By ALICIA LEONARD
Walton County School Board members held a workshop on curriculum for high school sophomores an hour previous to their regularly scheduled board meeting on the afternoon of Nov. 4, 2014. The two meetings were the last Dennis Wallace, Faye Leddon and Sharon Roberts would preside over. Roberts was not present for the meetings. All other members were in attendance.
Coordinator of Advanced Programs, Dr. David Jeselnik presented a power point presentation on the process of choosing curriculum for students, and Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction Kay Dailey followed up with answers for the board, as well as audience members’ questions.
The power point presentation showed that materials are submitted to the state, reviewed, and then recommended as to what materials should be adopted by districts in the state. Principals nominate a delegate to serve on the district level for the materials to undergo a second review. All schools in the district adopt the same materials to ensure continuity.
Out of three publishers for the World History honors class called into question over an Islamic haiku example, the district review committee chose Holt McDougal materials
The class according to the presentation offers students an in-depth study of the history of civilizations, societies, and the relationships between cause and effect in historical events. The rigorous course is designed to allow students to document by writing while contrasting opposing viewpoints through their course of study.
The course requires 135 total course standards, including nine on Islam, eight on Christianity, four on Judaism and one on Shinto to understand their historical impact as well as what and where they are. It also includes 10 on the role of “the church” as well as seven on religious issues concerning cultures, for example, the Crusades and the establishment of Israel.
The haiku called into question was one of 18 other examples in supplemental materials in the section concerning the age of exploration, during the Japanese medieval periods. A total of 16 examples were about U.S. History. Topics covered on other pages used as examples included European history, racism and Christianity. The assignment requested two from chapter content and two on any topic as a free-response writing assignment used to address different learning styles. Other styles used in other chapters include limericks and rap as well, all as forms of poetry.
Jeselnik included in the presentation that the supplemental material is a nationally recognized resource and used in military educational programs internationally.
The materials have been used for the past two years without incident and are from the older Florida Standards. Dailey said the newer Next Generation Standards were already 85 percent in use and there is only about a 4-percent difference from the direction in which the curriculum was already headed. The main part of that percentage was made up in changes in math for middle school students.
Gordon and Corrine Porter spoke against the materials being used in classes. Gordon Porter told the board he was “opposed to Islam in every way, every fashion” and he understood “religion was not supposed to be taught….”
Tate Watson, a parent from south Walton, spoke to the board about his concerns over Common Core standards being adopted by the state. Watson said he appreciated the job the board was doing but hoped they would do more at the local level to keep Common Core standards out of schools. “I think it’s so new and so untested that we are all discovering a lot about it,” Watson said. He later told the board “It is not the best, we can do better.”
After a short break, the board reconvened, and moved quickly through most of the agenda before them.
Some standout moments included the board approving unanimously to change the name of Walton Career Development Center to Emerald Coast Technical College per their request. An audience member thanked the board for the job they had been doing. He told them as a real estate agent that he had seen a great turnaround in families wanting to come to Walton and purchase homes in the last 10 years, and he attributed it to the board doing good work and improving schools in the county.
Funding for class room additions for Freeport Elementary School was approved unanimously.
During personnel approvals, Leddon made note of a resignation of a teacher at Van R. Butler that cited concerns over the new teacher evaluation process the Board had to implement from the state. Jasper Diggs wrote the new process was “setting their teachers up for failure and poor end of the year evaluation reviews.”
The district honored the board members leaving, Wallace, Leddon and Sharon Roberts with plaques for their service. Wallace and Leddon spoke of the work they had done together, fondly, as well as the experiences and wisdom learned from the position.
New board members will be sworn in at a first service at the Walton County Court House on Nov. 18, at 8:30 a.m. A second swearing in will be held at the South Walton Annex at 3 p.m.
The board will meet on Nov. 18 for a workshop at 4 p.m., a re-organization meeting at 4:45 p.m., and the regularly scheduled meeting at 5 p.m. at the South Walton High School in the media room.
To see more about meetings, past minutes, and future agenda items, go to HYPERLINK “http://www.walton.k12.fl.us.” www.walton.k12.fl.us.
