Latest Silverado plan would exclude specific groups

Terry Webster

Friday, March 17, 2000 | 11:41 a.m.

The latest plans to reduce overcrowding would hold the line on Silverado High School's exploding student population by keeping out either specific groups of incoming ninth graders or all new high school students moving into areas around the school.

Parents attending the final public comment meeting on the high school's crowding woes Thursday appeared to agree with the concept of sending incoming ninth graders to Bob Miller Middle School, which is about 3 miles from Silverado. The middle school opens this fall.

An earlier plan to send students to Foothill High School, located about 15 miles away from Silverado, was met with strong parental opposition.

But placing students at Foothill High School remains a possibility.

The goal is to make Silverado -- located in southern Las Vegas near Eastern and Serene avenues -- livable for another school year, until a new high school at Lake Mead Drive and Buena Vida opens in August 2001.

With 3,648 students and 25 portable classrooms, Silverado stands at 42 percent over capacity.

Without relief, Silverado's population could grow to 4,000 by next year, forcing it to go on double sessions. Parents have made it clear they do not want that to happen.

Classrooms and hallways are packed, raising safety concerns and making it difficult for students to move through the campus.

Dusty Dickens, the Clark County School District's director of Demographics, Zoning and Realty, revealed two new proposals Thursday.

Under the first plan, all incoming ninth grade students who live beyond walking distance to Silverado would be transported to either Miller Middle School or Foothill High School. This alternative would withhold about 473 students from Silverado.

The second plan is two-fold. First, all new students moving into two targeted areas would be assigned to Foothill High School. Additionally, all incoming ninth grade students in three different areas would attend either Miller or Foothill.

The two-step plan would relieve Silverado of about 376 students.

A parent group designed its own proposal, based on input from a recent meeting attended by about 200 people, and presented it to school officials for consideration.

Some of the suggestions made by the parents: