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Retreat from what? Lousy schools? Maybe you don't mind sending your kid to a "D" school. Most people do. Especially if they're non-minority and will never be the beneficiaries of affirmative action. They'll just wind up as white kids who've received a lousy education (probably won't be able to get into UNF - much less UF Gainesville). Robyn
Robyn, please. You literally have no idea what you're talking about.
There is zero reason why any intelligent, semi-motivated kid wouldn't do well at Sandalwood. Many do. Many receive college scholarships. Those are facts. Especially if academics are valued at home.
Call thier office. They can give you the specific numbers.
This is example A of "white flight" inside the school system. Unreasonable fear equals an unreasonable decision. Apparently people don't learn from mistakes of the past.
There are a handful of schools where you, literally, would have a hard time getting a good education simply from the other students around you. Sandalwood isn't of them. They have good and bad and everything in between. You know, like in real life (gasp!).
Also, I'm not sure what being white or a minority has anything to do with it. Have you looked at those random graduation photos I posted and linked from www.jacksonville.com? What do you see there? A bunch of uneducated white kids? A bunch of minority thugs? Your stereotyping is ridiculous, but an apt reflection of your personal bias and world view, I suspect.
Again, much like other topics, you step over the line of what you know and comment confidently on subjects you don't know too much about, thus coming off as an extremely ill-informed, out of date, stereotyping, retired woman.
If anyone would actually like to know the FACTS about how many Sandalwood students, or any other students, receive college scholarships, what kind of academic or extraciricular clubs they have, how many honor roll students they have, etc....simply call the main office and ask to speak to the principal.
Don't listen to random people on the internet. Including myself. Always check the facts. In this case, they will suppport that anyone can do well there, given they are motivated.
The FACT is, its a D school. What other facts does he need? A teacher of mine is one of the psychologist for duval schools and he said its one of the worst high schools in duval county. 30 students to 1 teacher compared to 19 to 1 at Fletcher. Graduation rate of ONLY 57%. Fcat scores VERY low.
Please forgive FSU, he has no children, he has no idea what its like to have to put a child in a school system like this and he is ignorant enough to believe "calling" a principle gives you a realistic idea of how the school is! HAH
In my experience the student's district is where the parents reside even if the child lives with Grandma and claims residence there. (Tried that..lol) It requires legally changing guardianship, not that easy.
Though I have had legal guardianship for years, I have never been asked to bring the papers when enrolling my GD in school. I'm sure that it probably is a requirement, but they didn't ask for it at Crown Point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fsu813
If anyone would actually like to know the FACTS about how many Sandalwood students, or any other students, receive college scholarships, what kind of academic or extraciricular clubs they have, how many honor roll students they have, etc....simply call the main office and ask to speak to the principal.
You crack me up, FSU! A principal never returned my calls at Crown Point or Mandarin Middle when I had students attending those schools. No one speaks to the great Oz. Without a child in the school, it's doubtful that you will even get a call back from an assistant principal. But if you do get to speak to an assistant principal, I predict that you will be directed to the website or to call the district office.
Last edited by Magnolia Bloom; 07-24-2010 at 07:26 PM..
my father worked in DCPS for 9 years. Englewood Sandalwood and Paxon.
it comes down to the families from my point ofview. supportive families will usually produce good students. I do understand why parents would be wary of sending a child to a low rated school if thats all theyve heard about it. but its not that black and white. Ratings are based on the fcat only. Teachers dont like it because its a standardized test and doessnt take into consideration anything else.
these sandalwood students did ok--
newspaper story june 2010 re: sandalwood In D.C., Sandalwood graduate 'someone to keep your eye on' | jacksonville.com
from dcps website duval county public schools - contact - communications department
Shanel Woodson is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Woodson. She attends Sandalwood High School where she maintains a 3.03 GPA. Shanel is the treasurer of the American Sign Language Honor Society, secretary of the National Honor Society and chair/president of the Keystone Mentorship Club at Sandalwood. She volunteers with Big Brothers-Big Sisters, the Spirit of Praise Choir & Dance Team, Youth Leadership of Jacksonville XVIII, and is a team captain for Relay for Life. Shanel will enter the University of Florida to major in biology with a specialty in pre-med. Her dream is to become a pediatric oncologist.
