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:Forest High School (Florida)#2018 shooting

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox school

| name = Forest High School

| image = ForestHighSchoolOcalaMascot.gif

| streetaddress = 5000 Southeast Maricamp Road

| city = Ocala

| state = Florida

| district = Marion County Public Schools

| county = Marion

| zipcode = 34480

| country = US

| schooltype = Public secondary

| established = {{Start date|1969|08|15|df=y}}

| status =

| superintendent = Diane Gullett

| ceeb = 101258

| principal = Lamar Rembert 

| teaching_staff = 101.00 (FTE)

| ratio = 23.59

| grades = 9–12

| enrollment = 2,383 (2023–2024){{cite web|url=https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=1201260&SchoolPageNum=2&ID=120126001271|title=FOREST HIGH SCHOOL|publisher=National Center for Education Statistics|access-date=January 26, 2025}}

| colors = Green, Gold & White
{{color box|green}} {{color box|gold}} {{color box|white}}

| mascot = Wildcat

| rival = Vanguard High School

| accreditation = Florida State Department of Education

| website = {{URL|http://www.marionschools.net/fhs}}

| coordinates = {{Coord|29.1441446|-82.0664781|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| pushpin_map = Florida#USA

}}

Forest High School is a school near Ocala, Florida, United States. It has an EMIT (engineering) program. The school's colors are green and gold and the school mascot is the Wildcat. As of 2014, it had an enrollment of some 2,058.

Forest High School moved to its current location on Maricamp Road, southeast of the city limits of Ocala, in 2005. The school was originally on Fort King Street in Ocala, at the 1959 campus of Ocala High School. Prior to 1965, the school was for white students only. In 1965, a group of 34 students from the nearby black school, Howard High School began attending. In 1969 the courts mandated the schools became fully integrated and Howard was closed. Vanguard High School was opened the same year, and the Marion County School Board put to rest the name Ocala High School.{{cite news |last1=Fillmore |first1=Andy |title=Howard High class of 1968 remembers good times, challenges of integration |url=https://www.ocala.com/article/LK/20131222/News/604149694/OS |access-date=13 May 2020 |publisher=Ocala Star Banner }}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Forest High School is in the Marion County School District.

Programs

=Engineering and Manufacturing Institute of Technology (EMIT) =

EMIT is a four-year magnet engineering program at Forest High School. EMIT aims to teach its students engineering fundamentals to prepare them for postsecondary colleges or universities in engineering. The curriculum is heavily project-based that often includes problem-solving tasks which must be built and later presented to teachers. These projects typically cover the basics of many engineering disciplines, including civil engineering, aerospace engineering, and more.

EMIT was created from a $1.2 million Florida Department of Education grant in 1994. An application is required to be considered for admission.

Shooting

File:MCSO Surveillance Body Camera Video Forest High School Shooting.webm

On April 20, 2018, at 8:29 a.m, a 19-year-old former student went on school premises armed with a sawed-off 16-gauge Winchester Model 12 pump-action shotgun, a black tactical vest, and a blue backpack full of gloves and shotgun shells.{{cite news |title=Images: Evidence, video stills from Forest shooting |url=https://www.gainesville.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2018/05/31/images-evidence-video-stills-from/817228007/ |access-date=1 June 2018 |publisher=The Gainesville Sun}} The perpetrator, later identified as Sky Bouche, shot once through a classroom door and a piece of the door hit one student in the ankle. Immediately after, Bouche surrendered to the school staff. Marion County Sheriff's Office School Resource Deputy Jim Long soon arrested him and took him into custody.{{cite news |title=Who Is Deputy Jim Long? Resource Officer Stopped Forest High School Shooter |url=https://www.newsweek.com/deputy-jim-long-school-resource-officer-stopped-forest-high-school-shooter-895830 |access-date=16 October 2024 |publisher=Newsweek}} SWAT officers swept the school afterwards in search of any weapons or explosives.

In court, Bouche stated that his reason for wanting to shoot up the school was because he figured it was the only way to get out of his violent home life.{{cite news |title=He fired a shotgun into a classroom door, police say, then said ‘sorry’ to the injured student|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/04/21/a-florida-school-shooting-suspect-charged-with-terrorism-says-sorry-to-injured-student/ |access-date=21 April 2018 |publisher=The Washington Post}} Bouche also stated that he chose to do it on April 20 since it was the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre. Bouche was charged with Terrorism, Aggravated Assault with a Firearm, Culpable Negligence, Carrying a Concealed Firearm, Possession of a Firearm on School Property, Possession of a Short-Barreled Shotgun, Interference in a School Function, and Armed Trespassing on School Property. In 2021, Bouche was sentenced to 30{{spaces}}years imprisonment, with the possibility of parole only after 25{{spaces}}years, followed by an additional 30{{spaces}}years of probationary release.{{cite news |last1=Cutway |first1=Adrienne |title=Man who shot student at Forest High School sentenced to 30 years in prison |url=https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/04/22/man-who-shot-student-at-forest-high-school-sentenced-to-30-years-in-prison/ |access-date=21 Sep 2021 |publisher=ClickOrlando}} After Bouche was sentenced, he stated that he never intended to kill anyone, but wanted to "let people know there's something wrong" with him.{{cite news |title=Former student who opened fire at Ocala school sentenced to 30 years in prison|url=https://www.wesh.com/article/sky-bouche-sentencing-shooting-ocala-school/36202871|access-date=21 April 2021 |publisher=WESH Orlando}}

Marion County School Board member Nancy Stacy cancelled all school gun-reform walkouts in Marion County due to the shooting.{{cite news |title=Florida school district cancels walkouts after shooting|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/20/us/florida-shooting-walkout-trnd/index.html|access-date=20 April 2018 |publisher=Cable News Network}} Deputy Jim Long was labelled "Florida School Resource Officer Of The Year" for his involvement in arresting Bouche on June 20, 2018.{{cite news |title=Forest High's Jim Long Named Florida School Resource Officer Of The Year|url=https://www.wuft.org/public-safety/2018-06-20/forest-highs-jim-long-named-florida-school-resource-officer-of-the-year|access-date=19 October 2024 |publisher=WUFT}}

Notable alumni

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20070301053048/http://users.mfi.net/~forest/index.html Forest High School Website]

{{Schools in Marion County, Florida}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Buildings and structures in Ocala, Florida

Category:High schools in Marion County, Florida

Category:Educational institutions established in 1969

Category:Public high schools in Florida

Category:1969 establishments in Florida