Walton County - School District

NATIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS WEEK! Today we celebrate the investment of our community partners in the future of our students. Without these partnerships we could not offer the exceptional education we do in Walton County. Thank you Florida Power & Light, Choctawhatchee Electric Cooperative, Inc. , Walton Education Foundation, The St. Joe Community Foundation, Inc., Food For Thought Outreach Inc, Rosemary Beach Foundation, and so many more!
Thank you to our network of supporters! We could not do what we do without you!
(Pictured: Last week Florida Power & Light Regional External Affairs Manager, Bernard Johnson, in partnership with the Walton Education Foundation, presented a check to Walton County.)

We have some truly extraordinary students in the Walton County School District - they're no Ordinary Joe's! The St. Joe Foundation recognized our site nominees for the No Ordinary Joe scholarship at Tuesday's school board meeting. Congratulations to all of our nominees!

Walton High School
Edward O' Daniels
Nevaeh Messer
Julie Laviolette

WISE
Aaliyah McCullough

Freeport High School
Larae Smith
Helena "Lainey" Pitts
Davis Goodwin

Magnet Innovation Center
Michael (Gabe) Griffin
Brent (Beau) Melancon
Grace Petty

Paxton
Grace Tyner
Teghan Araneo
Forrest Geoghagan

South Walton High School
Joseph Gilmore
William Justiss
Sophia Mijatovic

Forty-five individuals. One office. One extraordinary experiment. One Goal. Freedom. Not perfect. Not unanimous. Not without fault. Willing. Willing to serve. Willing to sacrifice. The presidency is larger than any name engraved in history. It belongs to the people. To each of us. For every sacrifice, every sleepless night, every impossible decision, we thank you.

As a reminder, all campuses and offices are closed on Monday, February 16th in observance of Presidents' Day.

Happy Valentine's Day! We hope you're focused on showing love and appreciation to all of those close to your heart!

Want your child to be prepared to crush it when they enter Kindergarten?! If they are not already enrolled in a VPK program, let's get them ready for 26-27 this summer! The Summer VPK enrollment window starts next week and runs through February 27th.

The Walton County School District is pretty easy to love, but with Valentine's Day around the corner, we thought we would let some of our students and staff tell you why! The Walton High students and staff sure do love their school!

Congratulations are in order for several teams who fought hard and won big this weekend! Congratulations to the South Walton Girls Basketball team, Paxton Boys Basketball team, and the Walton High School Boys Basketball team on securing their District Championship titles!

Valentine's Day is coming this weekend, and love is in the air - the WCSD is an easy place to love, but why not hear it from some of our own students and staff? Billy Johnson, Principal at the WISE Center in DeFuniak Springs kicks us off loving Collaboration!

"C" is for Collaboration! Superintendent Hughes hosted NWFSC President Mel Ponder this week touring the District and collaborating on ways to strengthen our partnership and create new pathways to success for our students!

Come hear the sounds of the best instrumental musicians Walton County has to offer tonight at Freeport High School! All County Band Concert downbeat is at 7pm sharp!!

Check out these students at WHS talking about why they LOVE reading!
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1KCYTHj1kG/

This week is CELEBRATE LITERACY WEEK 2026! This year’s theme is “Read, White, and Blue – Celebrating 250 Chapters of America.” Fun fact: 2026 is the semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) of the United States. "Semiquincentennial" ...can you say that ten times fast?!

Did you know? Fostering a love of reading pays dividends throughout an individual’s life. It’s not just about the test!
1. Strong Communication Skills
Early reading builds vocabulary, listening skills, and increases one’s ability to clearly express thoughts and ideas.
2. Academic Confidence
Children who prioritize reading early tend to feel more confident in learning environments, which results in being more willing to participate, ask questions, and tackle challenges.
3. Improved Attention and Focus
Reading helps develop sustained attention, patience, and the ability to follow directions.
4. Empathy and Understanding of Others
Stories expose children to different experiences than they encounter in daily life, which can help them better understand others and develop empathy.
5. Lifelong Curiosity and Love of Learning
Early positive reading experiences feed the imagination and fuel a mindset that learning is enjoyable!

So, let’s use this week as a springboard to tackle one of Superintendent Hughes’ regular challenges to parents — read with your children for 20 minutes each night!

Read to them.
Read with them.

Let’s go!

All campuses and offices will be closed Monday, January 19th in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Well, we certainly weren't expecting this AGAIN! Snow in Florida two years in a row! Sound off in the comments - are your children out enjoying the snow!?

Earlier this afternoon, a school bus transporting Freeport area students was involved in an incident on U.S. 331 S. The parents of all students involved were notified as soon as possible and were safely delivered home. As always, the parents of all students involved were notified as soon as possible. The safety of our students remains The Walton County School District’s highest priority.

WELCOME BACK! We hope you enjoyed your holiday break and are settling in nicely for the 2nd half of the 2025-2026 school year! Next week WCSD will unveil some very special educators including our Teacher of the Year, Principal of the Year, Assistant Principal of the Year, and Educational Support Professional of the Year. Come and celebrate with us on January 15th at 6pm in the Walton High School Auditorium. Also, January 19th is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and all campuses will be closed.

We hope you are all soaking in the last few days of the holiday break! Monday is a teacher workday and campuses will reopen as we prepare to see students again on Wednesday!

We hope everyone enjoys a well-deserved break! Staff return Jan 5th and students are back in class on Jan 7th. Happy Holidays!