Some Centennial students will move to new campus

Wednesday, March 5, 2003 | 11:20 a.m.

A small but determined band of parents turned out Tuesday to try to sway the Clark County School Board's vote on attendance zones for middle and high schools, but most went home without winning the concessions they sought.

"If we didn't vote in your favor, it doesn't mean we didn't hear you or don't appreciate all you did to prepare for this meeting," Clark County School Board trustee Ruth Johnson said. "I've sat in those seats where you're sitting now and asked the board to reconsider a decision on behalf of my own children, and I didn't necessarily come away with the vote that I wanted. But our job is to do what's best for the district as a whole."

The board voted in favor of moving about 1,700 students from Centennial High School to the new Shadow Ridge campus, which opens in the fall. Students who are currently juniors will be given the option of staying at Centennial, and possible exceptions may be made for students in programs such as the ROTC, which will not be available at Shadow Ridge during the school's first year, district officials said.

Several parents asked the board to consider special options for student athletes who want to stay at Centennial because of the risk of losing scholarship opportunities by moving.

Students who receive zone variances to stay at a high school or move to a different campus are banned from playing varsity sports for one year -- a provision put in place to keep coaches from poaching. Several parents asked that their children also be granted special options rather than waivers to protect athletic eligibility.

But board members declined to vote for a special option for athletes, saying it would not be fair to the rest of the students who might have equally valid reasons for wanting to stay at Centennial.

Parents can still apply for a waiver from the district if they believe their child's situation constitutes a significant hardship, Dusty Dickens, director of zoning and demographics for the district, said.

Traditionally zoning votes affecting high school boundaries attract the most contentious public response, but Tuesday's meeting was nearly free of acrimony. District officials credited the hard work of the volunteer members of the Attendance Zone Advisory Commission for the smooth votes, noting the various community input meetings that have been held in recent months.

"I'm almost stunned," board President Sheila Moulton said. "This has been the most gracious, respectful exchange I can recall on a very emotional topic."

In fact, the strongest show of emotion came not with the high school votes but for Becker Middle School.

A half-dozen parents addressed the board and asked that their children not be rezoned from Becker Middle School to Molasky Middle School, both in the district's northwest region. The change is being made to ease overcrowding at surrounding middle schools, district officials said.

Becker, named a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Education Department last year, offers programs and activities Molasky doesn't, said Harold Humphries, whose family lives in the upscale Desert Shores master-planned community, He argued the board would be dividing their neighborhoods with the zoning change.

Humphries' stepdaughter, Victoria Valenzuela, left the board meeting in tears, having been told she will spend her final year of middle school at Molasky, rather than Becker.

"All my friends are staying (at Becker)," Victoria said. "I don't want to have to start all over."

Ray Verhelst, whose daughter is a sixth grader at Becker, said he had spoken to Molasky parents who described the campus as having a higher incidence of crime than other schools, a claim disputed at the meeting by the school district's police chief.

"I'll sell my home and move before I put her in Molasky," a visibly angry Verhelst said following the board vote. "I've learned a lesson here, that we all need to pay closer attention to the people we're choosing to sit in those (school board) seats and make the decisions that affect the welfare of our children. They're waltzing through those elections with no fanfares, no debates. Clearly that needs to change."