CCSD reorganization delays partnership with STEM Academy

If all had gone according to Russell Mickelson’s plan, Clark County middle schools would have started the school year this week with additional resources for science, technology, engineering and math education.

But the school district’s reorganization delayed a partnership with nonprofit STEM Academy Inc., where Mickelson is CEO.

In 2016, Mickelson announced the nonprofit had given Nevada middle schools free access to STEM Academy’s online STEM curriculum, its coming corporate connections program, professional development, and its consulting services.

“This could have been rolled out for the start of the school year in 2016, or after winter break, or for the start of this school year,” Mickelson said.

But personnel shuffling at the school district amid the preparation for the reorganization’s rollout has created a mess for STEM Academy, and three “Groundhog Day”-like meetings so far with the school district, Mickelson said.

“It’s like we were starting over every time,” he said. “When we first met with district (about 18 months ago) there was a stability factor and we had a game plan and a strategy. And then before it actually could be executed, the decentralization came down, then those same people who we had worked together with to create that — they’re no longer there.”

He said he hopes the fourth time’s a charm; he will meet again with the school district Friday.

Online resources

Founded in 2006, STEM Academy provides its hands-on curriculum to schools in 36 other states.

The nonprofit employs about eight full-time employees spread throughout Arizona, Utah and Wisconsin and has around 25 educators who consult on curriculum development as contractors.

Schools pay a subscription fee to access STEM Academy’s online teacher resources and student learning activities. The platform guides teachers and students through hands-on activities, like learning about design and math to build an electric guitar or launch aerodynamic straw rockets.

“The idea is to connect the dots for kids,” Alan Gomez, Stem Academy’s chief academic officer. “We talk to kids every day and kids come to school and they don’t know why they’re there … the idea is to give them the understanding of the tools they are acquiring.”

Nevada is the first state to which the nonprofit donated its entire platform for free.

“The support of the Las Vegas business community led us to elect to gift our best of class STEM curriculum and professional development programs to the state of Nevada,” Mickelson said. “This is a place where we can really make a difference.”

CCSD changes

But there is disagreement within the school district about what exactly they donated.

“They haven’t shared anything with us,” said Jesse Welsh, the school district’s assistant superintendent of the instructional design and professional learning division. “We don’t even know what it is.”

Welsh is slated to meet with Mickelson on Friday, following Mickelson’s meeting between February 2016 and February 2017 with:

■ Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky

■ Danielle Miller, the former assistant superintendent of instructional design and professional learning division

■ Mary Pike, who was the interim director of science at the Clark County School District at the time of the meeting

Each time, Mickelson also came with a third party expert in educational standards prepared to answer questions about how STEM Academy’s tools can be used in Nevada schools.

But people kept coming and going before anything could be documented or completed, Mickelson said.

Mickelson and Welsh also met briefly in February of this year, but at that point Mickelson said he decided to take a step back and see whether Welsh was going to be his long term contact.

“We’re still fully committed to getting this going in Nevada,” Mickelson said, and now that things seem to have “settled down,” he hopes the time has come to get STEM Academy’s platform in classrooms.

Initially the donation was for three years, but since nothing has materialized, Mickelson said he’d like to extend that donation through 2020.

In an email, Welsh told the Review-Journal he is curious about what happens after STEM Academy’s donation period ends.

“CCSD looks forward to hearing more about this new product as well as the anticipated cost of purchasing the required supplies and for the curriculum once the trial period has expired,” Welsh said.

Working with Nevada business

Nevada is also the second state, after Utah, in which STEM Academy is rolling out something called Corporate Connections.

Mickelson and his team have spent nearly a year — and counting — working with 11 local employers to create videos with corresponding projects for middle school students.

Companies, including Tesla and Bank of Nevada, worked with STEM Academy to create virtual tours of their sites, which include interviews with people in different levels in the company who talk about what they do, and what type of skills and education their roles require.

The videos come with a five-day company project for students to complete.

“We’ve been slaving in Nevada on connecting business and education, which is really what needs to happen to grow your economy, the workforce, the pipeline,” Mickelson said. “We’re working with these companies to create exploratory experiences for kids so they can understand the world of opportunities available in the state of Nevada connected to these in-demand careers.”

These videos will be available for schools after winter break, Mickelson said, and he hopes to have them available for free to anybody who wants to see them.

“I don’t know about any videos,” Welsh said, but said “there’s never anything bad about providing schools with additional resources” as long as they align with educational standards.

Contact Nicole Raz at nraz@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @JournalistNikki on Twitter.