By ALICIA LEONARD
The Walton County School Board (WCSB) met for the only regularly scheduled meeting for December 2014 on Dec. 8, at 5 p.m. in the board room of the district offices located in DeFuniak Springs.
On the agenda before the board were contracts, personnel recommendations, construction contracts and land purchases.
Under the opening agenda items, the Rosemary Beach Foundation gave a helping hand to local art teachers in the district by presenting them with a total of $7,000 in funding to help students experience and learn about different forms of the fine arts inside the classroom and out. President of the foundation Zuma Banks and Executive Director Malayne DeMars told the board a little about the program that enhances learning in the classroom, displays local students’ art work in the spring at Sacred Heart Hospital (among other locations) and often brings artists into the classroom. It also gives teachers a chance to workshop outside of the classroom. Overall 13 public schools and two private are participating in this year’s year-long study of Music in Pictures. Since its inception in 2006, the foundation has donated over $425,000 to local charitable organizations.
The board then moved on to the consent agenda, approving it unanimously.
Under the action agenda, board members approved agreements and contracts as well as personnel recommendations unanimously. Board member Mark Davis made known he still takes issue with the hiring of athletic coaches that do not teach classes as well, saying that having the coaches as part of the teaching faculty improves the school experience for many kids. “When you don’t have that person greeting you coming off the bus at 7:30 in the morning, the kids are missing out on something.” Davis later added, “These are not Olympic level sports,” responding to the idea it was hard to find coaches that have degrees to teach other classes as well.
The board moved on to approving construction bids and awarding contracts to the low bidder for the addition of eight classrooms for Freeport Elementary School at a cost of $2.3 million, which was actually lower than a bid of $2.5 million for a proposal of six additions. Director of Facilities Mark Gardner said they hope to begin the construction in 2015 and have them ready in six month for students.
Under the land portion of the agenda, the board approved unanimously to purchase 20 acres of land abutting Freeport High School from the M.C. Davis Trust for $195,000. The purchase price was half of the appraised value, and will host a facility for bus maintenance.
In closing remarks, the board thanked the Rosemary Beach Foundation for their donations and work with teachers and students in the district.
Board member Davis called for a workshop in February over issues he said needed to be worked on. Davis asked for the workshop to include the discussion and a support plan for helping schools in the district increase support in the fine arts such as band and music in early learning and middle schools as well as high school levels, to set basic professional standards for coaches and other sports faculty as well as improvements to the upkeep of facilities in the district.
Davis said in closing, “We are cheating our kids. It’s clear to see that we’ve lost something….The only reason many kids stay in school is just because of these extracurricular activities like band, and if they don’t have that, we might lose them…. And then, they end up in places and doing things that they shouldn’t…. We must find a way to support these students so that does not happen.”
