Violation of fire code may close rural school

Terry Webster

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2001 | 10:13 a.m.

Keystone Academy Charter School in Sandy Valley may have its charter revoked by the Clark County School District this week, unless it corrects a fire code violation.

The rural school's future hinges on the installation of a water tank to supply a fire hydrant. The school's water supply now comes from a well that cannot support a hydrant.

The county issued the school a temporary building permit to open and has not taken any enforcement action since then. The permit expires Dec. 1, but the fire prevention system is the only obstacle to getting a permanent permit, Keystone Principal Chris Meier said.

However, school district officials took note of the fire code violation and put the matter on Thursday's School Board agenda. The school had been given several extensions to get the equipment bought and installed, particularly over the past year, officials said.

Keystone officials are scrambling to get the tank delivered and installed before Thursday, when the School Board will consider whether to revoke the school's charter.

Keystone's academic program is not under question, said Craig Kadlub, director of community affairs, but a failure to meet building code requirements puts a charter school in violation of its charter agreement.

"We have a responsibility to make sure this is resolved," he said.

If progress is made on the water tank before the meeting, the agenda item to revoke Keystone's charter may be pulled, Kadlub said.

The tank is sitting on the property of a local resident who is selling it to the school, Meier said. Arrangements have been made to move it to the school on Saturday.

"I hope they're nice enough to give us a little more time," she said.

Cost has prevented Keystone from installing the tank sooner. Recent donations from businesses will cover the majority of the cost, Meier said.

"At first, we had quotes from about $1,500 to $2,000," Meier said. "But with the engineering, it will end up costing us up to $8,000."

A sprinkler system, another option, would have cost the school $14,000.

The school receives $3,701 per student in public funding, the same as public schools. The rest of the funding -- including the school building -- is supposed to be private.

About 45 students attend Keystone, which accepts any Clark County student. Attendance has remained at about that level over the past three years, Meier said.

Keystone opened in the fall of 1999 as an alternative for students who had to endure a 50-mile one-way commute from Sandy Valley to Durango High School. Travel time, plus bus stops to pick up and drop off students, made the trip about three hours each way.

The charter school -- which saves students the long commute -- has reduced dropout rate in the rural community from 80 percent dropout rate to about 14 percent, Meier said.

Only a handful of Sandy Valley students continued to attend Durango once Keystone opened, according to Durango's attendance office, which said it did not have records for how many went to the school the year before Keystone opened.

This year Sandy Valley students are zoned for Sierra Vista High School. School officials could not immediately provide the number of students who travel from Sandy Valley to Sierra.

Keystone's most recent effort to improve its finances happened in August, when officials came before the School Board in August to seek approval to extend its program for at-risk students to Las Vegas, in order to draw more state aid to the school.

The School Board, however, voted down the measure. The plan would have allowed Keystone to teach about 100 students at risk of dropping out at Boys and Girls Clubs locations in Las Vegas.

In addition to Keystone, other charter schools have had difficulties in Clark County.

In December 2000 Tech World Charter School closed after it was unable to secure a permanent site. About 80 students were absorbed by the traditional schools.

Odyssey Charter School faced closure in April 2000 when its enrollment records and academic lessons were questioned by the state. Odyssey overcame those issues but was placed on the state's list of schools needing improvement in March.