High school at college campus proposed

Jennifer Knight

Monday, Oct. 20, 2003 | 10:57 a.m.

Nevada State College at Henderson tried to bring college to high school with little success, but now a high school may be moving in with the college.

A year ago the state college closed its five off-campus high school sites because of low enrollment. Now a deal is in the works to open a charter high school inside the college's temporary campus in Henderson.

"What's in it for us is we believe if students start here and take classes at our institution, the likelihood of them continuing with us is much higher," college President Kerry Romesburg said.

Like the three Community College of Southern Nevada high school campuses, the state college high school would accept only 11th and 12th graders.

But the state college program would differ from CCSN's operation. CCSN's high school students currently take courses to satisfy their core curriculum and take college classes as electives. The core courses for high school juniors and seniors include English, math, history and U.S. government.

The Nevada State High School would enroll students directly in college courses that would count toward their high school core courses.

"The program we are proposing is more of a immersion program than the community college," said John Hawk, a state Board of Education member who is coordinating the effort to start the high school.

Romesburg said the state college arrangement "gives the student an incredible advantage as far as credit goes."

The charter school is still pending review by the state Board of Education. The County School District will review it to see if it complies with the curriculum, Hawk said.

Chris Giunchigliani, CCSN's liaison for high school programs, said the difficulty with the proposal could be that it doesn't meet strict state requirements for student curriculum.

"I don't know how they would do that within the confines of the Clark County School District," Giunchigliani said. If the state college is allowed to replace required high school courses with a college curriculum "then students in Nye County, Clark County or any other area would be able to do the same thing," Giunchigliani said.

Romesburg said certain courses would not be available to high school students.

"We have a class on human sexual behavior," Romesburg said. "I suspect that the high school would not enroll in that course."

Funding for the program would come from the money the school district the gets from the state, which is paid on a per-pupil basis. That money will pay for student tuition, two administrators and other setup costs.

Hawk did not say where the students would come from but predicts enrollment of 70 students initially. If the plan is approved, the high school would have its first class next fall.

The state college will also receive one other benefit from the program: It can count the high school students toward the college's overall enrollment, which currently is 531 students.