news release 2009: Jacksonville – During the presentation portion of the monthly meeting of the Duval County School Board, Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals and Board members recognized the following students, staff and business partners for their outstanding accomplishments and contributions to Duval County Public Schools:
- The following seniors were recognized for receiving $1,000 scholarships from GCA Services Group, Inc.:
- Eliis Aunis, Terry Parker High School
- Keith Momberg, Wolfson High School
- Stacey King, Paxon School for Advanced Studies
- Daniel Bareswilt, Sandalwood High School - Ciara Marie Southworth, Sandalwood High School
- Ashley Schaffer, Fletcher High School
- Hsin-pei Debbie Lee, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed
new release 2009
Agency helps put Murray Hill woman back to work | North America > United States from AllBusiness.com (http://www.allbusiness.com/society-social/social-welfare-disaster-emergency/12944211-1.html - broken link)
Despite losing her mother and brother, Wondra Pittman has maintained good grades and volunteered to help others in her community. For her achievements, the 18-year-old Sandalwood High School graduate won a four-year college scholarship to Florida State University when named this year's North Florida African-American Youth Achiever by the Jim Moran Foundation.
Jax, I think you have a valid point with the fact parents are an important factor for a child going to school. I agree with you there and I am sure there are MANY good students coming out of Sandlwood but I think the parents have to devote a lot more time in some case to ensure they come out OK. Some parents are single, or pay child support and work long hours and may rely on the school system alone to provide this to their children due to lack of time.
It's also fact that social surroundings have a huge impact on a person and let me give you an example.
If you take 10 students and they are surrounded by people and are friends with people that make straight A's, a very high percent of those people will make very good grades. Good grades become the "norm" for these individuals and they strive to be accepted socially by keeping up with the "norms".
Of course not all 10 students will do this, but a much higher percent will than if they were surrounded by people that all made D/Fs or drop outs. If those 10 people were surrounded by people who fail, or do not like school, chances are they will do the same because that is the "norm" for them.
This is the risk of putting a child in a bad school. You are taking a gamble that your child will make the right friends because nothing impacts adolecents more than their friends, not even parents in MOST cases.
It's also proven that with the smaller the teacher to student ratio it is, the better of it is for the students. Sandalwood's is very high.
when we lived in hawaii the school we went to wasn't the best. my son is very smart, however the kids and the attitude of the parents in general wasn't that great. Most kids didn't care about school. Most of the educators were struggling just getting paper into the school and alot of the parents weren't able to help out at the school or volunteer. It wasn't the best environment for kids. My son did okay. he had a good gpa, but that school didn't encourage or cultivate an air of education. (if that makes any sense). It was just a school to go to.
We moved here and the first thing my son said about his junior high in oakleaf was "mom the kids here CARE about their grades". The families here are excited and involved and the schools just have more in them than the school in hawaii did.
I wouldn't ever go back to that school in hawaii. Sure my son would graduate with a good gpa, but he is getting more advantages at this school and will do better here than he ever could there.
Isn't Sandlewood the biggest school in Duval? I don't understand how their class offerings would be less with more people. Maybe a shortage of children.
Sandlewood is also a C school now, not great, but hopefully on the right track. Jacksonville cannot advance until the schools are improved, same goes with my hometown of Memphis.
Robyn, please. You literally have no idea what you're talking about.
There is zero reason why any intelligent, semi-motivated kid wouldn't do well at Sandalwood. Many do. Many receive college scholarships. Those are facts. Especially if academics are valued at home.
Call thier office. They can give you the specific numbers.
