State approves new charter high school in Las Vegas

The state’s charter school authority voted Friday to conditionally approve a new high school in Las Vegas that aims to connect teenagers with “career and financial pathways.”

The Nevada State Public Charter School Authority’s board gave a thumbs up to a resubmitted application for Rooted School-Clark County. New member Kurt Thigpen rescued himself from voting since he wasn’t on the board when the school’s original application was considered.

Rooted School-Clark County is aiming to open in August with up to 180 students in ninth and 10th grades, gradually expanding in future years up through 12th grades.

Proposed Board Chair John Etzell, who’s executive director at the Las Vegas-based nonprofit Boys Town Nevada, said the school was appreciative of the opportunity to work with charter authority staff on the resubmission process.

“We’re very excited for this recommendation,” he said.

The school is exploring the option of leasing space from an already-existing east valley charter school, Nevada Prep, for its initial year.

In response to a question, Etzell said he feels a Jan. 17 deadline set by the charter authority to secure a lease is doable. “We’re committed to getting this done quickly.”

In August, the board had a lengthy discussion about Rooted School-Clark County’s application before deciding in a 5-2 vote to deny it, saying it didn’t meet minimum state requirements.

At the time, authority staff said the school’s mission was compelling — including a goal for students to have a job offer and college acceptance letter by graduation — but noted inconsistencies surfaced in the application, and that it was sloppy and hard to understand.

After receiving formal notification of the denial, the school had 30 days to meet with charter authority staff and resubmit the application by early October, Director of Authorizing Mark Modrcin said.

The authority feels Rooted School-Clark County is a “mission-aligned school” that presented a much stronger application through the resubmission process, Modrcin said.

The high school is affiliated with the Rooted School Foundation, which has campuses in New Orleans and Indianapolis, as well as one opening in August in Vancouver, Washington.

The foundation’s goal is to “rapidly reduce America’s wealth gap by connecting underserved and talented teenagers with career and financial pathways,” according to meeting materials posted online.

The school must meet eight conditions as part of its approval, including providing the charter authority with a revised lottery policy, securing a lease for a facility for its initial school year, updating its budget, hiring a principal, providing the authority with a list of community partners, showing evidence that all career-technical education classes comply with state requirements and that it has received State Board of Education approval to offer work-based learning, and notifying the authority if the national school system submits an application to open a school in any state or enters into a new contract to provide services for an existing charter school.

Member Tamika Shauntee Rosales said she’s excited about the school’s model.

Member Jackson Olsen said the Rooted School team made a concerted effort following the August board meeting. “It’s been great to see the progress you all have made.”

But Olsen said many conditions come with the approval and there’s a tight timeline for opening in August, asking how the school will handle the “massive challenge” to open the school and “be a school of excellence.”

Etzell said that what happened in August was a little embarrassing and the school’s board didn’t want to be in a position like that again.

He said they feel prepared to meet the authority’s conditions and exceed requirements. The school system also set a few internal deadlines to ensure goals are met.

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