Hillary Davis
Cindy Flores, Family Support Center director; CCSD Family Engagement Director Denise Diaz; and Superintendent Jesus Jara talk at the Clark County School District’s new Family Support Center, which opened about a month ago.
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022 | 2 a.m.
A simple sheet of paper posted on a whiteboard at the Clark County School District’s new Family Support Center illustrates the breadth of the clientele coming in for social and educational services.
Designed for immigrants with limited or no English skills, it says “I speak” plus a language in that tongue. First is “Hablo Español,” or “I speak Spanish.” The list of languages includes: Arabic; Persian, Farsi or Dari; Pashto; Swahili, Kinyarwanda; Amharic; Tigrinya; Russian; Ukrainian; Tagalog.
These are languages for the people of Iran, Afghanistan, Congo, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Russia, Ukraine and the Philippines, some of whom have come to Las Vegas and enroll their children in CCSD while looking for a better life in the United States.
The support center is focused on helping newcomers get acclimated. But the services go further, as district officials believe the center is the first in the county staffed with advocates who directly state their commitment to undocumented immigrants with the newly created Undocumented & Immigrant Family & Youth (UNIFY) Success Services.
CCSD’s Family Engagement Department has 10 small field centers at schools around the valley serving primarily low-income students. They offer English classes and basic technology lessons for both parents and preschoolers — those family members of CCSD students who aren’t in school.
The support center, which opened about a month ago at Maryland Parkway and Oakey Boulevard, offers all that and more, including connections to Catholic Charities, Three Square food bank, Legal Aid, job-finding nonprofits, a clothing and school supply closet, a health clinic, a lending library and onsite translators.
Cindy Flores, the new center’s director, said the big selling point for the new facility was its comprehensive nature. It’s already offered a vaccination clinic, a workshop on applying for college scholarships and financial aid, and an orientation for five newly arrived refugee families from Afghanistan.
Astrid Silva is the UNIFY Success Services director. She will also be based at the center, which is conveniently located across the street from Global Community High School, a specialized school for teen immigrants. The resource center has the same architecture and color scheme.
For several district officials, this center is personal. Silva is a high-profile advocate for immigrant youths – she co-founded the immigrant rights group Dream Big Nevada and has long been open about her status as an undocumented Mexican immigrant brought to the U.S. as a child. She is a DACA recipient, benefiting from the Obama-era relief policy Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Flores was born in the United States just a year after her parents fled El Salvador in the late 1970s seeking political asylum and finding a scant social infrastructure to receive them in Los Angeles. Superintendent Jesus Jara came to the United States with his family in 1980 from Venezuela at age 10, not knowing a word of English.
Silva, who graduated from CCSD’s Advanced Technologies Academy high school in 2006, wants to empower families to be involved in their children’s education regardless of immigration status. She said that some families have been nervous about exposing themselves to immigration authorities just by approaching school office staff, or benefiting from services and opportunities critics think they shouldn’t be allowed to have, like letting a child play on a school basketball team.
“We want to make sure the students are free to be themselves,” she said.
Up for the Heisman
Eighteen Las Vegas-area high school athletes have been named school-level winners in the Heisman High School Scholarship competition.
The award looks for high-achieving student-athletes from more than 29,000 high schools nationally who are also difference-makers in their communities. To qualify, a student must be a leader in the school community, and a noted role model for underclassmen.
The 18 school-level winners are:
Macda Angaw, Spring Valley High School; Mia Aronow, Coronado High School; Jennifer Barajas, Del Sol High School; Braydon Bond, Southeast Career and Technical Academy; Soleil Fullmer, Nevada State High School-Henderson; Sean Gosse, The Meadows School; Jaydon Hare, Veterans Tribute Career and Technical Academy; Jaida Harris, Lake; Donte Hoofkin, Mojave High School; Abigail Lescenski, Faith Lutheran High School; Taylor Lindahl, Las Vegas High School; Eddie Lozano, Sports Leadership and Management Academy; Marley Spielberg, Basic High School; Justin St. Cloud, Coronado High School; Katie Vena, Green Valley Christian School; Rylan Walter, Faith Lutheran High School; Parker Wittmayer, Calvary Chapel Christian School; and Lauren Wong, West Career and Technical Academy
They advance to a state-level competition, where one female and male will be selected as the Nevada winner and receive a $1,000 scholarship, plus the chance to win a a $10,000 scholarship.
National honors for CCSD director
Jennifer Vobis, CCSD’s executive director of transportation, has been named 2022 Transportation Director of the Year by the trade publication School Transportation News.
“I am tremendously grateful for this honor,” Vobis said CCSD Transportation Director Jennifer Vobis. "My mission every day is to help students get to and from school,” Vobis said in a statement. “I am proud of the staff who work hard to provide that service to students and schools in a safe, timely and courteous manner.”
Vobis has worked for CCSD since 1995 as a teacher, special education director and support services administrator. She was named transportation director in 2015 and executive director of transportation in 2021.
Scholarship opportunities
CCSD seniors have a chance at more than $2 million in scholarships from The Rogers Foundation.
The Las Vegas-based arts and education foundation gives out Rogers Achievers Scholarships and Kentucky Wesleyan Rogers’ Fellows Scholarships, which cover all of, or nearly all of, a college education for local students.
At least 11 Rogers Achievers Scholarships will be given away, ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 per year for four years and good for any university, college or vocational or technical school in the United States. The foundation is also giving out at least 10 full-ride scholarships to Kentucky Wesleyan College, an institution that many of foundation namesake Jim Rogers’ family members attended.
Apply online at therogers.foundation by Feb. 5.
