Michelee Cruz-Crawford, principal of Ronnow Elementary School, and incoming first grader Brissa Martinez, speak before a ceremonial signing of Senate Bill 189, the Keeping Kids in School Act, at the school Thursday, July 6, 2023. The bill includes a $2 million appropriation for Communities In Schools of Nevada.
Friday, July 7, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Treasure Monroe had an adult looking out for her when she was a student at Monaco Middle School, urging her to go to class when she was hanging out in the halls chatting with friends and reminding her to eat when she was grieving the death of her grandmother.
That person’s name was Miranda, and she was a site coordinator with the nonprofit Communities in Schools of Nevada. She acted as Monroe’s counselor, social worker and mentor.
At Desert Pines High School, Communities in Schools had Amilet and Joanna to keep Monroe on track.
“By my senior year I was vice president of student council, I was homecoming queen, I did cross country. I was proud of myself,” Monroe, who graduated from Desert Pines in 2022, said Thursday at a ceremonial bill signing to celebrate Communities in Schools of Nevada getting $2 million in state funding. “I think that everybody should have a Miranda and Joanna and Amilet at their school.”
After 19 years of providing dropout prevention and family support services in high-needs schools around the state, Communities in Schools of Nevada is getting its first state appropriation.
Gov. Joe Lombardo presided over the bill signing at C.C. Ronnow Elementary School in east Las Vegas, one of 108 schools in Nevada with a Communities In Schools program.
Ronnow Principal Michelee Cruz-Crawford said schools were the “first line of defense” in their neighborhoods.
“When my parents don’t have food,” said Cruz-Crawford, who is also on the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents, “they tell us.”
Ronnow sits in the 89101 ZIP code, where census data show that more than a third of children live below the poverty line and about a third of adults lack a high school diploma.
Lombardo said poverty has held kids back.
“We can argue on both sides of the aisle what’s the best model for school, but more importantly what (we can agree on is that) the best success for school is to have support and help, physical and emotional support and help, in that endeavor for those kids that are suffering as a result of poverty,” he said. “Communities in Schools is addressing that.”
Communities in Schools provides comprehensive services starting in grade school to children with attendance, behavior and academic struggles who are more likely to get to high school
credit-deficient and ultimately drop out. Most of its schools are in the Clark County School District, but it also serves schools in Washoe, Elko and Humboldt counties. The group will add 16 Nevada schools to its roster in the coming school year, bringing its statewide total to 108 schools.
Communities in Schools is a nationwide program. In Nevada, it boasts a 94% high school graduation rate for the students it assists. Nevada’s overall high school graduation rate is about 82%.
Tami Hance-Lehr, Communities in Schools of Nevada’s CEO and state director, said the organization has worked with more than 100 partners to ensure that the youths it serves have food, clothing, housing, emotional, moral and academic support.
She said the goal is to have Communities in Schools in every high-needs school in Nevada. Right now, it’s in about a quarter of them.
Senate Bill 189, or the Keeping Kids in School Act, passed unanimously out of the state Senate and Assembly this session. State Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro said she didn’t have to be sold on the program before sponsoring the bill.
“I like to believe that every kid just needs a cheerleader,” said Cannizzaro, who grew up working-class in Las Vegas. “They just need someone there to help them.”
