Mario C. Monaco interview, March 12, 1981: transcript

UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 1 An Interview with Mario C. Monaco An Oral History Conducted by Kim Rhodes Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas Special Collections and Archives Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 2 © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2020 UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 3 The Oral History Research Center (OHRC) was formally established by the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada System in September 2003 as an entity of the UNLV University Libraries’ Special Collections Division. The OHRC conducts oral interviews with individuals who are selected for their ability to provide first-hand observations on a variety of historical topics in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. The OHRC is also home to legacy oral history interviews conducted prior to its establishment including many conducted by UNLV History Professor Ralph Roske and his students. This legacy interview transcript received minimal editing, such as the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader's understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. The interviewee/narrator was not involved in the editing process. UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 4 Abstract On March 12, 1981, Kim Rhodes interviewed Mario C. Monaco (born in Italy) about his life as an educator in Las Vegas, Nevada. During the interview, Monaco speaks about his various teaching positions, how he ended up in Las Vegas, the changes seen in the Clark County School District and how it compares to educational districts throughout the nation. Moreover, Monaco discusses wages and teacher education opportunities, sports and extracurricular activities in school, community involvement, and racial integration through busing. Lastly, Monaco talks about his appointment to Director of Vocational Education in the Clark County School Districts, the programs offered by the vocational center in the valley and the importance of education. UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 5 March 12th, 1981. An interview with Mario Monaco, the principal at Vo-Tech High School, done by Kim Rhodes at 1134 Barnard Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada. Where were you born and where did you grow up? I was born in Italy. I was nine months old when I came to the United States, my father was already an American citizen. The family lived in Anaconda, Montana. I lived there the first seventeen years of my life. I went to grade school—elementary school, I should say, and junior high and high school in Anaconda, Montana. Upon graduation from high school, I enlisted in the Navy for a two-year period and served in various parts of the world at that time. After my discharge from the service, I attended the University of Portland on an athletic scholarship and, while attending the university, decided I wanted to make education my life’s profession. I received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Portland and continued with my master’s work at the University of Portland. After I received my degree in education, the first three years that I taught, I taught in a small community of Mount Angel, Oregon. Part of my pay was board and room. I lived on a grounds of a monastery and ate my three meals a day with students that were studying for the Catholic priesthood. I taught in the schools in Mount Angel, Oregon and coached all three sports. There was an assistant coach in all three sports for three years. At that time, I moved back to Anaconda, Montana and was fortunate enough to teach in the junior high school that I had graduated from earlier. I taught English for one year on the ninth grade level and then the following year, I married, and taught English on the high school level. At that time, we decided that we wanted to make our permanent home some place other than the cold weather of Montana and we thought about moving to Colorado but found the teaching salaries were very low at that time. Thought about moving back to Oregon and were UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 6 about ready to do so when I was offered a contract in Las Vegas, Nevada. And at that time we decided that we would move to Las Vegas and see if we’d like to make this our home. How long have you been with the Clark County School District? I’ve been with Clark County School District twenty-three years. When I came to Las Vegas in 1958, they—Clark County School District had just previously unified into a county system and were just starting on the concept of a six-three-three plan. Our six elementary years, three junior high years and three high school years. My first job was at John C. Fremont as an eighth grade English and social studies teacher. I stayed there for one year and asked to be transferred to Hyde Park Junior High School, which was a new school that had opened the previous year, because it was much closer to my home and it was within walking distance of where we were living. I taught ninth grade English at Hyde Park for two years and then Western High School was built. It was the first high school built on the Westside of Las Vegas and I was asked to assume a teaching position at Western High School and actually asked to be transferred there. I taught English and history while I was at Western High School. Then, a new junior high, Robert O. Gibson Junior High School, was built on—next to the golf course on Washington Avenue and I was asked to open the school as an assistant principal. I remained as an assistant principal at Gibson Junior High School for approximately five years at which time I became the principal of Robert O. Gibson Junior High School. After a three or four year period as a principal, I was transferred by the Clark County School District to the position of Principal at Rancho High School. I was the principal at Rancho High School for nine years and just three weeks ago, in the middle of the school year, I was UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 7 transferred and made Director of Vocational Education at Nevada’s Southern Vocational Technical Center here in Las Vegas. What are some of the major changes that you’ve witnessed over the past twenty years in the school system? There have been a number of changes in the school district. I would have to say two of the major ones probably the Minimum Competency Tests that are required and the new attendance