First Coast News and Andrew Jackson High School are creating a partnership to touch lives and further the education in a challenged area of town.
The historic school along Main and Pearl streets in Jacksonville first opened in 1927. Crime is common in the area and the school has served as a safe haven for many students. In years past, test scores have struggled.
In 2011, it was ranked among the worst in the state with an ‘F’ rating.
Andrew Jackson High School is currently a school in transition. In 2016, under the leadership of a new principal, Tracolya Clinch, the school became a dedicated magnet program. Its most recent rating is a ‘B’.
The transition inside its walls is a fascinating one. While many of the classrooms haven’t been remodeled in decades and lack current technology others model those of a university.
The school is teaching cyber security and video game creation to its magnet students. Other partnerships in the community have helped these programs excel with strong technology to back it up.
The large aging building shows signs of life and rebirth in some areas, but others reflect the image of a forgotten inner-city school. The goal for First Coast News is to aid the district in furthering its transition.
The news department felt a calling to ‘do something’ following recent crime in the city. We often talk about part of our role as an organization to make the First Coast a better place to live.
This partnership is part of a two-pronged approach. First, First Coast News worked with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to establish a partnership on its ‘9pm Routine’.
The ‘9pm Routine’ is a social media effort that JSO began a year ago to educate the public on the importance of locking car doors and taking guns and other valuables inside. Between the years 2015 and 2017 more than 1609 guns were stolen from unlocked cars. Those guns are often sold on the streets and used in crimes.
First Coast News created five public service announcements to run on NBC 12 and ABC 25 including two with Teresa Kondek, the widow of Tarpon Springs police officer Charles Kondek. Kondek was killed in the line of duty with a gun that had been stolen from an unlocked car in Jacksonville.
First Coast News also created Facebook, Instagram and Twitter videos for the project.
The partnership with Andrew Jackson High School is the second part of our ‘Do Something’ project. We’ll be working to add mentors to the school. First Coast News employees will be among them. Over the summer, First Coast News will hold ‘Make-A-Difference’ day at the school. We’ll be working with others in the community to make repairs to the building.
Over the course of the next school year First Coast News will taking viewers along this journey. There will be opportunities for involvement.