‘Manners matter’ in Fertitta Middle School program

Students rarely run, yell or jostle for space at their lockers in the hallways of Fertitta Middle School.

Instead, on a recent Thursday morning, students at the southwest valley campus calmly and quietly walked to class and lunch, with some stopping to greet and politely shake hands with Principal Lisa Burkhead.

Each Fertitta Firebird sported a black, blue, green or red shirt to signify one of four houses that they were randomly assigned to at the start of the school year thanks to a software program created by technicians at nearby Red Rock Resort.

And on flat-screen TVs hung from the hallway ceilings, students could see how many points their house had earned for sportsmanship, acts of generosity and respectfulness.

"We never dock points. It's always positive," Burkhead said during a tour of the campus near the intersection of Grand Canyon Drive and Hacienda Avenue.

"We're trying to create a safe environment (where) students can gain support from their classmates, which in turn builds self-confidence," Burkhead, a Las Vegas native, added. "It brings kids out of their shell and encourages active participation in their learning."

In 2013, Burkhead and eight of her teachers visited the Ron Clark Academy, a middle school in Atlanta named after the 2000 recipient of the Disney Teacher of the Year award, to learn about a behavioral model used there.

The model stresses that "manners matter" and encourages students to make eye contact with speakers, always use honesty and remain positive.

The approach already appears to have yielded positive results at Fertitta: In one year, Burkhead reported a 39 percent decrease in expulsions and 24 percent decline in suspensions.

Student-generated reports of bullying also plummeted 90 percent.

"It's a calm place. It's a safe place," Burkhead said. "Because of those expectations, when someone's running down the hallway ...we ask, 'Are you being your best right now?'

"Everything we do is purposeful and aligns with our vision."

That vision includes a pilot sixth-grade academy, in which approximately 150 students last year attended extra field trips and did community service. Parents also were required to work as volunteers at Fertitta.

Burkhead hoped to have data on how the Ron Clark Academy model impacted student performance on standardized tests. But a statewide glitch in computerized testing prevented her campus from measuring academic progress in 2014-15.

Including incoming sixth-graders, the 171 students in the pilot academy will help establish a baseline in test scores to determine how well the new approach affects more than disciplinary issues.

Other Clark County School District campuses already have started copying the model.

Teachers and administrators from the southwest valley's Sawyer Middle School recently visited Fertitta and will adapt the model to fit their campus. Educators from Fertitta's feeder elementary schools and Sierra Vista High School also have expressed interest in learning more about the program.

For parents curious about what the Ron Clark Academy model means for their children, 12-year-old Xavier Calove addressed what he learned last year in the sixth-grade academy.

"It's different than another school," Calove said. "We have higher expectations and bigger responsibility because we have to be models on the campus.

"We still learn exactly what everyone else learns," he added. "We're just trying to be role models."

Contact Neal Morton at nmorton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279. Find him on Twitter: @nealtmorton