Exams canceled for Palo Verde students

Monday, June 10, 2002 | 10:02 a.m.

Palo Verde High School students whose final exams were interrupted Friday by a bomb hoax won't have to complete the tests unless the score is needed for a passing grade in the course, school officials said this morning.

Police say at 8 a.m. Friday an anonymous 911 caller claimed to have seen a suspicious object on the Summerlin campus, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,300 students about 30 minutes later. Seniors were rehearsing for commencement at the time, while the remainder of the students were taking exams.

The phone call was not a bomb threat, school police spokesman Sgt. Ken Young said this morning.

"As far as we know, all we had was kid who thought they saw something and acted responsibly by calling 911," Young said. "There was never any threat of violence."

There's no way of knowing whether the call was a hoax intended to disrupt the final exams, or a senior prank, Young said. It also isn't known whether the phone call was related to racist graffiti found at Palo Verde earlier Friday, Young said.

"We see a lot of things going on at this time of year, it's hard to know what's connected," Young said.

The decision to cancel the final exams was made Friday after teachers and administrators met, said Len Paul, superintendent of the Clark County School District's northwest region.

Students who needed their final exam scores in order to pass a class can call the school office and set up a make-up test, Paul said. The rest of the students will be given "the benefit of the doubt," Paul said.

The school's teachers are scheduled for a professional development day and would not be available to administer re-tests until the fall, Paul said.

"Making all the kids wait that long isn't fair," Paul said.

Palo Verde officials said this morning they were compiling a list of students for whom the final exam score was necessary. Parents and students can call Palo Verde later today to check on their student's status, said Gail Shaw, an administrative secretary.

Seniors will be able to pick up their graduation caps and gowns today and tomorrow, along with tickets to tomorrow night's ceremony at the Thomas & Mack Center.