Students voice concerns at Teen Town Hall Meeting

Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Home News

Anthony Humphreys, 16, a student at Cimarron-Memorial High, voices concerns about how the reduction in school funding affects the quality of education at a Teen Town Hall Meeting at Las Vegas City Hall on Tuesday.

By Jeff O'Brien (contact)

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008 | 6:32 p.m.

With the 2008 presidential election getting closer by the day, more than 300 high school students from throughout the Las Vegas Valley got a chance to express their views on their communities and the future during a Teen Town Hall Meeting on Sept. 23 in the Las Vegas City Council Chambers.

Councilman Ricki Barlow of Ward 5 and Pablo Barragan, television anchor for Telemundo, moderated the event. Six high schools participated -- Cimarron-Memorial, Centennial, Cheyenne, Mojave, Canyon Springs and Las Vegas Academy.

Joshua Sanchez, a 16-year-old from Centennial High School, expressed his concern over the economy and its impact on Las Vegas.

"I watch the news a lot and I'm always hearing that since tourism is going down here, the economy is getting worse," Sanchez said.

Seventeen-year-old Michael Padilla from Cimarron-Memorial High School described how the economy has been putting a pinch on his family.

"Everybody's tightening up and cutting the fat out of our spending," Padilla said. "We're driving less and carpooling more."

Barlow acknowledged that many households in the valley are struggling to make ends meet.

"Everyone is holding on to their purse strings," Barlow said. "Many economists are saying these conditions might not turn around for another 10 to 12 months."

Sanchez also addressed crowded classrooms in the Clark County School District and a lack of teachers.

"It seems like they just stuff as many people as they can in there without any regard for the quality of education," Sanchez said.

Anthony Humphreys, a 16-year-old from Cimarron-Memorial High School, said many students are learning the same "generic material."

When Barlow asked him if he thought the state was providing enough funding for education, Humphreys said no and that he'd like to see more funding for specialized education programs such as biochemical engineering and physics.

"I've seen the CCSD building and it's this lavish place with marble floors and nice bathrooms, but at my school our textbooks are falling apart," Humphreys said.

Michael Smart, a member of the student council at Cheyenne High School, expressed his concern over school violence and what he feels is a negative perception that hangs over Cheyenne High School -- one that he felt was worsened by the media after a shooting occurred near the campus on May 14.

"The negative media isn't going to change," Smart, 17, said. "We have to stand up and change the negative perception ourselves."

Crystal Soto, 18, of the Las Vegas Academy, is interning for the Obama campaign and hopes to someday become a politician representing the interests of the Latino community.

"So many Latinos here in Las Vegas are eligible to vote, but they don't know how to speak English so they feel it isn't important," Soto said. "We need to reach out to those people and change that perception."

The key to change and reform begins with reaching out to the community, Barlow said.

"Reaching out gives you an opportunity to step up and give back," Barlow said. "Not only to the community in which you live but also to yourself, personally."

The Teen Town Hall was broadcast live on KCLV Channel 2.

It will be rebroadcast at noon on Thursday, September 25; at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 26; at 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 27; at 10 p.m. on Sunday, September 28; at 8 a.m. on Monday, September 29; and at noon on Thursday, October 2.

Jeff O’Brien can be reached at 990-8957 or jeff.obrien@hbcpub.com.