First lady defends husband on LV trip

Kirsten Searer

Friday, Feb. 20, 2004 | 11:37 a.m.

First lady Laura Bush defended her husband's education policies Thursday at a visit to Advanced Technologies Academy, a Las Vegas magnet school.

She also told an audience of teachers and students that she hopes the upcoming presidential election won't be the dirtiest in history, as some have forecasted.

"But we have a lot of experience with that, a lot of other campaigns before us," she said. "It's just a fact of life in politics. You don't get used to it, I guess, but you know to expect it."

Bush made a short trip to Las Vegas as the last leg of a three-day fund raising and campaigning trip to Arkansas, California and Nevada.

She visited a classroom and conducted a roundtable discussion with teachers and students at Advanced Technologies Academy. At a question-and-answer session, she defended the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act.

About a dozen states have challenged the federal legislation, saying it sets tough accountability measures but doesn't provide enough funding to meet them.

But the first lady disagreed on Thursday, saying Nevada received an extra $72 million in its Title 1 budget in 2005. There also is still about $6 billion in unused funds appropriated in the act that states have not accessed, she said.

"Critics say that there's not enough money appropriated with it, but there is more money in the No Child Left Behind Act than there's been in any previous federal law ever before," she said.

Clark County School Board President Susan Brager-Wellman, who attended the Bush event, said she understands concerns about No Child Left Behind, but she also realizes the legislation is in its beginning stages.

"It has its challenges," Brager-Wellman said. "And I believe we can meet these challenges."

During her visit, the first lady also praised Advanced Technologies Academy, which last fall was named a Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor given by the Education Department.

The school has just about 1,000 students, and each is allowed to focus on computer programming, graphic design, engineering or law-related courses.

The school has a vocational and technological philosophy that, Bush said, fits in well with her husband's 21st Century Initiative, which aims to teach students skills for technology, science and math jobs.

The school provides computers to every student and has a rigorous curriculum, she said.

Sally Natividad, who teaches math to juniors and seniors at the school, told Bush that her school's Advanced Placement classes encourage students to use their critical thinking skills.

Natividad later said she is glad that the administration wants to emphasize math, science and English. Too many high school students skip out on math classes in their senior year, even if they are headed to college, she said.

Student Lauren Wu, a 17-year-old senior who is focusing on business, told Bush that she appreciates the school's tough Advanced Placement classes.

"It's definitely a challenge," Wu said after the roundtable discussion. "You definitely do have to be really strict with your study habits."

Still, Wu said she thinks more schools should incorporate elements of the technology and vocational classes offered at her school. Students at her school are so committed to their classes that it's "kind of a shock" to go to other schools where students don't care as much, she said.

Principal Jane Oler said she hopes to incorporate more methods encouraged by the 21st Century Initiative into the curriculum at Advanced Technologies Academy. The school already has partnerships with engineering professors at UNLV, Oler said.

And she said she plans to encourage more professionals to teach on an adjunct basis at the school to provide students with the latest in information about their professions.

Still, she said, it's important to focus on the basics.

"Good math, good science, good English skills," she said. "These three are certainly all major foundations for occupations."