District showcases its efforts to open several new campuses

Terry Webster

Thursday, Aug. 16, 2001 | 10:41 a.m.

Of the 16 new Clark County schools scheduled to open this year or early next year, only two may not open on schedule, School District officials announced Wednesday.

Quoting from the baseball movie "Field of Dreams" Clark County School Superintendent Carlos Garcia told a crowd of 300 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, "If you build it they will come."

"But in this place," he added, in a reference to the district's expanding student population, "we haven't even built it yet and they are coming."

Enrollment is expected to reach 246,000 this year, about 15,000 more than the 2000-2001 enrollment of 231,000.

Twelve schools opening in the fall include five elementary schools, four middle schools and three high schools. Three elementary schools and one middle school are scheduled to open in the middle of the school year.

The 16 new campuses are part of the voter-approved 1998 bond program of $3.5 billion for school construction.

Four of the new schools are opening one year ahead of schedule, and two are opening two years ahead of schedule. The new schools will eliminate about 750 portable classrooms, Garcia said.

"All over the country, people ask us how we get this done," Garcia said. "I tell them we don't have a choice."

Although most of the openings are coming off without a hitch, an air of uncertainty exists for the opening dates of Fredric W. Watson Elementary School, 5845 N.Commerce St., North Las Vegas, and Lucille S. Rogers Elementary School, 5535 S. Riley St., in the Spring Valley area of southwestern Las Vegas. Both schools' original opening dates had been accelerated.

District officials have designed contingency plans in case the two schools are not ready to open when the fall semester begins Aug. 30.

For Rogers, double sessions will be held at nearby Hayes Elementary School, 9625 W. Twain Ave., if needed. The first session, for Hayes students, would run from 7 a.m. to noon. Rogers' students would attend classes from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m., Kathy Foster, director of instructional and facilities administration, said.

Watson is not a year-round school and would start classes a few days later and end the school year a little later, Foster said.

Augie Orci, deputy superintendent for instruction, said the district is working with the Nevada Department of Education for approvals on both plans.

"These are just contingency plans," he said. "We're about 95 percent sure we're going to get into the schools on time."

Letters about the possible delays were sent to parents two weeks ago, Orci said.

"They have been very understanding," Orci said.

During Wednesday's event to showcase the new construction, principals were on hand to describe what they are doing to get the new schools ready for opening day.

Roberta Holton, principal for Jack Lund Schofield Middle School, said teachers and student volunteers are placing books on library shelves.

While most the principals have a general idea of what their student populations will be on opening day, that isn't the case for Steve Henick, principal of the Russell Lee Peterson Campus of Horizon High School, which is scheduled to open in late September.

Peterson, an alternative high school, can have a varying student population at the opening of every school quarter, Henick said. That's because the alternative schools cater to students who are facing difficulties such as lacking enough credits or unplanned pregnancies.

Coronado High School Principal Monte Bay said about 12 tractor-trailers a day continue to bring in supplies and books to his school.

"We had four semis that brought in textbooks alone," Bay said.

Alma Vining, principal of William E. Snyder Elementary School, said her staff moved in Tuesday.

"The (building) is absolutely beautiful," she said. "I brought my 84-year-old father in to see the school, and he said it looks more like a hotel. Then he saw the library and said, 'It's a palace.' "