Nathan B. Forrest High School - Jacksonville, Florida/FL

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Nathan B. Forrest High School

5530 Firestone Road, Jacksonville, FL, 32244-1599 -

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tel: (904)573-1170

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Definition of Terms

Nathan B. Forrest High School

School Level

High school

Grades Offered

Grades 9 - 12

County

Duval County, FL

Students & Faculty

Total Students

1757 students

% Male / % Female

50% / 50%

Total Classroom Teachers

82 teachers

Students by Grade

Grade 9 - 651 students

Grade 10 - 450 students

Grade 11 - 414 students

Grade 12 - 242 students

This School

(FL) School Average

Teacher : Student Ratio

1:21

1:19

Students by Ethnicity

This School

(FL) School Average

% American Indian	1%	n/a
% Asian	4%	2%
% Hispanic	6%	18%
% Black	53%	26%
% White	37%	52%

Additional Student Information

This School

(FL) School Average

% Eligible for Free Lunch

25%

26%

% Eligible for Reduced Lunch

% Migrant Students Enrolled

n/a

n/a

(FL) Statewide Testing Performance

School Statewide Performance

View Education Department Test Scores

School District Name

Duval County School District

This School's Agency

(FL) District Average

Number of Schools Managed	182	24
Number of Students Managed	127,903 students	15,852 students
District Total Revenue	$1,008,899,000	$150,286,000
District Expenditure	$1,009,085,000	$148,035,000
District Revenue / Student	$7,888	$9,481
District Expenditure / Student	$7,889	$9,339
District Graduation Rates	71%	90%

Alumnus and hero laid to rest (FSView)
posted on August 20, 2009 at 07:04:46 am
Earlier this month, Navy pilot and Florida State University alumnus Scott Speicher was laid to rest after his remains were discovered near the location of his plane crash.
18 years later: 1st Gulf War casualty laid to rest (The Indiana Gazette)
posted on August 16, 2009 at 04:01:30 pm
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Navy pilot Scott Speicher, the long-missing first casualty of the first Gulf War, was finally laid to rest Friday in his adopted hometown as thousands of people lined the streets to watch a funeral procession pass his school, church and former military base.
18 years later: 1st Gulf War casualty laid to rest (Nevada Appeal)
posted on August 15, 2009 at 06:48:05 pm
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Navy pilot Scott Speicher, the long-missing first casualty of the first Gulf War, was finally laid to rest Friday in his adopted hometown as thousands of people lined the streets to watch a funeral procession pass his...
First Gulf War casualty laid to rest (The Washington Times)
posted on August 15, 2009 at 09:44:56 am
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) | Navy pilot Michael "Scott" Speicher, the long-missing first casualty of the 1991 Gulf War, was finally laid to rest Friday in his adopted hometown as thousands of people lined the streets to watch a funeral procession pass his school, church and former military base. Capt. Speicher was shot down in 1991 on the first night of the Gulf War. For more than 18 years, no one ...
18 Years Later: 1st Gulf War Casualty Laid To Rest (WCPO Cincinnati)
posted on August 15, 2009 at 04:09:38 am
Navy pilot was shot down in 1991 on the first night of the Gulf War. For more than 18 years, no one knew if he had been killed or was...

View all past news stories

Nathan Bedford Forrest High School is a public high school in the Duval County School District located on the Westside of Jacksonville, Florida. Forrest opened in 1959 in Jacksonville's Wesconnett neighborhood, at the site of present-day J. E. B. Stuart Middle School. Forrest moved to its current location on Firestone Road in 1966. The facility on Firestone Road was a duplicate of the design used for Samuel W. Wolfson High School, the work of Jacksonville architect Taylor Hardwick. The school is named for Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Namesake
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, and later became and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. As of 2007, it is only one of two high schools named after Forrest; the other is located in his hometown of Chapel Hill, Tennessee. Prior to the school's opening in 1959, many Jacksonville organizations suggested names for the new school, to be voted on at a school board meeting. After many ballots, "Nathan Bedford Forrest High School," suggested by the Daughters of the Confederacy, won.
History
From its opening in 1959 and throughout the 1960s, Forrest High School remained an all-white school. Beginning in 1971, mandatory integration of Duval County Schools by federal district court order introduced a more diverse population. Currently, over 1800 students attend Forrest, a majority of whom are African-American.
In November 2006, the latest in a long line of petitions to change the name of the high school was submitted to the Duval County School Board. Some students from the Florida Community College at Jacksonville wanted to have the school renamed in honor of Eartha M. M. White, a Jacksonville native and philanthropist, due to Forrest's connection with the Klan. In November 2008, the Duval County School Board voted 5-2 to keep the name the same.
Feeder schools
J.E.B. Stuart Middle School
Cedar Hills
Sadie Tillis
Stonewall Jackson
Timucuan
Wesconnet
Jefferson Davis Middle School
Cedar Hills
Chimney Lakes
Enterprise
Gregory Drive
Hyde Grove
Jacksonville Heights
Normandy Village
Sadie Tillis
Oak Hill
Wesconnett
Academics
The school currently has an "F" as of 2007 and 2008 on the Florida School Accountability Grading Scale.
Athletics
Like typical American high schools, Forrest fields sports teams in football, baseball, swimming, basketball, volleyball and wrestling, among others. The wrestling program is almost certainly the most successful sports program at the school, having won the Gateway Conference championship in 2008 for the 20th time over all. The school mascot is the Confederate Rebel, modeled in appearance after Colonel Reb, the former mascot of the University of Mississippi.
Their most famous athletic alumni is basketball guard/forward Otis Smith, who played at Jacksonville University after graduating from Forrest in 1982, then went on to play for the NBA Denver Nuggets for two seasons, Golden State Warriors for the 1987-88 season, then three seasons with the Orlando Magic. He retired as a player in 1992 and is now the current general manager of the Orlando Magic.
The school also has a large AFJROTC program, including three unarmed drill teams, a sabre guard, an armed drill team, and a color guard.
The school has an outdoor pool which is used by the athletic teams and physical education classes during the academic year; then it becomes a free public pool operated by the City of Jacksonville Parks & Recreation Department during the summer months.
Notable alumni
Gene Deckerhoff - Radio play-by-play announcer of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and broadcaster of Florida State Seminoles athletics.
Otis Smith - Retired American professional basketball player and current general manager of the NBA's Orlando Magic.
Scott Speicher - United States Navy pilot who was killed when his F/A-18 Hornet fighter was shot down over Iraq on January 17, 1991, the first night of Operation Desert Storm.
External links
Forrest High School Alumni website
Official School Website

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