Nathan B. Forrest High School

This school is shameful!! Not only is it located in a prime drug activity area, it is very unpoliced!! Oh they put on the face that they care, but it is clear by the thug mentality of the students and gangs that attend, that there is nooo education available. I was on the newly drawn boundaries and was required to move my son from Orange Park High School, to this cesspool of a so called school!! Oh his grades went up...only because there is no bell curve at Forrest. It is definitely flat-line!! I will be looking to enroll my son else where as I know he will only suffer going to this place. Maybe if they spent more time getting students to follow the rules...like pulling pants up instead of running a thug fashion show there, some learning would happen. All staff is rude, and you can see they don't really care!! Guess when the doors close on this failing, shameful school...they will care as they will be out of a job!!
--Submitted by a parent

When I first moved down to Florida, I came on this site to see how the school I had to go to would be and this gave me the wrong idea completely. The students are not bad really. It's the staff. They are very RUDE all the time. The teachers don't teach really either. The staff could care less, the principal, vice principals, teachers, none of them care about the parents opr students. A lot of them I should say. It's really sad but the students are great. Made some really good friends.
--Submitted by a student

I decided to give Forrest another chance, since there is a new principal this year. Yes, learning starts at home. We as parents depend on the teachers and the admin staff to help prepare our children for the future. My son had both good and bad teachers last year. Yes, students need to respect the teachers, however the teachers need to respect the students as well. We pay them to teach! Not to put the assignment on the board and tell them hat their assignment is on the board. I recommend every parent to do a surprise visit to their child school to get a true picture of what's really going on. I wish Forrest success this year. I am happy that they are really enforcing school rules.
--Submitted by a parent

Government schools tend to be poor places to learn but, this one was just horrible.The teachers didn't care about the students. You were lucky if you had a teacher that even spoke during class. Assignments were usually just written on the board and that was all there was to it. No instruction, no help. The students were violent and the staff turn a blind eye to it. Students were not there to learn. They were only there because the law required them to attend. It was seen as a prison. You are better off dropping out, getting a GED, and starting collage courses at FCCJ( or whatever it is called now). You cannot get an education at this government institution.
--Submitted by a student

I went to this school for junior year and quickly transferred to Sandalwood in the middle of the year. I would not recommend this school to anyone. I'll tell you there are a lot of unmotivated students. Out of all my classes, I only liked 2 teachers. I think the school would be better if the parents are more involved. Disciplining and learning the importance of education starts at home!

It truly is not the teachers fault that this school has such poor ratings. When I attended this school half of my classes were honors and the other half were the standard. It was quite a remarkable switch each period, to say the least. You go from a quiet environment very suitable for learning, to one that is hard to think in because of the rowdiness and utter disrespect of the students. The ill-mannered children at Forrest have no respect for their teachers or any other student. The parents need to take responsibility for their children instead of blaming our hard working teachers for their child s failing grades.

I had two students at Forrest last year, but both have transferred to other high schools because of the student body, not the teachers. It is difficult to concentrate and learn with so many distractions. I am a substitute teacher, who has been in Forrest classrooms, and take my hat off to all teachers who are still trying in an environment of so many unmotivated youth. parents need to wake up and spend more time training and disciplinig their children and less time buying clothes, mp3s, and cell phones for disrespectful failing students. Schools aren't failing our children, parents are. Shame on you for not caring enough about your child's education.
--Submitted by a parent

I am a recent graduate of this school (Class of 2007). Its not really the school that's the problem. Most teachers are trying their hardest to teach the kids and help pass the FCAT. I do agree there are SOME teachers who don't teach as great as they should, but most of them are seriously trying their hardest. What can you do if students choose not to learn? I know for a fact that the APUSH, AP EURO, ROTC, and AP LIT teachers are teaching and its just those students who aren't listening or care enough to learn and graduate. I was in ROTC and I understand how they feel when students do not listen and disrespect. Its up to the students to decide what they want to do. I graduated with Honors, at the top 10% of my class, and I was 2nd in Command in ROTC.

I feel this school is out of focus and the school needs to get the parents involved more instead of trying to do it all.
--Submitted by a parent

this school cares nothing about academics compared to it's cares of student behavior and the way that it looks on the state. the teachers are more focused on your learning what they have planned the day they have it planned more than the fact that you may not even have it learned. they are focused on the way that they look more than the pace of the students themselves. they have a lot of improving to do.
--Submitted by a parent