A school is bucking the norm and getting more kids to read.
Gym is usually the loudest class at Kay Carl Elementary School. This year students run, dribble, and jump in what used to be the quietest space in the entire building: the library.
"When the kids came this year it was kind of shock. It was where's library?" said Yancey Tisdale, the physical education teacher at Kay Carl Elementary School.
Tisdale and some volunteers spent their entire summer switching the rooms for the library and the gym. It meant moving thousands of books, putting up a new wall, and redoing the floors.
"They were a mighty group, a small mighty group, that was able to perform miracles," said Brenda Swann, the principal at Kay Carl Elementary School.
They've also implemented some new policies. Now they keep the library open half an hour after school closes and kids with overdue books are allowed to keep borrowing. Bottom line, the principal says more kids are reading.
On the other hand, with the bigger indoor area plus the attached shaded courtyard weather never dampens physical education time.
"I go to meetings and the first thing they say is, 'God, you are living the dream over there, we need what you have over there,'" said Tisdale.
Many Clark County School District elementary schools are built on the same template. Maybe more will start breaking the mold.
