DEMOCRACY AT WORK

Inner-city charter school endures challenges to pull off huge upset

Coach Keith Jones arrived early for his team’s football practice and noticed a stranger asleep under a tree. A bottle of alcohol sat nearby. Jones attempted to wake the man but ultimately had to call police to get him to move. ¶ Jones chuckles recounting the story, knowing these are the kinds of obstacles that make his quest to build the Democracy Preparatory Academy high school football team into a competitive program such a challenge. ¶ The public charter school on West Lake Mead Boulevard at J Street is the only program out of more than 40 in Southern Nevada without a field. Practices are conducted at the nearby Kianga Isoke Palacio Park, and Democracy plays its home games at Rancho High School. ¶ Kianga Isoke Palacio Park is about half the size of a regulation field, and the Democracy Prep Blue Knights often share the space with youth league teams that also practice there.

There are no field markings or goal posts, meaning it’s impossible to replicate game situations or practice the kicking game. Drills often bleed into those that pee-wee teams are running. There are no blocking sleds for linemen. What little gear the team does have, such as cones and blocking pads, gets walked across the street from storage on campus each day.

Jones is forced to look for ruts in the ground while he’s mapping out practice space. He missed one early in the year, and his best player rolled his ankle and had to miss time.

“Anybody can’t do this job,” Jones says. “We’ve learned to appreciate things a lot more, because we don’t have some of the luxuries of other teams. We get the most out of our situation.”

Last year, Democracy played in Class 2A — for schools with an enrollment under 450 students — competing against local faith-based schools, which were also building their programs, or schools like Lincoln County from rural Nevada. The Blue Knights finished with a 4-5 record.

This year, Democracy was elevated to Class 3A, the state’s second-highest classification, pitting it against the likes of Moapa Valley, an established power, and Cheyenne, a school with eight times the enrollment. Democracy Prep has 272 students — a figure doubled by the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s formula because it’s a charter school.

But Jones doesn’t back down. He scheduled a game at Coronado, which has an enrollment of 3,200, to open the season. Democracy’s 25 players had never competed in front of that many fans or in a stadium of that size, so

PHOTOS BY WADE VANDERVORT Coach Keith Jones and his players from Democracy Prep Academy gather in a huddle after practice earlier this season at Kianga Isoke Palacio Park. Practice is conducted at the park because the charter school doesn’t have its own field.

Quarterback Micah Gayman from Democracy Prep Academy practices throwing drills at Kianga Isoke Palacio Park.