New, improved schools open

By Emily Richmond

Monday, Aug. 25, 2003 | 11:21 a.m.

Since she found out in April she had been accepted to attend the new international studies magnet program at Sandy Miller Elementary school, Yanira Graham, 6, has asked her mother repeatedly if today is the day she starts first grade.

"I kept asking, 'Mommy, am I going to my new school? Mommy, am I going to my new school,' " Yanira said this morning from the cafeteria of the Clark County School District's new campus at 4851 E. Lake Mead Blvd., near Lamb Boulevard. "And I got up this morning and I asked her again, and she said, 'Today's the day.' And we screamed and jumped up and down."

Yanira was just one of hundreds of students and parents who met in the early hours before class today for breakfast of cereal and orange juice and a chance to talk with the school's namesake, former Nevada first lady Sandra Miller.

"It's a beautiful facility with a sensational staff and a challenging curriculum," Miller said, as she greeted parents and students. "My experiences in education have always been, 'Set high expections, and the children will meet them.' The children here are going to do very well in this environment."

The Sandy Miller Elementary Academy for International Studies is working toward becoming the first Clark County elementary school authorized by the International Baccalaureate Organization and is undergoing a three-year application process. The organization promotes introducing foreign languages to children by age 7 and emphasizes fine arts and technology.

The goal is to have Miller's curriculum aligned with the International Baccalaureate magnet programs at Roy Martin Middle School and Valley High School, both of which share enrollment boundaries with Miller, Grisham said.

"All the new schools stand out, but I think we really have something unique to offer," Miller Principal Anne Grisham said. "And as a magnet school, we're giving parents another choice if they want to go beyond their neighborhood."

What's happening at Miller is an example of what district officials say they want at all 289 Clark County campuses, slated to serve more than 267,000 students this year.

"We expect every single school to develop a positive relationship with the parents and the children and ensure every student learns reading, writing and math," Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of curriculum for the district, said. "We're setting the bar higher than ever."

Other campuses -- both new and existing -- will be launching innovative programs today. At the new Liberty High School students will follow a classical education model, which includes four years of Latin classes and a required dress code. At Cheyenne High School ninth graders considered at risk of failing English and math will be separated by gender, a program based on numerous studies showing single-sex classes can boost achievement.

School-based initiatives such as those at Liberty, Cheyenne and Miller are a reflection of the diversity that comes with living in a large district with a continually booming population, Clark County School Board member Larry Mason said.

Now in the third year of the reorganization of the district, each of the five regions is developing its own personality, Mason said.

"Schools are reaching out to students and their families, they're looking at what the needs are and addressing them from the outset, being proactive instead of reactive," Mason said. "You can be an individual and still part of the whole."

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, a former special education teacher in Clark County, said she's continually impressed with what the district is able to offer despite less-than-stellar funding at both the state and federal levels.

While the Legislature approved increasing per-pupil funding, Nevada is still below the national average, Giunchigliani said.

"It would be easier and cheaper to just make every school the same, but the district encourages administrators to sit down the community and say, 'This is what we need in our neighborhood,"' Giunchigliani said. "The downside is that more and more demands are being dumped on them, but we haven't given them any more time to teach, we haven't given them much more money. I say shame on us if you have high expectations but then don't give teachers and schools the resources to meet them."

The expectations among students at Sandy Miller school were lofty, but not as wide-ranging.

Chad Laird, 9, said he was eager to get to school because he had heard that third graders learn cursive.

"I already know how to write my first name," Chad said, as he dined on bran flakes and orange juice. "I need to learn how to write my last name too."

His sister, Liberty Nelson, also a third grader, had one question to administrators when she arrived: "Can we take books out and take them home to read?"

When told she could, she reacted with a wide smile.