Councilman helps boost school spirit at alma mater

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005 | 7:56 a.m.

In preparation for Las Vegas Councilman Lawrence Weekly's visit to her classroom, Western High School freshman Nancy Ponce had written her question on a note card: Had he ever thought of dropping out when he attended the school?

"Rip that card right up -- right now, rip it up," said Weekly, a Western graduate. "Drop out for what? What would I do, where would I go? Dropping out shouldn't even be in your vocabulary for discussion."

The councilman's guest appearance this week was part of Teach for America Week, an annual national event in which high-profile professionals visit the classrooms of the program's teachers.

Teach for America trains recent college graduates for two-year assignments in at-risk schools. The Clark County School District currently has 125 Teach for America participants at 42 schools.

In Teach for America member Megan McWenie's freshman English class, Weekly encouraged students to show up for class, get involved in activities and make the most of their fleeting high school years.

Western posted the lowest average daily attendance rate in the district last year -- 89.5 percent.

"You guys have so many opportunities right in front of you, but nobody thinks it's cool to take advantage of them," Weekly said. "When I went to school here, everybody participated in some kind of extra-curricular activity. Football games -- you couldn't get a space in the parking lot."

Weekly, of the class of 1982, said the campus at the corner of Decatur Boulevard and Bonanza Road had changed little in terms of its physical layout. But the "tone" he encountered this week could not be more different from the Western he knew and loved.

"We were known for excellence in sports as well as academics," Weekly said. "We were always considered one of the top schools around."

But in the ensuing decades, as newer and fancier high schools have sprung up, Western began to lag. The school is in its second year on the state's "needs improvement" list for failing to show "adequate yearly progress" on student tests. The campus has also developed a reputation as a rough school.

For the 2004-05 academic year, Western had an official enrollment of 2,299 and reported 190 incidents of violence among students.

During the same period, Centennial High School -- which had about 300 more students than Western -- had only 87 incidents, and Palo Verde High School, with more than 3,000 students, had 32 incidents. Cimarron-Memorial High School had 127 incidents of violence with an enrollment of 2,811, and Shadow Ridge High School, with 2,513 students, reported 67 incidents. All of the campuses are in the Clark County School District's northwest region.

"We have to change people's image of what they perceive from the outside," said Western Vice Principal Julia Llapur, who is in her first year at the school. "They think the school's old, the kids aren't good -- but I've had nothing but great kids. They're not mean, they're not wild. We have to get that across."

Western has seen some positive changes in recent months. The campus has a new gym, and a performing arts annex will open in January. The school's Air Force Junior ROTC won three team awards at competitions last year as well as seven individual honors.

Western also is one of a handful of district schools offering Advancement Via Individualized Determination, or AVID, a program that provides students with intensive tutoring and specialized classes to help them prepare for college.

Weekly said he would have liked to see more visible evidence of those kinds of achievements as he walked the Western campus Monday.

"The hallways are really boring -- blah," Weekly said. "They need some school spirit."

Llapur agreed with Weekly that the school's hallways lacked flair.

"We're telling all our teachers it's OK to put student work up in the halls," Llapur said. "We aren't going to change overnight, but the little things do add up."

Emily Richmond can be reached at 259-8829 or at emily@lasvegassun.com.