Thousands of older kids return to CCSD schools, but far more stay home
Around 14,000 older Clark County School District students returned to their classrooms on Monday after more than a year of virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, while nearly two-thirds of their classmates were continuing to study at home.
In its second wave of reopening, the district welcomed back students in grades six, nine and 12 for a week before spring break, after which they’ll be joined by their peers in the remaining secondary grades.
As the sun rose over Spring Valley High School, the school threw its front gates open to its returning freshmen and seniors under the gaze of a 20-foot inflatable grizzly bear mascot nicknamed Gary Grizzly.
“It’s been a long year, and in my entire career I’ve never looked forward more to a day of school than today,” Principal Tam Larnerd said.
The school was expecting 452 of its students to return Monday and Tuesday for hybrid learning in the first of two in-person cohorts, followed by another 436 students in a separate cohort on Thursdays and Fridays.
A total of 1,664 students at the school will remain in the virtual learning model they’ve been in since schools closed in March 2020.
Districtwide, 26,764 students in those grades will join the in-person cohorts, while another 44,912 have opted to stay in distance learning, a decision families made based on factors like safety, scheduling, educational quality and the relatively short time left in the school year.
Jara, balloons welcome middle-schoolers
The inflatables were a bit smaller at Knudson Academy of the Arts, a Las Vegas middle school, as students walked beneath an archway of green, white and black balloons at the front entrance.
Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara was on hand to welcome the students, who, like most sixth-graders throughout the district, had never before been on their campus.
Asked how the day was going so far, Jara said: “So far, so good.”
He told reporters that teachers and students are excited to return to in-person classes, while also acknowledging that some students have been successful with distance learning.
In total, 65 sixth-graders at Knudson are coming back this week under the hybrid model, split fairly evenly between Cohorts A and B.
When all grade levels return, there will be fewer than 400 students participating in the hybrid model. That’s about 30 percent of the school’s overall enrollment of about 1,350 students.
“It was less than I thought,” Principal Lezlie Koepp said of the figure. But, she added, “I’m super excited to see kids again.”
At Bailey Middle School in the northeast valley, Principal Darryl Wyatt and his staff greeted students outside the doors as they arrived, taking temperatures and checking names against a list of returning students.
The school has 125 students due back Monday and another 125 signed up for Thursday, Wyatt said, with 400 expected when all grades return on April 6.
‘Too bad we can’t give hugs’
Bailey staff were positioned at all three entrances for car drop-offs, bus drop-offs and pedestrians, directing the arriving sixth graders where to line up as they waited for class to begin at 9 a.m.
Wyatt said the school had a preview of reopening through neighboring Hickey Elementary, and staff realized they needed to incorporate the independence and ability of middle school students to find their way around into their planning.
“We’ve been very proactive, we sent home a video to help them know what to expect when they come on campus, and we also have some tips for how to act when they’re on campus in terms of social distancing, wearing a mask and washing their hands,” Wyatt said.
Bailey campus monitor Jessie Holmes, known as Miss J to students, said she was most looking forward to seeing the sunny faces of her returning students.
“It’s just too bad we can’t give hugs,” she said.
At Liberty High School in west Henderson, a few dozen students waited outside the school’s front gates – some chatting with friends while others waited quietly.
When all grade levels are back on campus, the school will have about 40 percent of its nearly 3,200 students back under a hybrid model — about 700 students in Cohort A and about 615 in Cohort B.
No waiting list at Liberty High
The school has been able to accommodate every student who wants to be back in person without a waiting list, Principal Derek Bellow said.
“Any family that wanted live face-to-face got it,” he said.
He said he hopes students attending in-person classes will tell their friends about how it went and that more will return to campus.
One of those he hopes will spread the message is Liberty High senior Khloe Kelley, 17, who said she wanted to give the hybrid schedule a try.
“Walking on campus, it felt different, but the good kind of different,” she said.
Of nearly 30 students in her physics class, Kelley was among six who were attending in person. But the class has a mixture of juniors and seniors, and all juniors are still under 100 percent distance education until after spring break.
For the rest of her senior year, she said she doesn’t expect the school year will be the way it was pre-COVID-19.
“I’m just hoping to make the most of it,” she said. “I don’t have crazy high expectations.”
At Spring Valley High School, meanwhile, returning Grizzlies filed through the gates and under the inflatable bear first thing in the morning to grab breakfast to take to their first period class.
“Today we took a big step in the right direction,” Principal Larnerd said during morning announcements.
The biggest difference between this back-to-school day and others was the lower number of students returning, Larnerd said: The school is usually bustling with a population of 2,600.
But the arrival process went smoothly, he added, and all the staff was looking forward to seeing students again.
For some students, though, the excitement was tempered by the daunting nature of the first day at a new school.
“This is my first time here. I’m a freshman,” said Jasming Floyd. “It’s a bit terrifying at the moment, but I think I’ll be good after a little while.”
The next wave of reopening on April 6 will see students in all other secondary grades return under the hybrid model, while elementary students have a chance to attend school full-time, five days a week.
In elementary schools, the numbers have shifted since March 1, when schools reopened to the youngest students on a part-time basis.
Among preschool to third graders, 36,440 are in Cohort A on Mondays and Tuesdays, 32,685 are in Cohort B on Thursdays and Fridays, and another 93,644 are in distance learning.
Contact Aleksandra Appleton at 702-383-0218 or aappleton@reviewjournal.com. Follow @aleksappleton on Twitter.
Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.
