By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
The first day of school has traditionally been a sign that summer is over and fall is on the way. But this year, summer vacation ended early.
CCSD students began classes bright and early on Monday morning, a full two weeks ahead of the past schedule. The change in the start date is to accommodate a new year-round schedule where the first semester finishes before Christmas break. The end of school and graduation will come early; before Memorial Day in the spring.
While complaints that the summer was too short were abundant, the atmosphere of excitement, nervousness, joy, and sadness usual to school’s opening day was also present. Elementary school playgrounds were full of parents making sure kids found their teachers and got in the right groups.
Some kids were grinning and some were tearful. And the same was true of parents. But when the bell rang, everyone waved goodbye as students followed their new teachers into the school to begin their studies.
Evelyn Reid, 6, was excited to begin first grade. “I’m very excited for the new year and especially for math,” she said. “I love doing math. It is my favorite part of school.”
Her mother Emily, however, will miss her. “I’m a little less excited about her going off to school because I love having her home,” Emily said. “But we love the staff here at Bowler and it makes it easier to let her go because she’s so excited.”
Laena Shiozawa, whose youngest son Kenji is also in first grade agreed. “I’m just glad they will be getting out earlier this year because I always miss my kids when they are in school,” she said.
Feelings of excitement were not just for the younger students, however. Older kids were also looking forward to new adventures. Olivia Smith, 5th grade, said, “I am excited today because I feel like I’m not a little kid anymore. I feel older. I’m looking forward to writing lots of essays this year because I love to write.”
Classmates Alyssa Weeks and Morgan Geist agreed, adding that they both love the start of school because it gives them an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.
In addition to a new schedule, this year brings relatively few changes to local schools. All of the schools have a few new faces.
The local schools are also holding steady in enrollment numbers.Some schools have even seen healthy amount of growth.
Ute Perkins Elementary principal Holly Lee said that her school’s enrollment is currently about level with last year at about 160 students. She said that there will be some fluctuation in the numbers as late registrations continue to come in.
Perkins is becoming a “Reading Ranger” school. “We are super excited about our new reading program,” she said. “Jerome Henrie has spent the summer painting Reading Ranger characters in the school and they are great. We are excited for the new enthusiasm this will bring to our reading program.”
Grant Bowler Elementary has seen an increase in enrollment. Last year the school had a total of 607 students. But this year there are already 676 kids registered, though the number may change before the official count is taken next month. The larger enrollment is currently not expected to impact this year’s funding.
The school welcomed three new teachers and is excited to offer full-day kindergarten for a second year.
Principal Shawna Jessen is also happy to have Vice-Principal Venessa Solis as a full time vice-principal this year. In the past, Solis has had to split her time as vice-principal between Grant Bowler in Logandale, and JL Bowler in Mesquite.
“We are so excited to have our very own full-time vice-principal,” Jessen said. “Mrs. Solis does such an excellent job. In fact, all our teachers are awesome and we have fantastic students. We know this year will be a great one.”
Bowler was not the only school to see an increase in enrollment. Numbers at the middle school are also steadily climbing for the second year in a row.
“We were kind of stuck around 370 for years and now we are up two years in a row,” said Lyon principal Ken Paul. “This year we currently stand at 420 students; but that number may yet increase.”
Lyon has a fun new program planned for this year loosely based on the popular “Harry Potter” books. “We are going to break the students into four groups or ‘houses’ and then we will have competitions between the houses for prizes and points,” Paul said.
In keeping with the theme and to cap off the year, Paul is trying to make it possible to take the students to Universal Studios this year for their traditional year-end Mustang Pride trip.
The school will also continue as a 21st century classroom. All students will be issued personal Chromebooks that they will use in classroom learning and for nightly homework.
Moapa Valley High School had the biggest turnover in teachers with five new faces joining the high school staff due to retirements, job changes, and the addition of another self-contained classroom.
Enrollment for the school currently stands at 528, which is only one student different from last year’s initial enrollment of 529.
Principal Hal Mortensen is excited for the new year. “Even though the summer was way too short, and I think we all are feeling that, we’re still happy to welcome back the students and our new teachers on board,” he said. “We’re looking forward to a great school year.”
