Columnist Sandra Thompson: Back-to-basics private school eyes expansion

SANDRA THOMPSON is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4025 or on the Internet at [email protected]

THE Lake Mead Christian Academy is in a race against time.

Having raised $1.4 million, it needs an additional $2.6 million in cash or in-kind donations to finish the new Henderson school by August.

The major projects remaining to be done are plumbing, heating/air conditioning and electrical. Of course, the money needed doesn't cover teaching staff and desks.

The academy is one of a growing number of private schools in the Las Vegas Valley.

Its founder and administrator, Sue Blakely, believes education will go through a reform within the next decade with the issue of school choice. The opportunities to choose alternative education are fewer in Nevada than in other parts of the country, she says. Expect more charter and magnet schools that are developed for a specific purpose.

"How this will impact the overall education community depends on how much government will get behind school choice," she says. "Otherwise, only a select group will get to choose (schools).

"What begs for reform is when you have a ready-made market -- a monopoly -- that must use your product (the public schools) and competition is eliminated from the equation."

Public schools continue to operate whether they offer a good product, Blakely says. The upshot is that parents need more of a say in education based on their family focus and values.

That's why Blakely founded the Lake Mead Christian Academy nine years ago. She believes it's important that parents know what values educators will impart to their children.

But the foundation of the academy, which is kindergarten through 12th grade, is more than just imparting Christian values.

Blakely says the school relies on the tried-and-proven traditional approach to education. It stresses the basics -- rote memorization, especially in math, and phonics.

"In the older grades we try not to offer too wide a variety of electives," Blakely says. "Kindergarten through 12th grade is the time to get a solid foundation in basics. There is time after (college) to specialize.

"We try not to be all things to all men. That dilutes your efforts. We center on what we do well -- the basics."

The academy uses textbooks from two Christian education publishers -- A-BEKA in the lower grades and Bob Jones University Press in the upper grades.

The two main reasons parents send their children to Lake Mead Christian Academy are the quality of education and safety, Blakely says. They believe small private schools are safer than public schools.

Sharon Dixon, a single mother, sought out the academy for her twin girls. She was tired of the constant rezoning in the public school system. Her daughters went to three different schools in four years. And they were on split sessions.

Bright students, they weren't being challenged, Dixon says. Now at the academy, her 10-year-old daughters are reading on a ninth-grade level. They're two years ahead of their public school counterparts in math, Dixon says.

The school, which started out with 24 students, has an enrollment of 231 and there is a waiting list. The students now are split among three campuses. The 40,000-square-foot building under construction at 540 E. Lake Mead would accommodate 400 students. Basic Management Inc. donated 5.6 acres of land for the school.

Tuition, which was just increased in an effort to raise money, is $4,300 a year (or $2,150 if parents volunteer a certain number of hours) in grades one through eight and $5,000 ($2,550 if parents volunteer) for grades nine through 12.

Dixon says parents have been helping out on weekends to move along construction, but the need is still great.

She tried to raise community awareness through the media, but only one television station and a newspaper showed up at a recent press conference. The lack of attention frustrates her.

"Unless there's a major bomb scare, there's little media exposure," she says.

Blakely believes the academy will reach its goal and open a new building in August or September.

"It's a pressing priority," she says.

Parents are doing what they can. It makes a difference when they get to choose the school their children will attend, Blakely says.

"We have a wonderful parent base, and that gives you a different climate at school," she says.

And that's a boost all schools -- public and private -- need.

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