Pinellas Park High School

Pinellas Park High School
Pinellas Park High School
Location
Largo, Florida,  United States
Information
Type Public
Established 1976
Principal John Johnston
Grades 9-12
Color(s) Red, White, and Blue

              

Mascot Patriot
Website

Pinellas Park High School is a public secondary school in Pinellas Park, Florida, United States. It opened in the fall of 1976 and is part of the Pinellas County Schools system. The school mascot is the Patriot, and the school colors are red, white and blue. The school newspaper is called the Powder Horn Press and the yearbook is Occurrences. The school is home to the Criminal Justice Academy magnet program, as well as the First Responders magnet program.

Contents

History

Pinellas Park High School, located in Largo, Florida, opened its doors in August 1976. Because of the United States Bicentennial occurring that year, it adopted the name "The Patriots" and chose red, white, and blue as its school colors. In 2001, the school received a $500,000 grant to develop smaller learning communities. Five SLCs comprising the entire school population exist today: Freshman Forum (for incoming freshmen); Arts & Humanities; Environmental, Medical and Biological Alliance; Sophomore Seminar, and Business Design Technologies. The ESOL program helps foreign-language speakers and GOALS acts as a drop-out prevention program. Finally, as a result of the Pinellas county introduction of Choice schools, 80% of the school's students come from throughout the county.

Student demographics

The total student population of approximately 2,300 students comprises 70.3% Caucasians, 12.7% African-Americans, 9.5% Hispanics, 5.9% Asians, .2% American Indian, and 1.4% Other. The student attendance rate is 92.7%. Pinellas Park High School is one of the most ethnically-diverse schools of the country, comprising a large number of students from Latin and Asian countries. ESOL students form 6% of the total school population, and special education students make up 17% of the student body. PPHS is one of the district centers for special education students.

Criminal Justice Academy

The Criminal Justice Academy is a four-year magnet program at Pinellas Park High School that teaches students about the American legal system and the careers found in that system.

Admissions

Students must apply and be accepted into the Criminal Justice Academy. Eighth grade applicants must have stanines of 5 or higher on standardized tests, GPA of 2.3 or higher for all work in sixth and seventh grades, 2 positive academic teacher recommendations, and good discipline and attendance records.[1]

Building

The main building has over 40,000 square feet (3,716 m2) of space and was built in 1976. The building includes a gymnasium and auditorium as well as a media center and library, several computer labs, a well furnished weight room, a complete autobody shop and a complete printing shop. The CJA building was built between 1996–1998 and opened to students in the fall of 1998. The building has 8,496 square feet (789 m2) of space, including several classrooms, administration offices, a mock courtroom, and an apartment used as a mock crime scene.

First responders

A new emergency and disaster training program started in 2009, though classes are held in L wing, as no buildings have been built yet. The program is currently almost exclusively for freshmen, with a limited number of openings for sophomores.[2]

Notable incidents

School shooting

The school made news on February 11, 1988, when two male students, Jason Harless and Jayson McCoy, brought stolen guns to the school, which escalated into the shooting of two school officials and a teacher.[3] Assistant principal Richard Allen was killed and Nancy Blackwelder, an assistant physical education teacher who was interning from the University of South Florida, was injured. Harless was sentenced to 17 years in adult prison and was later released after eight years imprisonment. McCoy was sentenced to six years in adult prison, but served 14 months in a “youthful offenders” facility.[3]

Taser incident

The school again made national news in 2005 when police officers used a Taser three times on a student, Doug Walker, who was struggling with them.[4] This incident is often cited in the debate about how much force is excessive in schools.[5]

Teacher scandal

In 2005 a teacher faced 47 felony charges alleging that he enticed several female high school students to email him nude pictures of themselves and give him "intimate apparel". He resigned in November after the allegations surfaced. The teacher pled no contest to 15 combined charges and was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison on October 18, 2006.

Notable alumni

References

External links

Coordinates: 27°52′51″N 82°43′27″W / 27.8808567°N 82.7242671°W / 27.8808567; -82.7242671


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Dunedin High School — Location 1651 Pinehurst Road Dunedin, Florida, United States …   Wikipedia

  • Pinellas County Schools — is a school district serving Pinellas County, Florida and based in Largo, Florida.It has about 148,000 students and more than 13,000 employees. Dixie M. Hollins was the county s first superintendent of schools. The current superintendent of… …   Wikipedia

  • School shooting — School shooter redirects here. For the Half Life 2 mod, see School Shooter: North American Tour 2012. Terrorism Definitions · Counter terrorism Inter …   Wikipedia

  • Boca Ciega High School — Infobox School name = Boca Ciega High School motto = Deeds are ours Results are God s campus=Suburban type = Public grades = 9 12 principal = Paula Gene Nelson streetaddress =924 58th Street S city = Gulfport zipcode = 33707 state = Florida… …   Wikipedia

  • Old Tarpon Springs High School — Old Tarpon Springs High School, U.S. National Register of Historic Places …   Wikipedia

  • Jennings High School (Jennings, Florida) — Jennings High School U.S. National Register of Historic Places …   Wikipedia

  • List of high schools in Florida — This is a list of high schools in the U.S. state of Florida. FORCETOC Alachua County*F. W. Buchholz High School, Gainesville *Eastside High School, Gainesville *Gainesville High School, Gainesville *Hawthorne Middle/High School, Hawthorne *Loften …   Wikipedia

  • Pinellas Trail — Infobox Hiking trail Name=Fred E. Marquis Pinellas Trail Photo=Ptrail main.jpg Caption=Section of the Pinellas Trail Location=Pinellas County, Florida, United States Length=34 mi; 55 km Start/End Points=Tarpon Springs, Florida St. Petersburg,… …   Wikipedia

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Pinellas County, Florida — Location of Pinellas County in Florida This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Pinellas County, Florida. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic… …   Wikipedia

  • Timeline of Pinellas County, Florida history — history.900 1842* 900 16th century Tocobaga live in Tampa Bay area, including Pinellas.* 1513 March 27 Ponce de Leon discovers Florida. . * 1539 Hernando de Soto, another Spanish explorer, is thought to have explored the Tampa Bay area. . * 1763… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”