Once troubled, Andrew Jackson High School evolves into advanced technology magnet

Video games are anything but child's play for students at Andrew Jackson High School of Advanced Technology where computer coding, animation and simulation programming are the daily classroom lessons.

Down the hall, students explore ways to hack into realistic simulations of a corporate computer network in an applied cyber security course. The assignment challenges their critical thinking, creativity and innovation.

Eight years ago, the school was the lowest F-rated high school in Florida — for its poor academic achievement, low graduation numbers, dwindling enrollment and high truancy   — Jackson underwent a major transformation.

Emphasizing college and career options focused on technology and business industries, Jackson evolved into a magnet school boasting a 94.4 percent graduation rate — one of the best among Duval County high schools including charters. Jackson increased its graduation rate by seven points from 86.7 percent, according to Florida Department of Education statistics.

Wolfson High School, a district school specializing in International Baccalaureate and leadership studies, also grew its graduation rate by seven points to 92.5 percent. Only San Jose Academy and Preparatory High School — a charter school that upped its rate nine points to 96.4 percent — posted a larger gain that Jackson and Wolfson, according to state numbers.

Jackson, which offers hands-on learning with state-of-the-art computer labs and other technology, earned an annual school grade of B from the state Department of Education — just four percentage points shy of an A. It was the highest B-ranked school in the district. The school also received a B in 2017.

SCORES STEADILY IMPROVE

Previously, the school's annual state grade hovered at the bottom of the pack. It alternated between a C and D annually from 2013 to 2016. But as bad as that was, it was an improvement from the two Ds and four Fs the school earned between 2007 and 2011. The F in 2011 was the lowest F grade statewide, state Department of Education data show.

Jackson is the only Duval County public school offering a video gaming design, development and programming magnet. It is the first to offer a cyber security magnet. 

Also offering unmanned aircraft systems, accelerated information technology security and sports medicine courses, Jackson has gone from a high school many students couldn't wait to leave — often dropping out — to a school many want to attend.

The transformation began in April 2016 when the Duval County School Board in a split vote approved a plan converting Jackson — then a neighborhood school — to a magnet school, which would accept students from throughout the district.

The conversion was part of a district-wide strategy by then-Superintendent Nikolai Vitti to improve under-performing or under-utilized schools. At that time, Vitti noted Jackson had a 48 percent utilization rate and cited its chronically low state grades.

The conversion meant an advanced technology theme and a focus on recruiting kids who are really interested in careers and college, said Principal Tracolya Clinch, a veteran educator in her second year leading Jackson.

"Definitely the rebranding, making it a dedicated magnet school that focuses on advanced technology because that is appealing to certain types of students," Clinch said of the primary reason for the school's transformation. Neighborhood students also have a role, she said.

"We obviously still have a lot of neighborhood students here taking advantage of the programs," Clinch said.

Clinch was the school's assistant principal for 18 months before being promoted to principal. She previously served as director of secondary science in the district, and before that as a school improvement specialist-STEM and a science instructional specialist with the state Department of Education, In addition, she previously was a classroom teacher in West Florida as well as three school districts in her home state of Georgia.

Jackson has 650 students, including about 540 — 83 percent — enrolled in its magnet program. The senior class is the last group of students who are neighborhood versus magnet. There are about 109 of those students, said Assistant Principal James Stuckey.

OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE

The magnet courses, Stuckey said were selected with community input as well as Vitti's desire to give technology a bigger role in the district curriculum. The school's original medical program transitioned into the sports medicine course to keep neighborhood students interested, Stuckey said.

"We definitely want this to be a school where those opportunities are available to everyone in Duval County because we know that many of our students that excel in IT and who like computers are not necessarily like your 4.5 GPA students. You don't have to be gifted in all areas in order to get into the school," Stuckey said.

Parents and prospective students seeking information crowded shoulder-to-shoulder at Jackson's booth during the Duval County School Choice Expo on Jan. 12.

Carmen Wiley was among those wanting to find out about Jackson's programs on behalf of her 14-year-old granddaughter.

"She's all about computers … I heard they have good classes for that," Wiley said. She like some parents considering Jackson conceded being worried about student safety given past violence and other crime reported in the neighborhood surrounding the school, which is in the city's downtown urban core.

In October 2016, a woman was shot and wounded in front of the school — but not on campus. Students were not involved. The high school was on lockdown for about an hour because of the shooting. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office crime map showed 190 incidents ranging from assault and robbery to burglary and disturbing the peace reported within a half-mile of the high school — which has on-campus security — from July 20, 2018, through Jan. 15.

As principal, Clinch routinely fields school safety questions. "I only control the environment inside of the school. So I put safety and security measures in place to make sure all students feel safe and feel comfortable reporting incidents in the event that they are aware of anything that could potentially happen or that they know has happened," Clinch said.

Clinch said Jackson students wear uniforms so faculty and staff can properly identify all of their students on campus. "We didn't feel that IDs would be enough so having that uniform helps us to quickly identify whether or not a student or there is an intruder on campus," she said.

