Staff at five schools will have to reapply for their jobs

Hundreds of students chanting, "Let's go, Cowboys!" and "We are Chap!" rallied outside of Chaparral High School Wednesday to support teachers and staff faced with being replaced next year.

"Knowing our most important people might be leaving us hurts a lot," said 17-year-old Cindy Pineda, who called the campus near U.S. Highway 95 and Flamingo Road a second home. "Students want to rise up and show they do care."

Chaparral is one of five "persistently" low-performing schools identified by the Clark County School District as eligible for federal School Improvement Grants that could bring the district millions of dollars in funds. The others are Mojave and Western high schools, Hancock Elementary School and another school that will be identified today.

Under the rules of the grant program, the five schools will have to be reorganized and staff will have to reapply to keep their jobs next year. Schools are limited to rehiring 50 percent of the original staff. Employees who are not hired back will have to apply for other district vacancies.

Principals who have been in place at those schools for three or more years must be reassigned, district officials said.

Chaparral Principal Kevin McPartlin has informed school staff that he is not coming back. He did not return a call from the Review-Journal. Mojave is losing Principal Charity Varnado. Western Principal Neddy Alvarez and Hancock Principal Jerre Moore are retaining their positions.

Students and staff said the timing of the announcement could not have been worse. This week, high school students are taking the state proficiency exams required for earning a diploma.

District officials said they are trying to meet a grant deadline of March 18. They also wanted to give teachers time to apply for other jobs since openings for next year are posted in April.

While district officials rationalize the staff changes as necessary for improvement, Chaparral senior Julie Ann Martel, 18, said she doesn't understand the logic.

"Why would getting rid of a good principal make our school better?" Martel asked. "Considering what a nice guy (McPartlin) is, it doesn't seem fair."

Clark County School Board President Carolyn Edwards emphasized that "no one is losing their job or being laid off." Still, the district will likely have to consider future layoffs because of the anticipated shortfall in state funding next year. Gov. Brian Sandoval's 2011-13 budget proposes cutting state support to public education by 9 percent, or more than $200 million.

He's also seeking 5 percent cuts in teacher salaries and a $270 reduction in per pupil support.

Employees at the affected schools could also end up playing a game of musical chairs -- it's possible that some Chaparral, Mojave and Western staff members could end up swapping jobs with each other since the schools will have so many vacancies to fill, Edwards acknowledged.

But the federal grant requires "a complete change in how you do business," Edwards said.

"This is not about the adults," she added. "It's about the children. It's an effort to say we're not just going to sit idly by anymore and have our schools continue to underachieve."

Schools were selected according to a grant formula that requires applicant schools to serve a large population of students from low-income families, to be in the bottom 5 percent of schools for scores on the state proficiency exams and to have high school graduation rates of less than 60 percent over the last four years.

Edwards estimates that the district is eligible to receive as much as $7 million of the $9 million that the Nevada Department of Education has received from the federal government for the grants.

Besides hiring new staff, the money could be used for tutoring, teacher training, innovative new academic programs or sustaining successful programs.

The district was not required to apply for the grants, but Edwards said she felt it was necessary because the district anticipates a budget shortfall of $250 million to $400 million next year. Federal stimulus programs are also winding down.

"We need to be going after funding anywhere we can get it," Edwards said.

As an empowerment school, or a school given more autonomy for innovation, Chaparral has received $100,000 over the last two years from the Nevada Women's Philanthropy, which is expected to make its final donation of $50,000 to Chaparral in 2011-12, according to the Public Education Foundation.

School Board member Erin Cranor, whose district includes Chaparral, said she believes the grant could help protect the school's programs. "I have a great deal of hope that this (grant) can end up, in the end, as another giant step forward," she said.

Ruben Murillo, president of the Clark County Education Association, which represents district teachers, has not heard of discontent at the other schools affected by the grant process. He believes Chaparral staff members are upset about losing their leader and feel that "all their work has been for naught."

While Chaparral is in its sixth year of needing to show academic improvement under No Child Left Behind, the federal school accountability law, a few teachers, who did not want to be named, said Chaparral has boosted its test scores.

The percentage of Hispanic students proficient in math, for example, has increased from 40 percent in 2005, to 56 percent in 2010. The percentage of blacks proficient in math increased from 24 percent to 50 percent over the same time period.

Chaparral teachers also argued that there were other schools with worse academic records.

David Winkler, an English teacher at Chaparral for seven years, worried that the staff changes could harm the school.

"Change is good for all of us, but change that is drastic and unsettling may be counterproductive to the purpose of educating our kids," he said.

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

Trending topics:

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• Clark County School District
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Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. blazer Mar. 11, 2011 | 8:02 p.m. Report Abuse

   @ Cowboyforever: Please face reality. You had a good experience at Chaparral. However, by all measures it is not the great school you make it out to be. If it were, it would not be facing restructuring. It's grad rate is dismal, it's test scores are low, it's athletic teams are noncompetitive, and it's dropout rate is not acceptable. Six years of subpar performance requires drastic changes. The teachers and principal may be 'nice', but they have not been effective. It's time for a change.

2. Cowboyforever Mar. 11, 2011 | 7:00 p.m. Report Abuse

   Thank You Richka, your comment is greatly appreciated. I do understand the facts. It is hard for me to come to terms with them because i hate seeing such a great school brought down. But i do recognize the great deal behind it. I know our country is struggling and i agree completely with you about your opinion on the No child left behind program.
   But whats done is done at my school. They will proceed with the turnaround BUT because of our protestig and us speaking out the CCSD is keeping us in my mind when it comes down to the rehiring our teachers. I had the pleasure of speaking with one of the trustees who actually came down to our Student Council class and expressed her gratitude towards what we are doing. I believe that Chaparral can only keep getting better at this point. I think that we proved to this state that we will not go without being heard. Thank you and i wish you luck in the future. Im proud to be part of a voice that was heard and i hope that people will realize now that just because we are only teenagers we have a say in this world and we are tomorrow.
   Thank you for hearing what i had to say. (:
   I hope that this turnaround does help with our graduation rates %
   Cowboys for life.

