Students start a new year

By Emily Richmond

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

As he marched up to the entrance of Lamping Elementary School in Henderson for his first day of kindergarten Monday, 5-year-old William Sinibaldi told his mother in a firm voice that she could leave him there and he would walk in on his own.

"He was fine. I cried my eyes out," said Leslie Sinibaldi, whose son is one of 50 students taking part in a pilot program offering full-day kindergarten classes for $300 a month in tuition.

Monday was a big day for students, teachers and staff throughout the Clark County School District, with an estimated 280,600 students in 301 schools, including 13 new campuses. There were also 2,000 new teachers on the job and more than 90,000 students riding over 300 bus routes.

An increase in the district's share of Title I funding -- federal aid earmarked for schools serving the highest percentage of students from low-income families -- let administrators expand the no-cost full-day kindergarten program at 54 at-risk schools. At Park Elementary School half of the students in teacher Laura Corona's classroom had limited English proficiency. Being in a full-day program will help those students get up to speed more quickly, Corona said.

"It makes everything easier -- communicating, getting them reading and talking to each other," Corona said. "We're also going to cover a lot more of the curriculum."

At Lamping, Sinibaldi said she's fortunate that she can afford to pay her son's tuition for the full-day program.

"Two and a half hours isn't enough time," Sinibaldi said. "The world has gotten very competitive. I want my son to have every opportunity available to him."

Trevor Woodie's son attended a private preschool last year, but the family wanted to give Lamping a try for kindergarten. The chance at the full-day program clinched the decision, Woodie said.

"We have great faith in the public education system," Woodie said.

For some parents the decision was a matter of economics -- at $300 a month the district's program is "a bargain" compared with some of the private after-school programs, said Megan Schroeder. One private school charges $850 just for the afternoon session, Schroeder said.

Students at many other schools had a different adjustment to make to the first day of school -- a switch to a stricter dress code. Twenty-seven schools now either require uniforms or have strict dress codes called "standard school attire" or "Dress for Success."

The district's regulations already prohibit certain attire, including spaghetti-strapped shirts and overly baggy pants. Since 2002 schools have been experimenting with stricter versions of the dress code, which this year ranges from a ban on blue jeans to mandatory uniforms at nine elementary schools.

Chaparral High School converted to the "Dress for Success" policy as a sensible way of uniting a campus composed largely of newcomers, Principal Penny Elliot said.

When the district's attendance zone boundaries were redrawn last spring, 1,200 Chaparral students were redirected to the new Del Sol High School, which also has the standard attire. Chaparral added 600 students from Las Vegas High School, which has the district's regular dress code.

"We don't know our kids yet," Elliot said. "This is a very open campus and for security purposes it makes good sense to have our students be more easily identifiable."

Given that some students and parents opposed the stricter dress code, Elliot said she was pleasantly surprised to see most of her charges wearing the solid-color pants and shirts allowed under the policy.

"This is only the first day, but I'd call it an excellent start," Elliot said.

Chaparral's version of "Dress for Success" may be the least restrictive in the district. Students may wear blue jeans on Fridays as long as they are matched with one of the school's "Cowboy" logo shirts.

Janie Ly, a senior at Chaparral, said some fashion fads do become a distraction at school. Clad in khaki pants and a navy blouse, Ly said she was impressed by the overall appearance of her schoolmates.

"Everybody looks really nice -- there's no chains jangling or baggy pants or really short shirts," Ly said. "I think it was a good idea."

Tenth grader Kristine Falcon agreed that the attire gave the school a better outward appearance, but she still planned to change out of her black pants and white shirt as soon as she got home.

"It's too hot for sleeves and all these buttons," Falcon said. "I want to be comfortable."

At Liberty High School, which last year became the first campus in the district to required "standard school attire," junior Kim Jacobs isn't won over.

"I hate it -- it infringes on my rights," Jacobs said. "I go to school to learn, not for them to tell me how I can and can't dress."

Her father, Don Jacobs, agreed.

The district should start by requiring students to follow the dress code already on the books, Jacobs said.

"The attire being worn by students today is totally uncalled for -- but if we can't enforce the rules we already have, how are we going to enforce more rules on top of that?" Jacobs asked. "Teaching neatness and modesty is my job as a parent -- not the school district."