Students steal the show

By Emily Richmond

Tuesday, March 7, 2006 | 7:45 a.m.

Performing arts students stole some of the spotlight Friday at Las Vegas Academy for the Clark County School District's 50th anniversary kickoff celebration.

Energetic dancers leapt and twirled to a medley of tunes from the past five decades. And the vocal styling of junior Veronica Domingo - singing Jennifer Holliday's "I Am Changing" - drew a standing ovation.

"I thought I was back at 'Hairspray,' they were that good," enthused Regent Thalia Dondero, whose late husband was a longtime teacher and administrator.

However, the biggest cheers were reserved for the students from the classes of 2006 through 2019 who each took a turn at the microphone to introduce themselves.

All that is except the class of 2014.

"She's not here because she had a field trip," explained the Hollingsworth Elementary School fourth grader, chosen as the class of 2015 representative, drawing chuckles from the audience.

At a School Board meeting to review options for a new district logo, President Ruth Johnson opened the discussion for public comment as required by state statute. When the sole spectator who wasn't a member of the media or district staff declined to take the floor, Johnson's response was tart.

"Good, then you can come to more of our meetings," she joked.

For West-Edison Middle School Principal Jimmie Jones, there was some irony to the letter he received last month from state Superintendent of Public Instruction Keith Rheault.

Citing West-Edison's significant improvement in student test scores over the last year, Jones is informed that his campus has been nominated to be a representative campus to the state's upcoming conference "Successful Schools in Action."

The nomination comes as the School District plans to scrap its contract with private Edison Schools Inc. to manage West, a five-year deal that has been by many accounts a failure.

Carla Steinforth, superintendent of the district's northwest region, said the improvements in West's test scores were because of a major intervention by the district, which sent consultants to work with teachers on classroom management and instruction techniques.

What will happen to West for the 2006-07 academic year remains uncertain. Supervision of the school has been transferred to Edward Goldman, associate superintendent of education services.

As for Jones, he said he won't be back in the fall - at West or any other district school. He plans to retire in Jacksonville, Fla., where he was born.

"I came out here specifically to try and make a difference at West with Edison," said Jones, who spent the bulk of his career in Baltimore and moved to Clark County in 2004. "I believe we did our jobs. I've never seen such a hard-working group of people doing what had to be done on behalf of students."

The daughter of Walter Jacobson, the longtime district teacher who created the district's former logo depicting the "Lamp of Learning" and crossed quills, said her late father wouldn't mind that graphic artists at R&R Partners had replaced his work with a more modern icon.

"He was a very generous man," said Kathy Collins of her father, who died in 1986. "I think he would have liked the new logo. I do, very much."

New Superintendent Walt Rulffes has retained his sense of humor: "It's a little unnerving to be superintendent of a school district that's younger than I am," said the 65-year-old said, who was promoted in January.