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Aug. 06, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Seeking to solve portable problem

Officials join call for West Prep changes

By JAMES HAUG
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Jade Jones, a junior at West Prep Academy, speaks at a Clark County School Board meeting Wednesday. She is in favor of constructing a new addition at her school, which uses 28 portables containing 56 classrooms.

For two hours, Anyika Kamal listened to accolades about improved test scores at West Prep Academy but heard nothing about whether the Clark County School District would replace the 28 portables now in use on the campus.

Kamal accused School Board members of avoiding a controversial decision in front of a packed auditorium of mostly black and Hispanic families.


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    • "You have people with young babies here, and you go over the same thing three or four times," Kamal said Wednesday. "It's a shame people have to come out here and deal with this same hassle time and time again."

    After School Board President Terri Janison told audience members to stop making catcalls, Deborah Jackson and Marzette Lewis of WAAK-UP, a community group in West Las Vegas, attacked what they perceived as a patronizing attitude.

    "We have too many people dictating to us like we're slaves on the plantation," Lewis said.

    Activists in West Las Vegas, an area bordered by Carey Avenue on the north, Bonanza Road on the south, Interstate 15 on the east and Rancho Drive on the west, have decried the crowded conditions students face at West Prep, which has 56 classrooms contained in portables.

    The school is located at 2050 Sapphire Stone Ave., near Lake Mead Boulevard and Tonopah Drive.

    The workshop did not delve into district finances though the district is pursuing a $249 million bond program connected with the federal stimulus package.

    District officials have said they are updating a list of unfunded modernization projects that tops $300 million.

    A capital improvements list from January describes West Prep as a $7 million project.

    The issue of whether to build new classrooms comes down to priorities, school board members said.

    "If I had a checkbook with an endless amount of money, I would write a check (for the new classrooms) today," said School Board member Chris Garvey.

    District spokesman Michael Rodriguez said it's not unusual for a school to have 20 or more portables. He did not know if West had the most portables in the district.

    School Board member Carolyn Edwards said West Prep should be considered as a possible project to be funded from the new bond program, which still needs approval from the Clark County Debt Management Commission.

    "It's premature to say we're ready to invest millions of dollars in a program we don't know is sustainable," Edwards said after the meeting.

    The district normally wouldn't refurbish such a new school -- the West campus opened in 1998. The former middle school was converted to a K-12 program for the 2006-07 school year. One reason it has so many portables is because it still serves as the middle school destination for students from 54 elementary schools.

    District officials have said they cannot rezone the middle school grades because it would involve excessive busing.

    While a school of choice at the elementary and high school grades, West Prep is not a magnet school. Students come from the surrounding neighborhood.

    West Prep became a K-12 school for the sake of greater continuity between grades and a more community-like atmosphere.

    West Prep was once the worst performing school in the state, with only 15 percent of students reading at grade level in 2005-06.

    Then West's newly appointed principal, Mike Barton recalled thinking that the school was like a movie theater, with one classroom showing the "Finding Nemo" fish cartoon and a classroom across the hall showing Jackie Chan karate movies.

    The school was plagued with vandalism and theft. Because so many of the band instruments were stolen, students pretended to play instruments cut out from paper, Barton said.

    So few teachers wanted to teach there that the school began with 20 permanent substitute teachers in 2005-06.

    West Prep has since shown great strides, with its elementary, middle and high schools all making adequate yearly progress this year under the federal guidelines of No Child Left Behind.

    Edwards would like more time to see if the campus can sustain progress at all grade levels, especially the high school grades. She also wonders if West Prep will continue to be successful if Barton decides to leave.

    Superintendent Walt Rulffes said the public and the district are closer in agreement than many critics realize.

    He said West Prep has become a "facilities issue" because the public has become very supportive of the K-12 campus model.

    Because West Prep is funded as an empowerment school, getting an extra $1,000 per student, Rulffes said he feels vindicated in demonstrating that schools can improve once they're adequately funded.

    During the contentious meeting, State Assemblyman Harvey Munford and retired state Sen. Joe Neal came out in support of permanent classrooms and the K-12 approach.

    Neal said he went to a school much like West Prep in his native Louisiana.

