Students say Nevada schools rank low because youth aren’t engaged. Here’s their solution.
To our newsletter subscribers:
We appreciate you starting your week with us. We want to give you a chance to give us feedback on how we can improve this newsletter:
For your homework: Please fill out this survey and let us know how we can better tailor this newsletter to fit your needs and interests.
Thanks in advance.
Rocío Hernández, Nevada Independent K-12 education reporter
School spotlight
Students help nonprofit develop personalized learning center in Vegas
Derek Figueroa, a rising senior at Eldorado High School in East Las Vegas, is all too familiar with the poor reputation of Nevada’s education system.
But Figueroa said he doesn’t think the state’s low ranking is because Nevada students aren’t smart. He thinks they aren’t engaged enough to care about their education.
“A lot of students are at school because they have to be there,” he said. “They’re not really focused on or engaged in what they are doing.”
Figueroa is part of a team of 13 students between the ages 16 and 18 known as Youth Futurescapers, working with a new nonprofit, the Center for the Future of Learning (CFL), that aims to change students’ perspective on learning.
Their idea: Building a center where students ages 14-24 will want to come to explore interests and career opportunities, and receive mentorship and mental health support outside of their school day. They say it will be especially crucial to students who don’t already have access to these resources in their schools.
“[Students] are given the choice on … when they want to go, what they want to learn and given opportunities that they aren't given in school,” said Danica Ruiz, a rising senior at Southwest Career and Technical Academy. “They can … learn skills that will help them in the future, and work with community partners for opportunities that will actually help them.”
During a July 2 presentation at the Vegas Theatre Company in downtown Las Vegas, they shared their ideas for the future IAN Hub such as possible locations, programming and transportation assistance to make it accessible to all students.
Sean Parker, the nonprofit’s co-founder and CEO who previously led Teach for America Nevada, said the goal is to launch a beta version of the IAN Hub — the name is an homage to CFL's anonymous founding donor — in 2026. The location is still to be determined, but he said students were clear that it needs to be affordable and centrally located in the Las Vegas area.
“So what we're aiming to do is build a mall of opportunity that is constantly evolving, so it's never the same,” he said. “So one thing about school is that it's often the same for decades. This is something that probably wouldn't be the same year over year.”
CFL’s mission is similar to work that Jeanine Collins, the nonprofit’s co-founder and chief impact officer, did with the Nevada Department of Education designing the Portrait of a Nevada Learner, a statewide, community-driven vision for student success, and Nevada Future Learning Network, a coalition of educators, community partners, parents and students committed to advancing personalized, competency-based learning.
She said student voices are key to this work.
“They are the customer … and so often they are left out of the conversation,” Collins said. “The more we engaged young people, the more open minded adults became about what could be possible.”
Parker said CFL has hired three of the Futurescapers as long-term team members and the nonprofit will work with all of them as they continue developing the center.
Figueroa, who is an immigrant from Chile and learned English as a second language, said he hopes that the center will help level the playing field for all students.
“My hope for the future is that all students have the same opportunities without mattering where you come from or what your background is,” he said.
News brief
💼 State board gearing up for superintendent applicants — The State Board of Education is preparing for the next step in its search for the next state superintendent of public instruction. The application period for the position closes Monday.
The board is set to meet July 30 at 9 a.m. to select a slate of candidates to invite for formal interviews. The meeting will be livestreamed.
The position became vacant three months ago after Jhone Ebert left to become the superintendent of the Clark County School District. Gov. Joe Lombardo appointed Steve Canavero, who was the state superintendent prior to Ebert, to serve in the interim.
Following the interviews, the board will narrow the list of applicants to three finalists and will forward their names to Lombardo, who will make the final decision.
🔨White Pine school district takes first step to build new school — After successfully lobbying the Legislature to pass a bill, AB224, to provide support for small rural school districts that don’t have the means to repair or replace aging buildings, White Pine School District Superintendent Adam Young announced the next steps as the district seeks to build a new K-8 school. In his monthly message to the community Friday, Young said the district has worked with the governor’s finance office, which will administer the funds, to prepare for the application process, which will open Aug. 15. If the application is approved, he said he expects the project could take three years to complete.
Reading assignments
Nevada joins lawsuit challenging restrictions on Head Start for kids in the US illegally
Some Head Start providers said they do not have the staff or resources to begin implementing such screening.
Feds will release some frozen grants supporting after-school and summer programs
Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) says the freeze is disruptive for organizations that provide crucial after-school programs for K-12 students.
Extra credit
The Associated Press: Education Department says it will release billions in remaining withheld grant money for schools
Nevada will see a total of $56 million, including $11.8 million for after-school programs, that the department announced last week it was releasing.
Social media
Can you believe the start of Clark County’s new school year is just three weeks away? Where did our summer go?
