High hopes, minor glitches on first day of school

By Conor Shine

Monday, Aug. 29, 2011 | 1:10 p.m.

Summer break is officially over and more than 300,000 Clark County students returned to school Monday.

At Clark High School, students milled about on the lawn in front of the school as they greeted old friends and tried to figure out the location of their first class.

The mood was a mix of excitement for some and anxiousness for others.

“I’m nervous,” said 15-year-old Bry Pang, a freshman.

Pang said he was looking forward to taking a guitar class and starting JROTC, and he didn’t have any trouble waking up to be in class for the 8 a.m. bell.

Outside, the marching band played the school fight song, and inside, the orchestra performed amidst the sea of lockers.

Student council members patrolled the halls, wearing orange signs to identify themselves and help new students find their way around.

“We’re focusing on getting people involved and building a sense of family,” student body president Amelia Knuth said.

Knuth, a senior, is preparing for her final year at the school and is beginning to apply to colleges. She said she hopes to attend Brigham Young University in Provo.

But before she leaves, she said she’s looking forward to one more year of school activities, especially Friday night football games.

Senior Lauren Kuenzi said she’s looking forward to reconnecting with classmates.

“There’s a whole school of kids that I haven’t seen all summer,” she said.

A group of School District officials, including Superintendent Dwight Jones, visited the school Monday morning, touring and listening to presentations on its magnet programs.

Jones said the programs and high number of Advanced Placement courses were a model he hopes other schools can emulate.

At nearby Rex Bell Elementary, which officials also visited, the day started for many students with a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, yogurt and milk.

Principal Tim Adams strolled through the cafeteria and was mobbed by returning students who wanted to give him a hug and say hello.

The morning was hectic, as buses still figuring out their routes showed up late.

“We’re rolling with the punches,” said Adams, in his sixth year as principal at the school. “It’s normal. We know what to expect.”

Throughout the district, other schools ran into small snags, as a small electrical fire started on a portable classroom at Variety Alternative School and the air conditioning briefly went out at Wayne Tanaka Elementary School.

Jones said the bugs would take a week or two to work out, but he’s excited for the coming school year.

Monday marked the start of Jones’ first full year in the School District. He was hired in December and already has set about on a campaign of reforms in order to raise the district’s performance.

Jones has reorganized the district into performance zones, implemented a new way to measure student achievement and launched an initiative to increase graduation rates.

The district also is investing heavily in five underperforming “turnaround” schools in hopes of improving student success.

“We think we can raise the bar,” Jones said. “We can expect a lot more out of ourselves and a lot more out of our children.”