Pinellas Park High School

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Pinellas Park High School
Established	1976
School type	Public
Grades	9-12
Principal	Denise Hart
Location	Largo, Florida, USA
Mascot	Patriot
Website	http://www.pp-hs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

Pinellas Park High School is located in Largo, Florida, USA. It opened in the fall of 1976. The school mascot is the Patriot, and the school colors are red and blue. The school newspaper is called the Powder Horn Press and the yearbook is called Occurrences. The school is home to the Criminal Justice Academy magnet program.

1 School History
2 Student Demographics
3 Admissions
4 Criminal Justice Academy
- 4.1 CJA Admissions
5 Building
6 Shooting
7 Taser usage
8 Teacher scandal
9 Alumni
10 References
11 External links

[edit] School History

Pinellas Park High School, located in Largo, Florida, opened its doors in August of 1976. Because of the 200th birthday of the US, it became known as "The Patriots" and chose red 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.

[edit] Student Demographics

The total student population of approximately 2,300 students is comprised of 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.

[edit] Admissions

2006 – 2007 NOTE: This information is based on current statute and board policy. If amendments, which impact any part of this information, are enacted, the revised information will be provided to all schools for publication to students and parents.

Entrance and Classification of Students (6 period schools) Freshman: To be classified as a ninth grader, a student must be promoted from middle school to high school. Sophomore: To be classified as a tenth grader, a student must have completed a minimum of five (5) credits by the end of grade 9. These credits must include one required credit in English or one credit in mathematics or 0.5 credit in English and 0.5 credit in mathematics. Junior: To be classified as an eleventh grader, a student must have completed a minimum of eleven (11) credits by the end of grade 10. These credits must include a total of three (3) required credits in English or mathematics. Senior: To be classified as a twelfth grader, a student must have completed a minimum of seventeen (17) credits. These credits must include a total of five (5) required credits in English or mathematics. Note: Students with disabilities who are pursuing a special diploma must meet the minimum number of credits required to be promoted each year. They are not required to meet English and math course requirements reference policy 5.13 (5).

[edit] Criminal Justice Academy

Criminal Justice Academy logo

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.

[edit] CJA 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]

[edit] Building

The main building has over 40,000 sq. ft. 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 sq. ft. of space, including several classrooms, administration offices, a mock courtroom, and an apartment used as a mock crime scene.

[edit] Shooting

The school made news on February 11, 1988, when two young male students brought stolen guns to the school. Escalating into a series of tragic events. The end result was the death of assistant principal Richard Allen and injury two other shool employees as well as one of the young men.

[edit] Taser usage

The school again made national news in 2005 when police officers used a Taser three times on a student, Doug Walker, a local douche, who was struggling with them.^[2] This incident is often cited in the debate about how much force is excessive in schools. ^[3]

[edit] Teacher scandal

In 2005 a CJA 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 8 years in prison on October 18, 2006.