Editorial: What can happen when Clark County schools are properly funded

Sunday, May 17, 2015 | 2 a.m.

It’s too easy to beat up the Clark County School District because of its poor academic standing nationally. Statistical metrics are cold and brutal, and they can become easily cited sound bites, usually without context, for those heaving criticism at our students, teachers and administrators.

What statistics and rankings don’t always show are the enormity of the challenges the school district faces and its ongoing struggles to raise student achievement. And because of that constant drumbeat of negativism, it’s too easy to overlook the many success stories that emanate from our schools. They deserve to be told and celebrated.

Here are a few recent examples:

Best in Nevada and gold in the nation

If you’re going to put weight on rankings that show dismal results, then let’s embrace rankings that show how we shine. Spotlight, please, on Advanced Technologies Academy, or as it’s more commonly known, A-Tech.

For the third consecutive year, the racially mixed school has received a national gold medal from U.S. News & World Report, publisher of national rankings of public and private schools. A-Tech was named Nevada’s best high school, with 63 percent of its students taking Advanced Placement courses, 99 percent demonstrating proficiency in reading and 98 percent proficient in math.

Headed for MIT

Eric Lujan has accomplished amazing things in high school. He’s a National Merit Finalist, a National Hispanic Recognition Scholar and, with a 4.8 GPA, valedictorian at Coronado High School. The over-the-top grade-point average is due to his having excelled in 11 Advanced Placement courses in science, math, social studies, English, Spanish and computer science, which he parlayed into acceptance at the esteemed Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he will major in engineering and physics.

Robots on a mission

The High Rollers robotics team at Cimarron-Memorial High School took second place in the Robotic World Championship last month in St. Louis, Mo., which attracted a field of more than 600 teams from 23 countries. Cimarron’s program, which immerses its 80 members in engineering design, math and science, was launched in 2001.

Next up: a trip to China for more global competition. The challenge: Raising $20,000 through gofundme.com to fund the trip.

A world view

Six county schools — most recently, Palo Verde High School — have been named International Baccalaureate World Schools by the International Baccalaureate Organization, which promotes curriculum that stresses critical thinking skills on a global basis while embracing thoughtful inquiry and reflection. The other schools so honored are Kit Carson and Sandy Searles Miller elementary schools, Roy Martin Middle School, and Valley and Green Valley high schools.

When magnets attract

Clark County’s 25 magnet schools, where curriculum is focused on specialties such as engineering, law and the arts, have won wheelbarrows of awards and distinction.

The Las Vegas Academy of the Arts might as well be an internship at a professional theater for the talent it develops — actors, set designers, costumers, lighting experts and other technicians.

Learning is an adventure at Mabel Hoggard Elementary, where textbooks are set aside in favor of hands-on learning tools. Students make hot-air balloons to experiment with air density and learn mechanics by building machines with Legos.

At Rancho High, students can earn college credit through the distinguished Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

What’s our point?

Clark County is blessed with smart children, effective teachers and savvy administrators. We pull the best out of them when we invest in resources to tap their skills. Properly equipped schools are getting good results. But when we shortchange our schools, we shortchange our children and sabotage success.