LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Hundreds of Clark County School District workers are going neighborhood by neighborhood, knocking on doors at more than 500 homes, looking for students who have not shown up for class this school year.
WATCH | Shellye Leggett talks with the Superintendent Jhone Ebert about the initiative:
The effort, called the Bright Futures Initiative, aims to locate students who were registered last year but are unaccounted for now — not only to ensure CCSD receives critical financial support, but also to make sure every student gets a proper education. In Nevada, districts receive funding based on how many students actually show up.
Superintendent Jhone Ebert said some families face barriers like transportation and construction-related commute problems.
"You all drive around our city; there are days when the cones are in one place and then you wake up the next day and the cones and construction are in other places," Ebert said. "So we're in the process of working with the municipality to make sure that we're well aware of when those things happen, but, you know, traffic accidents, all of those things."
Ebert said others may not be aware of helpful resources like after-school clubs that offer support when class ends.
"They did not know that there were opportunities for children to be in Boys and Girls Club after school," Ebert said. "They were keeping children home for reasons that there are actually solutions for, so it's the community coming together."
Ebert said the initiative is focused on getting students back where they belong.
"All about making sure that our children come to school, they're in our classrooms, they're learning, they're having fun, and that they're achieving."
School leaders, including Megan Lewis, the principal of Detwiler Elementary, said they want to get every child back in the classroom and are ready to help families enroll right away.
"Our goal is to make sure that every child is getting a wonderful education," she said. "Students that we don't know where they have gone, we want to make sure that we break any barriers that they may have so that we can get them in the door. Every child deserves an education."
District leaders plan to conduct another round of home visits next semester and said they hope these efforts will keep students on track.
