School Board returns all meetings to DeFuniak Springs

At the Walton School District meeting on April 15, Superintendent Carlene Anderson said the District academic team recently competed at the state level and came in fifth in the state. Most of the members are not seniors so they will be able to return next year. Anderson also said she was in Tallahassee earlier in the day and Walton has been confirmed as an academically high performing school district.
The meeting was held at Paxton School. The only members of the public were two reporters and a union representative. Now that they have been to all high school areas, the board agreed to move all meetings back to the Tivoli Complex unless there is a special need or topic to be discussed.
Additions to the consent agenda included: Freeport, Walton and South Walton High Band Students to attend the FBA north state concert music performance assessment, attendance at the 3rd annual bullying prevention conference, approval for Bay Elementary School kindergarten class to travel to the Original Dolphin Cruise, Southern Star in May.
The board approved the personnel recommendations. Board member Darrell Barnhill abstained from voting on Shinola Barnhill.
The board heard about a camera system for school busses. The system is multi camera in a vandal proof housing. The system also records GPS information. A camera can also be mounted outside a bus and would be capable of getting tag information. District Transportation Director Mac Work recommended buying one less bus this year and using the money to pay for the camera system in middle and high school busses. The rest of the busses would be outfitted the next year. The system also has a panic button where the driver could activate the camera at any given time. The system also has audio. No action was taken, but staff will investigate options on how to transfer funds in the budget.