Sunday, March 16, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
TALK about March Madness. This month, thousands of parents and students are waiting to hear from magnet schools.
Accepted? Rejected? The competition is keen for these campuses that offer specialized curriculum ranging from aerospace to performing arts. The district is still compiling the applications but, once again, it's a certainty that there are more prospective students than available seats.
As their waiting lists lengthen, the magnet programs are demonstrating how families are voting with their feet. No longer content with the one-size-fits-all format of so-called "comprehensive" schools, more parents and children are looking to magnets for enriched learning experiences.
Next fall, nearly 7,000 pupils will be enrolled at three elementaries, two middle schools and six high schools. Some, like the Las Vegas Academy, are full-fledged specialty facilities. Others, like Hyde Park Middle School and Clark High School, operate within a larger general campus.
In addition to pushing academics, the magnets' attraction serves another purpose: desegregation. Located in downscale or underenrolled areas, the programs draw students from all over. Valley High School's tourism and international baccalaureate disciplines have boosted attendance. Medical and aerospace magnets are generating fresh interest at Rancho.
Critics have grumbled that the magnets are elitist, and siphon resources from chronically crowded campuses.
Glenn Cooper, director of the program, makes no excuses for the enriched academics, but he notes that most of the classroom equipment has been funded through a three-year, $2.4 million federal grant -- money that the district would not have without magnets. That has helped the Advanced Technologies Academy and others buy pricey high-tech hardware.
The acceptance process in the early grades is little more elitist than a keno game. Elementary enrollment is determined by lottery. High school applicants need just a 2.0 grade point average to get into the pool. Some of the more competitive programs look at transcripts and test scores.
So, won't specialty programs such as the new arts magnet at Knudsen Middle School pull the best and brightest musicians from other campuses? Won't that cripple band programs elsewhere?
Such scenarios don't give much credit to the district's other 180,000 students. Besides, the remaining 200-plus schools are in no position to abandon advanced curricula as long as the magnets' supply and demand are out of whack.
One thing is certain: Magnets have lit a spark in students. Why else would youngsters leave their neighborhood schools, travel across town and stretch their days from dawn to dusk?
Tovah Minster is finishing her fourth year at the Las Vegas Academy. The senior band major commutes to the downtown campus from Green Valley. "I wouldn't go anywhere else," she says, citing the smaller classes and the opportunity to take eight courses each semester.
Heidi Wixsom agrees. Her two eldest daughters applied to every specialty school and decided on the academy. "I can't thank the school district enough for these magnets. They're truly a gift," she says.
Across the valley, Tirza Irias gets up at 4:30 a.m. to begin her trek to VoTech, the vocational and trade magnet. The junior has her eye on college and figures that her training in electronics will help pay the way.
"I can earn a (trade) certificate while getting the full range of academic opportunities," says Irias, a leader in the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America and an after-school tutor.
Thirty-year-old VoTech has experienced a resurgence in popularity. For fall, it has 1,400 applicants for 500 freshman openings. Like the other magnets, the campus is a melting pot. As a trade center, it enrolls future welders, computer programmers and students in dozens of other vocations. Trainees in carpentry and small engine repair land early apprenticeships while getting a jump on journeymen's pay scales.
District officials are encouraged by the low attrition at the three West Las Vegas elementary magnets and the higher graduation rates at the magnet high schools. Top-notch test scores at the academy's arts and international studies program and Clark's math and science magnet show how an eclectic cross-section of students can come together to excel.
"They demonstrate that common interests are more important than socioeconomic background or color of skin," Cooper says.
Here's hoping that the district gets an extension on its magnet money. With a mere 4 percent of Clark County's students in the program, and many more pent up on waiting lists, this appears to be just the beginning.
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