Dad intent on seeing changes at Chaparral High

Friday, June 2, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

When Verne Lewton's disabled son needed emergency medical attention at Chaparral High School, paramedics were unable to fit their gurney in an elevator to reach him on the second floor.

Lewton, who also rushed to the school, grew so frustrated with the paramedics he and the Chaparral nurse placed his son in a wheelchair and crammed into the elevator to reach the ground floor. It was so cramped Lewton had to stand on his son's wheelchair while the nurse operated the elevator buttons.

That incident occurred in February 1998, but Lewton continues to battle the Clark County School District over his belief that Chaparral has too many access problems.

Arguing that the school violates federal building-access laws, Lewton already has won a favorable decision from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights and has the support of Chaparral's staff, including Principal Robert Chesto.

Lewton is not just an angry parent blowing steam, but one who is well versed in the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. That's because he has owned a general contracting business for 20 years. Before that he served as an apprentice to his father when they helped construct Clark and Valley high schools and numerous other schools.

"The school district's primary function is to teach our children, but we have also given them funds to maintain a safe environment," Lewton said.

"The school district's building department has not done a good job providing a safe environment. They are discriminating against the handicapped in this school and that makes me sick to my stomach."

David Broxterman, administrative manager of the school district's facilities division, has toured Chaparral with Lewton. They agree on some points but not on others.

"There is no one at Chaparral High School being denied access to any program, but when you get down to the technicality of the ADA, he has some valid points," Broxterman said.

When Chaparral opened in 1976 at 3850 Annie Oakley Drive, it fell under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a federal law widely considered as much weaker than the newer ADA.

The hilly, multi-tiered campus features a uniquely designed two-story main building. But it wasn't until after Lewton got involved that the south entrance to the campus was even accessible by wheelchair.

Some of the new ramps around the school were part of a $2.5 million facelift that Chaparral received the past year. Lewton takes some credit for pointing out the need for those ramps.

Chaparral had to wait five years for its cut of 1994 school bond money to do the renovations, making it one of the last schools on the list.

Broxterman said Chaparral was low on the list because it was one of the newer schools to be renovated. Many of the schools ahead of Chaparral were built in the 1950s.

But Chesto said the district also competes with resorts and others for construction workers, a dilemma that may explain in part why certain schools have to wait so long to be renovated.

Chesto also said a district-wide problem that exacerbates the access issues at Chaparral is that it can take months for the school district's maintenance crews to respond to change order requests. While the district's student population has exploded, the staff size and budget for maintenance has not kept pace, he said.

"In the district's defense they do the best with what they have," Chesto said. "The district has grown 100 percent in 10 years, but I would say the facilities department has grown only about 10 percent. If you don't fix something that is broken, it will get more broken. We don't keep up with the problems that we have."

Broxterman agrees, adding that the school district would like to get more money from the state to hire maintenance workers. Because of understaffing the school district has plenty of deferred maintenance, he said.

"It is a serious issue and it concerns us," Broxterman said. "Nationwide we are on the low end of the pole in terms of support staff per student."

Even with the renovations much of the main building remains a disabled person's nightmare, according to Lewton and Chaparral staff. The front staircase is so steep Chesto said there were at least a dozen reported injuries over the past three years to students and adults, including broken legs and ankles.

Lewton pointed to other problems: an improperly constructed wheelchair ramp in the front parking lot; staircase handrails that are too big to grip; boys and girls restrooms in the nurse's office and an elevator that is too small for wheelchairs; and doorways that are too narrow for disabled individuals.

Lewton also found numerous tripping hazards, including classroom and restroom entrances that rise at least an inch from the corridors.

Some of Lewton's concerns will be addressed by the end of this summer. Broxterman said Chaparral will receive additional renovation funds from the 1996 and 1998 school bonds. He said the front staircase will be corrected and that smaller handrails also will be installed.

The restrooms in the nurse's office also will be corrected to make them more accessible, Broxterman said. But he said he doesn't agree that the elevator on the east side of the main building is too small for wheelchairs as Lewton asserts.

Because Chaparral was built before 1977 the school district can skirt federal building access laws by placing students at other schools that meet current standards.

But Laurie Howard, Chaparral's special education facilitator for the past 11 years, said that option is unfair to students who want to remain close to the same children they grew up with.

Howard said the high school is so inaccessible one disabled student dropped out about five years ago simply out of frustration with the barriers.

At any given time she said the school of 2,700 students has about 300 special education teens, including 10 to 20 who are permanently disabled and at least an equal number who are temporarily physically incapacitated.

"Historically, when we've had children in wheelchairs, they have needed assistants to help them through the doors," Howard said. "We've had young men and women who couldn't get themselves on a toilet because they didn't have access to all the proper fittings."

Chesto and former principals have all been supportive of efforts to make the school more accessible, Howard said. But she said school district officials have turned a deaf ear to complaints from Chaparral staff.

"They are literally untouchable," Howard said of district officials. "It's absolute apathy. They really don't care. In this district if you don't make it an issue, it just rolls off their backs. The facilities division seems to run its own show.

"Mr. Lewton is the only parent who has come forward. Most parents are afraid to make a stink because it draws attention to their kids."

After the incident with his son, Lewton returned to the school and began noting deficiencies in its construction. After feeling he was getting nowhere with the school district, he filed a complaint with the federal government.

Lewton's complaint was one of 57 that have been received by the federal civil rights office about the county school district since 1996, according to Gary Jackson, director of its Western Division office in Seattle.

In August 1998 the civil rights office extracted an agreement from the school district to provide emergency medical services for needy students on Chaparral's ground floor. But that resolution didn't stop Lewton. He had other access complaints about the school, including the nurse's office on the second floor, the elevator, assorted ramps, doorways and restrooms.

Some of those complaints are now subject to a separate ongoing investigation by the civil rights office, though Jackson said he could not comment on its progress.

"If kids cannot get access to health care, that would be an issue," Jackson said.

Lewton said one way to ensure that school buildings meet code is to have them inspected by the Clark County or municipal building departments rather than in-house district personnel, as is done currently.

"I would make sure that whoever was inspecting new construction and renovation work had a fair and objective focus," Lewton said.

"If somebody from the school district raised too much Cain about their own schools, they could be considered whistle-blowers. You can't raise too much hell with your boss. If you do, you'll be shuttled off to another department."

But Broxterman said Chaparral was not initially inspected by the school district because the district didn't do its own building inspections until 1985, nine years after the high school opened. Before 1985, school inspections were coordinated by the State Public Works Board, he said.

Broxterman defended the practice of using in-house inspectors, arguing that the district must be vigilant about construction because it owns the buildings.

"We're plenty tough," he said.

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