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Clark County school enrollment up 501
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CRAIG L. MORAN/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Jodi Brant, right, teaches an advanced placement government class at Valley High School, near Eastern Avenue and Vegas Valley Drive. The Clark County School District's 2010-11 enrollment is 309,977, up by 501 students over last year. » Buy this photo
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Sep. 28, 2010 | 6:00 p.m.
The Clark County School District's 2010-11 enrollment is 309,977, an increase of 501 students over last year, district officials announced Monday.
The officials said the 0.2 percent gain will increase per-pupil funding from the state by about $4.5 million, which will be used to hire additional teachers and staff.
That money is on top of the $54 million the district is getting from the federal Education Jobs legislation.
District officials will adjust staffing at schools this week based on the enrollment data.
Schools either will gain new teachers or, at worst, lose very few staffers, said Martha Tittle, the district's chief human resources officer.
The district's overall budget for the 2010-11 school year is $2.1 billion.
Officials were pleased by the bump in enrollment. They had anticipated the number would be down about 300 students from last year.
The 2009-10 school year was the first time since the 1983-84 school year that enrollment had declined.
Compared with the 2008-09 school year, when the district reached its peak enrollment of 311,240, this year's student population is still down by 1,263 students.
Lauren Kohut-Rost, deputy superintendent for instruction, said it is too early to forecast trends in student enrollment.
Officials noted, however, that they're seeing the most growth in student population at the suburban periphery of the Las Vegas Valley, while enrollment in the urban center seems to be stagnating.
In particular, Rick Baldwin, acting director of demographics, noticed an influx of students in southwest Clark County. Baldwin said many of the homes in master-planned communities are "finally getting filled in."
Officials said the bump in enrollment this year helped validate a controversial decision from two years ago to proceed with the construction of five new schools despite fears that enrollment could decline with the recession.
The five schools opened in August. Four are elementary schools: Duncan and Triggs in North Las Vegas; Stuckey in southwest Las Vegas; and Wallin in Henderson. The fifth new school is West Career and Technical Academy, at 11945 W. Charleston Blvd., west of the Las Vegas Beltway.
"We needed those seats," Kohut-Rost said. "The new schools have met their projections or come in over their projections" of enrollment.
The older schools affected by the new school openings are "either meeting or exceeding their current projections as well," Kohut-Rost said. "The schools were needed."
The district remains a minority-majority district with Hispanic students making up about 42 percent of the enrollment.
White students account for 32 percent of the enrollment, blacks are about 13 percent, and Asians are about 8 percent.
Because of new federal guidelines, the district added new demographic categories for multiracial and native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander.
Clark County has 10,535 students who identify themselves as multiracial. They make up 3.4 percent of the enrollment. There are 2,954 native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders, making up 1 percent of the enrollment.
District officials said enrollment numbers are still subject to verification by the state Department of Education.
Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.
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"Having spent a short time teaching in a variety of middle and highs schools in the CCSD, I can tell you I'd rather teach kids from Mexico and points south than most of the punks who were born here."
Spot on. We don't get reminded about that dirty little secret about our smug Walmart culture often enough. Some anthropologist wrote somewhere a while back how the family structure and culture of white Americans in the southwest is one of the most shocking and depraved things he'd ever studied, even compared to the 3rd world.
Yes, it's the Republicans who do this to our educational system, but the Sweds help them. I was educated under all democrats.
Our education system is suffering because of the stupid policies of our republican governor(s), and what was once a larger contingent of republican state reps, and you idiots turn this into an immigration issue?
Really? Not funding, or a severe lack there of?
You know like that dismal failure "No Child Left Behind", passed but unfunded by republicans.
The party of "NO" strikes yet AGAIN, just like the policies of bush43, they are "THE EVIL THAT KEEPS ON GIVING"!
First- I don't think we can "assume" the 501 students are high school kids wanting to get a degree. K- 8 is part of the 501 students. Second- LVRJ please, please dig deeper in this issue. Find out where these students came from if the over all Clark County population is down. Forget the ignorant comments posted here and report some facts so the populace can "vote" to address this issue. PLEASE
That means we'll need a thousand new teacher's union members to "educate" them. Only bilingual candidates need apply.
Having spent a short time teaching in a variety of middle and highs schools in the CCSD, I can tell you I'd rather teach kids from Mexico and points south than most of the punks who were born here. The kids who were born here are impudent little punks who have been taught by their parents that they don't have to respect anything or anyone. The immigrant kids are generall respectful and anxious to learn...until they become socialized to behave otherwise by the punks.
I'd rather leave the future of this country to immigrants who want a chance to thrive (sound like a familiar history?) than to a bunch of spoiled jerks who haven't earned a thing, and enjoy what this country has to offer only by accident of birth.
Wrong again, Fred.
blazer wrote on September 28, 2010 11:39 AM:
@Gary, please cite the source for your statistic
830 AM is the source of his "fact" OR Faux News on cable. This goes back to my point; a majority of people that post on here are too stupid to formulate their own opinions that they themselves have thoroughly vetted the sources from which they get them. People in LV aren't stupid, but a majority on here ARE. These are the same people who believe AZ Gov. Jan Brewer's comment that numerous headless bodies have been found along the Arizona border and the acts are attributed to the illegal invasion of criminals to the south!! Say anything to stir up the flames of fear. Point fingers at a race of people as the cause of the country's economic peril. Throw stones and judge others from hear-say "facts". The same stuff happened in teh 60's w/ African-Americans. As Carlos Mencia once said, "Tag, you're it Mexicans and Latinos....now you are the source of all the country's woes!!" It was the blacks before, now anyone w/ a Spanish sur-name is the scape goat...
@Gary, please cite the source for your statistic
FACT: CCSD picked up over -2500- anchor babies from the mass exodus from Arizona --- "ALL ILLEGALS ARE WELCOME IN NEVADA -- HARRY REID HAS OFFICIALLY DECLARED NEVADA A SANCTUARY STATE FOR ILLEGALS" -------- Goodbye Harry