School zoning goes quickly

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2002 | 11:06 a.m.

The Clark County School Board has approved attendance zones for six new elementary schools and one new middle school for the 2002-2003 school year.

It was, School Board President Sheila Moulton said, the zoning meeting that would "go down in history."

In an evening nearly free of contention, outbursts and public displays of parental dismay, the Clark County School Board met for just under 2 1/2 hours Tuesday, swiftly approving attendance zones for six new elementary schools and one new middle school.

"You've been a wonderfully courteous audience," said Moulton, who noted that meetings in past years had often run into the wee hours of the morning as upset parents fought the district's recommendations. "This is a nice change, to get out of here early."

There were some complaints -- Tara O'Grady angrily told the board she and her neighbors had not been properly notified of that her son would be bumped from Helen Herr Elementary School to Mountain View Elementary School.

"This is an economically targeted decision," O'Grady said. "The newer, fancier houses are being zoned to the newer, better schools. Why does my son have to be bused out of his neighborhood instead of walking the half-mile to school?"

Herr has become so overcrowded that portable classrooms take up much of the space, Moulton said. With the new zones, 327 students will move from Herr to Mountain View, she said.

"One of the things we look at is the over- and under-utilization of schools," Moulton said. "We know when schools are smaller, student achievement improves."

Several parents expressed concern that their children would be moving from schools with a nine-month calender to a year-round schedule. One mother said her first grader had already told her if he was forced to go to a 12-month school "he would quit."

Stephen Buckley wondered why the Orchards development, where he and his family have lived for seven years, was being divided, separating children who have gone to school and played together for years.

Moulton, who shares Buckley's neighborhood, said she supported the new zone because it would ensure that Iverson's students came from both apartment complexes and single-family homes.

"It's not going to be easy," Moulton said. "There are great kids on one side of the street and great kids on the other side of the street that play and mingle all the time."

The new zones were hammered out during several meetings of the Clark County School District's Attendance Zoning Advisory Commission, a panel made up of the school board and community volunteers.

The next step will be traffic studies to ensure there are enough crossing guards, sidewalks and bike paths, said Dusty Dickens, who coordinates zoning for the School District.

Maps of the new school zones are available at the School District offices, 2832 E. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas. The maps are also online at the district's website (www.ccsd.net).