Cable television to carry new school channel

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2003 | 9:55 a.m.

Clark County will soon have a second cable channel dedicated to educational programming for Southern Nevada's students, officials for Cox Communications announced Monday.

The new channel, set to launch this spring, will be a partnership between Cox, the Clark County School District, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Community College of Southern Nevada. It would not be a broadcast channel and would be available only on Cox cable.

KLVX Channel 10, the public television station that airs educational programming on Channel 10, will also participate. KLVX is a broadcast station that is also carried on Cox.

Lee Solonche, director of distance learning for Channel 10, said the additional air time will allow schools to offer more high school and college-level classes without squeezing out the programming aimed at preschoolers.

"We have a lot of learners out there, all in different situations requiring different approaches," Solonche said. "The more intelligently we use the multimedia tools we have, the more effective we'll be at reaching those students."

One of the leading reasons students drop out of school is credit deficiency -- lacking enough class time to stay at grade level, district officials said. The district's dropout rate is around 5 percent -- down from 11 percent in the mid-1990s -- and educators say they want to see the number drop even further.

For some students, making up the credits at one of the district's other alternative programs -- such as night school -- isn't possible because of family or work obligations. Distance learning allows students to follow along by watching classes on television or by taking home course videotapes.

"We need to give kids every chance to make up the classes they need, stay in school and graduate," said Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of instruction for the School District. "That's our No. 1 priority."

More than 3,000 students are enrolled in distance learning programs through Channel 10, Solonche said. One of the more popular classes is driver's education, which is required of people under age 18 for a license.

Distance learning also saves the district money because there's no need to pay teachers or provide classrooms. Last spring Clark County administrators decided to consolidate some of the alternative education programs and put a greater emphasis on distance learning.