A NEW LEADER OF THE PACK

By: Cassandra McCoy

The best way to remember how to spell the word “principal,” is to key in the main factor: pal. Luckily for Bonanza High School, new principal Dr. Brian Wiseman not only lives up to this expectation, but he also exceeds it.

Wiseman is a community leader with a mindset of equal respect for all students and staff. As a new addition to Bonanza, Wiseman has made his mark by welcoming all and making an effort to learn about the entire community. Between renovations, general upkeep and adjusting to the new responsibilities, Wiseman has proved to be able to manage it all with a smile.

“We spend too many of these hours at this place to not have fun,” Wiseman said. “My ultimate goal is to have a happy, fun environment; I want people to smile.”

With 24 years of experience, Wiseman is a veteran to the field of education. Twenty one of those years have been in the Clark County School District. He’s originally from Illinois, and moved to Southern California to teach for two years. He eventually made another move, this time to the desert.

With so much education experience, Wiseman had to get his inspiration from somewhere. “I come from a family of educators,” he said. “My dad was a high school calculus teacher and my mom a preschool teacher. My brother is a middle school teacher, and my sister a college professor. So it’s kind of in our blood.”

Wiseman started his career as an educator for the purpose of change. “I always wanted to make a difference in the lives of kids,” he said. “That’s why I chose education. I chose special education because I wanted to work with the kids who needed the most help - and make a difference in their lives.”

Wiseman was satisfied with staying in the classroom, but a negative experience prompted another purpose of change, but a different kind.

“I never planned on going into administration, but when I moved to Cheyenne High School, I had an administrator who was pretty nasty to me,” Wiseman said. “Teachers were quitting. I thought I had been a decent teacher, and with others leaving and finding work somewhere else, I even almost quit. I didn’t understand why we were treating people so horribly when there’s a teacher shortage. So that was what drove me to get my degree in administration so I could work with teachers and really reinforce the teachers that are doing a great job and support them. They do make a huge difference in kids’ lives.”

Wiseman developed a whole new responsibility as not just a leader of a classroom, but the leader of the environment.

“I think a leader has to listen,” Wiseman said. “I can’t walk in like I know everything because I don’t. So when I got to this school, I spent a deal of time just learning the culture of the school - learning the climate, the people, engaging with the students and staff. So basically it’s a listening tour for me right now.”

Wiseman quickly realized that the staff were eager for someone to listen.

“By having these round tables with staff and ‘Pizza with the Principal’ with students to tell me what is great about our school and what isn’t, I identify what are our strengths and our weaknesses and I collaborate with the staff to make those changes,” Wiseman said.

Many principals wouldn’t take the time to meet with staff and students, especially coming into a school year already in progress. But to Wiseman, this is a necessary step.

“I think it’s important that everyone feels valued,” he said. “When we do meet to make these changes, I assure everyone has a say so that everyone feels valued in what they do. It doesn’t matter who you are or what role you have in this school; you have a role and it matters.”

One thing is important to Wiseman: Every student should leave high school with a sense of purpose.

“I have a memory from about eight years ago, and I'll never forget it,” he said. “It was graduation, and I sat down next to a boy and I asked him, ‘So, what do you have planned for after here?’ and he replied, ‘I don’t know.’ I said, ‘You’re graduating in half an hour, and real life is coming, what are you going to do?’ And he just said, ‘I don’t know.’ And I knew that we had failed that kid.”

This led to a big turnaround.

“That conversation sparked a lot of change at my old school, every single kid had a path,” he said. “We didn’t tell you that you had to go to college or anything, but we helped make the path for you and the steps to get you there. The biggest thing that I want is to make sure that we are wrapping our arms around the kids that walk through these doors, so that high school isn’t a compliance piece just to move on to get a piece of paper, but that we’re helping set you up with a life of success after.”

By: Leslie Aguilar

Portables. Construction. Layouts. After almost 50 years later, Bonanza High School is finally getting renovated, and with that comes a series of upgrades.

The school board approved a renovation budget of $54 million, and the plan has been a three-year process. But, why Bonanza after all this time? “Our school is slowly falling apart, and it’s old,” assistant principal Ms. Lisa Hungerford said. “We need to keep up with times and make it a safe environment for all students.”

At the beginning of March, teachers in the 100’s hallway started packing up their rooms to prepare to relocate to the portables on the blacktop as part of Phase I of renovations. There were rumors circulating last year about a possible renovation, but nothing concrete was conveyed to students or staff. But, Phase I is currently underway and will last to approximately October.

“We will be working with Phase I all the way through October, which is going to be the 100 area, including the bathrooms,” Hungerford said. “And something I’m most excited about is that we’re going to have mirrors coming back to the bathrooms, and it is for sure going to happen.” The mirrors were taken down last year while a TikTok trend called Devious Licks persuaded students to destroy and steal school property, particularly in the bathrooms.

The bathrooms and classrooms aren’t the only parts of the school to be updated. According to Hungerford, the halls are going to be color coordinated so that when a student is lost or looking for their classes it is easier for them to find them. “There is going to be a lot that is changing,” she said. “We are getting a whole facelift into the whole school; new flooring, new paint, some new walls. It is going to be brighter and updated.”

There are several phases in place over a three-year period, which will cause some classes to be moved to the portable while their classrooms are being worked on. “We are blocking off entire sections of the school one at time time and every one of those classrooms will be moved to the portables, so we’ll need to consider the students moving outside the building every day and inside,” Hungerford said. “We probably should re-look at our tardies since the walk is much longer.”

There are some areas in the school that need to change due to security, logistical, or construction reasons. “I would say in the 800's there were many problems,” campus security monitor J. Scott said. “There is also a hidden area that needs to be connected with the school.”

Math teacher Ms. Victoria Calabrese is excited to see her room once it’s finally renovated. “Well my room will change,” she said. “I don't know what it is going to look like, but I think my room will look better. The hallway should look better. I hope everybody feels better at a nice school.”