Monday, March 27, 2006 | 7:22 a.m.
It turns out that Clark County schools have at least enough married couples working as team teachers to stage an episode of "The Newlywed Game."
As reported by the Sun, the district has been phasing out team teaching - in which two educators share a single classroom with as many as 38 students - as classroom space becomes available. The practice became more common as the district struggled to meet the demands of the state's class-size reduction requirements for grades 1-3.
Damian and Lopaka Kins teach first grade together at Richard Rundle Elementary School and are the last team left at the campus. But they're far from alone in the district.
Fans of Dan and Joyce Nelson alerted the Sun that the couple has been team teaching for more than a decade.
"This is a team made in heaven, these guys are fabulous," said Earnest May Elementary School Principal Jan Musante, who noted that this is the second campus where she has employed the Nelson duo.
Janice Wyatt wrote to say that she and her husband, Mark, began teaching second grade as a team this year at Ollie Detwiler Elementary School.
"We find it very rewarding," Wyatt said in her e-mail. "After 25 years of marriage, everyone is amazed that we can also work together."
And Batterman Elementary School boasts Cheryl and Mike Souza, a married team that helped open the new campus in August. The Souzas teach reading and writing to the school's English Language Learners.
Las Vegas Academy, the district's international studies, performing and visual arts magnet high school, has been named a Gold Grammy Signature School for the seventh consecutive year and will receive $5,000 in support of its music programs.
Just 42 schools nationwide are recognized by the Grammy Foundation of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Of those campuses, 10 are selected for gold awards. Schools are judged on audition materials as well as the quality of its instructional programs.
Robots will rock, roll and - with any luck - score big Friday and Saturday at UNLV.
More than 2,000 students from as far away as Massachusetts and Hawaii will compete in the Robotics Las Vegas Regional at the Thomas & Mack Center. The top teams will compete in the championships at Atlanta's Georgia Dome in April, along with regional winners from six countries.
Sponsored by both public and private sector corporations - including NASA and Bechtel - the competition challenges students to build robots capable of various actions, including picking up a plastic ring and dropping it over a 6-foot tall post. Referees patrol the field, keeping an eye out for unsportsmanlike behavior such as excessive ramming or pinning of another team's robot.
To emphasize the value of cooperation, the participants are grouped into "alliances," each made up of competitors from three different schools. As they race against the clock to score points, students also try to help their fellow alliance schools succeed.
UNLV's Howard Hughes College of Engineering provided local schools with graduate student mentors. At last's year's event, the first-ever Las Vegas regional, Cimarron-Memorial High School was part of the winning alliance and later competed at the national competition.
The event, free and open to the public, runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
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