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year-round school?


jeafl

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Ever see a 'pound pass'?  Giving a pound is when two people ball their fists and then give 5 in that manner.  It is then finshed with a type of handshake.  With the pound pass, one individual would have a roll of cash and the other would have drugs.  The exchange is made with the handshake.

The way to tell it happened is by noticing their right hands find their pockets just before and just after the pound pass.

I saw transactions at least once a week and by more than just a few different individuals.

I saw 3 fights that year, knew of two others, watched alcohol and cigarettes get passed from one student to the next, heard plenty of talk....you didn't have to go looking for it, it was simply there as it is in all schools.

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I never saw anything like you describe at Stanton. I never saw anything I would have taken as drug trafficking and I cannot say that I ever saw, or even heard about, a fight.

And how are you so knowledgeable about how drugs are passed in school?

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If you saw any vice at Stanton, you must have gone looking for it.

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Absolutely false in my case.

The senior parking lot close to campus was inadequate, so we were relegated to dirt lots that fronted Myrtle. Students could be seen exchanging dime bags or smoking cigarettes or joints. I certainly did not look for it; it was within my periphery.

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Read through some of my posts, I wasn't always a good kid.  I grew up in the rougher areas of town.  Now I study Criminal Justice and Forensics.

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The neighborhood I grew up in was less than a block from the sharp curve on 20th Street Expressway. My neighborhood was not good either, but yet I still would not recognize what you describe as drug trafficking. I had no interest in drug trafficking and thus had no desire to know it if I saw it.

By the time my class at Stanton graduated we were down to about 75 students. We knew each other

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Absolutely false in my case.

The senior parking lot close to campus was inadequate, so we were relegated to dirt lots that fronted Myrtle.  Students could be seen exchanging dime bags or smoking cigarettes or joints.  I certainly did not look for it; it was within my periphery.

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Are you sure that the exchanges were made between Stanton students and not people who lived in the neighborhood? I don't see how Stanton could have any kind of drug problem and still have such a good academic reputation.

But, if Stanton has deteriorated to the extent you say, it bodes will for my school. I always thought Stanton would be my school's main competitor for students- why should students come to my school when they could go to Stanton for free? But, if I can provide an academic program superior to Stanton

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Are you sure that the exchanges were made between Stanton students and not people who lived in the neighborhood?  I don't see how Stanton could have any kind of drug problem and still have such a good academic reputation.

Of course I'm sure that was not the case. These were my friends, classmates or acquaintances. Those trespassers from the neighborhood stole CDs, CD players and other valuables and even stabbed a resouce officer under the eye with a flathead screwdriver.

As for an alleged "drug problem", I see you've already bought into the ideology of drugs interfering with academic performance. The ones with more sense are more likely not to get caught by being conspicuous and rolling a joint in front of a uniformed officer 10 yards away. These are honor students. I graduated with a weighted 4.3 GPA.

My IQ was measured with traditional IQ tests in 1984 and resulted in an IQ of 136. Two years ago, after I was rear-ended by a drunk driver, I went through neuropsycohological evaluations with an IQ of 138, which is statistcally insignificant. I have self-medicated and I even have a 3.8 GPA. There may be correlation, but, in my opinion, not enough to rule causation.

But, if Stanton has deteriorated to the extent you say, it bodes will for my school.  I always thought Stanton would be my school's main competitor for students- why should students come to my school when they could go to Stanton for free?  But, if I can provide an academic program superior to Stanton
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You won't provide a drug free atmosphere, I promise you that.    Intelligence is not a complete deterrant of vice.  You will deal with it.

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I would give serious consideration to drug testing the students and expelling any student that fails.

During my whole time at Stanton I never was offered drugs, I never saw drugs and I never heard my schoolmates even talking about drugs.

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If there is a drug problem at Stanton now, perhaps it stems from an inferior student body. When I was at Stanton the student body was overwhelmingly conservative. The school conducted a mock election in 1984, the year Ronald Reagan was re-elected with something like 59% of the national popular vote. I don

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During my whole time at Stanton I never was offered drugs, I never saw drugs and I never heard my schoolmates even talking about drugs.

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Could this possibly be because drugs weren't such a pronounced issue in the mid 80s?

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If there is a drug problem at Stanton now, perhaps it stems from an inferior student body.  When I was at Stanton the student body was overwhelmingly conservative.  The school conducted a mock election in 1984, the year Ronald Reagan was re-elected with something like 59% of the national popular vote.  I don
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a few thoughts:

*this was about year-round schools?