This is example A of "white flight" inside the school system. Unreasonable fear equals an unreasonable decision. Apparently people don't learn from mistakes of the past.
There are a handful of schools where you, literally, would have a hard time getting a good education simply from the other students around you. Sandalwood isn't of them. They have good and bad and everything in between. You know, like in real life (gasp!).
Also, I'm not sure what being white or a minority has anything to do with it. Have you looked at those random graduation photos I posted and linked from www.jacksonville.com? What do you see there? A bunch of uneducated white kids? A bunch of minority thugs? Your stereotyping is ridiculous, but an apt reflection of your personal bias and world view, I suspect.
Again, much like other topics, you step over the line of what you know and comment confidently on subjects you don't know too much about, thus coming off as an extremely ill-informed, out of date, stereotyping, retired woman.
If anyone would actually like to know the FACTS about how many Sandalwood students, or any other students, receive college scholarships, what kind of academic or extraciricular clubs they have, how many honor roll students they have, etc....simply call the main office and ask to speak to the principal.
Don't listen to random people on the internet. Including myself. Always check the facts. In this case, they will suppport that anyone can do well there, given they are motivated.
Please - no ad hominem stuff (especially when what you say isn't true). You would have been better off spending your time doing a little research about Sandalwood and pointing out that it did indeed move from a D to a C a few weeks ago (I found that out a couple of days ago - but had company - no time to post). That is perhaps because schools get points if some students do better than the year before - even if the overall level of performance is still somewhat dismal. Also - some of the statistics make me cringe. About a 60% graduation rate - and fewer than 30% of the students take the SATs. This isn't a school for a student who's seriously interested in academics.
Like others - I have to laugh at your notion of calling the principal. Heck - I once tried to give away an older but working computer to a somewhat crummy school (tried more than one). I couldn't even get the alleged heads of the schools' Computer Clubs to call me back to accept the gift. I wound up giving the computer to Bolles because it was the only place that called me back.
FWIW - Sandalwood is still majority white - minority AA and Hispanic. A large % of students don't get free lunches (I recall about 25-30% do). So this isn't simply a case of a school that isn't performing so well because the students are all minority and poor. It just seems to be a pretty crummy school that I suspect serves the mostly middle class and lower middle class Arlington area (judging from where it's located). Don't know what the school used to be like - but I think Arlington has changed a lot since we moved here in 1995. Robyn
Jax, I think you have a valid point with the fact parents are an important factor for a child going to school. I agree with you there and I am sure there are MANY good students coming out of Sandlwood but I think the parents have to devote a lot more time in some case to ensure they come out OK. Some parents are single, or pay child support and work long hours and may rely on the school system alone to provide this to their children due to lack of time.
It's also fact that social surroundings have a huge impact on a person and let me give you an example.
If you take 10 students and they are surrounded by people and are friends with people that make straight A's, a very high percent of those people will make very good grades. Good grades become the "norm" for these individuals and they strive to be accepted socially by keeping up with the "norms".
Of course not all 10 students will do this, but a much higher percent will than if they were surrounded by people that all made D/Fs or drop outs. If those 10 people were surrounded by people who fail, or do not like school, chances are they will do the same because that is the "norm" for them.
This is the risk of putting a child in a bad school. You are taking a gamble that your child will make the right friends because nothing impacts adolecents more than their friends, not even parents in MOST cases.
It's also proven that with the smaller the teacher to student ratio it is, the better of it is for the students. Sandalwood's is very high.
Agreed. Good schools/good students tend to pull others up. Bad schools/bad students tend to push others down. It is of course possible to "swim against the current" - but it's easier to go with it. Robyn
Years ago, in another town, I rented a studio apt., had the power turned on and had a legal address to enroll my kids in a school that we wanted. With two kids, it was less expensive than private school and we were able to stay in our home, which we loved.
There was an episode of Law and Order like that. Of course - it involved a murder - but I think the OP is only looking for a way to get her children into a good HS . Robyn
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. Robyn