policy that is now enforced in Clark County School Districts—District. To give you a little background, many sections of the country are going through the minimum competency aspect of education now. We in Clark County are really just starting to get into it. Students, before they receive a regular diploma from an accredited high school, must pass the competency, minimum competency in three areas: mathematics, reading and writing. The students are given four different opportunities to pass these tests. Twice in their junior year and twice in their senior year. Once they’ve passed all three tests or one section of the test, they do not have to repeat it. Students who fail the test are required to take classes or are placed in classes by the administration and the counselor of the school to reinforce or to strengthen the areas that they’re weak in. It’s only upon the completion of all three sections that a student is given a regular diploma from high school. The second major thing, I would say, is the attendance policy. For years, Clark County School District, like many school districts throughout the country, has had a problem with attendance. Just this last year, an attendance committee which was formed—I was fortunate enough to be a member of that attendance committee, and the School Board of Trustees established a new attendance policy. The attendance policy is based on if a student is unexcused from school five times during a semester, upon the sixth unexcused he’s withdrawn or excluded UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 8 from school for the remaining part of the semester and cannot get credit. The second part of it is eighteen absences of any kind, excused or unexcused combination, on the nineteenth absence the student again is excluded from school for the remaining part of the semester and then he is—he or she loses credit. That sounds a lot worse than it really is. Students who are excluded for a semester still can graduate with the normal class by either attending summer school, by taking two hours of correspondence courses which they can do and still get credit, by attending six or seven classes as a senior instead of the minimum required of four. So, if a student goofs up one semester and is really sincere and interested, they have many options. One I’ve failed to mention is attending Sunset. Sunset is on a nine-week basis so if a student is excluded from a regular school during the first nine weeks, they are given an additional nine days to at least make up part of their credit. The second nine weeks or the fourth nine weeks at Sunset High School. So if a student is really sincere and has learned a lesson, they can still graduate with their class. The whole purpose of the attendance policy is not to exclude or put students on the street, as many of the students are excluded were students that were never attending school and parents were really not aware that they were not attending school. And the real purpose of the attendance policy is to get the student to change their attendance behavior and to attend school rather than cut. Clark County School District attendance always showed in the high eighties or low nineties but it didn’t take into account the number of students that were cutting one or more period a day. With the new attendance policy, Clark County Schools, high schools, the attendance policy is only ninth grade through twelfth, are in the ninety-four to ninety-six range and it reflects a very accurate or true picture of true attendance, including class cutting. The school board, the school administration and the school teachers have found the program to be very UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 9 useful and very helpful. We feel that if a student is not in school, of course, he can’t learn and we can’t help him learn. So if we can get the student to attend, teachers are able to do their work, hopefully test scores and learning will get better and everybody will get a lot more out of their education. There are a number of other improvements. Clark County is a very popular place for a beginning teacher and the district has been fortunate in being able to recruit many top quality teachers. Education—the key to education is the teacher. If you have a good teacher, you have a good education system. You can have all the best books and all the modern technology and equipment in the world, but—they are a big help, yes—but without a good teacher, a teacher that is interested in students, loves his or her job, and is willing to put in the hard work and the planning required to become a good teacher, you will not have successful education. I think we’re fortunate in Clark County that we do have many teachers, dedicated teachers who do constantly look for ways to improve and are willing to put in the time needed to plan to do a job and give the students the best education possible. How do you think our school system compares to others that you’ve observed around the country? I’ve been very fortunate in that I attended school in Montana, I taught school in Montana. I taught school in Oregon, I’ve observed schools in California, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Louisiana and Nebraska and some other states throughout the United States. I was fortunate enough to be a three year member of a Junior Air Force ROTC advisory council and we met in Montgomery, Alabama for approximately three or four days each summer, eight or nine principals from different sections of the United States at which time we discussed program needs of the ROTC program in the high school. UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 10 I was president of the Clark County Secondary Principals Association and as such got to visit a number of schools and I was State Coordinator for the state of Nevada for the Secondary Principals at which time I got to visit schools in different areas of the country. I think, and I know, Clark County education system compares and is better, I feel, in many aspects and many sections of the country. I think one of the things about traveling and visiting with administrators and educators from other sections of the country, you realize how fortunate and fine of an education system we do have in the state of Nevada. As I previously mentioned, the teacher is the key to any successful education system. And Las Vegas is an area that many teachers like to come to because of the climate and the nature of Las Vegas. We’re a new community. By that I mean many of our schools are