Phone pouches, rebuilt campus, career programs: Clark County’s first day of school

A mixture of smiling and sleepy students entered Legacy High School in North Las Vegas on a warm Monday morning for the first day of the 2024-25 school year.

A full performance by the school’s drumline, cheerleading and color guard teams greeted students as they made their way to their morning classes. Staff helped usher lost students to where they needed to be. A staff member handed out grab-and-go breakfast bags.

It was one of the many back-to-school events planned across the Clark County School District to welcome back its 300,000 students and highlight a recently rebuilt elementary school, a new environmental science middle school program and career and technical education opportunities.

“There’s a lot of positive energy and excitement as we are welcoming our students back,” said interim Superintendent Brenda Larsen-Mitchell. “Our educators are doing an amazing job.”

New safety, cellphone policies

This academic year came with some changes that students at Legacy High School noticed before they even set foot on campus.

Students were directed to a single point of entry, where staff verified their identity as part of the district’s recently expanded ID badge policy for 6-12 graders, a change meant to enhance safety that also slowed down their arrival on campus.

A district spokesman said students will get leeway during the first few weeks of the school year as they adjust to this new part of their morning routines and get new photos taken.

Another new part of the students’ day? Signal-blocking cellphone pouches affixed to the desks of a couple of Legacy High School classrooms. This year, secondary school students will be required to place their cellphones in the pouches during classes as part of the district’s effort to reduce distractions.

Legacy was among the 10 percent of middle and high schools that piloted the program last school year, said Principal Belinda Marentic.

Though a student-led petition against the new policy launched weeks before the first day and garnered thousands of signatures, Marentic said parents didn’t push back against the policy. Students were also receptive to it, she added.

At Legacy, Marentic said teachers can choose whether they want to affix the pouches to the desks, as some have already done, or hand them to students as they walk in.

An old school is made new

The atmosphere was different at Red Rock Elementary School in Las Vegas west of Interstate 15 where parents dropped off their children at the newly rebuilt campus. Students gave educators a high-five as they walked in. They were also treated to a visit from the district’s book bus, a sort-of library on wheels, and were allowed to take two free books, pencils and bookmarks.

The elementary school was rebuilt last year as part of the district’s capital improvement program financed through bonds — which can only be applied to projects such as building new schools, school replacements, phased replacements, renovations, modernizations, technology upgrades and transportation.

Principal Chantae Readye said her whole staff was excited to see the finished project.

“It was all teeth everywhere,” she said. “Everyone was so glad to be here, to see the size of it. It's huge compared to our previous school, to see all the amenities that they have access to.”

The school serves close to 500 pre-K-5 students. More than half identify as Hispanic.

The original campus was built in 1955 and looked and felt its age, said Readye. Some of the buildings had asbestos in them. Electricity and air conditioning would sometimes go out, which would force teachers to take their lessons outdoors.

“So being able to have a building where everything is working and they have places that they can choose to take the kids outside, not have to take them outside for learning, that's very exciting for me,” Readye said.

The campus now features a shady courtyard where classes can come to learn and play. The second floor has large windows with views of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Downtown and The Strat north of the Strip as well as a library stocked with books and areas to sit and learn.

“I think it shows that this city and our district and the people care enough about the kids in our community to give them a school that will work for them,” she said. “So we're not telling kids who are in the lower income areas that they deserve schools that break down or buildings that are crumbling around their ears.”

High school programs preparing students for future careers

East Career and Technical Academy (ECTA) Principal Natasha Lerutte boasted about eight career exploration opportunities that East Las Vegas offers its student body of nearly 2,000 students.

Two of those programs — early childhood education and teaching and training — prepare students for careers in education. ECTA features an on-site laboratory, the Tiny Titan Preschool, where students in the early childhood education program get to work with about 20 preschool students for two hours at a time, three days a week. For their senior year, students in the teaching and training program intern at an elementary or middle school where they get to practice giving instruction based on lesson plans they develop under the guidance of a teacher.

“They actually create all the lessons … just like a teacher would,” said Education Program Leader Linda Pheasant, who works with the high schoolers and the 3-to-5 year-olds in the preschool program. “So anything that a teacher would do, they're practicing already.”

Both programs allow students to earn college credits from Nevada State University.

Lerutte said some program graduates have returned to ECTA as teachers or substitute teachers while they work on getting their license.

Junior Lilly Woods, who’s in the teaching and training program, said she’s always loved working with kids, and was inspired to pursue a career in early childhood education because of her father, who teaches at a nearby elementary school. She said the program has been an eye-opening experience.

“There's so many more steps to actually teaching a kid … because I thought teachers were just handed a lesson plan,” Woods said. “They actually have to learn about their kids and what they're going through and how they are feeling emotionally as well as how to just manage them in a classroom.”

Monday was Sofia Nuñez’s last first day of high school. The senior reflected on the past three years, which she said went by fast, and the year and half of middle school experiences she lost due to the pandemic and distance learning. But she said she was able to make up for it through all the experiences she gained through the high school’s marketing and hospitality program, clubs and skills such as public speaking and leadership lessons.

“I feel like that has definitely helped me,” said Nuñez, who is planning to pursue a career in nursing. “When I was a freshman, I was very shy.”

New environmental science program sprouts

Lyal Burkholder Academy of Environmental Science in Henderson had two debuts for new and returning students — a new name, and a new science, technology, engineering and mathematics magnet program. The middle school was one of two that was converted into a magnet schools thanks to a $15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education — bringing the district’s total number of magnets to 42. The grant also funded the school’s new designing and modeling lab, which is equipped with new desktops and 3D printers that will facilitate project-based learning opportunities.

The school is expecting additional funding to expand its hydroponics and aeroponics soilless gardening systems .

Principal Christopher Hermes said he and his staff underwent hours of training to develop the curriculum for the school’s environment science magnet program, one of the few in the country offered at the middle school level.

The magnet program features classes such as designing and modeling, environmental anthropology and podcasting.

“They're learning those basic computer design skills, gardening and science skills,” Hermes said. “Those are things that can be applied to almost any field.”