Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

The Turnaround:

Sun to track progress of 5 struggling schools

Starting today, the Sun, with the cooperation of the Clark County School District, will track the progress of five turnaround schools — campuses that have been singled out as needing extraordinary help because students have performed so poorly.

The schools are Elizondo Elementary, Hancock Elementary, Chaparral High, Mojave High and Western High.

Sun reporters Paul Takahashi and Dave Berns will be flies on the wall, watching, listening to and reporting on what is happening inside the schools. We will write about the struggles and the successes — in the classrooms, in the principals’ offices, on the athletic fields, on the performance stages and among parents. Sun photojournalist Leila Navidi will capture the visual images, and the principals, teachers and students will write about what’s going on from their perspectives.

Additionally, our partners at News 3 will produce the television component of the series.

The goal is to give the public a view inside our most troubled schools, better understand the challenge of improving them and report what seems to work and what doesn’t.

Superintendent Dwight Jones and the School Board understand that what we write might not be pleasant or flattering. But they also embrace transparency — providing a window onto the process — because the community needs to understand what’s being done to improve education.

The school year begins Monday. It’s not known, of course, how the year will end for these five schools.

The journey begins now.

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