Nevada’s Newest High School Allows Students to Go to School Online, Tuition-Free

High-Touch Environment Supports and Guides Students on Path to Success

May 13, 2008 – Insight School of Nevada has received authorization by the Nevada State Board of Education and is now accepting applications for Fall Semester 2008. Insight School of Nevada is a tuition-free, diploma-granting, online public high school opening its virtual doors to students throughout the state. It will offer a unique approach to online learning that encompasses high levels of personal attention and student support, flexibility, curriculum scope, academic quality and parental involvement.

Information sessions about Insight School of Nevada are planned for May 20-31, 2008, at 13 locations throughout the state to provide valuable information on the key benefits of attending an online high school for families and students who are not finding a productive fit with their local “bricks and mortar” public high school environment. The sessions will include an online demonstration of a typical classroom session, a review of the robust Insight Schools curriculum, a question and answer period, and application materials.

Insight Schools Inc. is the nation’s largest network of tuition-free, diploma-granting, online public high schools. The new Insight School of Nevada joins the nationwide network of other Insight Schools in California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington and Wisconsin.

“One of our highest priorities is to ensure an unmatched level of personalization and individual support for our students to help them reach their full potential,” said Keith Oelrich, founder and CEO of Insight Schools Inc. “We also welcome parents into the process of guiding their student’s educational goals and progress to create community between families and the school. We offer a safe, academically rigorous, virtual education taught by highly qualified, Nevada credentialed teachers. Students who are self-motivated and enjoy working independently flourish in our environment.”

Nevada public schools face a number of challenges that an online option can help address. Dropout rates are a major concern throughout the nation, and in Nevada the overall graduation rate remains among the lowest in the country according to a recent report developed by WestEd in collaboration with the Center for Education Policy Studies at the University of Nevada. Many students drop out of school due to lack of challenge, pursuit of a career in athletics or the arts, work demands, illness or family obligations.

Insight School of Nevada offers a powerful approach for accommodating a range of personal situations and goals for students who may be unhappy with conditions and opportunities at their local high school; live in a rural or remote area; must work or have child/family care responsibilities; are pursuing their dreams in sports, entertainment, modeling, dancing or other careers; do not function well in large classroom settings; do not connect well socially at school; are challenged with health or physical issues; reach their creative peak in the evening and find it difficult to attend school in the early morning; need more challenging coursework to progress at an accelerated pace; or are home-schooled and seeking subject matter help from a certified teacher.

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Nevada’s Newest High School Allows Students to Go to School Online, Tuition-Free
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Insight School of Nevada students will be able to complete their studies in their own setting at their own speed. Experienced faculty and Insight “iMentors” will work closely to tailor a top-quality academic program to each student’s personal learning styles and situation. The school’s sophisticated, yet user-friendly, Student Information System will provide real-time, online visibility into grades, attendance, teacher comments, student-teacher interaction and parent-teacher interaction.

Curriculum offerings will include more than 120 Foundation, Career Prep, College Prep, Honors and Advanced Placement courses as well as dual high school and college credit for courses taken via the Pathways program of Axia College, University of Phoenix. Student forums, clubs, online activities, events, field trips and community service provide a means for active social interaction. In addition to being tuition-free, the school will provide students with a wireless laptop computer, a printer/scanner, reimbursement for Internet access and materials for required courses.

“I love Insight School,” said Harini Kompella, a graduating senior at Insight School of California – Los Angeles. “I’ve been accepted at several great universities including UCLA, UC Davis, UC San Diego and California State University at Northridge. “I like how our course schedule is structured, so I can be flexible with when I do my homework. It has allowed me to take more responsibility for my lifestyle, and I’ve been able to volunteer in my community during the day. This learning environment has truly helped me in achieving my aspirations.”

For more information on Insight School of Nevada, visit www.insightnv.net or call 800-208-1931.

Carson City
Thurs., 5/22, 6:00-8:00PM
Plaza Hotel
801 South Carson Street

Found here.

The coming of summer means the return of the Summer Family Concert Series in Minden Park. Every year they put on five concerts at the park in downtown Minden, and the turnout keeps getting bigger. Here's this year's lineup.

May 30 - Alice Stuart and the Formerlys.

June 27 - Batdorf and Rodney Reunion.

July 11 - The Comstock Cowboys.

July 25 - The Surf All-Stars.

August 29 - The Michael Powers Band.

All concerts are on a Friday night at 6:30pm, except for the final one on August 24th, which starts at 6:00. Get your picnic baskets ready!

After years of trying, Max Baer Jr. is this close to building his dream casino. He has the land, he has the zoning variances, he has approval from the county, he says he has the money, but there's no way to know if that's true. Everything is in place, and he should be ready to build. So why hasn't he started yet? He's still fighting over the sign.

