School start-time meeting fails to rouse crowd

By Emily Richmond

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2006 | 9:34 a.m.

A small and well-rested crowd greeted the Clark County School Board for Thursday's special meeting to discuss proposed changes to campus start times.

About 40 parents, students and district staff members turned out for the meeting, a smaller turnout than some School Board members had predicted, given the volatile topic.

The Clark County School District is considering ways to have high school begin later than 7 a.m. to give teenagers more time to sleep - at least in theory. Studies show the biological clocks of adolescents are vastly different than any other age group and teenagers are typically sleep-deprived.

Rearranging start times for high schoolers would likely have a domino effect on the elementary and middle school schedules. That could mean students walking home on darkened streets during winter months and some elementary school pupils spending as long as 2.5 hours at daycare before their school day even began.

Advocates of the later start times have suggested some teenagers would benefit from fewer unsupervised afternoon hours.

But Jim Blockey, longtime district teacher, said the School Board needs to wake up.

"Anyone who doesn't think moving high school by a half-hour won't mean kids go to bed two hours later is kidding themselves," Blockey said. "As for keeping them off the streets, I'm a teacher, not a baby-sitter. As professionals we don't really appreciate that attitude."

Saxon Hill, a senior at Valley High School, also told the School Board changing start times will have no effect on student achievement.

"Kids who want to do well go to bed on time and get up on time," said Hill, who turns in at 10 p.m. and sets his alarm for 5:45 a.m. "The kids who don't want to do well are going to mess around no matter what time school starts."

The School Board will likely make a decision by April if it plans to rearrange start times for the 2006-07 academic year. Potential changes include creating a pilot program for a handful of schools in one region of the district.

Tackling Clark County's high school dropout rate - one of the nation's worst - has been a central theme for the district in recent years. And efforts to support the cause have spread beyond the classroom.

The Public Education Foundation has been handing out mini-grants to educators for innovative approaches to keeping students in school. At the district's Sunset East High School, a $400 grant was used to buy bus tokens that are handed out as needed.

"A lot of these students are working, have family responsibilities, some have children," said Kevin Biesinger, the foundation's grant coordinator. "The district doesn't provide transportation (to students in the evening credit retrieval classes) and for some them even bus fare can be a hardship."

For 2005, the district's dropout rate stood at 6.8 percent, down from 7.6 percent the previous year. Centennial High School's dropout rate posted one of the sharpest declines, to 3.7 percent from 8.3 percent. Principal Gerald Velasquez said an intensive remedial program - Read 180 - has been invaluable.

"It's gone a long way with our kids who were struggling just to get by, the ones who are typically the most at risk for dropping out," Velasquez said.

Daniel Edmondson, an eighth grader at Silvestri Junior High School, has been named one of Nevada's top youth volunteers by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Daniel will receive $1,000 as well as a free trip to Washington, D.C., in May for the selection of 10 national winners.

Daniel, who was nominated by his school for the honor, has been teaching Taekwondo classes to younger children since he was just 8. To qualify as a junior instructor he passed the physical and written tests and logged 350 volunteer hours at the martial arts studio. He now serves as a peer mentor, helping younger students prepare for competitions.

Daniel will be joined in Washington by Nevada's other top youth volunteer, Wooster High School senior Erin Brosy of Reno. Erin recruited art students at local high schools to make 300 bowls which were sold, along with four varieties of homemade soup, at a benefit dinner. The event raised more than $6,000 for a program supporting homeless families.

Emily Richmond can be reached at 259-8829 or at [email protected].