Andrew Jackson High School Stats

[sheclown]

Andrew Jackson High School is the oldest fully accredited high school in Duval County, Florida.  83 years old.

It has had these notable alumni:

W. Haydon Burns - mayor of Jacksonville 1949 â€" 1965 and Governor of Florida 1965 â€" 1967
Lou Ritter - mayor of Jacksonville 1965 â€" 1967
Jake Godbold - mayor of Jacksonville 1978 â€" 1987
Tommy Hazouri - mayor of Jacksonville 1987 â€" 1991
Rocco Morabito - Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer
Robert Edward Femoyer - Medal of Honor recipient and WWII Army Air Corps navigator
Judy Roberts - Pulitzer Prize winner, investigative journalism, Chicago Tribune, 1970's
Wanda Hendrix - 1940s Hollywood actress
A. C. Lyles - long-time Hollywood producer
Micah Ross - former member of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL franchise
James Collins - professional basketball player, formerly in the NBA
Dennis Yost - lead singer of 1960s pop group Classics IV
Rita Coolidge - Grammy Award-winning singer
Judy Canova - comedian
Connie Haines - big-band singer
Leon Washington - NFL running back, Seattle Seahawks
Jeff Lee - Talk Show Host on America's first black station WDIA/Memphis, TN
T. Terrell Sessums - speaker of Florida House of Representatives and Chairman of the Florida Board of Regents.
Jeron Harvey - Former Wide receiver of the Jacksonville Jaguars and current wide receiver for the Jacksonville Sharks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson_High_School_(Jacksonville,_Florida)Jacksonville,_Florida)

[sheclown]

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-04-21/story/duval-board-opts-hand-4-schools-during-meeting-got-ugly

[Garden guy]

it's such a shame because very few of the ones making these aweful decisions for all of these kids have spent very little time actually working with these kids...sitting in an office working on our Phd does'nt make you an expert on these children....it's sickening the money these companies are going to make off of us....

[sheclown]

and the protections that the kids lose.  The schools are no longer subject to the same rules -- it is my understanding that they can just refuse to educate some of the children if they choose.

[danno]

You can add me to the list as well!

[sheclown]

some stats:

974 students

93% black
1% Hispanic
1 % mixed
4 % white

78 % free or reduced lunch

[sheclown]

IMHO,

Duval County just threw away its poor children.  As a county, this move says that we are no longer going to concern ourselves about the welfare of the poorest and most vulnerable.

[Garden guy]

IMHO,

Duval County just threw away its poor children.  As a county, this move says that we are no longer going to concern ourselves about the welfare of the poorest and most vulnerable.

Unfortunatley this is true but not new...the defunding of our childrens education has been happening by the conservative wealthy republicans of this city by lowering taxes in every section...again another example of "me" instead of "we"....

[duvaldude08]

I actually graduated from Andrew Jackson, and Its hard to hear that they are on the watch list. But here's my thing. If we sit here and close all these inner city high school's (Raines, Ribult and Jackson), its not going to solve anything. These same children are going to go an A graded school and pull their grade down. Most inner city children are a product of their home environment. Their parents dont care about their education, and they dont either. Sending them to a "better" school is not going to solve anything. Also, they will be out of their element, which will make them even more unhappy and cause them to drop it. The only thing closing these schools is going to do is increase the drop out rate amoung minorities. And I can speak on this because Ive lived it! Been around it my whole life.

[Bativac]

I actually graduated from Andrew Jackson, and Its hard to hear that they are on the watch list. But here's my thing. If we sit here and close all these inner city high school's (Raines, Ribult and Jackson), its not going to solve anything. These same children are going to go an A graded school and pull their grade down. Most inner city children are a product of their home environment. Their parents dont care about their education, and they dont either. Sending them to a "better" school is not going to solve anything. Also, they will be out of their element, which will make them even more unhappy and cause them to drop it. The only thing closing these schools is going to do is increase the drop out rate amoung minorities. And I can speak on this because Ive lived it! Been around it my whole life.

I have to agree with you on this. I went to Douglas Anderson but had a couple friends at Andrew Jackson - and the kids who aren't engaged with school are all over the place. I really don't think there's a solution to the problem, which sounds uncomfortable, but there it is - if a kid isn't naturally driven to do well in school, and if his or her family doesn't push them to do well, then the impetus to succeed is solely on the teacher - who has thirty other kids to worry about.

I have a couple friends who are teachers, one of whom works at a "turnaround" middle school. He does what he can (he's a math teacher) but there are some kids who just don't care and whose parents don't care, or who want to push blame onto the teacher (how it's the teacher's fault that a kid didn't do his homework or study is beyond me).

Sometimes I think the people making decisions regarding schools forget that they were ever kids. What worked when you were in school? Did you just want to do well? If not, what drove you to succeed? For me it was concern about disappointing my parents and losing priveleges should my grades slip below an acceptable level. When necessary, my parents met with my teachers and talked about what I was doing, how I needed to improve, what areas needed work, etc.

A lot of inner city kids, for whatever reason, don't have that.

Are inner city school teachers (or teachers at any other rough school) paid any more? My friend gets a bonus at the turnaround school, depending on how long he stays and how well his students do on the dreaded standardized tests.

[urbanlibertarian]

"Andrew Jackson High School is the oldest fully accredited high school in Duval County, Florida.  83 years old."

Didn't Lee open the same year as Jackson?