    One of his classmates became a general.

    "The K-12 model is a good model," he said.

    Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.

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    joe wrote on August 07, 2009 01:40 AM: Clark County School District needs to break up into 10 smaller, more effective districts. It does a poor, lazy job in every facet of its performance now. The public has had enough of the bloated administrator salaries, rude attitudes, and inefficiency. We no longer support a school district that does not care about our children.


    dp teacher wrote on August 06, 2009 05:28 PM: To Vegas, you are correct in stating that DP was a warzone before it opened. However, due to scheduling changes, Standard Student Attire, and new Administration we have cut the violence and classroom disruptions by over 50 to 70% in all categories. All of this was without additional funding from the CCSD. Is it a coincidence that this school, just like West, is a school ran by ESD and not a region? Our school was recognized by the Advanced Placement Board as the number one school in the country in "growth" in the AP program, we matriculated over 72% of our freshman compared to around 40% in the past years, we had a Gates Millineum Scholar (scholarship worth over a million dollars) last year and the list goes on. I wonder if this is not yet again a slant towards Education Services Divsion and it's leaders as opposed to a slant towards people of color. I believe we also have over 25 portables, I have seen number 25 and have heard there are as many as 30. Build the damn building and see what Barton and staff can do, or don't and continue to depive schools who are currently under ESD. Just my thoughts, please be gentle when responding with unknowledgeble responses.


    To KOKO: wrote on August 06, 2009 11:16 AM: Wow.....my guess would be that you didn't pay attention during your English class.


    Eric wrote on August 06, 2009 10:00 AM: Maybe we should turn the school district over to a privately run company that knows how to manage money.


    patriot wrote on August 06, 2009 09:50 AM: Well didn't take long for the plantation, you got to feel guilty line did it! well lets see last i heard we are a broke nation.Yet we keep bringing in more illegals that we have to pay our taxes to feed clothe and pamper them as we refuse to enforce the law and deport! but the best is yet to come,to all the obaaaaama robots, he gets this socialized health care thru and its all over anyhow ,so stop whining and expecting all for nothing cause soon you'll have and cry WHY , WHY , WHY, but then it'll be too late wake up america!!!!!!


    vegas wrote on August 06, 2009 09:44 AM: To long time resident: I heard the cries for West side High Schools. Then I watched Desert Pines be destroyed by gang warfare before it even opened. DP, Mojave, Canyon Springs. All "new" westside schools. All 3 of the most violent run down high schools in the County. The West side lives up to every negative stereotype out there. It's a shame for those of us who are good people over run by thug-losers.


    Old fashioned wrote on August 06, 2009 09:40 AM: I am not impressed with the school board of trustees. Lots of chatter and no susbstance. They want to run the largest entity in the state of Nevada without any experience in finance or education. The board loves empowerment schools which pay almost twice as much for per pupil eduacational funding as this school. The black parents only have to remember what happened to them when they closed F Street. The Veterans will also explain what happened to them when the school board failed to follow the meeting agenda to name a school Veterans Memorial , but changed the name. The board should name the portable classrome after administrators, friends, or themselves and then at a later date put the names on regular schools. The election is comming ladies.


    to Marzette wrote on August 06, 2009 09:39 AM: What does Marzette Lewis know about living on a plantation??? Did she ever? You bring in the race card and you lose ALL credibility. Black people are more racist than whites in many cases, and this is one of them. Shame on you Ms Lewis. As for the portables... what is wrong with them? As long as the AC works, theres NOTHING to complain about. Now go pick some cotton for me!


    Tired wrote on August 06, 2009 09:33 AM: Quit giving Marzette Lewis press coverage. She doesn't speak for anyone but herself. She's a glory hound clown that even us Westsiders don't like. She gives all of us a bad name.


    Free Nevada wrote on August 06, 2009 09:23 AM: NO! Give them vouchers to go pickup $238 netbooks at Walmart.com and spend $10/mo for high-speed DSL connections.

    Then they can use Skype, GoToMeeting, iTunesU and Facebook to expand while also reducing the use of portables to just those students with no guardian or air conditioning at home or who are homeless.


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