By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
Well, here we go again!
Scarcely more than a week before classes were to start and another bombshell has been dropped on Moapa Valley High School (MVHS) administrators, teachers, parents and, worst of all, students!
Last week, the word came out that the master schedule would have to be redone AGAIN at MVHS.
This fastidiously detailed process, which usually takes months in the early spring to complete, must now be done in only about five working days to get the kids in their classes by Aug. 7. Sadly, they probably won’t be the classes that the kids asked for last spring. Instead, it will likely be whatever is left in the decimated master schedule.
MVHS has a heritage of excellence. The school is known for offering an enviable breadth of electives to its students; at least it is for a small rural school. Though our rural community is far removed from many of the educational opportunities that come easy to urban kids, the grit and innovation of local administrators over the years has ensured that local students can choose classes like music, art, construction tech, drama, animal science, farm mechanics, Ag classes and much more. For college-bound kids, MVHS has offered the opportunity for a head start with a smattering of dual-credit college courses scheduled during the school day. And for those struggling to make the grade, the school has been able to offer remedial credit retrieval instruction to give them a boost up to the graduation podium.
All of this has largely been made possible by the block schedule at MVHS. This innovative method of scheduling the school day has been in practice since the mid 1990s.
But last spring the CCSD threw a wrench into this high-performing educational machine. Citing an obscure clause in the Nevada Administrative Code, CCSD central administrators in Las Vegas claimed that MVHS was out of compliance with state regulation. This was because of the way the school was operating the block schedule. Local administrators were warned that the long-time five-star-ranked school was actually “substandard.” They were threatened with professional discipline proceedings if the problem wasn’t remedied.
With deadlines looming, the MVHS administration quickly pivoted. For the first time in 25 years, they reluctantly did away with the block schedule. But to retain as many elective options for students as possible, they scrambled to put together a seven period daily schedule. Though options would be narrowed somewhat, this schedule would still allow students a similar broad choice of course offerings.
In order to run the seven period schedule, though, the administrators knew they would need a waiver from the Clark County Education Association (CCEA). This had been easily granted by the teachers’ union before, to other schools running similar schedules. With all of this in place, the waiver was largely taken for granted.
But no good thing should ever be taken for granted when dealing with CCSD. What no one foresaw was the current conflict that is taking place between the CCSD brass and the teacher’s union over the additional money set aside for public education in the last legislature. With acrimony overflowing from that ugly process, the CCEA sent a letter out earlier this month flatly denying authorization for MVHS to run a seven period schedule this year. Case closed! No more discussion.
And so, now with only a few days left before classes, MVHS administrators were found burning midnight oil last week to revamp the class schedule yet again. With the waiver declined and the ban still in place on the block schedule, they felt their only choice was to retreat to a six period day. So here we are in the land of bitter disappointment.
But there is much more at stake than that. The six period day requires no less than 26 sections of full classes to be eliminated from the MVHS schedule. This may seem simple enough on the surface by just lopping off a class from each student. But with the meager staff size at MVHS, the ripples of such an impact will issue out across the water for miles.
The six period schedule will thus increase class sizes dramatically in core academic subjects. This will likely begin eroding the stellar academic achievement that has been a heritage at the school.
The new schedule will also vastly decrease elective classes and programs available to local kids. There goes the focus on college and career readiness that has been such a beacon at MVHS for decades.
Finally, the six period day will make credit retrieval instruction nearly impossible for the lowest performing students at MVHS. With that, the graduation rates, that have routinely been in the high 90th percentile at the school, will likely be impacted.
It is much more than a mere disappointment for our kids. This mess could end up snuffing out the stellar academic performance of one of the brightest shining schools in the CCSD. It will have a tremendous negative impact on our students. And for what?! What great bureaucratic purpose has been accomplished here that is worth all of that?
The irony behind the whole thing is that it is actually all for nothing. In fact, the MVHS block schedule was never out of compliance. In May, the state Department of Education was called in to do a full attendance audit of all the CCSD schools running the block schedule. And guess who came out of that audit with flying colors. That’s right, MVHS was found in full compliance. Nothing to see here!
But never bother CCSD central with the facts! CCSD has refused to even discuss relaxing its ban on the MVHS block schedule. Though local administrators, parents and education advocates have all been pounding on the door of the district bureaucracy pleading to be heard on the subject, the door has remained silently and resolutely bolted against them. Though a return to the block schedule would be a common-sense solution to a myriad problems, the district brass has been deaf to all local cries. The only answer from CCSD on the matter has been silence! Nothing.
Why is that? What possible reason could these folks have to hold this meaningless and harmful course with our students?
Some folks think that it might be a spiteful personal vendetta against the Moapa Valley community which has been so vocal in its advocacy for its students’ interests against CCSD in the past. Maybe that is it. Who knows?
Others might think that it is just a typical bureaucracy looking to establish a one-size-fits-all mediocrity – or worse. That is certainly a strong possibility, too.
But I have come to believe that it might be even simpler, and more frustrating, than that. The CCSD monolith has become so big, bloated and over-concerned with “important” big-city things, that it doesn’t even hear – nor does it care – how its careless and thoughtless policies affect our little town of students and families. Despite all of our advocacy, we still aren’t even on the radar.
The most likely reason for CCSD’s behavior in this matter (and so many others) may simply be distraction and blind indifference. And really, how can a small rural community, in a noisy urban district, ever scream loud enough to move the needle against that?