*i too graduated from stanton ('99), my class size at graduation was 432.

*is there anyone out there that didn't come from stanton interested in whatever it is that this thread is about? at any rate, i see the stanton culture of arrogance remains unchanged, even when it means saying one class is better than another.

*i certainly saw drugs about, although the only thing i touched on campus was vodka.

*the student body has gone through waves in terms of political ideology. my class compared to the class most recently graduated would be regarded as bleeding heart liberals.

*it's a pity the school board's stats don't go back further, as I seem to remember other waves in the numbers: e.g. more national merit scholars/higher average scores before the numbers began to rise again. everything is cyclical.

*state universities, at least, have a cap on how much credit you can take with you. i had 45 college credits from stanton, but UF would not accept them all. Of course, since I also got bright futures by graduating IB, it didn't exactly save me money by skipping a year. It just cut the number of credits the state would pay for. Since I had little money, I just went ahead and graduated after my third year. From their website: UF admissions

"A maximum of 30 semester hours may be granted by combining AICE, AP, IB and CLEP credit."

*i wonder if there would be a way to gain accredidation as both a high school and say a community college, so that instead of trying to transfer credits, jeafl's students would have AA's. of course, why bother going to high school then, just test for the GED and move on.

*to bring the thread around, if stanton had gone year-round while i was there, i would have followed my mom on to community college, as she did instead of staying at englewood four years, and not bothered with any more high school. there is something to be said though, for having time to screw around and go to the beach instead of class when it only costs taxpayer money and not your own, moreso when you have no bills of your own.

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Now I think you're reaching at minuscule straws to make your school superior to Stanton when your doors haven't even graduated a senior class.  Students who attend Christian and parochial schools are prone to the same temptations as other students.  Now you're trying to draw a parallel between conservatism and the degradation of the student body?  After you graduated, the number of IB diploma recipients increased dramtically.  More and more students were able to afford graduate school because of all the credits they earned through AP/IB credit, thereby eliminating the first year as "freshman year".

Here are some facts:

1.  Stanton has graduated students who have applied to and matriculated at all Ivy League schools

2.  Stanton consistently scores the highest in the district on widely-used standardized tests, the SAT/SAT II and ACT

3.  Stanton ranks highly in several polls, one which measures the number of AP exams taken and the success rate of the student body

4.  Stanton has been rated an A school for every year except when there was a change in the formula to calculate an institution's grade

5.  Violence is virtually non-existent on the Stanton campus, save for some neighbors who stray

Your perspective, which I respect, is based on your experience at Stanton, but to ignore almost 20 years' worth of time where social norms have changed greatly is to keep the head buried in the sand.  As I mentioned in an earlier message, alumni from most of the Ivy Leagues contacted me to interview because Stanton's reputation and rigorous curriculum coincide with their ideal freshman classes.

Instead of this being a thread about Stanton, I'd like to hear more about what your school would offer and what value the students, parents and community would gain once the first students enter the hallways.  My 10 year class reunion was attended by many in noble professions, such as medicine, as well as engineers, attorneys, directors and Broadway artists.

What will justify your school's tuition when Stanton College Preparatory School and Paxon School for Advanced Studies have undoubtedly captured the attention of public school enthusiasts yearning for quality education so today's children will be suited to operate in their highest capacity?

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And I still cannot believe that Stanton could have both a drug problem and a superior academic record. How can students who stay high get good grades?

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And I still cannot believe that Stanton could have both a drug problem and a superior academic record.  How can students who stay high get good grades?

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Have you not been around the block before?

I'm a Nease Graduate, and a JU Grad, and I encountered what you just said in both environments:

Back at Nease, there was an incident involving three kids showing up "drunk" to our trip to Grad Nite (an annual trip for Seinors to Disney), and they didn't let them go, and they tried to not let them participate in grad ceremonies. However, that plan fell through. Why? because one of the three was going to be the Salutitorian (#2 GPA in the class). And it's not because Nease is a crap school, the kid was an IB grad (personally, I think IB is crap but it is highly regarded), and has a 4.8 someting GPA. The kid was brilliant; probably the book smartest person I've ever met.

