Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Paxon School for Advance Studies and Sandalwood High School were selected as winners of the 2008 Countywide Student Voter Registration Drive “Freedom Award.” Additionally, Mandarin High School was recognized for registering the most students.
Both public and private schools throughout the county had the opportunity to receive one of six Freedom Awards, offered by the Supervisor of Elections Office. Awards were given to five schools that had the largest percentage of students registered, and an additional award was given to the school that registered the largest number of students.
A new law was recently passed that allows 16 year olds with a valid driver's license to pre-register in the same fashion as 17 year olds have done in the past. When these students turn 18, they receive their voter’s registration card. This year, nearly 16,000 DCPS students were eligible to register.
The winners of the 2008 Countywide Student Voter Registration Drive for the public schools were broken down into three categories according to their overall student population: small schools that had 650 students or less that were eligible to register, medium schools that had between 650-950 eligible students, and large schools who had 950 or more eligible students.
Douglas Anderson School of the Arts registered 70 percent of its eligible students, Paxon School for Advance Studies registered 47 percent and Sandalwood High School registered 66 percent. Mandarin High School registered a total of 923 students.
This year's countywide student voter registration drive was held in public and private high schools, public and private college and universities as well as technical schools throughout Duval County. Across the district, registration increased 57 percent. The total number of students registered during the registration drive was 7,714.
"This is a result of the concentrated effort of principals, social studies teachers and the Supervisor of Elections Office," said Clay Austin, district supervisor of social studies. "In this pivotal election year, it is important that we guide our students toward active participation in our democracy."
Below is a list of the percentage of increase in registration at each high school from 2007 to 2008:
| High School |
% Increase |
| A. Philip Randolph Academy |
76% |
| Andrew Jackson High |
57% |
| Baldwin High |
235% |
| Douglas Anderson School of the Arts |
73% |
| Ed White High |
27% |
| Englewood High |
39% |
| Fletcher High |
50% |
| Forrest High |
79% |
| Frank Peterson Academy |
45% |
| Lee High |
29% |
| Mandarin High |
147% |
| Paxon School for Advanced Studies |
14% |
| Raines High |
61% |
| Ribault High |
8% |
| Sandalwood High |
128% |
| Stanton College Preparatory School |
31% |
| Terry Parker High |
54% |
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