He started by wanting a 200-foot tall oil derrick shooting flames as the sign the draw people to the casino. That was denied, so he scaled it down to 143 feet, the same height as the hotel towers. That was denied, so then he cut it down to "a 109-foot tulip-shaped sign". The Planning Commission just denied that, too. The Commission says that the limit on signs is 30 feet, and that's plenty. Jethro, apparently, just wants to keep chipping away until he can find a compromise. And since the process can take three to four months each time, it could be years before they finally hash out a number and get to building.

Also the article talks about how the sign face would be 2,423 square feet. That is an unfathomable number. That's bigger than my house. I don't think the casino in Las Vegas have signs that big.

I think it's time to give in and just start building. He got 98% of what he wants for this project. Don't worry about the sign. The draw is going to be the hotel building itself, perched on the hillside. A sign isn't going to make too much difference. The time for talk is over. Now it's time to put shovels in the dirt.

Sometimes there's nothing you can do with an old house except tear it down. Carson City has had its share of tear-downs. This house, for example, which was just too old and too decrepit to survive, was torn down to build a two-story duplex on the site.

Other cities have varying degrees of tolerance for old buildings. In Las Vegas, for example, anything over ten years old is fair game for the wrecking ball. Other cities have historic districts where old houses are maintained and kept up. And in a place like Virginia City, the whole town is a historic district, and nothing is torn down without careful consideration by the whole community.

That's why it's so rare for a demolition to be scheduled in Virginia City. But sometimes the house is just too old, and there's nothing you can do. When the frame is disintegrating and the roof is collapsing, it's the only choice. And that's the case with the Sargent House, at 284 South D Street, across from the Mackay mansion.

It's a very photogenic house. The way it leans, the way the porch droops, the weathered boards and overgrown brush. It's like it was specially built to have people take pictures of it. Others have noticed too, like here and here. But the structure is falling apart. The roof has collapsed, the walls are disintegrating, and the owner fears that someone's going to try to explore inside and have the whole thing cave in on them. So they went in front of the Comstock Historic District board to get it torn down, and the board yesterday gave its approval.

It's one of only four or five houses that have been demolished in the last decade. Usually up there they try to save the houses if at all possible, even if it takes decades to find someone to restore it. That's what happened with the B Street Bed & Breakfast, which was empty forever until Carolyn and Chris Eichin came along to fix it up. But there's no one to save the Sargent House, and even if there were it's not even possible anymore. It's too fragile now. So it's time for it to go.

The history of the house is not really known. They think it predates the Great Fire of 1875, but they're not really sure. Their guess is that it was built in the 1860s or 1870, but there's no way to tell. The last residents of the house were the Sargent family, hence the name. They moved out in the 1950s and the house has been empty ever since. There's a story in the article about how the father, Jake Sargent, tore down the house next door for firewood and found money hidden in all the walls. And the boy who grew up in the house, Ross Sargent, is not only still alive, he's already read the article and added a comment to it.

Demolition isn't going to be for another four or five weeks. First they're going to go through and salvage any boards or decorative trim that's still good. And then there will be one more empty lot on the Comstock, one more house from the old days gone.

Last weekend we found ourselves in northwest Carson City, and completely by accident we stumbled across the Planetary Walkway. This path connects Western Nevada College with the Jack C. Davis Observatory, located a ways up the hill. And all along the path are sandstone sculptures of the Sun, the nine planets, and other solar system bodies.

At the top of the hill is the Jack C. Davis Observatory. This observatory was opened in 2003, and during construction they decided that the trail that connected the observatory to the main college campus needed some kind of decoration. They conceived of the Planetary Walkway as a way to create some interest along the path, and also as a way to raise funds for the observatory. Sponsorships were sold for each of the planets, and plaques engraved with the donors' names.

The first sculpture of course is of the Sun, right at the front door of the observatory. This plaque is "Dedicated to those men and women who lit the way for the Jack C. Davis Observatory."

This plaque gives thanks to the prison laborers that sculpted the monuments. Each block was carved out of sandstone from the prison's quarry, the same blocks the Capitol was made of.

The first of the planets you come to is Mercury. This sculpture is still on the observatory's grounds. The plaque is sponsored by SBC (now AT&T).

This bridge over a small stone wash marks the start of the walkway.

Just past the bridge is Venus. Some of these monuments are four to five feet tall.

The Earth and Moon sit next to each other, on separate monuments.

The Earth has a great view of Carson City here along the ridge. The sculptures are specially painted to be weather and graffiti-resistant.

The moon sits on a small monument. The plaque says, "I dedicate the moon to my sweetheart. The moon is known for its romance and its lunacy. Which choice is most appropriate for her?"

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaars!!!!!!!