Clinch said the high school only uses two building entrances. Both are consistently monitored by security staff to help maintain control over who is on campus and again off campus.

"We are the pilot for a new camera system. So, in addition to the district camera system, the old system that had 16 cameras, we're now having an additional 133 views with a camera system that can be monitored from my phone. It's on the actual district WiFi," Clinch said.

Clinch said those are among the measures in place that make Jackson a bit more secure and safe than some of the other high schools.

"I always challenge parents to think about locations of high schools that they tell me are their first choices like a Paxon [School for Advanced Studies] and a Stanton [College Preparatory School] who if you looked at the crime map would probably have just as much, if not more, crime than our neighborhood," Clinch said.

The lingering perception of Jackson as a troubled school in a bad neighborhood is a challenge Clinch must consistently address.

"There is a huge stigma on this school. … There are students in every school with challenging backgrounds and obviously trauma forces students to do things sometimes when they are mostly unstable. I just put additional things in place [to handle it]."

The school's success as a magnet may be the best remedy.

VIDEO GAME DESIGN MAGNET

A class mainly of freshmen and sophomores listened attentively this week to teacher Ian Lozano while snippets of video games played on their computers in the high school's gaming lab. Lozano taught a lesson about game design theory as well as sound engineering, graphics and animation.

Video game design is a growing and lucrative career field. But the computer science principles as well as the critical thinking skills, innovation and technical skills necessary to succeed translate into other professions.

"The expectations get higher and higher every year so we try to bridge that gap," Lozano said. The course is designed to get students interested in the computer science profession, which is integral to a variety of high-tech businesses and industries, he said.

"The main gist of this is we're trying to get them interested in the future of science," Lozano said. "Computer science by itself might not be the most fun thing to read about, but if we present it in an engaging way like video games, all of a sudden those skills you need to make a game become that much more important."

Among the school's partners, Lozano said, is TSYS, which recently acquired iMobile3, a point-to-point sales App developer. TSYS provides payment processing, merchant, and related payment services to financial and non-financial institutions in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and internationally.

In addition, some students workwith data science such as artificial intelligence and networks. Other students have had internships with JTA and had the opportunity to work on automated cars, Lozano said.

"It's impossible to get them ready for every job, but if we get them ready for a broad source of topics they can, as they get older, specialize," he said.

Students — most freshmen and sophomores — in the cyber security suite nearby were learning how to search out vulnerabilities in computer networks in a course including an ethical hacking foundation.

The course relies an on-site closed computer system created specifically to replicate a variety of real-world scenarios for the students to work out how to protect networks from malevolent viruses, ransom ware and hackers. It is a silo network, which means it is closed and unable to operate with the school district's real computer network or any other system, Stuckey said.

"It's a network they can practice breaking into, and it's not changing their grades," Stuckey said.

Cyber security teacher Chris Link focuses on ethics as well as technology. All the students must sign an agreement promising not to use what they learn for illegitimate purposes. Except for a couple of students locking their parents out of their own computers as a prank, there have been no problems, he said.

The students worked individually and in small groups on class projects involving key cards, controlling cameras, building files and folders involving management rights, and thwarting a hacker who has taken control of a manufacturer's assembly line.

Link said the course is designed to prepare students for careers ranging from working on an IT help desk to serving as a cyber security analyst with a major corporation.

Daud Damanhuri, 16, a sophomore, gives the course high marks. His interest in technology led him to the cyber security magnet. The course's relevance as well as its applications currently and in the future also attracted him.

"I've learned a lot of stuff from security for companies to ways to increase the security on your profiles or user names or emails. It's just really beneficial for regular life," he said.

He said it's also challenging, which he likes. Cyber security is among the possible careers he is considering. Other are designing computers or being a graphic designer for architecture, he said.

Jackson hosts magnet program informational tours for parents and guardians at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. every Tuesday in January and February. In addition, there will be tours at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, as well as Feb. 21 and 26.

For more information, https://dcps.duvalschools.org/ajhs.

Teresa Stepzinski: (904) 359-4075

Andrew Jackson High School of Advanced Technology serves ninth- through 12th-grade students as a magnet school. Classes emphasize college and career options focused on technology and business industries.

Jackson's graduation rate was 94.4 percent for 2017-18. Jackson received a school grade of B from the Florida Department of Education for 2017-18.

Student body snapshot:

• 650 — student enrollment
• 81 percent African-American
• 10 percent white
• 4 percent Hispanic
• 4 percent multi-racial
• 1 percent Asian
• 56 percent — male
• 44 percent — female

Statistics:

• 98 percent stability — Percentage of students who didn't transfer to a different school.
• 14 percent truant — Percentage of students with 10 percent or more absences.
• 62 percent low income — Percentage of students on free or reduced price lunch.
• 12 percent diverse learners — Percentage of students with Learning Exceptionality (not including gifted, hospital homebound and speech).

For more information, https://dcps.duvalschools.org/ajhs.

Source: Duval County Public Schools District

Andrew Jackson High School of Advanced Technology