Features

Two very different high schools take up residence on a shared Downtown Las Vegas campus

Image
Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara talks with students at Central Tech Training Academy and Global Community High School on the first day of school.
Photo: Wade Vandervort

So much is going on in Downtown Las Vegas, from culture and nightlife amenities to local governance and municipal services, that it’s sometimes easy to overlook the area’s schools. But this month, Clark County School District reaffirmed its commitment to education in the city core with the opening of a sprawling, modern campus at Maryland Parkway and Oakey Boulevard, one that houses two specialty schools: Central Technical Training Academy and Global Community High School.

The campus, located on land formerly occupied by Catholic prep school Bishop Gorman and housed in a handsome, L-shaped group of buildings augmented by a standalone gymnasium/cafeteria and a soccer-sized field for intramural athletics, can scarcely open a minute too soon. Global Community, a multilingual school for non-English-speaking immigrants, is upsizing from an east side location it has long since outgrown. And Central Technical, a career and technical education high school, aims to fortify Southern Nevada’s advanced manufacturing and construction technology sectors, which are areas of real local need.

“Our biggest goal is to help students recognize that there are multiple avenues in those career pathways,” says Lilianna Bonderov, principal for Central Technical. “Not every single person needs to go to a four-year college; there are trade school opportunities. CSN is one of our partners, and they have a lot of applied science associates’ degrees that they could pursue.

“We’re inviting a lot of professionals from the two industries to talk to students specifically about their pathways,” Bonderov continues. “Pathways are not linear. There are people who think they want to do one thing, and then something else strikes their interest. … We’re picking professionals who can speak to that, that you can work and learn at the same time. I think students get the idea that you either work or you go to college, and there is a whole span of training that happens in-between those two areas.”

Central Technical is opening with a class of 11th graders—they’ll add grade 12 next year—and aims to give its students the opportunity to develop both applied and entrepreneurial skills, and ultimately earn an industry-recognized credential in their chosen profession. They’ll receive as much hands-on education as Central Technical can give, by way of manageable class sizes that allow for more frequent one-on-one interactions, and through a unique, every-other-day attendance structure.

“We’re doing that so that they have the flexibility to go out and pursue internships and work-based learning opportunities on those days that they’re not physically here on campus,” Bonderov says. “But they will always have access to their teachers.”

Having ready access to instructors, and forming a bond of trust with them, is key to Global Community’s mission, too. “We have to build relationships first, because our students do come with a lot of trauma,” says Elena Fabunan, principal for Global Community. “They’ve been in detention centers or they’ve experienced trauma trying to get over here, because a lot of our students are undocumented.”

Those dire circumstances might also have prevented them from getting much prior schooling, Fabunan says. “A lot of our students come to school with interrupted education. They may have gone to elementary school but missed a lot of their middle school, so a lot of them are coming in at maybe a third-grade level.”

Consequently, Global Community tailors instruction to the individual student—in order to learn math in English, the student must first learn English—and prioritizes results over speed, sometimes keeping students until age 20.

“Our pacing is a little bit slower than the rest of the district, just because they have to take a little bit longer to learn the curriculum,” Fabunan says. “We don’t want our students to fail.”

The new campus represents a huge leap forward for Global Community’s students on multiple levels. The computer lab, science lab, art classroom and library all improve upon previous facilities. Formerly, the school shared physical education facilities; no longer. “We didn’t have a soccer field before; I would say [our student body is] 90% from Latin America, so soccer is huge,” Fabunan says. And in a first since Global Community was founded in 2005, the school will be served by CCSD transportation.

“[Our students] have been having to take public transportation,” Fabunan says. “For a newcomer to the country, not speaking English, not knowing the city, that can be a little bit traumatic.”

The campus itself is a calming place. Central Technical’s classrooms, labs and shop are airy and suffused in natural light. Students from the two schools will pass each other on neatly landscaped paths on their way to their various classes, a prospect that pleases Principal Fabunan. “Intermingling with English-speaking students will help them with their English,” she says.

And the campus’ utility extends far beyond the high school level; another group of new buildings, located across Maryland Parkway, brings refugee services, mental wellness services, additional classroom space and even an on-site health clinic.

In short, this shared campus is a civic asset—the kind of thing a city should be inclined to promote alongside its business and culture. It’s the kind of thing that makes cities better places to live.

“It’s not just the graduation curriculum,” Bonderov says. “It’s a whole package of services that we’re offering students and their families.”

Click HERE to subscribe for free to the Weekly Fix, the digital edition of Las Vegas Weekly! Stay up to date with the latest on Las Vegas concerts, shows, restaurants, bars and more, sent directly to your inbox!

Tags: Featured
Share
Photo of Geoff Carter

Geoff Carter

Experts in paleoanthropology believe that Geoff Carter began his career in journalism sometime in the early Grunge period, when he ...

Get more Geoff Carter
Top of Story