Panels: Happier homes, funding key for schools

Valerie Miller

Friday, April 28, 2000 | 10:45 a.m.

More state funding and improved home lives are needed to help students succeed at three troubled Las Vegas elementary schools, state panelists told the Clark County School Board Thursday night.

Booker, Madison and Fitzgerald elementary schools had been studied by state-appointed panels after being placed on Nevada's list of schools in need of improvement in 1998.

While Madison and Fitzgerald remain on the list for the third-straight year, Booker's test scores have improved to the point where the school was removed from the list this month.

Recommendations were made by the three separate panels -- one panel for each school -- on what was needed to improve the schools and raise tests scores for students. Some School Board members contended that a lot of the problems at the schools are due to the troubled home lives of many students.

The panels' report suggested more parent involvement in many of the schools. School Board members said they hoped to find ways for the district to work with parents.

Other facets of the schools evaluated by the panel included principals, the turnover rate of teachers, student disciplinary problems, safety concerns, curriculum and progress of schools programs.

Among the recommendations made to the board were the suggested hiring of a mentor with experience working with at-risk children to assist Fitzgerald Principal Leary Adams and improving the discipline policy at Madison.

While some of the recommendations could be implemented without much costs, others would take more money than the district alone could provide, board members said.

"We need the Legislature to help with this or we won't be able to do it," School Board member Lois Tarkanian said.

Currently, schools in need of improvement do divide up some additional state funds and are eligible for the added funding for one year after being removed from the list, state education consultant Terry Owens said.