MVHS Holds First Empowerment Forum For Parents

Administrators at Moapa Valley High School (MVHS) held a public forum on Tuesday, January 27 to discuss the status of the Empowerment program at the school. Only about 20 people were in attendance and many of those were members of the school’s Empowerment Team. MVHS Principal Grant Hanevold gave the presentation to those present.

MVHS was selected last May as one of 14 Empowerment Schools in the Clark County School District (CCSD). The Empowerment model gives local school administrators greater autonomy in making scheduling, budgetary and curriculum decisions. Administrators and staff are then held to higher accountability for student achievement.

Hanevold reviewed in depth the goals of the MVHS Empowerment plan. These goals had been defined by a 17 member Empowerment team including school administrators, teachers and parents.

The first goal was to see an increase in test results for the Math, Science and English areas on the Spring 2009 High School Proficiency Exam. Hanevold admitted that this was something of a lagging indicator but stated that these test scores were the primary basis on which the CCSD would be measuring success.

The second school goal was to increase the percentage of MVHS graduates who would choose to go on to post-secondary education. Hanevold cited statistics that showed the rate of MVHS students that go on to college staying flat over the last ten years, while the same statistics for the CCSD had increased by over 20%.

“We know that we can’t make kids choose college,” Hanevold said. “Some will take a different road. But we are dedicated to offering the opportunities for our students all the same.”

Hanevold spoke about the additional funding that had come to MVHS as a result of its Empowerment status. Private grants from the Bellagio and the Lincy foundation have increased the school’s discretionary budget to $550,000 per year over the next three years.

The school’s regular operating budget had been set by the CCSD at only about $160,000 per year.

“Empowerment brings a lot of additional money to the school,” Hanevold stated. “That is good but it brings up a lot of issues as well. With all of this privilege comes a lot of responsibility.”

Hanevold ran through a list of areas where the Empowerment Team had decided to allocate the funds.

The school has added a new College Prep Specialist position. This position, being filled by school counselor Stephanie Howard, would have the job of focusing solely on preparing MVHS seniors for college. Hanevold had allocated $65,000 per year to establish this position.

An additional $90,000 annually is allocated for increasing various department budgets, Hanevold said. “For the first time ever, our elective programs are being funded at where they should be,” he said.

Department budgets for core subjects have also doubled, Hanevold said.

In addition, the Empowerment team has placed a high priority on updating the school’s technology, Hanevold said. Thus, $40,000 had been allocated to new technology at the school.

With Empowerment giving local control over school curriculum, Hanevold has instituted a new course for next year’s junior class. It will include a semester of college prep and career exploration. The other semester will have the juniors taking their first online college course; a sociology course through the College of Southern Nevada (CSN). Empowerment funding will fully pay the tuition for this college course, Hanevold said.

An additional $20,000 was also set aside to pay for special field trips. “In a rural school setting, we have seen a lot of value in providing opportunities and experiences for students to see things outside of the community,” Hanevold said.

Last month, student council members travelled to Washington DC for the Presidential Inauguration. This spring, the entire freshman class will travel to Los Angeles to see a WWII era Japanese internment camp. “These types of experiences would simply not be possible without Empowerment funding,” Hanevold said.

Other budgetary allocations included $50,000 for extra duty pay for teachers and administration; $30,000 for substitutes; $25,000 for support staff; $35,000 for professional development for faculty members; $5,000 for the Ag Farm; $20,000 for equipment and $15,000 for additional infrastructure improvements to the school buildings.

Hanevold emphasized that, even with Empowerment status, the school faces significant challenges in the coming year.

Proposed statewide cuts to education budgets threaten to strip as many as six teacher positions from the school. The CCSD has already made the decision to cut block scheduling from the handful of high schools that employ it. This includes MVHS.

But Hanevold insisted that block scheduling was essential to the school’s Empowerment plans. “I will keep the block schedule,” Hanevold said. “We just can’t abolish it. Our plans depend on it. Without it a lot of the things we are talking about here will be gone. I mean, without the block we might as well just kill our elective programs.”

If necessary, Hanevold said he would re-direct empowerment funding to keep the teachers necessary in order to maintain block scheduling. “But if I have to do that, I lose a lot of what we are talking about doing here,” he said. “I’d be using Empowerment funds just to reach an equity position.”

Another embattled program is the school’s partnership with CSN. Currently, the local CSN center offers college classes to MVHS students for dual credit during the school day. The Empowerment plans would add courses to that program and increase the focus on enrolling students in those classes.

“This program allows kids to earn up to 25 college credits while in high school,” Hanevold said. “That gets them half way to an Associate degree before they graduate high school.”

But the CSN center is threatened by statewide cuts to higher education. A proposal to cut 36% of the overall CSN budget would eliminate the local center altogether. “All of this is still up in the air,” Hanevold said. “If we lose the site, we will have to punt on a lot of these plans.”

Hanevold encouraged parents to write to state legislators and urge them to keep higher education funded in the state.

“The silver lining in all of this is Empowerment,” Hanevold concluded. “It gives us options where we wouldn’t have them otherwise.”