West DeFuniak Elementary 5^th Grade Students are learning about the process of the water cycle. Students created miniature models of the process including evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

COVID Update August 27, 2021

In the spirit of transparency, the Walton County School District (WCSD) will continue to update our stakeholders with COVID-19 data for the 2021-2022 school year. 

COVID-19 Statistics	Single Day Data (8/26/21)	% of total population (students and staff ~ 13,000)	Overall Data to Date (8/10/21 – 8/26/21)	% of total population (students and staff ~ 13,000)
Positive COVID-19 Cases of School District Students and/or Employees	17	0.1%	406	3.1%
Quarantined Due to On Campus Exposure of School District Students and/or Employees	42	0.3%	584	4.5%
Quarantined Due to Off Campus Exposure (Community/Family Exposure) of School District Students and/or Employees	33	0.3%	327	2.5%
Schools Involved in Positive Cases and/or Exposure	8		20

 

 

Walton County School District COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies for the 2021-2022 School Year

1. If a person is sick (students, teachers, staff, and visitors), they should stay home.
2. Face covering is optional for all, including the bus.
3. Hand sanitizer is available at various areas inside the school.
4. Social distancing from others is encouraged as much as possible.
5. Signs will be displayed to remind those in schools about social distancing, as well as the use of hand sanitizer, washing of hands, and face coverings.
6. Cleaning and disinfecting school facilities/buses which are occupied by students will be done daily.
7. Adequate mitigation supplies are on hand at all schools/facilities (hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, masks, etc.).
8. COVID-19 vaccination is optional for all students and employees.
9. COVID-19 contact tracing is occurring in all schools/facilities (2021-2022 WCSD Decision Tree for employees and students).
10. At this time non-essential visitors and volunteers are not allowed to enter schools. This mitigation strategy will be reevaluated on September 1^st.

Seventh grade students in Mrs. Sandy Thorson's class are starting their school year learning the importance of owning their learning.

To introduce a unit on the nature of science that will continue through September, Mrs. Thorson offered students learning scales and goals to self-assess their prior knowledge and learning along the way. She presented students with a five-point scale (like FSA), emphasizing that they should aim to learn at the highest level 5, but that a level 3 should be the minimum that she will accept from them or that they should accept for themselves. She also encouraged students whose learning might only be at a level 1 or 2 right now, as their growth will evolve as new concepts are introduced.

She asked students to look at the provided learning scales and goals and self-evaluate, asking how many concepts they already know. Then she asked them to take a look at how far their learning will likely advance as they explore the new unit.

Mrs. Thorson encouraged her science students to build knowledge about nature of science concepts from their notes, textbook, and digital resources all along the way. She emphasized that though she will deliver the content in as many creative ways as possible, the load of the learning should fall on the students and that they should self-assess all along the way.

At Walton Middle School, our teachers work hard to create the right conditions for students to learn, then we partner with them, holding them accountable for the success they find along their own paths.

Walton County School District is seeking substitutes in all areas! Effective August 18, 2021, the substitute rate of pay for almost all positions increased substantially. If you would like to earn extra money while providing a much needed, valuable service to our students, please contact Jami Brown at (850) 892-1100, ext. 1354 or [email protected] for more information.