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STEVE MARCUS / LAS VEGAS SUN
Carolyn Goodman says she started the Meadows School because she feared public schools were not adjusting to the county’s changing demographics.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 | 2 a.m.
The Meadows School
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In the early 1980s Carolyn Goodman regularly visited the headquarters of the Clark County School District to discuss with superintendents and administrators what she saw as a looming crisis.
The district was starting to grow rapidly and among the new arrivals were students whose first language was Spanish. Public schools needed to offer dual-language classes in the lower grades, Goodman told the district. An active PTA member for nine years, she also worried that teachers didn’t have the resources they needed.
District officials agreed, according to Goodman, but said they had to wait for approval from the state and funding from the Legislature.
“I told them, ‘By the time you get those things in place my daughter (Cara) will be 40,’ ” said Goodman, wife of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. “She’s now 35, and they’re still not there yet.”
Goodman decided not to wait and established a nonprofit organization that would ultimately become the Meadows School, now in its 25th year. Southern Nevada’s only nonprofit, nonreligious private school for grades pre-K through high school has grown into an educational oasis in the desert.
“This is a phenomenal place,” said Goodman, Meadows’ president. “But that’s because we know where our dollars have to go, and that’s to the children.”
The school currently has 910 students, 34 percent of whom are minorities.
It offers a full complement of athletics and electives, including golf, football, photography, forensics, music, drama and art. Students in the lower grades have Spanish class three times per week. By middle school it’s daily. Latin is added in sixth grade.
The school day starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m., giving students an additional hour of instructional time compared with the standard district school day.
In grades K-8 classes are limited to 20 students. In the upper grades an Advanced Placement class might have as few as eight students, while a popular theater production elective might have 15. No core high school class has more than 18 students, roughly half of the districtwide average.
District Court Judge Jackie Glass said she has been amazed by the academic rigor expected of her daughter, who graduates from the Meadows next month.
“She’s doing college-level work,” Glass said. “The friends she’s made, the teachers she’s had, and it’s all been a really positive experience.”
Each year 100 percent of the graduating class goes on to a four-year college or university, and many earn athletic and academic scholarships.
To be sure, the Meadows escapes many of the challenges that plague public school systems. Students are tested for aptitude before being allowed to enroll, which removes the necessity for remediation and special education.
For the upcoming academic year, tuition will range from $8,950 for the half-day preschool program to just over $20,000 for grades 9-12. About 18 percent of students receive financial aid.
The Meadows is debt-free, thanks to the donations that built the state-of-the-art 40-acre campus, the first tenant in Summerlin. At the same time, the school’s endowment stands at a modest $3 million, which makes fundraising an ongoing need.
When she decided to create the school, Goodman took out full-page newspaper ads announcing her plans, and inviting families to a planning meeting. That earned her a reprimand from Nevada Education Department officials, who told her she shouldn’t have started recruiting until the school’s license and academic plan were approved.
But Goodman said there was no reason to take those steps unless there was enough community interest to support the model she envisioned.
More than 300 people showed up at the meeting. Many of them became the school’s founding families.
The school started in 1984 with 140 students, a portable building and a vacant lot on Meadows Lane, near Decatur Boulevard and U.S. 95. The Summerlin campus opened in 1988 and the first class of seniors graduated in 1991. Cara Goodman was valedictorian.
The school’s mantra is “teach to the top,” Goodman said, which means the strongest student in the class must always be engaged and motivated. When testing students for admission, the school looks for ambition as much as ability, Goodman said.
One of the most dramatic differences between the Meadows and the area’s public schools is how the campuses are staffed. At the Meadows everyone — from the custodial staff to the teachers to the head of school — is on a one-year contract.
Not every educator is a good fit for the Meadows, Goodman said.
For Meadows teacher Kim Cagle, in her 17th year at the school, the one-year contracts make sense because you should have to continually prove yourself.
“This is the first job I had out of college,” said Cagle, a 1987 Chaparral High School graduate. “I never presumed to be offered anything more than a year from anywhere. It’s a little bit pompous to expect more from anybody.”
The Meadows doesn’t have to meet state and federal requirements that many educators say force them to abandon instructional innovation to “teach to the test,” so students and schools meet required benchmarks.
“It’s true as a private school we have a great deal of freedom, but we have an equal amount of responsibility,” said Henry Chanin, headmaster and director of the Meadows upper school. “Everyone — every student, every teacher and the headmaster — has to earn their way back here one year at a time. If we use the freedom well, we’re in great shape. If we abuse the freedom, we’re history.”
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"For Meadows teacher Kim Cagle, in her 17th year at the school, the one-year contracts make sense because you should have to continually prove yourself."
By contrast, public school teachers in Nevada can earn tenure within 1 year (many go just 2 years). All they need is three subjective observations. They don't actually have to prove they teach kids.
Also, there are many private schools in Nevada which charge less than $10,000 a year. Some charge as little as $2,000 a year for lower-grades.
Patrick--"there are many private schools in Nevada which charge less than $10,000 a year. Some charge as little as $2,000 a year for lower-grades."