3. Independent Mar. 11, 2011 | 8:44 a.m. Report Abuse

   Let's see if we can fix this, shall we?
   
   "Actually, I'm not part of the problem, because I passed the proficiency exam with a good score. Thank you very much. Who said I have to be great with grammar if I don't want to? I'm not in school right now. @blazer"
   
   Was that so hard? A little bit of punctuation, and your point becomes much easier to understand, and you appear much more intelligent.

4. lili4540 Mar. 11, 2011 | 3:00 a.m. Report Abuse

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5. Dee.Zelins Mar. 10, 2011 | 9:46 p.m. Report Abuse

   The ones who should be held accountable are the students and the parents. What are you students complaining about? What was the protest about? You contributed to the problems - by your laziness, lack of interest in learning or studying, all of which contributed to the low grades and low performances. And, Parents, these are your kids, not pets whom you only have to make sure they got food and shelter. Do you know when you have these kids that you actually have to put in effort to raise the them and it is a commitment? If you are too busy to be bother with duties that come w parenthood, dont have children.

6. richka321 Mar. 10, 2011 | 9:39 p.m. Report Abuse

   Cowboy, your loyalty to your school is admirable. You obviously have what it takes to make it in your shool and life. But even you can see what resouces are wasted on non-english speakers, their free lunches and lack of pride for the honor to be part of this school. Not every country hands out free education, access to social programs and health care for people illegally in a country. If you're good at math, do a little research on the cost of educating non-citizens and even the anchor kids. You will find that there would be enough money available to educate the anmerican students. We would not have a budget crisis if the parents of those children had to pay for their children's education, lunches and at least show an interest in what their children accomplishing in school. For many it's just a free babsysitting service.
   
   No, you are not a parasite. You seem to be a serious student that cares about the dilemma in your school. The worst thing ever was the "no child left behind". What do you have in the end run when a 18 year old was passed on year after year and still cant' read, fill out a work application and has diffculty doing simple math? It's just a fuzzy good feeling for those that made this insane situation in to law. In reality these children will suffer more in the long run due to the bleeding hearts that screwed up the simple steps of.....pass your tests and move on to the next grade level. Can't pass, repeat the class until you get it. It never seizes to amaze me about the american mentality. Do what you told, don't question anything and just follow like a sheep that's led to the slaughter house. Hopefully you also develop a strong back bone while completing your education and become a strong voice against other wrongs. Good luck to you.

7. Cowboyforever Mar. 10, 2011 | 8:46 p.m. Report Abuse

   i will not be refferred to as a parasite thank you very much. im more of an majestic eagle. (:

8. Cowboyforever Mar. 10, 2011 | 8:00 p.m. Report Abuse

   AND one more thought to add, heres how you can tell we really do care:
   out of 5 schools who have been affected by these drastic changes,
   which school is the one you see protesting?
   Chaparral Cowboys.

9. Cowboyforever Mar. 10, 2011 | 7:57 p.m. Report Abuse

   Also, in the board room a CCSD chair member asked us to please stand if you love Chaparral, i thought every seat broke in that place because the whole room jumped to their feet. We did nothing wrong by making our voices heard. We did not riot we protested. ISnt that what weve been teaching this generation all along? to be leaders? Im very proud to say I AM A COWBOY. Ive never been so proud to be apart of a school in my life. Chaparral is rising and will continue to prove to the state that we are not some "ghetto" school who is "low performance" We are leaders, we are students, we want an education, and we are tomorrows future. Chaparral is going to prove everyone wrong about us so just keep a close eye on our progress. Im happy to report our voices were heard and the superintendent is coming down to listen to what we would like to see in these changes at our school. And please dont be so quick to judge students like me to those who dont care and to parents who dont push their kids because why punish the hard work we have done to change this school around for people who dont care? just a thought.
   Chaparral: impowering our students through Rigor Relevance Relationships and Responsibilities.
   
   Cowboys Forever

10. Cowboyforever Mar. 10, 2011 | 7:48 p.m. Report Abuse

    Hello, i am an ACTUAL student here at Chaparral. After looking at these comments some of them i agree with and some of them make my blood boil. The lack of compassion from some of you makes me realize how selfish this world has gotten, Maybe you would like to think what the students and teachers and Mr.McPartlin are going through? Put yourself in my position. I love Chaparral with all my heart. I have a 3.75 GPA, Im currently in the cheerleading team, softball team, Student council, jazz band, and was recently elected Student Body Historian. I basically live at Chaparral. It is a home to me. That school is not a school in my eyes but a family. Ive never been at a school where ive seen so much pride in teachers who work there. Our teachers love their jobs, and you can tell. Mr.McPartlin has to be the most inspriring man i have ever met. He loves Chaparral with everything he has and to sit here and watch him leave breaks my heart. I love my staff, i love coming to school and i can honestly say Chaparral is a wonderful school. I understand CCSD is worried about our education and there doing what they have to do. Today i went to the school board meeting and sat and listened. I can say that ive never seen so much pride and dedication in a school. After our Student Bod president gave her speech there was not a dry eye in the room. The board members were more than speechless to see how we fought. About 100 student marched from our school to that board room. We made our stand. We proves to CCSD that we care for our staff and we love our school and are more than happy to rep it.

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