School district enjoys relatively quiet passage to summer

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, June 3, 1999 | 11:12 a.m.

Fourteen-year-old Bobby Howard casually pitched his well-worn science folder in the trash on Wednesday.

"This is going bye-bye," Bobby said, unceremoniously retiring his eighth grade year.

The teen relished his final day as a Thurman White Middle School student. Next year, it's ninth grade at Green Valley High School.

"Actually, it's not so great -- we start all over at the bottom again," Bobby, a "Star Wars" buff and aspiring action-movie star, said.

Wednesday was the final day of classes at about two-thirds of Clark County's schools. The academic year concludes Aug. 5 at 66 year-round elementary schools and 10 year-round middle schools.

"Life goes on," Sharon Garhardt, principal at year-round Harriet Treem Elementary School in Henderson, said. "We just keep plugging, keep teaching, keep reviewing."

School officials on Wednesday reported no major incidents associated with final-day mayhem.

"A few eggs -- the typical stuff," School Police Sgt. Ken Young said. "But there have been fewer incidents of that this year."

"It was one of the best last days of school we've had," Dan Reyes, head of the Clark County School District Police, said. "I was in our command center, and I felt like the Maytag man waiting for the phones to ring."

Reyes reported that for the most part students were having a good time and celebrating the end of the school year.

"We had a couple of potential fights, but school police stopped them before they were able to get started," he said.

School district spokeswoman Mary Stanley-Larsen added, "After the spring we've had, it's nice to go out on a peaceful note."

The school district had a rash of bomb threats following the school shooting in Littleton, Colo., that left 15 dead. But no bombs were found at local schools.

Many Clark County schools have developed detailed dismissal systems for the final day of school.

White Middle School Principal Emil Wozniak implemented a complex plan for keeping order during the final-day exodus of 1,590 students.

* No backpacks were allowed at school Tuesday or Wednesday, and students were not allowed to use their lockers the last few days of school.

* Custodians on Wednesday combed the school grounds for stashed contraband such as water balloons, shaving cream -- or worse.

* Exterior doors were locked immediately after dismissal Wednesday so no students could return. Each room was checked to make sure no students remained.

* School administrators dismissed students by grade, one classroom at a time, funneling the children through certain exits.

"If you release with a bell (on the final day), it's chaotic," Wozniak said. "Students stream out of the building all over the place. It has to be done this way because you want to make sure the students are safe. We exited the students in nine minutes."

The 1999-2000 school year for all schools begins Aug. 23.

Sun reporterJace Radke contributed to this story.