The Internet Reaches Tiny Rural School
Passing a grade at Goodsprings Elementary doesn’t bring much change--students return the next year to the same room, the same classmates and the same teacher.
Monotonous? Maybe, but Julie Newberry, the teacher for the past 15 years in this rural schoolhouse, says having the same students each year is an advantage.
“You start the year knowing what each child needs to cover, what he can or cannot do,” she said.
About 40 miles southwest of the bright lights of Las Vegas, 16 children gather each day outside their tiny school to raise the flag while they recite “The Pledge of Allegiance.” The sound of the bell in the school’s belfry may symbolize the past, but computer technology hasn’t left the school behind.
Students build their math and spelling skills while working on computers and even surf the Internet.
Goodsprings Elementary, built in 1913 in this town of 200, is part of the Clark County School District, the nation’s 10th largest and fastest-growing. Bond issues have helped Goodsprings Elementary keep pace with its bigger counterparts.
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