Interest in the sponsorships was greater than they anticipated, so they decided to build more sculptures than just the sun and the nine planets. This here is Ceres, the largest of the asteroids. A few years after the walkway was built, Ceres was upgraded to a "dwarf planet", so its inclusion in the walkway was kind of prescient.

Jupiter is the largest of the planets, but here on the walkway they're all the same size. The plaque is dedicated to the memory of Robert T. Nahas.

The walkway winds down to a small parking area at Murphy Drive, then continues on the other side to WNC's main campus.

Saturn's rings stand out in this sculpture, dedicated to the memory of Bernice Sheldon.

Uranus is carved into this slender finger of stone, with vertical rings to suggest the wild tilt of the planet.

Neptune is painted a bright blue. Each of the monuments is also carved with the astrological symbol of the planet. The symbol for Neptune here is a trident, an allusion to the weapon carried by the planet's namesake, the Roman god of the sea.

Pluto is set into a low stone near the bottom of the trail. A few years after this was built, Pluto was demoted from being a true planet to being a "dwarf" planet, joining Ceres in that distinction. The plaque notes that this planet is a birthday present to Rob, from Dorothy.

And finally, we have Quaoar. Ah, poor Quaoar. At the time the walkway was built, late 2002, Quaoar had just been discovered in the darkness beyond Pluto. It is little more than an icy rock, but at nearly half the size of Pluto it held the distinction of being the largest body discovered in 70 years. Thus its inclusion in the walkway commemorates a brief period in history where people were debating whether to call it the 10th planet or not. Sadly for poor Quaoar, it was only a matter of time before other, larger objects were discovered in the area known as the Kuiper Belt, and this almost-planet was lost in the shuffle. It is now on the short list for consideration to be upgraded to a dwarf planet, but with at least four bigger objects being found in the last few years, Quaoar is all but forgotten.

A look back at the Planetary Walkway shows all the planets lined up nicely along the curving walkway.

It doesn't take more than five minutes to walk the entire length of the Planetary Walkway, but it's a cool little attraction hidden away in the corner of Carson City that most residents probably don't know about. It can be found by driving up Combs Canyon Road, off of College Parkway, then turning left on Murphy Drive. A quick right on Nye gets you to the observatory.

If you want to get out tonight and help raise a little money to support Douglas High School, head to Chili's for dinner. Tonight only, Chili's will donate 10% of your check to Douglas High fundraising efforts. This is only at the Chili's on Topsy Lane, at the south end of town, and you have to let your server know you're part of the Douglas High fundraiser.

Bike to Work Week has begun, with Muscle Powered and Bike Carson leading the charge here in Carson. Bike Carson has a story and pictures on what was kind of a ceremonial "first ride" to kick off the week. News Carson City also has a video with interviews.

The First Presbyterian Church is very close to the end of their long project to build a new sanctuary. The outside is nearly almost done, save for an odd window and sidewalk here and there. I think this is a nice structure, because it's big, but it's not imposing or overwhelming for the neighborhood.

We went for a bike ride on the V&T Bike Path yesterday, in west Carson City. We just bought new bikes a couple of weeks ago, and we're trying to get out and ride more, but with both of us working all the time it can be tough. But we have the little kid trailer and everything, so when we make it it's fun.

The V&T Bike Path is pretty new; it was re-graded and paved just not even five years ago. But its story goes back much further than that. The effort to get take a dirt path that ran through the area and improve it to make it bike-friendly had been in the works since the mid 90s. It is one component of a bike path that spans the entire west side, from the base of C Hill all the way north to the top of the hill at Lakeview. Much of the south side of the path follows existing streets. This section goes off on its own through the dirt and sagebrush.

But the history goes back even further than that. The reason it's called the V&T Bike Path is that it follows faithfully the old railbed that the Virginia and Truckee Railroad used to climb out of the Eagle Valley on its way to Reno. When you're cycling or walking along this path, you're following the ghosts of countless old steamers that traveled this route for nearly 80 years. The tracks were pulled up in 1950, and the route remained a dirt trail for another 50 years until it was paved in 2003.

The V&T steaming up what is now Longview Way, near the south entrance to the bike path.

Below, a few more shots from the trail. These were all taken with my camera phone, which casts kind of a sickly pallor over everything.

The southern entrance to the bike path is at the corner of Wellington and Ash Canyon Roads. There is no parking at this end.

Someone built some sweet jumps along the way.

The trail crosses the Vicee Canyon drainage, where a lot of work has been done to try to keep the stream within its banks. This bubbling trickle of snowmelt is a nice break from the dirt and sagebrush.

The bike path stretches from Ash Canyon Road, at Wellington, to Murphy Drive behind Western Nevada College. You can see a map of the route here. There is also a post about it by real cyclists at Cycling Carson City.