Good morning, and welcome to the Indy Education newsletter. I’m Rocio Hernandez, The Nevada Independent’s K-12 education reporter. 

This newsletter provides a recap of the latest education stories and highlights interesting educators, students, programs and other events and resources throughout the state. Click here to subscribe to the newsletter and receive it each week via email.

I want to hear from you! Send questions, comments or suggestions on what I should be covering to [email protected]. 

News briefs

🛝North Las Vegas developing science and nature children’s park — The City of North Las Vegas has received a $58 million grant from the Bureau of Land Management to expand outdoor recreational options for residents, including through a children’s park that will include science, technology, engineering and mathematics learning opportunities, officials announced earlier this month. 

The 14-acre Children’s Science and Nature Park will be developed in partnership with UNLV and the Clark County School District. The park is designed to benefit local students, 71 percent of whom are economically disadvantaged, with a variety of interactive exhibits and features, including a fossil dig site, vertical gardens, a replica volcano and a wind tunnel.

The city is also planning to use the grant to expand Craig Ranch Regional Park and extend a trail along the 215 Beltway, running from 5th Street to Losee Road. 

“These projects have the potential to positively change the course of our residents’ lives, whether it’s a school-aged child who visits the Science and Nature Park and discovers an unexplored interest in paleontology, or a family that starts a hiking tradition to spend more quality time together,” Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown said in a Nov. 7 statement. 

School Spotlight

Nonprofit’s microschool program teaching reading, math, business concepts through arts education

Click.

That sound signaled that it was time to switch up the scene during Positively Arts’ improvisation class last Wednesday. 

Siblings Atticus and Emerson were up next. They pretended they were the narrator and a gorilla on a nature documentary. Their skit got giggles from their peers before their coach, DeLee Lively-Torti, hit “click” again on her imaginary TV remote. 

The exercise kept the class on their toes as they brainstormed what scene they would act out next to entertain their peers and Lively-Torti before she changed the channel. 

Improv is just one of the art electives offered at Positively Arts, a performing arts studio and nonprofit off the Las Vegas Strip, that offers art education for homeschooled K-12 students. 

The nonprofit’s Artist Clubhouse Arts Enrichment program allows homeschooled students in grades K-12 to drop in for the art elective classes, while the Positively Leaders microschool program includes math, social studies, English Language Arts, Spanish and business classes in addition to the arts electives taught by industry professionals. 

Pilita Simpson, founder and CEO of Positively Arts, said those core subjects and life skills lessons are integrated in all the art classes that her nonprofit offers. Simpson started Positively Arts about 10 years ago to offer a solution for families seeking alternatives to traditional public, charter and private schools. 

Positively Arts combines Simpson’s passion for arts, education and childhood development. After graduating from Harvard University with a master’s in education focused on child development, Simpson went on to work on designing the educational curriculum for Sesame Workshop, the company behind Sesame Street. She’s also worked as a professional vocalist for Disney and has performed on the Las Vegas Strip. 

“If you take a singing class with us, we're not teaching you just how to sing,” Simpson said. “We're teaching you how to start your own business, how to be an entrepreneur and how to speak confidently.” 

Positively Arts is just one example of the continued interest in microschooling after the pandemic, when the microschool movement took off as many families sought alternative educational opportunities amid school closures. 

Microschools generally refers to small learning environments of anywhere between 16 to 150 students, said Don Soifer, co-founder and CEO of the National Microschooling Center in Las Vegas. 

The center’s 2024 report, which surveyed 400 microschools across 41 states, found that a majority of microschools, 55 percent, are set up as learning centers serving homeschool students, followed by another 37 percent that are licensed as private schools. The microschools are typically founded by a former or currently licensed educator. 

Positively Arts currently serves less than 40 homeschooled students. The monthly rates for the Positively Leaders microschool program range from $250 for one day per week to $880 for five days a week. The Artist Clubhouse program can range from $50 for a half day to $550 a month for three full days a week. Scholarships are available. 

Destyny Martinez’s daughter, Lily, 8, had attended a Montessori school prior to coming to Positively Arts over a year ago. She said never wanted Lily to have to attend a public school with large class sizes where she could get lost. Martinez sees microschools as a good middle ground between homeschooling and an in-person school. 

“I wanted her to have an opportunity to get to know her teachers and to get to know her peers … to develop those leadership skills versus just kind of being told what to do and when to do it,” Martinez said. 

At Positively Arts, Martinez said Lily has the opportunity to interact with older students during her classes and she is motivated to keep up with them. 

“We never got that kind of commitment when we were going to Montessori before,” Martinez said. 

Simpson said she hopes that Positively Arts’ approach can organically draw out a love of learning. 

“There is no pressure for anyone to learn a certain amount of material in a certain amount of time,” she said. “We simply open the door and the child walks through and we support them where they are in their learning.”

Have a student or staffer who we should feature in the next edition of School Spotlight? Share your nominations with me at [email protected].

Reading Assignments

Washoe schools gearing up to further restrict student cellphone use

A recent survey by the district found that parents, teachers and students widely agree that limiting students’ cellphone use would be beneficial for them. 

Transgender students flood crisis hotlines as Trump pledges to roll back LGBTQ+ protections

Transgender youth in the United States have been flooding crisis hotlines since the election of Donald Trump, who made anti-transgender themes central to his campaign. Many teens worry about how their lives could change once he takes office.

Extra Credit

From ProPublica: A 13-Year-Old With Autism Got Arrested After His Backpack Sparked Fear. Only His Stuffed Bunny Was Inside.

Events

🫔🎻 Tamales & Mariachi Festival — Saturday, Dec. 7, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

The festival, held at the Historic Fifth Street School located at 401 S. Fourth St. in Downtown Las Vegas, will feature an abundance of tamale styles from all over Latin America and performances from three different internationally renowned mariachi bands. The event is free and open to the public. 

Featured social media post

More teachers are definitely needed in our state.