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May 7, 2004
Second chance at educationBOARD COULD APPROVE ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL
By BREANNE HUBBARD The Nye County School District board of trustees, along with Assistant Superintendent Kay Walker and director of Pathways Max Buffi, discussed the probability of an opportunity school. At the last meeting, the board members requested that Walker acquire more information on the issue of an opportunity school. Walker said that she and Buffi met a number of times, "trying to work out a proposal" to implement the program. According to Walker, there are six assumptions upon which the proposal is based. One of the assumptions is that opportunity school will have 13 eligible students at the start of the next school year. Another one is that the district needs to look at the concept of split sections between opportunity school and Pathways. Walker said that looking into the possibility of split programs would ensure continued teacher coverage throughout the day and would be needed "in order to remain in the teacher contract." Although the program seems like a positive step for the district, Walker did share some disadvantages. The one she said most difficult to address was the Pathways program. With an opportunity school, the enrollment at Pathways could be in jeopardy. "It is our best guess that we may lose a few students, but we're also likely to pick up a few students," Walker said. She noted that there were no assurances, either way. Another disadvantage to the program is that it will increase the student to teacher ratio. Also, funding is always an important part of discussion. The cost of the alternative school would have to cover three instructors and a 48-hour aid in Pathways. The projected budget to supply a new staff is roughly $15,300. Board member Melanie Reiner asked Walker and Buffi if there was any way to keep the two schools separate during the day, so the students wouldn't mesh. Buffi assured her that separation at all times is their intent. "They will be completely separate," he said. The facility and staff for both Pathways and the opportunity school will be the same, according to Buffi. The teachers are aware of the challenge presented to them, but Buffi said that they are probably the most qualified since they are already familiar with the situation. Member Nancy Sollinger noted that the opportunity school would only be for middle school and high school students. Getting students to and from the opportunity school was another issue. Board member Dennis Keating asked Walker and Buffi if transportation was covered under the costs, or if they've even considered transportation. Walker said that they had considered it, but that it wasn't possible. "The only exception to that would be if we had a special education student," Walker said. Students with physical or mental disabilities would have to meet certain criteria to be transported by bus. The district is also trying to add disciplinary counseling to the program. In other school board news: • Cameron McRae, director of transportation, brought to the attention of the board the rise in fuel prices. Although the price in fuel has increased in the past month, McRae doesn't foresee a problem with the amount that the transportation department has budgeted for. "We are in fact currently OK with our existing budget," he said. Keating asked if there were any grants to apply for. McRae said there are grants available, but not for rural Nevada. Most grants are geared for heavily populated suburban or city areas like San Francisco. "We just don't follow that criteria," McRae said. • The school district received roughly $300,000 from Nye County Commissioners, to accompany six technology grants of $175,000 for the replacement of over 200 computers countywide. • A bus broke down twice in the same day, while board member Dawn Murphy was on it. She wanted to know when the last walk through for bus maintenance was. McRae told her that the Nevada Highway Patrol conducts two in a school year, one in November and another in March. Drivers check the buses before they go out on the road. "We have very few of those problems. It's unfortunate we had two in one day," McRae said. • The maintenance and operations department requested going to bid on a new cooling tower for Pahrump Valley High School. According to director of maintenance and operations Robert Whimpey, Systems Mechanical was the lowest bidder. The board approved the request and the new cooling tower will be ready for next year. |
