Schofield Middle teacher hasn’t stopped caring for students

Silverado High School senior Angelo DeSantis has changed a lot since the sixth grade, as does any teenager.

But he’s been able to stay on course due in part to one teacher whose lessons never have left him: Jake Murray, his physical education teacher and basket­ball coach from Schofield Middle School in southeast Las Vegas.

Murray still comes to DeSantis’ basketball games with his wife, Kristin Murray, who teaches seventh-grade science at Schofield. But that’s just the beginning.

"He cares about more than just basketball. He cares about everything else," DeSantis said, noting how Murray counseled him throughout high school to make sure he took the right courses for college.

Murray also helped him apply to Northern Arizona University. He plans to take DeSantis and other former students to Flagstaff, Ariz., for a campus visit, as he did with other students the last two years, said DeSantis’ mom, Kim DiVicino.

"It’s not just me," said DeSantis, who has come to see Murray as a friend and father figure since middle school when he would call his coach to talk during his parents’ divorce.

That above-and-beyond dedication earned Murray the Clark County Educator of the Month award in January. All monthly winners will be honored at an end-of-the-school-year banquet, where an Educator of the Year will be named. Murray was chosen from a list of nominees by a panel that includes members of the Clark County School Board, Public Education Foundation, PTA, Teach for America and private school representatives. The Las Vegas Review-Journal sponsors the program.

"My son adores him," DiVicino said.

But Murray, 33, almost lost his job at the end of the last school year because of budget cuts. Teachers in fields such as physical education, art and music are often the first to go in layoffs. He was willing to do anything he could to stay, having taught at Schofield since graduating from Northern Arizona University in 2003.

"This is my home," he said. "I don’t want to go anywhere."

He and his wife moved to Las Vegas without jobs on "just a wing and a prayer," he said.

Murray was able to keep his job by overseeing a computer-based math course for struggling students in addition to physical education.

He has known since his freshman year of high school what he wanted to be, having realized the impact of sports in his own life. It’s something Murray tries to share with his own students by getting them interested in basketball, the only sport offered at Schofield.

"There are no other outlets for these kids," he said.

He remembers one boy in particular who also is a senior at Silverado and on the basketball team. He struggled in middle school and wouldn’t play until eighth grade, Murray said.

"It got him through high school," Murray said with a smile on his face. "Sports are huge."

Nine signature-covered basketballs line a high shelf in his office. One ball is encased in glass. He knows the names by heart. Each is from a season he coached and is signed by the players he led, some of whom went on to play college ball.

The encased ball is from the 2006-07 season. Schofield played for the district championship in front of nearly 4,000 people. Murray’s team placed second out of 59 district middle schools.

"He was on that (championship) team," Murray said of one former student, pointing to a poster of the Colorado School of Mines basketball team. "No. 20, Ruben Jackson."

They text each other almost every day, he said.

"He calls us his adoptive white parents," Murray said and laughed.

Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.