Public Schools: Las Vegas' Impressive Newcomer

Residents of Las Vegas profess to be undisturbed by their town's sincity reputation. They euphemize gambling into "gaming," and stress upbeat touches such as the way Craps Dealer Ralph Hicks ends his trick at The Golden Nugget and rushes off to preside as president of the Western High School P.T.A.

Yet an aggressive educator from California, Las Vegas School Superintendent Leland Byerly Newcomer, 44, has been shrewd enough to realize that the collective conscience of Las Vegas is bothered by the area's dependence on its dubious industry—and Newcomer has been smart enough...

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