‘Headed in the right direction’: 86 CCSD schools honored for achievement

Hancock Elementary School may only have one star in Nevada’s state rankings, but it made the honor roll in the Clark County School District.

In addition to honoring schools that had earned the top five stars in the state’s ranking system, Interim Superintendent Brenda Larsen-Mitchell said, the district was going to “shake things up a little bit” this year and expand its honor roll to include schools that had improved scores by 10 or more points.

In total, 86 schools were celebrated Tuesday morning at Windmill Library.

“We have to celebrate that growth because we are headed in the right direction,” Larsen-Mitchell told the crowd.

At Hancock, that direction is not only toward five stars, but to SOAR. Principal Frances Lucero said the school came up with the SOAR acronym to represent its goal to be Successful citizens, Outstanding Hawks, Actively engaged and Respectful citizens.

“We have to hone where we are and be appreciative of where we are and to recognize the growth that we’re making,” Lucero told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We have to figure out ways to to recognize everything positive that is going on in CCSD because, unfortunately, there’s other things that are foreshadowing all the great things that are happening in these schools.”

Larsen-Mitchell thanked the schools for their vulnerability, stating that they had learned alongside one another. She highlighted the Tier 1 learning goals, something that Principal Rebecca Mestaz Lyon told the Review-Journal had been critical for Heard Elementary School’s 30-point growth. She noted that it can sometimes be harder to go from a one-star school to a three-star school than it is to go from four to five stars.

“Please hang these banners proudly,” Clark County School Board President Evelyn Garcia Morales told the crowd, encouraging schools to continue striving for excellence.

Many of the schools that improved this past year have emphasized the importance of support between educators within schools.

“We don’t do this alone,” Mestaz Lyon said. “It’s truly a team.”

At Lee Antonello Elementary School, which went from one to three stars last year, Principal Kathi Rozek also highlighted the strong support among her staff.

“Everybody that’s there, they’re in it for the kids every single day,” Rozek told the Review-Journal last week.

Nicole Martin, who has taught there for 26, years, echoed that sentiment. With the support she received from her principal, she also described the collaborative environment among teachers, who learned from one another to best serve the kids.

“We do it for the learners,” Mestaz Lyon said. “My kids on the east side are amazing and they deserve the very very best.”

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com.