A cheerleading, band and dance performance welcomed students on their first day back at Legacy High School in North Las Vegas.

“Oh my God, hello!” squealed teenagers as they hugged their peers after summer vacation. One student wore a back-to-school T-shirt that read: “The risk I took was calculated, but unfortunately I’m bad at math.”

When some 300,000 students in Clark County started school on Monday, they experienced increased security measures, new facilities and new books. Over the summer, the Clark County School District mandated the use of IDs and introduced enhanced gun detection systems for major sporting events and cell phone cases, which went into effect across the district on Monday.

Before students could enter on their first day at Legacy High School, they lined up at the designated entrance and had their IDs scanned. The line stretched well to the door before classes started at 7 a.m., and students were still coming in at 7:15 a.m.

Sophomore Madison Reed wore her badge on a lanyard around her neck, as students are required to do, and was excited for her first day back. As for how the badges would improve safety, she said she wasn’t sure how much of a difference they would make.

“I don’t feel like there are a lot of people who aren’t from our school trying to get into the school,” Reed told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, but she added that she could imagine these badges could help if that did happen.

Legacy High School implemented the ID card system last year, and Principal Belinda Marentic told the Review-Journal that it’s been going well. In addition to security, the school also uses it as a reward system. Teachers have the Five Star app on their phones that allows them to scan students’ ID cards when they’re behaving well, like picking up trash. Students can get free snacks at the snack bar and enter a raffle for technology at the end of the year.

“The kids really like it,” Marentic said.

Cell phone cases

When the students made it to the classroom, they were given bags to store their cell phones.

Legacy High School, like several other schools in the district, tested the bags in some classrooms last year and has not received any negative feedback so far, Marentic said.

But Reed and her friends Isabella Fischer and Emery Mueller said they probably wouldn’t use the cell phone pockets and would rather put their phones in their backpacks since they don’t use them in class anyway.

“I think this is going to cause some problems,” Fischer told the Review-Journal. “People are going to complain.”

Reed said she believes teachers should only enforce this when students are on the phone, not preventively.

In class, several students held their phones on their laps instead of putting them in their pockets. Interim Superintendent Brenda Larsen-Mitchell told the Review-Journal that the rule would be more strictly enforced in class.

Before the protective cases were introduced, the level of distraction caused by cell phones depended on the classroom, according to Marentic.

“When children are studying, they don’t have time to take out their cell phones,” Marentic said.

The bags, Marentic said, could be especially useful for newer teachers. CCSD has over 900 new teachers this year, 12 of whom teach at Legacy High School.

Brand new primary school

When teachers first entered the new Red Rock Elementary School, everyone was smiling, said Principal Chantae Readye.

The previous school building was designated as a replacement school as part of a redevelopment plan. Students and teachers moved out in May 2023 and were housed at Fyfe Elementary School, approximately 2 miles away, for the 2023-2024 school year.

One year and $50 million later, the brand new building welcomed 470 students from preschool through fifth grade on Monday morning. Readye expects enrollment to grow to nearly 500.

In the old building, teachers had to react spontaneously, which, according to Readye, also meant taking students outside when the lights went out.

“Having a building where everything works and there are places you can go with the kids without having to take them outside to learn, I think that’s very exciting,” Readye said.

The new building features a shaded courtyard that architect Cameron Tate designed to provide opportunities for open play and outdoor learning.

As the morning progressed, the rows of elementary school students took a break from exploring the new facilities and boarded the bookmobile, where they were each allowed to select two new books.

Inside, the library smells of fresh books. Each classroom also has a new television, which Readye said will enhance the online components of the curriculum. Old projectors with broken bulbs meant students didn’t get the full experience, she said.

Readye is also excited about the shared play areas, which allow teachers to get the children out and work in small groups.

“It shows that the city, our county and the people care enough about the kids in our community to give them a school that works for them,” Readye said. “So we’re not telling the kids in the poorer areas that they deserve schools that are falling apart or buildings that are falling apart. They deserve a building like this where they can get the kind of education they deserve.”

Contact Katie Futterman at [email protected].