Silverado High students shun Foothill option

Terry Webster

Friday, Feb. 4, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

The message came through loud and clear: Overcrowding at Silverado High School is unbearable.

The best way to solve the problem, though, was less clear at Thursday's Attendance Zone Advisory Commission's (AZAC) public input session at Silverado attended by about 225 parents, students and staff members.

At issue during the meeting was an offer for students assigned to Silverado for the 2000-2001 school year to voluntarily attend Foothill High School, located miles away.

Students would remain at Foothill until they graduate -- unless they are assigned to a new high school under construction at Maryland Parkway and Buena Vida set to open in 2001. That school will be about 3 miles from Silverado.

Seniors at Foothill would not be required to move to the new school, regardless of the zoning boundaries.

The commission also proposed that any incoming ninth grade students in an area bordered by Interstate 15, Pyle Avenue and Eastern Avenue be automatically sent to Foothill, along with all new students moving into that area.

According to the student body president, senior Chanel McCreedy, few students are interested in the offer to attend Foothill. Based on a survey of 1,193 students, 4 percent of them or 33 students said they would consider it.

Students of Silverado, located in the southeast section of Clark County, spoke of grueling conditions caused by severe overcrowding.

"We're like cattle," said Silverado junior Jen Sawyers. "We're being herded up the stairs and told to go around here and go around there. People are just pushed through the crowd, hoping they are going in the general direction of their classroom. All they need now is a branding stick. Or, why don't they just put bar codes on us?"

McCreedy agreed that getting to classes -- even using a rest room between classes -- becomes an ordeal.

"As a student at Silverado High School, I can tell you that there are 25 portable classrooms, and it's extremely hard to get from one class to the other," McCreedy said. "There are tons of students in the hallways coming from the portables to the classrooms. People are pushed down, and people are hurt just trying to get to class so they aren't late and so they don't get (a required parent conference)."

Other said some classes are so crowded that a few students have to sit on the floor and class sizes are well over the 30-student limit per classroom.

Silverado's 3,600 student population places it at 42 percent over capacity, said Dusty Dickens, director of Clark County School District's Demographics, Zoning and Realty Department.

Projections for next year show Silverado, the district's largest school, will be 47 percent over capacity.

As of September 1999, only about 50 incoming ninth graders would attend Foothill instead of Silverado, school officials said.

Parents who drive their children to school opposed making the trip to Foothill, which is up to 14 miles away from where they currently live. They also claim the trip could take up to 45 minutes due to construction and traffic. Bus transportation from Silverado would be provided for students who opt to move.

Others were concerned about being forced into double sessions at the high school because it is busting at the seams.

Some audience members suggested more alternatives should be proposed that would relocate more students attending Silverado.

Referring to other nearby high schools, Dickens said Green Valley is 27 percent over capacity and Chaparral is six percent over capacity. Foothill High School, however, is under capacity.

Dickens admitted the current proposal to have Silverado students attend Foothill would not have a significant impact on Silverado.

The committee's recommendations are expected to be brought before the School Board during its Feb. 29 meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the Greer Education Center, 2832 E. Flamingo Road.