicksville. We moved here two years ago, timed so that my Daughter could begin high school here. Our concerns about the school system in this South Walton area turned out to be of no concern at all. The schools here have been on an extreme growth schedule over the last few years with the quality improving as well. The school board is progressive and proactive, and recognizes the projected population growth in the area and is actively planning for it. The high school is rapidly becoming one of the premier schools in the system under the direction of the new Principal, Mr Ewing. My Daughter has excelled in this system and loves it here in South Walton. The permanent relocation from Long Island [after 10 years of visiting the area] has exceeded our expectations. As a former lifelong resident of Long Island, I can honestly tell you that I will not be back,......The lifestyle here, and the people who live and work here, truly make this a 'paradise'; There are way more people on Long Island, but not nearly as many 'good neighbors'. There are many thousands of people who wished they lived here,.....If you can pull it off, I wouldn't pass up the opportunity easily...... Good luck with your decisions..........

[Beachbummett]

Beach Umbrella! Glad you have joined us!

[OnMackBayou]

My daughter is in first grade at Butler, on 30A. I am glad my wife and I decided to move here, after having looked literally all over the USA for the best place to raise a family.

What a wonderful school. There is no doubt in my mind that our daughter will look back and thank us for having chosen this place to raise her, and the schools will be a big reason why.