Please name some (please include one that is $2,000 per year)--particularly in Clark County since this article is about Clark County.
Why doesn't anybody talk about how the children are not allowed to speak at lunch or in the hallways? This is not the 1800s...
Nevada Common Sense
did it ever occur to you that their structured environment and emphasis on courtesy and manners is part of what makes the school do such an amazing job teaching children? and did it ever occur to you that part of the problem with pubic school is the rampant political correctness and need to never correct poor behavior and risk damaging a students "self esteem"?
no, I guess it never occured to you, even though it's "common sense".
TheFacts - Most of the Christian schools in Clark County are less than $10,000 per school year. This includes the Lutheran elementary grade schools, the Lutheran middle school and high school along with several other Protestant-sponsored schools (Mountain View, Trinity, Lake Mead Academy). The Catholic elementary and middle schools are below $10,000 per school year. The Catholic high school may be close to $10,000 per school year. The last time I checked the private secular schools were above $10,000 per school year.
ScottNV - thanks for the facts! since Patrick states "some (plural) charge as little as $2000 a year..." were u able to find any private schools charging this little? BTW, do u know what the state of Nevada spends per pupil per year of public school? isn't it pretty close to $10,000, and we are ranked down there with other public education powerhouse states like Mississippi.....
PATRICK GIBBONS, king of the clueless.
CHECK YOUR FACTS, JACK.
1)Teachers in Clark County are observed numerous times per-year. Grades are given, reports generated.
2)NO ONE gets "tenure" within 1 year. Or 2, for that matter.
3)What in the world do you think happens to all the testing results, boy genius? Trash heap? NO! Results can be used as measurements for teachers as well as students.
And for every Meadows School, there are numerous private & charter schools that are poorly run.
WHAT IS TUITION AT THE MEADOWS SCHOOL, PATRICK?
OH, just under TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS PER-YEAR grades 9-12.
Kind of flies in the face of your mantra that public schools are OVERFUNDED and that dollars are not an issue.
Competition in the market place can do wonders. Lets look at private school tax credits. I'm sure the lazy libs would never go for that though. God forbid we adopt a system that rewards success and holds people accountable.
Average Joe,
Are you sure are per pupil spending is $10,000 a year!? Please verify this "fact"!
Here's a site to check for Average Joe and all...
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/t... Check the fifth column over. I think you will find that you are about $7,600 short in per pupil expenditures....
sheila
I checked your link, interesting site. as you have no doubt discovered, there are dozens of internet links, each with a different amount or calculation. I have found the average spending per pupil on these sites to range from about $7500 to as high as $13000 for the state of Nevada, when the entire public primary school budged it actually divided by the number of k-12 students. On the site you linked, you need to look at the first column total of over $8600 for a realistic amount.
I don't think ANYONE believes your assertion that our state only spends $2400 per pupil. even the politicians who cry that we "don't spend enough" cite figures in the $7000 to $8000 range of "per pupil" spending.
And don't misunderstand me, I am not saying we need to spend less on our students, I just think we need to spend "smarter". since you seem to be something of an "expert" on educational statistics, can you show us some links that demonstrate that ALL the states that spend more have higher achieving students? Is there a DIRECT correlation between states spending and student performance?
You are adding in the money owed on school buildings, school maintenance, etc. It is NOT the money received for each child INSTRUCTIONALLY as you would assert sir! I know. I buy my own pencils and supplies at Big Lots in order to supplement the per pupil spending we have here in Nevada. As we were commenting on the article that indicates they spend more on per pupil spending AND have higher results....
sheila,
As you buy your own pencils and supplies, are we to assume you are a teacher? if so, god bless you for your vocational choice and commitment to our children. However, I wonder now if you are teaching your students the same "fuzzy math" you are using to illustrate your position. Using your logic, if a student goes to a brand new school (of which we have many in Clark County) we need to calculate the cost of facilities into their "per pupil" cost, so that THESE students at a new or newer multimillion dollar facility are costing us 50 to 100 thousand dollars or more per year for several years until the facility is "paid for"?
Your reasoning illustrates the simple-mindedness of someone who buys a toy at Wal-Mart or Target for your child, and in your simple mind believe that if Wal-Mart or Target pays $5 for the toy, and you paid $9, then they must have made $4 profit!!!! I guess you think the money to build the store, pay for the land it sits on, maintain it, pay to train and staff the store, and pay for everything else from utilities to advertising just "doesn't count". because it's not related to the "cost per item" in your mind.
You simply write off the vast majority of costs NECESSARY to educate our children, and consider that only the money spent on individual desks, books, rulers and paper "per pupil" are the only costs that matter? where exactly do you think the funds come from to build our schools and buy the land they sit on? to hire the staff, not only teaching, but administrative, janitorial, even landscaping. I suppose you think the fairy godmother herself pays for all these other costs YOU consider "disassociated" from the cost of paying for public education.
If YOU are a teacher in Clark County, it now makes more sense to me why 75% of seniors here who were taking their proficiency test (do a search on recent news) in math failed again!