Students return as schools focus on growth and safety

Summer won’t end for sev­er­al weeks, but local stu­dents have returned to the classroom.

Ramping up for an excit­ing new school year that began Aug. 12, Clark County Public Schools hope to “Grow Greatness” in all students.

The 2026 school year has stu­dents enrolled in 10 dif­fer­ent loca­tions, span­ning grade lev­els preschool to 12^th grade.

This year, Clark County Public Schools aims to con­tin­ue their work of inte­grat­ing stu­dents with the com­mu­ni­ty in hopes of grow­ing them as lead­ers in and out of the class­room. By work­ing along­side com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers, they hope to make stu­dents “life-ready.”

With a new school year kick­ing into gear, so does the new bus law issued under House Bill 7. This bill states that traf­fic going both direc­tions on a road must stop for a school or church bus dis­play­ing a stop arm and flash­ing lights unless there is a raised medi­an sep­a­rat­ing the lanes. This new law is to ensure that all stu­dents get to and from school safely.

The new law extends the require­ment to stop for bus­es to major roads with four or more lanes. 

Bypass Road is a five-lane road with no medi­an, and there­fore would require stop­ping for a school bus. On the oth­er hand, Veteran’s Memorial Parkway con­tains a grass medi­an and would not require stop­ping for a bus load­ing or unload­ing on the oppo­site side. 

In addi­tion to imple­ment­ing the new bus law, the school dis­trict is adapt­ing anoth­er ini­tia­tive put for­ward by the state. Clark County Preschool has tran­si­tioned to a uni­ver­sal pre-kinder­garten pro­gram for all 4‑year-olds.

A uni­ver­sal pre‑K pro­gram helps to elim­i­nate bar­ri­ers that keep stu­dents from attend­ing pre‑K. Instead, the preschool will now work on a slid­ing scale fee struc­ture so that enroll­ment is adapt­ed to what a par­ent or guardian is able to pay.

Clark County Public Schools also try to help cut down on bul­ly­ing. Last school year, bul­ly­ing was at a 50 per­cent decline from pre­vi­ous years, accord­ing to Superintendent Dustin Howard.

The reduc­tion of bul­ly­ing was attrib­uted to a decreased num­ber of refer­rals and reports through­out the coun­ty. While this num­ber is from in-per­son bul­ly­ing instances, the school dis­trict is aim­ing to raise lead­ers who will also not resort to bul­ly­ing out­side of class­rooms and across social media platforms.

With the new school year in full swing, Clark County Public Schools reflect on the past year of win­ning cham­pi­onships and ris­ing test scores. They are hop­ing to have an even bet­ter year high­light­ed by a cap­tion post­ed to their social media.

“We moved our feet and came togeth­er as one on the first day of school! Day 1 was filled with ener­gy, smiles, laugh­ter, and so many hap­py reunions. Here’s to a great first day, and an even greater year ahead! Let’s LIVE IT!”