Residents tell board of need for new WLV high school

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003 | 11:03 a.m.

It wasn't the guarantee black community leaders were demanding, but Clark County School Board members said Tuesday that finding land for a high school in West Las Vegas should be a priority.

More than 100 people turned out at Kit Carson Elementary School on D Street for the special School Board meeting, which ran nearly twice as long as the scheduled 90 minutes.

"It's shameful that in the year 2003 we still have to talk about racism and discrimination," said Marzette Lewis, leader of the community group WAAK-UP that pushed for the meeting. "The students of West Las Vegas deserve to walk to school with their neighbors and friends. That's why we have so many gangs around here, our children don't know each other."

Dozens of residents took their turns at the microphone to deride the district for subjecting high schoolers to hour-long commutes to outlying campuses and for making it difficult for parents to be involved at their children's schools. Others asked why one of the oldest communities in Las Vegas had to go without while newer areas have multiple high schools.

"We were here before Summerlin, before Green Valley, before anyone ever heard of the Lakes," said longtime resident Lucille Bryant. "We have paid our taxes, we have paid our dues, now give us justice."

School district officials have said that zoning and demographic predictions don't support the need for a high school in West Las Vegas in the immediate future, and that there hasn't been a large enough parcel of land available at an affordable price.

But board members acknowledged Tuesday that the lack of a high school had become an understandable sore point for the community.

"Yes, you need a high school, and you need to know is it going to happen this year, five years, when?" said board member Larry Mason. "You deserve an answer on that and we need to hold our own feet to the fire to get you an answer."

Clark County School Board President Sheila Moulton said she, too, wanted to see a high school in West Las Vegas and was gratified that several speakers had expressed a willingness to compromise. If the search for the requisite 40-acre lot continues to prove fruitless, it may be that a school could be built more quickly on a smaller lot with a football field nearby, Moulton said.

Ayoola Weaver, an eighth grader in the math and science magnet program at Hyde Park Middle School, said the lack of land isn't the reason for the delay.

"Are you all scared that if you build a high school on the west side that high school will be the defending champions in sports and the would be no competition?" Weaver, 13, asked.

Weaver said she was worried about next year when she would either be zoned to Mojave or Cheyenne, both of which are about a 30-minutes away by bus. She will have to get up at 5 a.m. to catch the bus, Weaver said.

"That's real early, since I don't finish my homework until 10:30 (p.m.) already," Weaver said.