Editorial: Back to the future

Friday, Oct. 10, 2003 | 9:16 a.m.

Clark County School District administrators are seeking support for a pilot project in Henderson that would allow them to rebuild two schools so that these campuses would educate students from kindergarten through eighth grade. Schools such as these were common until the late 1950s, but that changed over time so that today we typically have elementary schools in Clark County with students from kindergarten to fifth grade and middle schools with students in grades six through eight.

School administrators have put forward good reasons for turning back the clock. Students would be able to attend one campus for nine years, providing the continuity that would enable them and their families to know the teachers better and result in their being more active in school. Younger students who currently attend elementary school also would be able to use facilities that they currently might not have access to, such as laboratories, music rooms and auditoriums. Edward Goldman, the superintendent of the school district's southeast region, says experience elsewhere shows that test scores and discipline improve in these settings, too.

But, as the Sun reported Thursday, parents whose children would attend the new schools question the wisdom of mixing impressionable young children with adolescents, including on bus rides and at recess. "The little ones look up to the older ones and copy what what they do," says Victoria Werner, who has children in kindergarten and second grade. "I don't want my 8-year-old learning about some of the things at his age." We're pleased the school district is trying new approaches to education, but administrators should address and resolve the concerns that parents have. It is essential that this undertaking have the backing of parents before it goes forward.