Group of Clark County schools empowered

Faiss Middle School starts the day earlier and ends a little later than other middle schools in the Clark County School District.

But the extra 15 minutes a day for classes could disappear under the wave of budget cuts the school district is facing.

Because Faiss was named one of 11 new empowerment schools on Friday, Principal Joy Lea said she hopes she can save the additional class time in the next school year.

The new empowerment schools are nine elementary schools -- Bozarth, Derfelt, Fyfe, Garehime, Jeffers, O'Roarke, Schorr, Snyder and Wallin -- and Faiss and White middle schools. When the 2010-2011 school year starts in August, the district will have 28 empowerment schools.

Although these schools weren't promised additional funding like empowerment schools were in years past, they will be given more control over their school budgets. Empowerment is intended to increase student achievement by giving schools more autonomy and requiring more accountability.

"We get to make the decisions on how to use our money, and that's the beautiful thing," Lea said.

Because Faiss is relatively new, having opened in 2007-2008, Lea said she can devote more funding to hiring staff than to updating equipment.

The extra time in the school schedule allows her to plan more time for teacher collaboration and create more academic opportunities for the students, the Faiss principal said.

When the school opened in 2007, Lea said she was fortunate to get permission from the school board to create a block schedule at Faiss, which is located at 9525 Maule St. near South Fort Apache Road in southwest Las Vegas.

"We've seen huge growth in student performance, teacher satisfaction, parent satisfaction," she said. "We feel excited to be able to maintain it" through empowerment.

The philosophy of empowerment is to give "schools and teachers the resources and authority to craft unique solutions for unique problems," Superintendent Walt Rulffes said.

Teams of teachers, parents and support staff at the school are supposed to arrive at decisions together in the "site-based management model."

When the empowerment program started with four schools in the 2006-2007 academic year, schools received $150,000 in discretionary funding, or about $600 extra per pupil. The staff was promised bonuses based on performance.

In these hard economic times, the empowerment philosophy has shifted emphasis from additional resources to more autonomy.

"When we applied for the empowerment, we were told not to plan on additional money," Lea said. "We were told to plan on flexibility on how to spend the money you will be allotted. So that's what we're planning on."

Still, the Public Education Foundation, the fundraising arm of the School District, may find donations in time for the next school year. The foundation looks to match empowerment schools with patrons, such as the Lincy Foundation and the Nevada Women's Philanthropy.

"We always try to match the sponsor with the school so they click," said Dawn Christensen, the spokeswoman for the Public Education Foundation. "Now that we know who the schools are, it will be easier to find" donors.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917