new and we have many good practical things needed to make an educational system a good system. I still go back to the premise that a good teacher is the key and if you have a good teacher, a dedicated teacher, you’ll have a good education system. Comparing with the schools that I’ve taught in and that I’ve visited, I would have to rate Clark County and the Las Vegas schools on a very high scale. I think we get a lot accomplished and we do a good job with our education system. How are the wages and the opportunities for improving teacher education? Wages is Clark County probably are not nearly as high as most people think they are. I know that in Oregon and Montana, the figures I believe are somewhat higher than they are presently. I think the legislature and the state has to take this into consideration in the near future. The amount of money they pay teachers, the amount of money that they spend per pupil for education. I think many people in the United States thinks that Nevada gets a lot more money because of the gambling but very little of the gambling revenues are directed to education. Very UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 11 little. As far as ways of improving yourself as an educator, we are rather fortunate in that we are located in an area where there are a lot of colleges and university in the immediate areas such as Utah, Arizona and California. One of the nice things, of course, is the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which has been very cooperative in setting up educational courses, in service courses and providing some very excellent teachers for the Clark County school system. How do you feel about extracurricular activities and sports as far as education goes? Sometimes I think that the field of education is almost asked to do too many things. When you stop and think about the health services that the school has to check about, the lunches and breakfasts they serve, really a community drives, community activities are centered in and around school, students. Sometimes it wears a little bit thin but many of these can be used as very good educational tools, providing they’re not overdone. I think extracurricular activities are very important to a school if they are in their proper place and proper sequence. A student must maintain a good average, attend school and do what’s expected of them in school so that they can participate in these extracurricular activities. I think a student that’s happy and enjoys going to school will do a much better job as a student and will get much better grades. Sports fits much like the extracurricular activities. Your clubs, such as the National Honors Society, Varsity Quiz, your science clubs, your math clubs, Chess Club. Foreign language clubs, they all contribute very much to keeping the student interest high and if they’re high in those areas, they’re usually a better student. And the same with sports. I think many times students that are interested in sports become better students because they know they have to keep their grades up. If they don’t keep their grades up and are well behaved, of course they can’t participate in sports. A person in the band or in the choir group, much the same way. UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 12 These are activities and interests that hold the attention of many students and by holding the attention of many students, they become better academic students. Again I would caution that these must be done with that one thought in mind. What do they do to contribute to making the student a better, all-around educated person? I think if extracurricular activities are used with that in mind with firm and good set of rules that are strictly enforced, that they do contribute towards making the education of students more profitable and a better experience for everyone concerned. Do you feel that there is enough community involvement and interest in the school programs? No, I really do not feel as enough involvement in the community as far as education’s concerned. Most people only become involved in education when it affects them or their children. And I feel that they should be involved before. They should be acting instead of reacting. Many parents just leave everything to the educator. I think they should know what kind of classes their students are in, areas that they need to spend time at home, they should go over homework and study habits with their sons and daughters. They should be interested in the type of classes the schools are offering, the type of classes the students are taking. But, unfortunately, most of the time parents react to a given situation and I would like to see much more involvement of the parents because they want to be involved and because their interest rather than reacting to, in many cases, a negative situation. I’ve been involved in a Title I reading and math program and this requires parent advisory committees. Some years a small percentage of the parents do get involved. Many times it’s hard to get some of them out at all. Parents are interested in musical programs, of course, in sports, but they come only to concerts and to sporting events rather than visiting with the music UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 13 teacher, finding out what they’re doing in the particular class or watching their son or daughter practice a particular sport and visiting and discussing with the coach on ways to help their son or daughter. Community involvement is very important. Many times the only time parents come to school is when their children are in some kind of a problem. Most schools have open house about once a year and usually the parents should get to come to open house or parents of students that you see without any problem. Parents that are interested in their students are usually the ones who show up for open house. One of the things would—a school where I was an administrator had what we call very important persons day where we invited the parents to come to school and spend the entire day in a regular schedule with their son or daughter. You eat lunch with them, go to P.E., go to class. We ask teachers to hold as normal a day as possible, other than giving a test, and we’ve had as many as three or four hundred parents involved in this type of a program and the evaluation material that was returned to us by teachers, students and parents that participated was very positive. The parents enjoyed the day, the students enjoyed having them there and the teachers enjoyed showing