Editorial: One choice may ease school overcrowding

Tuesday, March 9, 1999 | 11:11 a.m.

Southern Nevada's economy remains resilient, and this means more families are moving here. The consequence is that the public school system is strapped to find enough schools to educate the children from these families. Add higher real estate prices to the mix, and the Clark County School District faces a tough time financing the building of enough public schools to meet the demand.

Currently all the elementary schools are just one story tall, which aggravates the situation. That soon may be changing, though. As the Sun's Benjamin Grove reported Monday, school officials are investigating the viability of two-story schools that could be placed on smaller parcels of land.

A two-story school is hardly a revolutionary idea, so it is surprising it has not been considered seriously before, given the region's phenomenal growth. In the past officials worried about wasted space, such as that needed for stairs and elevators, but if it's less costly to build a two-story school, then the wasted space argument no longer applies. This is an idea whose time has arrived -- as long as officials ensure the two-story schools remain reasonably-sized and don't become huge complexes that serve as warehouses for children.