School district plans cuts to alternative programs

Thursday, April 4, 2002 | 11:09 a.m.

Ashley Rusch's high school career couldn't really begin until her freewheeling days as a chronic truant came to an end at a Henderson Wal-Mart three years ago.

Ashley, then 14, frequently skipped classes to hang out with her friends at shopping malls and fast food restaurants -- moving from place to place each hour so as not to attract attention from store managers who might call the school police.

"We got caught all the time at Burger King," Ashley said Tuesday from a lounge at the Horizon/Sunset High School campus on Russell Road. "They would just drag us back to class."

Then one afternoon Ashley encountered an authority even scarier than school cops -- her mother.

"I was walking out and my mom was walking in," Ashley recalled, grimacing at the memory. "She screamed and yelled at me and moved me here."

"Here" is the Clark County School District's Horizon/Sunset Alternative High School, where Ashley, now 18, has been a student for three years. Her grades have gone from non-existent to A's and B's. She plans to attend junior college in the fall before transferring to a four-year university to study forensic science.

"If I hadn't switched schools I doubt I would ever graduate," Ashley said.

It may become more difficult for teenagers following Ashley's path to find that opportunity as the school district plans to cut spending on traditional alternative programs and instead use less expensive programs such as distance learning and independent study.

Faced with a $10 million budget shortfall, school district officials say they have no choice but to cut back on the alternative high school offerings, including the Sunset program, for the 2002-03 school year. The reorganization should save the school district $2.2 million next year alone, officials said.

Clark County schools spend $9,445 per pupil to educate students in alternative programs, according to district figures. The only program with a higher per-pupil cost is special education, at $22,257.

There are currently five alternative high schools that serve about 1,600 students who are trying to make up credits they missed because of reasons ranging from truancy to pregnancy. The Horizon program offers morning and early afternoon classes and the Sunset program runs from mid-afternoon until about 9 p.m.

Beginning in August, the two programs will be consolidated and renamed the Credit Retrieval Program, deputy superintendent for instruction Augustin Orci said. The Sunset high schools in the Northeast and Southeast regions will be eliminated and the Southwest region's program will be cut back significantly, with one central campus offering evening classes to the students in that area.

The district's four Opportunity School programs, for middle and high school students with behavioral problems, will also be consolidated, Orci said. The program's Jefferson campus in North Las Vegas will be shut down and students will instead go to either the northeast region or east region programs. The Continuation School, for students who have been expelled, will be expanded from 18 to 27 weeks and pupils will no longer transition through the Opportunity School program on their way back to mainstream schools.

Kay Hawkins, principal of Sunset High School South where Ashley is a student, said the district's budget cuts will likely force her to eliminate 11 classes from the school's daily schedule. That means teachers who currently have three periods will drop to two, Hawkins said. The school has applied for several federal grants that could keep the number of classes at its present level, Hawkins said.

"I understand these cuts are necessary, but that doesn't mean I won't try to find funds somewhere else," Hawkins said. "We have a terrific program here, and I'm going to do everything possible to keep it going strong."

The loss of direct teaching will be offset by the added options of independent study and distance learning, Hawkins said. More than 25 percent of Sunset High School South's 500 students have either a full-time or part-time job, and would likely benefit from Internet classes available 24 hours a day, Hawkins said.

The switch will help the district save money on everything from utility bills to teacher salaries, Orci said. The district's commitment to alternative education won't be diminished by the cutbacks, Orci said.

"We want to catch the kids who might otherwise fall through the cracks," Orci said. "That's why we have to maximize our resources for alternative programs to ensure that we can help as many kids as possible succeed."

The Sunset High School South campus on Russell Road is just warming up when most of the district's high school students are being dismissed for the day. Sunset's first period starts at 2:28 p.m. and the final bell rings at 8:43 p.m. Many of the students work in the earlier part of the day, said Sunset Principal Kay Hawkins.

The top reason cited by students who drop out of Clark County schools is "Need to work," Orci said. The ease with which high school dropouts can find jobs in the Las Vegas Valley makes it doubly difficult to keep students in class, he said.

The difference between the traditional high school setting and Sunset South is marked, students say -- class sizes are generally smaller, with more emphasis on in-school assignments than homework, which might be easier to dodge.

"We do everything right here, in the classroom," said junior Kristin Weber. "When you're doing it every day with the teacher right there, you have to learn."

Weber, 17, missed too many classes as she said she skipped school to spend her days partying on a friend's houseboat at Lake Mead. Faced with a future without an education, she finally decided to go back to school at Horizon/Sunset.

"If I wasn't here, I'd be hanging out at Lake Mead," Weber said. "I think I'm better off here."