John A. Ferguson Senior High School., Miami | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

I find it sad how many reviews go in depth about a lack of “security” or the teachers personal behaviors. First, the review is of the school, not the students or teachers morals. Kids do drugs, no matter how much you enforce a stricter policy, it is going to happen. The school does its best to control what they can, but this is a school with policies it must follow before it can even begin to discipline students for that type of behavior. Those children have parents who need to correct their children not just rely on a school. As for the security guards, I cannot complain, all of my security guards while I was there were awesome, some were pushovers and others were enforcers of every rule. It’s a high school not a prison. Now, with the mentioning of teacher names. Mr. Marshall is a great teacher. His love for history although at times can be overwhelming is a beautiful thing to see. He loved teaching (Speaking from my own experience in his course) Student start rumors and/or continue rumors about teachers for various reasons, but no disciplinary action has ever to my knowledge been taken against him because there is no substance to the accusations and it is unfair to bring down a teacher with unsubstantiated rumors. In my three years at Ferguson, I grew to love not only the administration but the faculty. I was blessed with great teachers who not only guided me through high school but gave me a foundation for the real world. From a math teacher who never let me give up (even though I still suck at math, sorry Mrs. Adan) to a Chemistry teacher who worked with me as much as he could (Still awesome Mr. Delgado) to my counselor (Mr.Cortes) who always made sure everything I needed was done to graduate on time. Not to mention all the other amazing teachers I had (Morejon, Florian, Wesley, Countinho, raposo, Burger, Chew, Graham, Hertler, Romero, Weinkle) just to name a few who made the most impacts. Don’t get me wrong, when I was there, I complained, bad mouthed and said terribly mean things (Sorry Mr. Thompkins) but it was not for the people and guidance I received at this school, I would not be the person I am today and for that I will always be eternally grateful. This is a beautiful and amazing school and if you are fortunate to have your child here, they are in good hands.

This is one of the schools that exemplifies the issues with our high-school educational system. I was a B+ average student, now attending FIU for my pre-med. Main problem with this school is the drug problem, it is laughable how easy it is to acquire Marijuana or prescription meds on campus. There have been many instances of students getting high in the bathrooms, some kids would even take narcotics in the field when it’s empty or even in the classrooms of absent minded teachers. This is due to the extreme lack of security; the school finds 6 or 7 security guards, 3 of which are incompetent bullies, is enough for 4000+ students.

Second problem is the staff, you can tell many of them either don’t care or just shouldn’t be teachers. Huge example is to just ask anyone about Mr. Marshall, they’ll tell you about how he is a pervert that makes the class uncomfortable. Or Mr. Figuera, who was finally fired for just plainly failing students. Mr. Rudd who is just plain crazy, try to have a conversation with the guy. There was a teacher that on her day of resignation, invited several students to her house to smoke weed. A small investigation would plainly show how bad the staff is, from the teachers trying to fail students to counselors not giving a crap. For one of my classes I didn’t even have a teacher for months!
Btw a teacher is having an affair with a security guard, come on lady, you have a husband and kids!!

My next point is Ferguson fight week, a period where a ton of fights happen during the second half of the school year. The school’s response is to take away jeans. when there are too many. Nice solution!

This school needs to undergo investigation! We need teachers we can trust want to teach, we need staff that give a crap about their students, and enough security to allow all students here to feel safe in that school!

Worst school I’ve ever been to. I’m so happy I transferred to Braddock. Teachers are utterly careless and spend time talking about what they do in their freetime instead of teaching. Favoritism is BIG in this school, and students talk about flirting with a teacher just to get a higher grade?! I tried my best to be positive in this school, but I could not be positive at all. I have a hearing disorder and I got made fun of for it. The IB program here is terrible. Teachers will assign tests that have nothing to do with what they tell you to study. Electives teachers do not care at all. The only good teachers in this school, based on my freshman year spent here, are Mr. Blas Mir, a spanish teacher, and Ms. Ania Moussawel, a photography teacher. They are genuinely nice and pure-hearted. Other than that, teachers would give Zs to students without even notifying them there was an assignment and refuse to help or explain when students come up asking questions. I’m so glad God gave me the chance to transfer out of the IB program here and into Cambridge at Braddock, because if not my GPA would be ruined. Soon after I transferred, 3 more people followed. Students here at Ferguson hang around in cliques and will diss you if you’re new and try to make friends. The office staff is extremely rude and charged my mom for all the things she had already paid in the beginning of the school year once we left the school. This school, at least for me, was a disappointing experience. Live and learn.