Campuses unveiled as classes begin

By Emily Richmond

Monday, Aug. 30, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

By 7:50 this morning, Clark County Schools Superintendent Carlos Garcia had already been at two new campuses and was en route to a third.

Garcia began the first day of the school year at Canyon Springs High School in the district's northeast region. The new high school's Leadership and Law Academy is a "exciting addition to our magnet programs," Garcia said.

"All of the energy here, it's just amazing," Garcia said. "When you think that these are students who chose this program, you realize they are sincerely interested."

Canyon Springs is one of 13 new campuses opening this school year, and the academy is one of several new programs in the school district.

Thanks to an increase in federal Title I funding -- reserved for low-income students at the district's most struggling schools -- 54 campuses will offer full-day kindergarten programs. Another 12 schools will offer tuition-based kindergarten classes, with parents paying $300 a month.

At Park Elementary School on Franklin Avenue near Maryland Parkway and East Charleston Boulevard, where student enrollment is 80 percent Hispanic, full-day kindergarten is essential for the at-risk school, Garcia said.

"These are some of our children who need that extra boost early on or we face a real risk of losing them altogether," said Garcia, who visited the school this morning.

Research indicates that full-day kindergarten programs produce students who are more advanced academically and socially than their peers in half-day programs. Students coming from full-day kindergarten programs are also more likely to be reading at grade-level in first grade and to remain there.

Maria Alma Pingul, whose two children attend Park, said she was grateful her daughter was in a full-day kindergarten. Last year, her son, who is now a fifth grader, stayed after school for the Safe Key program, sponsored by Las Vegas.

"It's a lot better for her to be in class instead of Safe Key," Pingul said of her daughter Chelsea. "She's going to learn a lot more. She will be in the same room with the same teacher, and that makes me feel like she's safer."

There are five full-day kindergarten classrooms at Park with 144 students enrolled so far. Teacher Laura Corona had 28 kindergarteners in her classroom this morning.

"It was a lot easier to get ready for the year with one group of students to worry about instead of two groups," Corona said. "The full-day schedule is going to help us cover a lot more of the curriculum."

The district will also have a "virtual" high school, with 150 students enrolled to take classes online. While the district has offered distance education for several years, this is the first time students may complete all high school credits online.

At the new Findlay Middle School, also in the northeast region, Garcia said he was impressed to see students wearing the standard school attire, dubbed "Dress for Success."

The enhanced version of the district's dress code requires students to wear khaki pants with solid-colored polo shirts or button-down, collared shirts. Now 27 schools are requiring standard attire or uniforms. Six of the 13 new schools -- including all three of the new high schools -- are requiring the "Dress for Success." Liberty High School, now in its second year, was the first high school campus to require the stricter dress code.

The dress code has been the source of some controversy, as some parents and students have resisted the stricter rules.

"The kids look really sharp," Garcia said. "I think once this gets up and running it's going to win everybody over. The students look ready to learn, and that's what we want."

The district welcomed an estimated 280,600 students today to the first day of the 2004-05 academic year.

The district will have 187 elementary schools, 50 middle schools, 38 high schools, 23 alternative schools and six special education schools.

Garcia called full-day kindergarten at the Title I schools and the tuition-based program the district's "pride and joy."

"Our top goal is to have a level playing field, and the best way to have that is to get every child at grade level from the very first day they come to school," Garcia said. "You can learn so much more when there isn't any catching up to do."