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March 28, 2024 4:58 am
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M.V. Schools Enrollment Numbers Stay Flat

By Mike Donahue

Moapa Valley Progress

Kids at Bowler Elementary head to class on Monday morning after lining up with their teachers and classmates on the playground. Photo by Vernon Robison.

Local schools started a new year Monday with almost the same number of students they had last year and every principal in the area predicted a terrific school year.

Ken Paul, Ute V. Perkins Elementary principal, said enrollment was down to 170 students this year from 180 last year. He attributed the small reduction to the loss of a special autism program that was moved to Grant M. Bowler Elementary.

“We’re looking forward to a great year,” Paul said. “Probably the biggest change for us is that we’re becoming a little more focused academically. We have great fine arts and music programs and we’ll continue with the before-school programs — the Flag Drill Team, Patriot Rocks and VIP (a vocal, instrumental and performance group). I’m excited and it looks like we have a wonderful group of students.”

Students at Perkins started the year with bottled drinking water and portable hand-washing stations because of a problem with the school’s water system discovered earlier this summer. The Moapa Valley Water District (MVWD) crews had carefully tested water entering at the school’s meter and confirmed that the problem was not due to general water quality but was due to issues in the school’s system only, MVWD officials said.

“We found that the water coming out of the taps was brown so we cleaned and disinfected the system,” Paul said. “It looks like it’s going to be Friday before it’s completely okay.”

Enjoying the last few moments of freedom with friends before classes started, local kids went back to school on Monday this week. Photo by Vernon Robison.

Shawna Jessen, principal at Grant Bowler, said enrollment at her school is about 20 students lower this year despite the addition of the special autistic class.

“We’re at 623 students this year and we had 642 last year,” she said. “Unfortunately for us, we’re losing six teachers; four who will be teaching in Las Vegas schools, one who will begin the year in Beaver Dam, Arizona and one who is going to teach online.

“We’re going to miss them but we’re excited and optimistic about the teachers and students we have,” she continued. “We’re expecting an excellent school year.”

Bowler was faced with some special challenges Monday because of an ongoing construction project that was begun in January. But the work is actually ahead of schedule and will have little if any impact on students or teachers.

Additionally, Jessen said she was forced to begin school Monday with a substitute 5th Grade teacher, Erica Cook.

“She’s a long-term substitute, has all the necessary credentials and paperwork, so it’s really not a hardship,” Jessen said.

Rod Adams, principal at Mack Lyon Middle School, said enrollment is pretty much what it was last year.

“We got about 420 students and they look awesome,” Adams said. “We’re going to have a great year.”

Adams said that it looked last spring like the school was going to lose a few teachers, “but we got everyone back.”

“We made a few changes in staffing, but we started school fully staffed and ready to go,” he said. “It’s going to be an exciting year.”

Grant Hanevold, Moapa Valley Empowerment High School (MVHS) principal, said he has 565 students, “exactly what I had last year.”

Because of budget cuts, however, the teaching staff is down four positions this year. Fortunately these cuts were not unexpected.

“We received approximately $100,000 a year for the first three years after being designated an empowerment school and that ran out last year,” Hanevold said. “It’s always tough losing teachers but nothing that can’t be handled.”

Despite the teaching staff loss, Hanevold said MVHS will continue to provide students with the best education available anywhere in the district.

“Our plan is to continue doing and setting the highest possible standards for everyone at Moapa Valley Empowerment High School,” he said. “Our only change this year will be to focus more on ACT (American College Testing) preparedness. We want to not only get more students to take the test but increase their scores as well.”

MVHS is the only public high school in the Clark County School District (CCSD) to attain “high achieving status” in the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) federal standards test, a component of the No Child Left Behind Act. It requires schools and districts to meet annual targets for academic improvement.

“We’re in pretty elite company,” Hanevold said. “The only other high schools to test as high are magnet schools and academies.”

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