them what they were doing in a normal situation. I think we need more of this type of a thing. Many great schools call parents in to give them grades once every nine weeks. I think this is a good practice and maybe it’s something that should be extended to secondary schools and I think anything that encourages parents to come in and find out what’s going on, to give encouragement when new programs and new techniques are tried. To follow the progress of their son or daughter will make for a much better educational thing. Have you seen any increase in the drugs and alcohol problems with the students since you’ve been with the schools? I actually feel there’s a decrease of drug use, maybe in the last few years, an increase in UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 14 the alcoholic use. But I should go back and explain that during the sixties was probably when the schools faced more of a drug problem than they do now. Newspapers and TV and radio news casters have a tendency to report drugs on campus and sensationalize those kinds of things much more than they do a lot of things. The actual use of drugs on campus is not nearly as heavy as a lot of people think it is. A lot of it is off campus, not actually on campus and many times the schools get blamed for things that really do not happen actually on campus. The same thing with alcohol. Probably in the last few years, there’s been a great deal more of a problem with alcohol than drugs. And, again, many—much of it is off campus but the school gets blamed for it for various reasons. I don’t mean to say there isn’t a drug or alcohol problem on campus, but not nearly as much as newspapers and others want you to believe there is. Clark County School District has two very good programs that they use and if we catch students on campus involved with drugs in any way, we automatically call the police, get the police involved and the student is placed on suspension until the student and the parent attend a drug school that has been established and set up by the Clark County School District. Of course, we must follow the dictates of the court on these matters. Once it’s turned over to the police, if it is—the justice system follows up on it. We, of course, follow with the recommendations of the court. The drug school is held for both the students and the parents and the student is excluded from school until the first night of attendance at which time he’s given an admit back to his regular school and he must continue until the program is completed along with his parents. The Clark County School District has the same type or a similar program for students that are involved in alcohol on campus or school related activities. We usually—I should say, we always contact the parent. And the student, if it’s alcohol related is, again, suspended until he is enrolled UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 15 in the school. And it’s held at night and, after his first night of attendance with his parents, he is again admitted to the regular school and must continue through the completion of the program. Alcohol and drugs can affect, certainly, the learning situation and many times students have a tendency to exaggerate their involvement the things they do. But any way you look at it, even if there’s one student involved with either one of these, it’s not good and I feel the school should do everything possible to discourage student involvement in drugs or alcohol or any things of this nature through health education classes, science classes, human relations and other classes on campus. Guest speakers, movies, whatever means the school can use to discourage a student from becoming involved in the sickness of overuse of alcohol or any kind of use of drugs or pills should be— (Tape one ends) (Unintelligible) about integration by busing that the Clark County School District has instituted? When I first came to Las Vegas and the Clark County School System, there was already a plan of integrating the schools on a secondary level. For some reason, the western, the northwestern section of Las Vegas where most of the minorities lived at that time did not have a junior high or a high school. And the people who lived in that area had no particular concern or want of a junior high or a high school in that area. Consequently, the minority students were bused out to the different junior highs and high schools and there was always an integration of students on the secondary level. When I first came, the elementary schools all over town were neighborhood schools and students who lived in the neighborhood went to those schools. As everyone knows, this was challenged and went to court and there was a committee established by the school board to study, UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 16 and was to make recommendations for integrated the first six grades of the Clark County School District. The plan that they came up with, I believe, is called the Sixth Grade Center Integration Plan and it is now in effect in Clark County. What actually happens is all of the sixth graders throughout the system, except in certain areas where there is already a racial balance, are bused into the west, northwest or the minority section of town. Kindergarten through the fifth grade are bused out of the predominantly minority section into other areas of Las Vegas. In many ways this is an unfair practice in that when you really look at the plan, if a student starts in Clark County as a kindergarten and finished his twelve years of his education, he’s bused, a black or a minority student is bused eleven of those years whereas the busing the other way is for one year. Busing I do not feel is the only answer to integration. I think the definitive answer to integration is open housing where families have the right to choose where they want to live, the neighborhood they want to live in, and by doing this I think you can go back to the concept of neighborhood schools. I believe in Las Vegas—over the last ten years, there has been much more of this in Las Vegas than we’ve ever had in the past and there are many minority families, black, oriental, Mexican-American, Chicano and others that are living in almost every section of Las Vegas. I think when this happens, that’s the only way we really will have a true and equal integration as far as schools are concerned or anything else. It’s pretty difficult to bus students equally both ways because there are just not that many schools built in the northwestern section of