We’re losing students in high school

To the editor:

As a high school teacher in the Clark County School District, I read Friday’s Review-Journal (“Rulffes hails gains posted by schools”) with a mixture of pride and disappointment. It seems that everyone in the school district is so busy patting themselves on the back for meeting the No Child Left Behind Act standards that they’ve failed to notice an alarming statistic.

Although the elementary schools, and to a lesser degree the middle schools, are doing amazingly well in producing positive results, people have ignored the lackluster progress made by the valley’s high schools.

If you discount the magnet high schools — Vo Tech, Las Vegas Academy, etc. — and the ones with relatively small populations — Moapa Valley, Virgin Valley, etc. — 29 high schools with “normal” populations remain. Of these 29 high schools, only three made adequate yearly progress: Coronado, Liberty and Silverado.

The school district needs to take a hard look to determine why we are losing students as they march through the grades.

One could certainly make the case that smaller schools are better. After all, each one of the small high schools made the grade. That is an interesting statistic.

William Cuff

HENDERSON

Double standard

To the editor:

I just heard on the news that the NAACP wants sports fans to hold any unfavorable comments regarding Michael Vick until he has his day in court.

Isn’t it strange that the same group didn’t hold that view when it came to the lacrosse players at Duke?

Jim Fitzpatrick

LAS VEGAS

Not a nice touch

To the editor:

In response to Jane Ann Morrison’s July 26 column, “Some doctors putting ‘a touch’ on their Las Vegas patients and insurers”:

Ms. Morrison does not seem to be at all familiar with the profession of physician assistant. She does a real disservice to PAs — and the public — with some misleading statements.

Physician assistants do most of the things doctors do: examine, interview, diagnose and treat patients. We prescribe medications. Some of us choose to work in surgery. Many of those PAs function (legally, appropriately and quite competently) as “first assist” during operations.

A first assist — whether he or she is another surgeon, a PA, a resident, etc. — does many of the things the surgeon is doing on the other side of the table, where the surgeon can’t reach. This kind of service by a PA is reimbursed by insurance companies, legitimately. Somehow, Ms. Morrison neglects to mention PAs when she tells the reader that surgeons can “have residents or other assisting surgeons to help.” She chooses not to include PAs in the group of potential helpers.

At the same time, she stretches things by suggesting that a PA is sometimes the person who touches a patient briefly so that a large fee can be charged for a consultant. An insurance company would be very unlikely to pay for a consultation during surgery when the “consultant” has PA-C — not M.D. or D.O. — after his name.

Ms. Morrison has given us a prominent place in the world of “the touch” where we don’t belong, and has excluded mention of us where we function very often, as surgical assistants. She should research our profession more thoroughly.

Seth Wittner

HENDERSON

Grass lands

To the editor:

Your excellent Sunday article about the abundance of lawns amid a severe water shortage can serve as an important piece of education.

Speaking of education, some friends and I walk our dogs behind Palo Verde High School and the city recreation center to its north. On the grounds behind these two buildings are several athletic fields as well as many acres of grass outside of these fields. In a few spots, there is rock and some ground cover.

But grass makes up the vast majority of these grounds outside of the fields — and it is watered.

Perhaps the Southern Nevada Water Authority could meet with school administrations, and city and county officials to review all such situations throughout Southern Nevada to see about converting such outside areas from grass.

Times were different five to 10 years ago, when many of these grounds were planted. Turning such grassy expanses into rock or ground cover could go a long way in saving some of our much-needed water resources.

Gary Musser

LAS VEGAS