Dawson School spares no expense for learning

Kris Hill

Thursday, Nov. 23, 2000 | 9:50 a.m.

On a white board in a third grade classroom at the Alexander Dawson School, the phrase "Convince your parents to let you stay at Dawson" is outlined with a squiggly rectangle.

Students want to stay at the new school in Summerlin and parents want their children to stay, because it is unique among the 48 private schools in the Las Vegas area.

That can be difficult, however. Even with multimillion-dollar backing from its founding organization, the Colorado-based Alexander Dawson Foundation, Dawson is an expensive school.

Tuition is more than $11,000 per year, though financial aid is available, Stephen Bowers, who heads the Dawson School, said.

Dawson, a nonprofit school, is one of the most expensive private kindergarten through eighth grade schools in Las Vegas. The next closest school -- The Meadows -- costs nearly $9,000 per year for kindergarten through fifth grade, with middle school tuition at $9,750 per year.

Tuition at similarly sized Catholic schools in the area ranges from $1,700 per year at St. Christopher's for parish members to the $2,400 parishioners pay at Our Lady of Las Vegas School. The Catholic schools are supported by churches.

It's hard to compare tuition even among similar schools, Bowers said, because of the different ways schools assess fees.

On average students at Dawson receive $6,800 a year in financial aid. Some students receive more than others, but no one gets a full ride, Bowers said. About 18 percent of the students receive financial aid.

Most of the tuition pays for staff salaries and benefits, and the rest goes to student programs.

Bowers tells parents that the cost includes almost everything, and that there won't be any surprise expenses.

It seems parents find the high price is worth it. Some parents already are asking Bowers to add a high school in the future.

Right now Dawson has 160 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, and will add 100 more students in sixth and seventh grade next year. In two years it will have its first class of eighth grade students.

Part of the allure of private schools such as Dawson, offsetting the high price, is the rigorous academic environment, small classes and Bower's philosophy of an integrated curriculum.

For example, students learned about Pablo Picasso in art class earlier this year, then created abstract self-portraits in the style of the artist's blue period.

In another classroom, students were heard repeating Spanish vocabulary words to their teacher, who is from Argentina. Second graders in the class were learning the months of the year in Spanish.

Kindergarten classes have a maximum of 18 students. The youngest students spend all day in class. Each class has a teacher and a full-time assistant. They also spend time with other teachers during the day to learn Spanish, science or music.

Alicia Hibler used to teach in Clark County public schools. Before she came to Dawson, she taught half-day kindergarten classes. She would have 32 students in the morning, and 32 in the afternoon.

When she found out the maximum class size at Dawson was 18 kids with a full-time assistant, she couldn't say no to the job, she said, even though she was at a good elementary school with lots of parent support.

There's more to like than just small classes, Hibler said.

"Another thing that I like about this school is that the financial aid is available," she said. That means the student body is diverse, because the school doesn't cater only to wealthy families.

And teachers get funding to make their classroom dreams come true. If Hibler wants to teach her students about how baby chicks grow in their eggs, she can ask for money for an incubator or two -- and she'll get the funds.

It's wonderful to be able to get money for the fun activities as well as for the basic supplies such as paper and crayons, she said.

"It gets us excited, and when the kids see we're excited, we pass that energy on to them," Hibler said.

Dawson's ability to provide means there are other bonuses for the teachers. They each have an office, a laptop and a telephone.

Having a telephone is a big deal, Hibler said. It shows that the administration wants to treat the teachers like the professionals that they are. Those luxuries exist because of the tuition and the money the Alexander Dawson Foundation provides.

The excitement of the teachers makes for happy students, and in turn happy parents, despite the expense.

"I think we're providing a level of service that's unique to the area," Bowers said.