Education
- Bachelor of Science degree in math education from Clemson University
- Master’s degree in Multicultural Education from University of New Mexico
- Specialist’s degree in Structural Technology from Valdosta State University
Responsibilities
- To teach children to the best of his ability so they meet Fayette County’s high expectations
- To help kids become productive members of society
Starr’s Mill welcomes math teacher Arthur Walton to the Panther family. He teaches geometry and AP statistics this year.
After 32 years of teaching, Walton is still going strong. His approach to teaching is to keep a safe learning environment and to make sure the kids are able to freely make mistakes. Part of his safe classroom environment is kids knowing that they will not get judged for making mistakes.
Walton started off as a mechanical engineer, then he tried business, but he enjoyed neither. He then went to work at a summer camp. Spending the summer with kids brought him joy, and he realized he should be doing something where he can work around or with kids.
“[I] had an immense amount of joy working with kids,” Walton said. “Which made it really easy to go ‘Where do I get enjoyment? I should probably do something that involves working with kids’.”
Walton started off as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Solomon Islands for two years. When he came back from the islands, he was in a Peace Corps cohort at the University of New Mexico. He then went off to teach at Ramah High School in Ramah, New Mexico. After that, he moved to Miami, Florida, where he taught at Jose de Diego Middle School for one year before transferring to Gulliver Prep, a private school.
He worked at Gulliver for seven years and became the department chair for the middle school math department. There, he taught high school math to middle school students in the honors program.
After Gulliver, Walton moved to Fayette County, Georgia, where he worked at the Evening High School, a school that is no longer open. Walton was the last math teacher there before he moved on to find a position at McIntosh High School where he worked for 17 years before coming to Starr’s Mill.
“Math is everywhere. Even if you don’t like it, that’s ok. But we use it everyday,” Walton said.
Despite previously working at McIntosh, both of Walton’s daughters graduated from Starr’s Mill.