New Las Vegas charter school focuses on project-based learning

A tuition-free public charter school opening this fall in northwest Las Vegas is aimed at offering small class sizes and a focus on project-based learning.

TEACH Las Vegas will open in a leased building on North Rancho Drive. It’s aiming to serve 325 kindergarteners through seventh-graders during its first year and plans to add one grade level each year until it reaches 12th.

As for project-based learning, “it basically allows students to see the connection of what they are learning in the classroom to real life,” said Maria Pimienta, assistant superintendent for TEACH Public Schools.

The Las Vegas campus is part of the TEACH Public Schools network, which has three campuses in Los Angeles.

The Nevada State Public Charter School Authority denied the school’s application in December 2020, saying it didn’t meet minimum state requirements. But the school’s resubmitted application was conditionally approved in February.

TEACH is among a few Las Vegas public charter schools, including Sage Collegiate Public Charter School and CIVICA Nevada Career & Collegiate Academy, slated to open next school year.

Two others — Las Vegas Collegiate Charter School and Eagle Charter Schools of Nevada — were approved to open this fall, but both are deferring opening to the 2022-23 school year.

TEACH Las Vegas has about 65 children enrolled. There are openings in every grade level and enrollment remains open.

The TEACH school system has small class sizes — an average of 20 students per teacher, Pimienta said. Elementary school classes, as well as middle and high school math classes, also have a teaching assistant.

Students will have full school days Monday through Thursday but a half-day on Fridays. Teachers will use Friday afternoons for professional development time.

The school will encourage parent involvement, said Andrea Moore, executive director of TEACH Las Vegas. “I think that’s why a lot of families are drawn to charters like TEACH.”

Moore, a Las Vegas native and UNLV alumna, started on the job last month. She’s hoping to start the hiring process soon for other positions, including for about 13 teachers.

The state charter school authority set several conditions when it approved the Las Vegas campus. Those include providing end-of-year performance results for existing California schools for this school year; submitting test results throughout the upcoming school year from the new Las Vegas campus so the charter authority can monitor students’ academic progress; submitting evidence of entering into a cooperative agreement with at least one college or university to offer dual credit classes before June 30, 2022; submitting a revised budget by Tuesday that includes grant funding or donations; and completing the charter authority’s pre-opening process for new schools.

One of the charter authority’s concerns was a lack of community partnerships in Las Vegas, Pimienta said. Now, she said, the school has partnerships with the Boys & Girls Clubs, Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada and has a memorandum of understanding with UNLV.

“UNLV will come and do presentations with our students and eventually have pathways and dual credit options for our kids,” Pimienta said.

Another concern was meeting the needs of students who are learning English, she said. The school plans to hire an English learner coordinator in the next month.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.