JU (and really any university is this way) was an even better example. You have groups of students in majors that can get very good grades, yet are constantly getting high. Math Majors are a great example: you have 2 groups, the "book people" and the potheads, and they both ended up with similar grades.

You can give the pros and cons of hitting the bong, but this isn't a drug message board. However, the bottom line is that drugs and good grades are not mutually exclusive.

Also, let's be honest - grades aren't everything. I had a 3.5 at Nease, a 2.3 at JU, and do you know how many times my college GPA has burned me? Not Once. I got an internship while at JU (with the City of Jacksonville), and that job led me to Football Fanatics. I now oversee our Logistics Technology, live very comfortably, own my house, have several good invstments, and I am 22.

I don't intend this to be a "brag session". It was just to make a point.

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You yourself said you had a graduating class of less than 50 kids. Compare that to current levels of several hundred and the setting is more suitable for vice.

Drugs don't make one stupid in high school. You are thinking of those that were idiots to begin with. The only difference at Stanton, or any school of academic excellence, is they are more intelligent on how they sell, distribute, transfer and intake the drugs.

Getting high and staying high are also different things and not all drugs affect mental acuity.

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If a drug problem at a school is inevitable, explain how I never saw any evidence that a drug problem existed at Stanton?

I was never offered, alcohol, cigarettes or any other kind of drug.

I never saw alcohol, cigarettes or any other kind of drug.

I never heard any other student talk about seeing, using or being offered alcohol, cigarettes or any other kind of drug.

I never knew any student who (to my knowledge) used alcohol, cigarettes or any other kind of drug.

I never heard any talk about any student who used alcohol, cigarettes or any other kind of drug.

If it is so easy to see drug dealing (and presumably drug use) at Stanton, why is I never saw any of it? And it

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My graduating class had about 75 students and once in the 9th grade very few of my classes did not have mixed grades. I was able to see a wide cross-section of Stanton's student population on a daily basis.

If the drug dealing at Stanton is as obvious as you all say it is, it doesn't sound like the druggie students are intelligent enough to hide it.

You yourself said you had a graduating class of less than 50 kids.  Compare that to current levels of several hundred and the setting is more suitable for vice.

Drugs don't make one stupid in high school.  You are thinking of those that were idiots to begin with.  The only difference at Stanton, or any school of academic excellence, is they are more intelligent on how they sell, distribute, transfer and intake the drugs.

Getting high and staying high are also different things and not all drugs affect mental acuity.

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Let's aim for some perspective here.

First, we need a working definition of what you consider a drug problem. Does use by 98% of the population, a simple majority or simply one instance of a drug violation constitute a drug problem?

Second, you are relating your experiences dating almost 20 years ago. Twenty years before you graduated Stanton, it was quite unusual for women to assume a role of income provider. Change has occurred and will continue to do so.

Third, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the illicit activities happened primarily hundreds of yards away from the main campus. It's not like six-foot bong rips were taking place in the middle of the gym or people were doing lines of coke in the principal's office. Just as most people who use drugs will try to conceal the behavior, so would students, at least the ones from our alma mater.

Do you know the neighborhood library on Myrtle Ave? The dirt fields across from the library were converted to parking lots to accomodate overflow parking. The administrators and school resource officers had more important issues to attend to rather than patrol these areas because overall the students performed exceptionally well. Any metric will prove this, e.g., standardized test scores, number of honors/AP/IB classes taken per pupil, truancy rates....

Finally, you're dealing with absolutes for each situation which is indicative of bias. Hardly anything is at a pure extreme, especially topics we're discussing. Once again, this is only your experience which happened almost 20 years ago.

EDIT: When I attended an open house when I was in sixth grade, there was a designated smoking section outside the auditorium for anyone, students and teachers alike, who were of legal age to purchase and smoke. Signage reflected this privilege. This was either in 1988 or 1999.

If a drug problem at a school is inevitable, explain how I never saw any evidence that a drug problem existed at Stanton?

I was never offered, alcohol, cigarettes or any other kind of drug.

I never saw alcohol, cigarettes or any other kind of drug.

I never heard any other student talk about seeing, using or being offered alcohol, cigarettes or any other kind of drug.

I never knew any student who (to my knowledge) used alcohol, cigarettes or any other kind of drug.

I never heard any talk about any student who used alcohol, cigarettes or any other kind of drug.

If it is so easy to see drug dealing (and presumably drug use) at Stanton, why is I never saw any of it?  And it

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