Getting students more involved will lift schools

Robert Blanner, North Las Vegas

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 | 2:03 a.m.

The Clark County School District recently announced it will be restructuring five schools, three of which are high schools. Teachers at these schools will have to reapply and only 50 percent will be hired back at their current schools. The schools will also replace their principals.

This is the start of a good plan, but it will not totally succeed unless the entire educational experience is taken into consideration. There needs to be an all-out effort to build school pride. If students have pride in their school, attendance levels increase, discipline problems decrease and classroom performance goes up.

At the high school level, in particular, this can only be accomplished through students becoming more engaged in athletics and activities. I taught, coached and was an athletic and activities director in the St. Louis area for 30 years. I also coached in Clark County for five years.

I have witnessed firsthand that the more involved students are in their school, the better they perform in every aspect at school. Coaches and sponsors of activities who have not created interest in their programs need to be replaced by those who have proven track records in sports and areas such as band, choir, student council, etc. Involvement and success in these activities brings about success in the classroom as well.