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Information from the 1999-2002 Magnet Schools
grant prepared by the Freeport School District
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| "Data supplied by the Freeport Police Department,
Freeport High School, and Freeport Youth Outreach, a community based
organization serving minority youths, further indicate that between
one-third and one-half of Freeport’s secondary school students are
involved at some level with drugs or alcohol, and with gangs. Although
five gangs are known to operate in Freeport, MS 13, a violent and
well-organized Latino gang, has stepped up its recruitment of members
targeting, in particular, new immigrant youth whose needs mount
unfulfilled within the family, school, and community. Freeport exceeds
Nassau County both in the percentage of violent crime, 19.5% per 1,000,
and in arrest figures for youth under the age of twenty-one. Of 714
suspensions at the high school during 1997-98. 512 were for
violence-related incidents, disruptive or other mal-adaptive social
behavior, or drug use. Moreover, Dodd Junior High School has been cited
as a Targeted Assistance Program (TAP) by the New York State Education
Department for declining academic achievement, and fewer than one-half
of the students at Freeport High School graduate with Regents diplomas.
Freeport has been identified as among the top thirty-seven districts in
New York State in Extraordinary Need, with a large and growing portion
of the student population at extremely high risk. These conditions are
becoming deterrents even to parents who themselves were raised in
Freeport, attended Freeport schools, and have been among the staunchest
supporters of the district." |
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