Las Vegas. There is something, very few grade schools and, as I mentioned earlier, no junior highs or no high schools. Maybe in the future there will be, but I still feel that true integration can only be achieved when families are able to live in neighborhoods or areas that they want to live in and then their children can attend school in the neighborhood because that’s the family choice. UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 17 How do you feel about your new appointment as Director of Vocational Education? It’s always hard to leave a school where you’ve spent nine years and instituted a lot of programs and become involved in selection of faculty and administrators and staff and have a lot of ideas and hopes and dreams established. But the Clark County School District has a policy of transferring administrators every five years and they never like to leave any more than a maximum of seven years. I happened to have been in my particular high school for nine years and feel fortunate that I was able to spend that long there. I think change is probably good for all of us and I’m sure it will be good for me and I’m sure my new job will be very interesting and challenging and a new experience for me and that should be—hopefully, revitalize my outlook on education and the things that I can contribute, hopefully, to education. The only bad part about my appointment, possibly, is the fact that it came in the middle of the year. Which in itself is not necessarily bad, but it’s hard to leave programs in the middle of the year and to assume control or become involved in programs that have been going on for five or six months without your involvement. It’s difficult from the standpoint of sometimes you don’t know the groundwork, the preplanning, the reason for some of the things that happen. And it’s difficult to catch up. It’s not an insurmountable objective or object but it’s one that, of course, makes it a little more difficult than if you’re involved in the planning and in the activity from its inception. I think everyone is much more relaxed and at ease when they’re involved from the beginning. The appointment has kept me busy and certainly very interested in things and has been an extremely good challenge for me. And I’m sure I’ll enjoy and hopefully be able to do a good job as the Director of Vocational Education for Clark County. What is new and different about your appointment as director of vocational education? UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 18 I feel one of the reasons I was given the appointment for—as Director of Vocational Education is because I was involved quite heavily in vocational education at my previous high school in that we had a number of programs of what where vocationally oriented. Because we had a number of students who worked and then they left high school and into vocational areas that in many cases did not require any formal, or further formal education. Some of the programs that we had were woodshop, we had for the advanced students a block of two hours. Automobile repair, and again for the advanced students we had blocks of two hours times. This is a little different than a normal high school in that most classes in a normal high school sun fifty or fifty-five minutes. We felt from the vocational aspect that you needed more time in these areas to do the kind of work and receive the kind of training you need to really get the full value of the class. In addition to that, we had a very fine business department that trained students, both male and female, to enter into the business community in secretarial skills, data processing and computer work and things of this nature. The home economics department had two very good vocational programs in that they had a childcare center where students were taught the responsibility of caring for and knowing about children. And the center was actually the same as you’d find in any daycare center any place in the country with equipment and everything of that nature with actual students brought on campus once the students have gone through a period of studying and discussion. Another vocational area was the gerontology, the aging process. We were actually in the second phase of the three year program where students learned how the aging process affected them personally and how it affects people in and around them. They learned about health plans, social security, how your body functions and your thinking and things like this change as you UNLV University Libraries Mario C. Monaco 19 grow older. The second phase of the program was to include possibility of job employment in senior citizen centers, caring for the aged, cooking the special kinds of foods required of that particular type of a diet and the third year was to include health cares and leisure time activities for the aged. All this, of course, keeping in mind not doing things for elderly people, but getting elderly people to do things for themselves so that they feel important and still a part of the world. As medical science continues to expand the length of the—the lifespan, I think the field of doing things for the elderly is going to open up much more than it is today and there’ll be a many, many more jobs in that area. I feel because of my involvement in these vocational programs is one of the reasons why I was given the appointment as director at the Vocational Technical Center. It’s going to be a very interesting appointment. It’s going to be the kind of challenge I’m sure I’m going to enjoy. A vocational center is quite a bit different than what I was in in that the other emphasized the academics with vocational as a kind of a follow-up or support unit and a vocational center, of course, is just the opposite. It stresses the vocational with the academic part of it being just the classes required for graduation from a Nevada high school. In the vocational area the classes are in blocks of three to five hours and juniors are required to take U.S. history and one English class plus a math or science that they need according to whatever particular requirements they need for graduation. Seniors are required to take U.S. government and then of course any other classes that are needed or wanted or desired towards graduation. A vocational student must meet all the required classes of a regular high school student, so in effect he’s getting a two for one education. He’s getting the required educational courses needed to graduate from a Nevada high school plus two years of training in a particular v