At Mabel Hoggard Elementary School in Las Vegas, students don't just read about goats, potbelly pigs and reptiles in textbooks — they feed them, clean their habitats and watch them live out their daily routines just steps from the classroom. The school hosts the only zoo in the Clark County School District, an urban farm and animal laboratory that's home to more than 150 animals across dozens of species.
The program is called A Squared, an extracurricular offering focused on animal and agriculture education, according to FOX5 Vegas. Students in the program get hands-on experience caring for, feeding and learning about the animals rather than simply studying them from afar. Fourth grader Arthur Phelps put it simply: he can observe the animals' movements, eating, sleeping and living behaviors up close — and said that beats reading about animals in an article.
A Zookeeper With Nearly Two Decades of Experience
Overseeing it all is Michael Dancel, Mabel Hoggard's farm and nursery manager, known around campus as the zookeeper. Dancel brings 18 years of experience working with exotic animals in Las Vegas to the role, per the station's report. He's told students that the quality of their work directly affects the animals' quality of life, a lesson that ties classroom responsibility to real consequences for living creatures.
The Clark County School District publicly commended Dancel during National Zoo Keeper Week in July, recognizing his work managing daily operations and animal welfare across the campus zoo, according to a Clark County School District post. Dancel oversees habitat upkeep and student safety during farm activities, a responsibility that spans dozens of species living on an elementary school campus.
A Rare Resource in a City Without a Zoo
The animal program carries extra weight because Las Vegas hasn't had a traditional accredited public zoo in over a decade. The Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park permanently closed in September 2013 following federal inspections and animal welfare citations, according to the Las Vegas Sun, ending a run that began when the three-acre private zoo opened in North Las Vegas in 1981. Commercial animal attractions in the region have thinned out too — the Sun also reported that Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at The Mirage closed permanently in November 2022 after 30 years, ahead of the property's redevelopment.
Against that backdrop, Mabel Hoggard's campus zoo has become a rare local resource for kids to interact with live animals as part of their education. FOX5 Vegas reports that Las Vegas has experienced a broader decline in exotic animal attractions, making the school's program stand out even more.
Named for Nevada's First Licensed Black Teacher
The school itself carries deep historical roots. It originally opened as Bonanza Elementary in 1953 before being renamed in 1974 to honor Mabel W. Hoggard, who became the first licensed African American school teacher in Nevada in 1946, according to CCSD Archives. Hoggard taught at Westside Las Vegas schools for 24 years until her retirement in 1970.
In 1993, the school was designated a Math and Science Magnet school, making it the first elementary magnet program established in the Clark County School District and the Las Vegas Valley, per CCSD Magnet Schools. CCSD created its initial magnet programs that year to foster innovation and support voluntary district desegregation. Since then, the district's magnet network has expanded to include 45 specialized magnet programs and career academies across Southern Nevada, serving thousands of students at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
Hands-On Science, No Test Scores Required
Students don't need academic prerequisites to get into Mabel Hoggard. Admission to CCSD elementary magnet programs like Hoggard is determined through an unweighted, randomized computerized lottery, according to the U.S. Department of Education, giving every applicant an equal statistical shot regardless of prior academic performance.
Once enrolled, students learn science through live animal observation, Lego mechanics and laboratory experiments rather than relying solely on textbooks, a methodology detailed by the Las Vegas Sun. That approach has earned Hoggard multiple national honors from Magnet Schools of America. The facility itself was completely rebuilt in 2004, replacing 1950s-era structures with purpose-built indoor science labs and designated outdoor farm areas.
Looking Beyond a Single Campus
School officials aren't content to keep the program contained to one campus. Mabel Hoggard is working on a concept to open the zoo to other Clark County School District schools in the future, according to FOX5 Vegas. Melissa Giannantonio said the zoo gives children unique college and career exposure, connecting hands-on animal care to future academic and professional paths students might not otherwise consider.
For now, the program continues to give Mabel Hoggard students direct access to animals and to Dancel's decades of expertise — an educational setup that remains unmatched anywhere else in the district.
