Sandalwood High School (Jacksonville, Florida)

Comments

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  Howie Lucero (guest)

  Sandalwood High originally opened as a Jr.-Sr. High School, grades 7 through 12, in September of 1971 with an school-wide population of about 1100 students. The school was extremely modern for its time, with wall-to wall carpet and central heat and air conditioning. The school was divided with the Senior High classes located on the western side of the building and the Junior High classes located on the eastern side of the building. Classrooms were modular, located in sections called "Pods" (i.e.: English Pod; Math Pod; etc.)- most of the walls were movable and were able to be written on with water-removable markers. The school used different names to describe areas instead of the normal school terms of the day. The gym was called the "Field House" - The Cafeteria was called the "Dining Commons" - The Library was called the "Media Center". The modern look and feel would last for more than a decade until over-crowding (around 3000 students with the school hosting grades 9 - 12) and crime in the school made it look more like a sterile prison with metal detectors and bare tile floors.

  18 years ago | reply | hide comment
• 
  Rhatsa26WM

  Kind of like my alma-mater Gibson Southern High School in Indiana. Although Gibson County, Indiana doesn't have very much crime unless you count the almost-thousands of Methamphetamine arrests every year. Gibson Southern beacause of the way it's designed is known as either the South Gibson Prison of using the schools initials, called the Gibson Southern Hard Slammer.

  17 years ago | reply | hide comment
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  Partain (guest)

  It's very sad. I graduated from there in 1987 and have very fond memories. I went there from 7th through 12th and don't remember any crime. I went back about a year ago and saw to my horror there was a fence around the entire school.

  16 years ago | reply | hide comment
• 
  blindeyed

  Went there from 01-05, don't remember having any metal detectors at all. Even in '08 when my cousin went there I don't recall any, so I'm unsure of what time period the original author is recalling. Crime was non-existent then as well. Of course you had the usual trouble makers who would bring drugs to school and get caught, and I remember a kid who set fire to a trash can partially burned the exterior of one of the portables outside. Those were isolated incidents that were very uncommon, it's not nearly as bad of a school as the author makes it out to be.

  14 years ago | reply | hide comment