Recommendations on school sites delayed

Teresa Hinds

Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Bond Oversight Committee recommendations on where to place the first schools funded by the 1996 school bond have been postponed until January.

Committee members were scheduled to vote Wednesday on recommendations for middle school and high school sites and forward those opinions to the Clark County School Board.

But a lack of information and time to study the school district's recommendations prompted committee member Selma Bartlett to suggest the group wait until January to make their decisions.

Lois Tarkanian, the School Board member designated to attend the meeting said, "I agree with Selma Bartlett."

Tarkanian said delaying the recommendations "shows the group wants to make the best decisions possible. You can't do that when you're given data and asked to vote on it within an hour.

"Before you make million-dollar decisions, you should have time to go through the data," Tarkanian said, suggesting that any decision-making body should have at least a week to study the material.

Dusty Dickens, who is in charge of zoning and real estate for the school district, made Wednesday's presentation to the oversight committee and was also pleased with the decision.

"We put this information together very quickly, and from staff's point of view we would also like to take another look at the numbers," Dickens said.

Her presentation suggested that the $643 million in bond money approved by voters Nov. 5 be committed to build two middle schools in the southeast valley and two in the northwest.

The presentation also suggested siting two high schools, one in the area of Charleston Boulevard west of Rainbow Boulevard, and one "somewhere west of Rainbow, but we're not sure how far south."

Dickens said after the re-evaluation, it's possible the sites selected for the middle and high schools "could change."

The $643 million bond is expected to build 19 schools and rehabilitate and modernize 130 existing campuses. Money also will be spent on program and technology improvements. All the work is scheduled to be completed by the year 2000.

The bond will increase property taxes on a $100,000 home by about $38 a year.