Hey, listen. I love Las Vegas, New Mexico. I love my town, my dusty, windy, artistic, unusual, historic, hysteric, funny town. But today I’m grouchy. I’m tired of settling for a school system that is – at best – below average. I taught school here, taught 8th grade at the public charter school, and have interacted with teachers and staff from every school in the city. I have always been one of those super volunteers at every school my boys have attended.

I have two boys in the system – one is 14, tall, intelligent, a gentle giant. The other is 12, crazy, filled with visions of art and penguins. My boys are good boys, smart boys, boys who care about learning, who want to travel the stars, who want to write, create, draw, explore.

I worry about them.

Mr. 12 attends Rio Gallinas Public Charter School on the West side of town, the same school at which I taught. He’s happy there – routinely scores off the charts in math, science, and reading – and he has an overflowing pocketful of friends. My older son attended Rio Gallinas, too, until he graduated 8th grade last June.

There are several excellent elementary schools in both school districts of Las Vegas, New Mexico: Rio Gallinas, Los Niños, Paul D. Henry, Sierra Vista. Memorial Middle School in the City School district has wonderful teachers and a caring staff. If your child is in elementary school, you can find a solid Kindergarten through 8th grade education ’round these parts. But that’s where it ends.

The publicly recognized problems at Robertson High School on the East side of town are just the tip of the iceberg. The horrific football team hazing incident that made unfortunate national news, the hip teacher who allegedly sexually preyed on a student over the course of years, the principal who was no pal and who allegedly groped a potential hire – these are incidents that didn’t have to happen, that have no place in a warm and loving educational environment.

My older son, 14, attended Robertson for a short period this academic year. He’s an intelligent kid who has tested “Gifted,” who scores higher than 99% of students his age on all of the standardized tests. He was excited about High School, about the cool courses he would be able to take, about the possibility of fun extracurricular activities. Robertson High is just a few blocks from our home, and until my son entered it, I assumed the local hype that Robertson was the better high school was right.

My son’s excited expectations soon turned to disappointment and sorrow. He saw fights break out in classrooms – with teachers idly standing by, one of his teachers asked him if he were Anglo or Spanish – asked as if the answer mattered – while another teacher sat, eyes closed, as students talked for the entire period about anything but the subject at hand. A teacher or two attempted to share relevant material, attempted to engage their students in discussion, but the overwhelming culture was clearly one of disrespect and ennui.

Not only was the environment disruptive, but my son quickly realized that he already knew the bulk of the material in his text books. Most of his classes didn’t even hand out text books – the school didn’t have enough to go around. I visited with his school counselor, who shrugged her shoulders. “Well, just withdraw him, then, we can’t help you,” her answer was when I brought up the classroom behavior and my son’s need for more challenging classes. She wasn’t interested in exploring other options for my son, wasn’t interested in helping us find a solution. My son and I left those two paltry textbooks sitting on her desk and walked out the door. We haven’t returned.

Robertson High School didn’t meet the AYP standards last year. With low test scores, an embattled staff and administration, and students who aren’t sure what’s happening in the school, if your child is facing the decision of East or West, I would recommend West, which did meet AYP standards, and is clearly the better school.

But West Las Vegas High School has its problems, too. Aside from well-publicized administrative corruption issues, the math department is lacking resources, so that any student interested in the sciences needs to supplement the meager course offerings at Luna Community College or New Mexico Highlands University. A principal at one of the elementary schools told me that the West teachers are caring, but the new block system results in teaching exhaustion. Armed guards keep a wary eye on upper classmen.

When I taught 8th grade, my students told me horror stories about both high schools. With older brothers and sisters, many of my students were able to relay horrifying stories of hazing initiations, serious drug use, and gang-type fights. Until my own son started high school, and until the private troubles at the school made national news, I figured my students were exaggerating.

Both schools have their fantastic teachers, the visionaries who know how to keep order in the room, who know how to inspire, to pull the best effort from even the most ardent troublemaker. Both schools have had their incredible graduates who have managed to dance through the system through sheer will and determination, who are now attending Harvard or serving time in the Peace Corps. Both schools have moments of greatness, be it in the arena of sports, or music, or pulling together in times of community need.

I could list all of the wonderful, gracious, caring, thoughtful teachers in both school systems, tell you a story about each one. Those stories could fill several heart warming books. Most of our teachers are in education because they want to make a difference. They’re doing the best they can with what cards they’ve been dealt here. It’s not the fault of our overworked teachers. The problem begins at the bigger circle, at the level of administration, at the level of culture.

But those moments, those passionate teachers, aren’t enough when one new, creative, thoughtful, unusual ninth grader is welcomed into a new educational community showing the worst that community has to offer, when one hard-working student is told that his questions and concerns don’t matter – that he should just leave the school if he isn’t challenged and safe. It’s not enough when students who want to excel in math have to be bused to a community college. It’s not enough when a student wants to spend his or her classes engaged in academic debate and instead must stand back as six girls fist fight to the chagrin of a teacher who knows his administration doesn’t have his back.

And from what I’m hearing from too many parents is that their own students’ experiences are the same as mine. A peer of my son lasted the entire academic year at Robertson. And today, thanks to one teacher dismissed for inappropriate behavior, others leaving due to the stresses of the school, and one having a nervous breakdown, she has just one of the teachers with whom she began the year. Way to go, Robertson. Way to inspire a creative, intelligent young woman. She won’t be returning this fall. And she’s not alone.

No matter which high school you choose, you might lose.  This city can do better. This city must do better. I can’t tell you how many wonderful families have declined to move to Las Vegas, New Mexico, because of the poor educational system.

Las Vegas  is a wonderful, radiant, insanely artistic, lively place to visit, to make a home, to start a business, to develop wings as an artist. But if you have children approaching high school age, you have some tough choices to make.

My son now takes classes at Luna Community College – like most kids in both districts who need a good challenge – and supplements with home schooling materials that I prepare for him. I’m a working mom. I need to continue working full time to meet my family’s basic economic needs. My patchwork system is a poor substitute for what resources our children should have.

My son won’t attend City Schools or West Las Vegas Schools in the fall. He’ll continue taking college courses at the age of 14, continue knitting together a scarf of many colors, many experiences. I’m working on setting up a homeschool cooperative that will allow other unhappy parents to seek a viable alternative. I tried to work inside the system, but when my son and I were told to settle or leave, I chose this path outside our schools.

Senator Pete Campos promised to get a magnet high school going at Luna Community College last fall. What is the status of this school? When will it open? Who will it serve? Oh, that’s right. Nothing’s happening. An announcement was made, excited was raised, and the ball was dropped. Great Public Relations… lack of follow through.

With two school districts for one small city, we’re wasting money, wasting time. We have shared educational goals. We all care about our children’s futures. We all want to see students engaging in exciting challenges. We want our children to excel, to aim high, to know that they can work toward any college, any university, any future their heart desires.

C’mon Las Vegas. C’mon. We’re better than this. I know nearly everyone in this small city on the edge of the rolling prairie. I know that everyone here is a good person. Everyone here wants to see our children succeed. No one is plotting against students, no one is deliberately settling for less. Most of us are working hard to make our community a better place – and it’s reaping some great positive results. But still, our schools continue to have deep, deep problems.

If anyone is interested in hearing more about my new homeschool cooperative, please feel free to contact me via email or telephone.

Thanks for listening.