Some parents and students in the Forestville High School community say recent changes may be the cause of violent attacks there this year, and they want the school to go back to a full military academy.
Charmaine Scarlett, a Temple University student who graduated from Forestville High in 2014, said it was just a military academy when she was a freshman but changed in 2013.
The school opened to neighborhood children to increase dwindling enrollment, a Prince George’s County Public Schools spokesman said. As it stands, the school’s building is still underused.
Military academy students dress and act like military personnel while regular students have school uniforms and a more relaxed structure. Some call that a distraction.
Teacher Marq King told News4 he’s noticed a deterioration in the atmosphere of the school since the change.
Hundreds of parents are petitioning to have the school return to a full military academy.
