info please re. Dillard Center for the Arts (Jacksonville, Miami: violent crime, neighborhood)

[cybercop106]

My wife and I share custody of her soon to be 9th grade daughter with her EX. He's convinced the daughter, who is ONLY interested in theater, drama, and dance, the Dillard Center is THE place for her to go. We all live in the Tallahassee area so he wants to move her to the Fort L area for her to attend. I find nothing good about Dillard EXCEPT what THEY have published on the Net about THEMSELVES. I did notice they have no famous or noteworthy alumni from the drama/theater program...... I saw from checking them out on the Net their FCAT is a D and they haven't been making AYP.
I searched the forum and found some references about how bad Dillard High School is.
I also researched the geographic area and it doesn't look very attractive................
Has anyone had kids in that program, taught there or done police work in the immediate area that can provide some first hand advice.
I am service-connected, disabled-retired from the Army (early 1980s) and also retired early from civilian police career in MO (Jan 2009). I'm gonna check with the PD of jurisdiction about the area and the HS, but was hoping to discuss some nuances with folks who may not be as negative-minded or jaded as we cops tend to be.......
I appreciate your time and assistance, thanks in advance. -SgtJim

[fauve]

Actually there are some terrific places down here as far as drama, theater and dance that actually would be worth relocating for such as New World School of the Arts nwsa.mdc.edu - Welcome in Miami and Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, but what I have heard about Dillard from an actual Dillard student jibes with your instincts.

[Momma_bear]

Your papa bear instincts are right on. Dillard is not a good school in a good neighborhood.

Isn't there a really good performing arts school in Jacksonville?

Dreyfoos in West Palm Beach is a great school.

I would not put my child in Dillard HS unless I had to do so.

[cybercop106]

Thanks again for your input!!
Momma bear, I don't want to go to Jax...... it's a violent crime-ridden city. Like Tallahassee, except a lot more murders!!!!
I'd rather head South if you know what I mean.

[flfishie]

I would not send my child to Dillard. Your instincts are right on, as it is not a good area. Definitely consider Dreyfoos in West Palm Beach.

[Margie D.]

You cannot just move to Palm Beach County and enroll your child in Dreyfoos School of the Arts. There is an audition process and you have to register for the audition in Dec. of the year prior to the year your child will be attending. About 25% of those who try out get into the school. It is a wonderful school and all three of my children attended and went on to good colleges and careers. For more info about the school, visit SOAFI or call the school at 561-801-6000. Good luck!
By the way, West Palm Beach is the best place on earth to live!!

[bob_calder]

People don't know Dillard High School has an incidence of crime in the lower third of Broward high schools. You can compare by looking at the Sun-Sentinel school database. It is the only performing arts school in Broward. Their Jazz band just took second place (May 2010) in the nation in New York. People that visit the school are impressed with the modern facilities and student achievements. We should probably post a list of notable alumni like other schools, but our focus is always on current students. The audition process for our Performing Arts magnet program is the same as Dreyfoos. Dreyfoos is a limited enrollment school but Dillard is a neighborhood school with a magnet performing arts program and a magnet emergent technology program. The school has a current population of around 1550 students. You can reach this commenter [mod]please use DM to reach poster[/mod] - I found the posting via a Google alert for the school.

[bob_calder]

Incident dB:
[url=http://databases.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/ftlaudSchoolIncidents0809/ftlaudSchoolCrime0809_list.php]School Incidents 2008-09[/url]
Next, high school FCAT score graph in 5 dimensions created in my class by a student. Please read the explanatory material. After hitting "Play" you hover over the dots for the names of the schools. You can see that Dillard is notable in being in the middle of the pack. The student's intent in creating the project was to point out that AYP isn't really dependent on student achievement.
[url=http://dillardhigh.com/main/gallery/multimedia/?p=fcatscores]Dillard High School: Graphic Design Gallery[/url]
I thought I would post links to the data because people are too willing to expose their prejudices in forums. What I said in the previous post is supported by the data.

[bob_calder]

Please see my post for incident statistics.